Chapter 19: CHAPTER NINETEEN

Sarah stood in front of the Colven pack house and she sighed loudly. She couldn't believe that she had finally found the place after a month of tedious searching. After she had left Adam's house in anger, she had first tried to get a house to stay but then she didn't know how to get one. It wasn't like those days when one could easily find and get anything they wanted. All you just had to do was inform someone you know and before the day was over, one would get that thing.

She looked to the house again and joy bubbled in her heart. When she had wandered around but still couldn't a place to stay, she had been angry at Adam for leaving her into that mess. After the many forms of events, she had decided in her heart that she would make herself visible to his family without his knowledge. If he doesn't want to have her around, then his family would want her around for sure after they found out that she was his mate.

If they didn't want her around either, then she would just make sure she makes herself comfortable in the house since she didn't have anywhere else to go and she was not ready to continue to be the target of the public. Even without being the target, just thinking about the troubles she went through to find Adam's hometown in Larnaca and then proceeding to get here through the forest was enough to make her stay regardless of how angry she imagined Adam might feel if he found out. Deciding that matters couldn't be worse than they already ere, she knocked on the door and watched as somebody opened it as if they had been waiting for her.

"Who are you?" the man who had opened the door asked her.

"I…Uhm…" Sarah stuttered. She realized that she hadn't prepared for such questions when she had thought about coming. All she had wanted was just to show up at Adam's pack house to spite him.

"Who are you?" a woman with the same hair and eye colors as Adam asked when she got to the door.

Sarah decided in her heart that she couldn't afford to fumble if indeed the woman turned out to be Adam's mother. By now, Sarah was already surrounded by what she thought should be the whole pack given their numbers. They all looked at her with curious and predatory eyes. Sarah knew that if she made even a single mistake, these people were going to shift and eat her raw. With all the courage she could summon, Sarah smiled at the woman.

"I'm Sarah, Adam's mate," she announced to them.

She watched as surprise began to register in the face of everyone and then murmurs went round about her. Sarah began to wonder why they were so surprised that she had said that she was Adam's mate. When she was the female version of Adam just staring at her in confusion, she lifted Adam's favorite novel that she had stolen so she could read about the modern language.

As soon as Alicia saw the book with Sarah, she smiled. That book was Adam's favorite book written by Ian and he never left it for people unless they truly mattered to him. The smile grew much broader as she looked at the strange woman who had shown up at the pack house and she saw how beautiful the woman was. Without wasting any more time, she went over to the woman and held her two hands with hers. Alicia squeezed Sarah's hand lightly in the assurance that she was welcome to the pack.

"Welcome to the pack, Sarah. I'm Alicia, Adam's mother," Alicia told the younger woman with a smile, still holding her hands.

Just like that, congratulations started pouring in from all the different angles. Some of them shook hands with her to welcome her and by the time they were done with their greetings, Sarah felt like it was a place where she could throw all her burden down and truly feel at home. Alicia held her hand and began to move back into the house with Sarah in tow.

"You, go and prepare a nice room for the Alpha's mate." Alicia pointed to a maid who looked like she had heard the wrong thing or seen the wrong person.

Alicia didn't bother to wait and see if the maid followed her order. She knew, just like everyone does, that if the maid didn't follow the order the woman had just given, the maid wouldn't live to see the next sunrise.

"Yes, ma'am," the maid replied with a bow of her head. She waited until Alicia and Sarah went into the house, then she brought out her phone and called Ariel.

"Hello. Good afternoon, ma'am," the maid greeted her.

"Yes? Do you have any information for me?" Ariel asked her.

What no one knew was that Ariel had placed two maids into the Colven pack to inform her about everything that was going on in the house. Not that did she have a bad intention towards that, but she just wanted to be sure that her daughter would not be going into the wrong place all because of love.

"Yes, ma'am. The Alpha's mate just arrived at the pack house."

"Mate? What mate?" Ariel asked on the phone in a confused manner.

"We just saw her appear out of nowhere, ma'am," the maid answered.

"But what about Xana?" Ariel asked. The moment she realized that the maid was still on the phone with her, she cleared her throat. "You can hang up now."

"Yes, ma'am." The maid hung up and looked around to see if anyone was watching her. When she was sure that the coast was clear, she walked away from the spot she stood and went off to do the Alpha's mother's bidding.

***

When Alicia drew Sarah into the room, she looked around subtly to check out the room. She saw that the room was painted in a color blue which complimented the older woman's eyes color. A table and a single chair were occupying a corner of the room where the sunshine from the window hit the chair. Seated on the table was a vanity of the old decades that Sarah remembered well and she rushed over in excitement. When she remembered that the sun hit the place she was going to, she stopped midway and turned back, only to see that Adam's mother was staring at her.

Alicia stared at the treasure that had introduced herself as her son's mate and she smiled wildly while taking in the woman's attribute. The shoulder-length bronze-colored hair flayed about her shoulder in a captivating manner. Her slender body would make any lady at the pack bow their head in surrender to her. Her glassy beady black eyes were however what captivated Alicia the most. She wondered the type of lineage Adam's mate had risen from to make her have such type of iris.

She saw Sarah rush to the ancient vanity she had in her room and chuckled lightly. Why was she fascinated by an old mirror when she could have the pretty ones people her age use? If she wanted Alicia would decorate her entire room with mirrors that she would see nothing other than herself in the room every time. When Sarah stopped midway and frowned at the ray of harsh sunlight shining into the room, Alicia also frowned.

"Is something wrong, my dear?" she asked Sarah, who had already looked back and saw that Alicia was looking at her.

Sarah looked at Adam's mother, then back at the sun, and then back to the older woman again while wondering if she should tell her about her secret. When the woman smiled at her a little, she decided that there would be no harm in telling her everything anyway since she would be living with the pack. Besides, she didn't want to build her foundation with the woman based on lies.

"I'm a vampire," Sarah told Adam's mother the truth about herself bluntly.

"You are what?" Alicia asked in a very surprised tone.

"Vampire," Sarah repeated calmly.

Alicia looked at Sarah to be sure she wasn't hallucinating. When the younger woman just shrugged her shoulders, Alicia knew that she was very serious about what she said. No wonder the priest had told them that day that Adam's mate was dead since she already was. There was no way a vampire would be her daughter-in-law, even the goddess would know that. But, she couldn't afford to let the vampire know what she was thinking about, so she smiled at her.

"Was that why you stayed away from the sun, my dear?" Alicia asked. Her face was contoured in a perfect smile to keep suspicion away from Sarah.

Sarah heaved in relief when she saw that Adam's mother hadn't mind her identity. Somehow, she had thought before that the woman wouldn't mind since they were a lineage of werewolves also.

"While the sun does not kill me, it can burn me badly and that is why I stopped earlier," Sarah explained to her.

After the little revelation, both Alicia and Sarah talked for another long while. When the maid knocked on the door and told the Alpha's mother that she was done with the cleanup of the room, Alicia encouraged Sandra to get into her new room and get some rest. She instructed the maid to take Sarah with her to the room that had been prepared for her and Sarah followed the maid out of the room with a smile on her face.

When she was sure that Sarah and the maid were gone, Alicia went off to the hall where she knew that everyone wouldn't be waiting to hear the details about where the new mate had come from. When she got to the hall, she met all the werewolves' elders there. They were all interacting with each other but the minute they saw her, they all kept short.

"So, how did she become the Alpha's mate so soon?" one of the elders asked.

"Why did Alpha Adam hide her away from us before?" another of the elders said.

Alicia used her hands to indicate that everyone should keep quiet. When she had their attention and everywhere became silent, she let them in on who Sarah was.

"That woman who claimed to be Alpha Adam's mate is nothing but a vampire," she announced to them.

"Vampire?" the elder who had spoken before asked.

"How can she be a vampire, my lady?" another elder asked.

"Calm down everyone," Alicia told them all. "Yes, she is indeed Adam's mate and also a vampire. Remember how the priest told us Alpha Adam's mate was dead? It's because vampires were already dead." She explained.

"What would you have us do now?" another elder asked the Alpha's mother.

"What else? We throw her into the dungeon where she belonged," Alicia said without any emotion.

"But, shouldn't we wait for Alpha Adam to decide on his mate?" Ian asked Alicia who smacked at him.

"What I say is final and I said that we are throwing her into the dungeon. Do you have any issues with my order, Ian?" Alicia asked.

"No, my lady," Ian answered and bowed his head slightly.

"Good," she told him. She pointed to an elder in the group and gave him an order. "Get some guards and get her thrown into the dungeon.''

"Yes, my lady," the man replied.

"Now, everyone, dismiss." She commanded and walked away from the hall.

Ian watched her going and thought about how Adam would feel if he arrived and heard about the matter later. Ian brought his phone out and dialed his friend's number.

***

Adam smiled at the flying wolf tattoo reflecting him in the mirror. He remembered how his mother had huffed and puffed when he had gotten the tattoo because she couldn't understand why he had chosen a wolf with wings tattoo. Only Adam knew the reason behind the action he had taken to get the wolf tattoo. He had gotten it because every time he was in his wolf form, he always felt free like nothing could ever stop him. Like he could fly with nothing to clip his wings.

As he dropped the wet towel he had used to dry his hair on the bed, he remembered the first time Sarah had walked into his room and the drama that had ensued between them both. He smiled as he sat down on his bed. He couldn't believe that she had been gone for a month already. Even though he had tried to look for her secretively, he had failed to find her. He wondered if she was alright at the moment.

It wasn't until after she left that he remembered the viral video speculating about her being a vampire. That was when he realized that he shouldn't have let her go at that period when her life could have been in imminent danger. When he had looked around for her and hadn't been able to find her, he had relaxed a little with the thought that if he couldn't find her, perhaps the public wouldn't be able to find her too. Also, the video trending about her every day had reduced significantly during the last month which had added to his assurance that she should be okay.

Adam swiped up his car keys and went out the door. He got in and drove away from his house to his regular club. He looked out of his windshield at the trees surrounding his house and wondered how they had grown so tall without him realizing it. He smiled at the serenity of the environment surrounding his house which was the main reason he got the house, for when he needed to shift and go free in the woods.

He thumped on his steering wheels in rhythm with the soft music he was listening to. He stopped when his mind reminded him about how confused Sarah had been the first time he had heard the radio. Adam scolded his mind as he realized that he was thinking about the vampire again. To stop himself from the thought, he focused on the street he was driving at and he chuckled as his eyes fell on a little kid who had bent low to pick something from the floor.

A woman held an umbrella in her hand, probably because the weather reported confirmed there would be some drizzle of rain later that evening. A young man who had a baseball cap on his head bounced across to the Next Street and Adam saw as he clapped hands with another young man who seemed to be the same age as the other man. Adam looked up and saw a young lady that wore a bum short and a smart top. He licked his mouth about how pretty her long legs were. Just as he tried to drive to her side, his phone rang. He picked it up when he saw that it was his beta on the phone.

"Ian?" Adam called into the phone after he picked it up.

"Alpha Adam, there's a problem at home," Ian responded immediately when he heard the Alpha's voice.

"What happened?" Adam asked, his panic rising over what could have gone wrong back at the pack house.

"It's an emergency and I'm afraid you will need to be home now," Ian told him.

"Is it the Lead pack?" Adam asked. He was afraid that Evan had taken the chance of his absence to attack the Colven pack.

"No, Adam. The pack is fine."

Adam relaxed visibly when he heard that the pack was fine. "I'm far away from home right now and I won't be able to make it."

"Sorry to disturb you and your trip but your attention is seriously needed over here," Ian told his friend in a very serious tone.

"Alright, alright. I'll be there before midnight," Adam said, giving in to the pressure his beta had lured him back home with. He hung up the call after the other man told him to hurry.