Chapter 22: CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

The next morning, Alicia dressed up and left the house as soon as the first crows called. She commanded the driver to take her straight to Ariel's home and the man went in the direction of the house of her best friend. As they went along, Alicia thought about how disobedient her son had been to her because of the vampire he claimed was his mate. She thought about how Adam had done something that he had never done to her and the hurt she felt the day before resurfaced.

True, Adam was the leader of the Colven pack but he had never disobeyed her as his mother before. Every time he made decisions in the past and Alicia had stood against it, Adam would listen to his mother and halt whatever he had been about to do. There are also days when he would seek his mother's opinion over a matter and he would do exactly as Alicia had said.

But now, he had been disobedient to her because of that vampire woman. If they had both thought that they had won the battle, then they were deceiving themselves because she would make sure that the vampire woman does not stay anywhere near her son. She had thought about it all through the night and had even come up with the perfect idea to chase Sarah away from Adam's life. She had decided to bring her best friend's daughter to the pack house.

The driver stopped in front of the mansion of Ariel and Alicia jumped down from the car without waiting for the driver to help her down. She went to the door and knocked on it. The door opened immediately and Ariel came out of the house, surprised to find her best friend by the door. She grabbed Alicia’s hand and pulled her inside. As soon as they sat down, Ariel asked a maid to serve them some chilled drinks. When the maid returns with it, Ariel shooed her away and she started her talk with her best friend.

"What brings you here? I was even thinking about visiting you soon, so I'm glad you are here," she said to Alicia.

Alicia took a sip of the drink in her hand before she responded.

"My dear, I came because of your daughter, Xana. I would like to have her come with me to the pack house," Alicia said without mincing words.

"Then, you are in luck because she just arrived home last night itself," Ariel said with a smile.

"Truly? Call her over for me," Alicia said, joy reflecting in her voice about how easy things were doing according to her plans.

"Xana! Xana!" Ariel called out to her daughter.

"Coming, mother," a voice answered from inside one of the rooms.

Alicia watched as a young beautiful redhead came out of the room and she examined her very well. She noticed that the young lady has sparkling blue eyes, almost similar in color to that of Adam. The young lady also had pretty freckles decorating themselves across her face and they made her look so adorable that Alicia began to wonder why Adam hadn't chosen someone like the young beautiful girl she was looking at.

Alicia looked at the rest of the lady and saw that she wore an expensive long gown. She also wore high heels to complement the dress. Adorning her hands and her neck were ornaments of the same make. On her ears were matching earrings for the jewelry nestling on her neck. When Alicia finally raised her eyes back to the young lady, she smiled. She was already more than pleased with her with the way she had dressed herself up.

"Here I am, mother," the young lady said, then she turned with a smile to the guest that was with her mother. "A very pleasant day to you, ma'am." She greeted Alicia in a voice that sounded like it belonged to an angel.

"Good day to you too, my daughter," Alicia responded to the greetings.

"Come, sit with us," Ariel commanded her daughter and Xana obeyed. "Do you know who that is, daughter?" Ariel asked her daughter, pointing to Alicia.

"No, I have no clue who she is," Xana said with a shake of her head.

"That's Adam's mother and she had come to talk to you about taking you with her to the pack house," Ariel said with a smile.

Xana looked at her mother with a smile. When her mother pointed to their guest, Xana turned to her with a broad smile. Alicia smiled back at the enthusiasm the young lady displayed and she patted her hands. She knew that her mission was a success already and every other thing would only be as a courtesy.

"I want to betrothed your daughter to my son, Adam. Is that okay with you, Ariel?" Alicia asked her best friend.

Ariel pretended like she was thinking about it. When she still didn't give any answer after what felt like an eternity to Xana, she responded on behalf of her mother.

"Yes, ma'am. I'm sure she should be delighted to do that," Xana told their guest.

The two older women laughed over the enthusiasm of Xana toward the betrothal but she didn't mind. After all these years of waiting, she was finally getting the one chance she had pleaded with the goddess to grant to her and she wasn't ready to let it go no matter what.

"Since that is settled, I would like Xana to return with me today itself. That is if it is okay by you, Ariel," Alicia said.

"Sure, dearest friend," Ariel replied to Alicia.

"In that case, I'll go get my wardrobe ready for the journey," Xana announced to them. She got up from her sitting position and swiped her hands on her clothes to smoothen the wrinkled damage sitting down had caused to the dress, then she left the room to get her things ready.

Alicia watched as Xana smoothened her dress and she nodded slightly. The girl was not just beautiful, she was also very neat, and quite well-behaved. Alicia thought about how well she would do excellently as the Luna of the Colven pack compared to that vampire. Ariel said something to her and Alicia took her mind off the matter. The two friends spoke for about twenty minutes before Xana reappeared in the room with a suitcase in hand.

"Since Xana is ready to go, I guess we would have to leave now," Alicia said as she stood up.

"Alright. Please, take good care of my daughter, will you?" Ariel said as she stood up too.

"Of course," Alicia answered. "Let's go, Xana."

"Yes, ma'am," Xana responded. "See you later, mother."

Ariel saw the two of them out of the house. When the driver saw Xana with the suitcase in hand, he rushed over, took it from her, and dumped it into the back of the car. Alicia and Xana both got into the car and the driver drove off back to the pack house. When they arrived, Alicia showed Xana around the pack house, letting her know which was which. When they returned to the hall, they nearly bumped into Ian who looked shocked to see a strange woman in the pack house.

"My lady," Ian greeted Alicia who responded with a nod of her head. Ian turned to the newcomer in the pack. "And this is who, my lady?" Ian asked Alicia.

"The one who is going to be Luna," Alicia replied with a smile.

She grabbed Xana’s hands and they both walked away from Ian. As they kept walking, Ian thought about how the Alpha would feel if he learned about the drastic steps his mother had taken on his behalf. Without wasting time, Ian brought out his phone and called Adam.

Adam stopped in the middle of the words he had been saying to the town leader's assistant, Rex when he heard his phone ringing. He excused himself and checked who it was. When Adam saw that Ian was in the line, he told the assistant and picked up the call, thinking that his friend might have a message to pass across to the assistant.

"Ian, what's up? I'm with your assistant right now, do you have any message you would like to get across to him?" Adam asked immediately he picked up the call.

"No, Alpha. It's about your mother," Ian said in a gloomy voice.

"She's still gloating about the unfair treatment she claimed I subjected her to?" Adam asked with a light chuckle.

"I wish that was the case, but no," his beta informed him.

"What did she do this time?" Adam asked in a very low voice.

"She brought home a strange woman whom she claimed is going to be the Luna of the pack in the future," Ian explained to the Alpha.

"What did you just say?" Adam asked with a shocked tone. When Ian tried to repeat the statement, Adam cut him off. "I heard you quite well. I'm just trying to comprehend why my mother would run an errand I didn't send her, Ian," Adam explained the reason for his reaction to his beta.

"Well, you better hurry back home now. I can finish the discussion with my assistant," Ian offered Adam.

"I'm on my way," Adam assured his beta and hung up. He looked at the assistant and shook his head. "Sorry, we will have to postpone this meeting."

After Rex assured him that it was fine, Adam moved out of the meeting room and moved the path to the pack house. On his way, Adam thought about how adamant his mother was behaving over the whole mating thing and he shook his head over how childish his mother was. He couldn't understand why it was so difficult for his mother to accept that his mate was a vampire in the first place. And now, she even went ahead on her own accord and got him another mate.

When he arrived home, he went straight to his mother's room and flung the door open without prior knocking. Both women were in the middle of laughter when the door revealed them. They both stilled as they saw Adam staring at them like they had grown horns. When his mother recovered from the shock, she smiled at Adam and pointed to Xana who suddenly looked like she was shy.

"Adam, meet Xana. Xana, meet Adam," Alicia said as a way of introduction.

"Hello," Xana said to Adam with a smile.

"Hi," Adam replied to her politely. "Mom, can I see you for a moment?"

His mother obliged and they both moved out.

"Mom, what're all this for?" Adam asked his mother in an indignant tone.

"That's who I want as the Luna of our pack, not that blood-sucking creation."

"That blood-sucking creation you just referred to is my mate and I'm not choosing anyone else over her," Adam retorted.

When Alicia saw that arguing or forcing her son was not going to yield any positive response, she switched to a gentle tone. "Okay, fine. Just talk to her first. If you don't like her, then I won't force you." She told her son and patted his left arm.

Adam looked at his mother and sighed, knowing that there was no way he would easily get out of the trap his mother had set for him. If it were a while back, Adam wouldn't have minded what his mother had done. He would have been very happy with her because he knew that he was going to be having sex with the woman any time he wishes and when he was bored, he would just dump her with no care.

But, he found that he was now falling in love with Sarah despite staying away from her to avoid such. When he had seen the wound on her face yesterday and had nearly clawed his men to death, Ian had teased him about his feelings for his mate. Of course, Adam had denied ever feeling like that but he knew deep down in his heart that he was slowly falling for her.

And that was the reason why he had stayed away from her since yesterday even though he wanted to rush to her side and help her tend to her wounds. He wanted to avoid doing what his wolf kept asking for every time he was close to Sarah. Now, his mother had set another woman before him and Adam knew that even though he wasn't interested in the woman, he still had to try and please his mother given that she had been pouting around since last night.

"Fine, I'll talk to her," Adam conceded.

"Thank you, son," Alicia said with a smile.

They returned to the room where Xana still sat calmly on the chair she had sat on before they went out. Alicia told Xana that she needed to get some things done. She winked at her son just as she went out of the door, leaving the two of them alone. Adam walked into the room fully and cleared his throat to get her attention. When Xana looked up, he smiled at her.

"I know my mom introduced us before but, I'm Adam," he told her and stretched his hand toward her.

"Pleasure to meet you, Adam. I'm Xana," she responded with a smile and shook the hand he offered.

"So, who is Xana, and what is she up to?" Adam asked.

Xana smiled at him before she said anything. Then, she explained how she had left for Australia at a temper age to school. She told him about when she returned to Cyprus and how the rest of her pack had a hard time accepting her as one of their own because she had been away from them for too long. Xana also told him she owned a boutique store in the city where she makes sure people have access to the latest trendy fashionable wears.

As she spoke, Adam was flooded by how fluent her diction was and how she spoke with so much grace. Coupled with her speech, she was also very attractive with her looks and her high sense of fashionable dressing. Her angelic voice also hooked him up and he thought about how he would have easily accepted her as his mate if he didn't feel something already for Sarah.

When she was done with the introduction of herself, Adam did the same thing but he made sure that he only shared the basic things about himself that she could easily find out if she inquired. When he was done with the introduction, he saw Xana cocked a brow at him in a manner that suggested that she had caught him red-handed in what he had just done. Adam shrugged his shoulders and smiled at her.

"Anyway, just take your time to know me if you wish since I am not in a rush neither am I that eager, to be honest," Adam warned her.

"Fine by me," Xana told him and got up from where she sat. She moved to Adam and tried to kiss him but Adam turned his face before their lips could connect.

"Sorry, but I don't want to," Adam told her and stepped back.

"It's cool. Just promise we will see again," Xana told him.

Adam stared at her for some seconds before he nodded his head in the affirmative. Without waiting for any more words from Xana, he walked out of the room. As Xana watched his fast-fading body features, she smiled to herself while she vowed silently in her heart that nothing would ever stop her from having the Alpha.