Alpha Nocturne’s Contracted Mate by A E Randell
Chapter 191 I’d Rather Avoid Allen
The first meeting of the day had run over schedule by about an hour, and as the Elders filed out of the room in silence, Adam reached for Ann’s hand and gave it a squeeze, before he brought it to his lips, placing a soft kiss on her skin.
“You were magnificent, my Queen.” He murmured as Ann giggled like a teenager at the intimate moment between them.
“I just hope they finally got the message,” she sighed, her disappointment still evident as they stood and began to make their way toward the next scheduled meeting.
She was satisfied with the agreed-upon actions that the Elders had committed to and had ordered the measures discussed to be implemented immediately. At least now, she had a solid plan that she could relay to Alpha Felix so that their Kingdom didn’t come across as incompetent.
Ann’s phone rang seconds before Adam’s did, and seeing Lexi on her caller display and Allen on Adam’s, they quickly took a detour to find a smaller side room where they could talk in private.
“Hey, Queenie, what’s cooking?” Lexi sang brightly from the other end of the phone as her father’s deep chuckle resonated from somewhere in the background.
“Well, where do I even start?” Ann groaned as she quickly filled her in on the events that had occurred since she left them.
Lexi whistled lowly.
“What the actual f**k? I leave you alone for a little while and utter chaos breaks loose… every damn time. Do I need to make myself a permanent fixture over there?”
“It might be wise.” Ann chuckled.
“Well, I was going to head over shortly anyway. Papa is keen to see the abomination you have locked away in your dungeons over there, so I just wanted to check that it was okay and whether or not he’s okay to portal directly to the Enclave.”
Ann grimaced as she mulled it over. It probably wouldn’t be wise to throw the appearance of a daemon lord in the midst of the Enclave into the faces of the Elders so soon considering how harshly she was coming down on them at the minute.
“I think, just for this time, if it’s okay with you and your father, can you get to the Dark Moon pack house again? Allen can meet you there and bring you here, and then I can a*s*sign you guest quarters. Ideally, I want a portal room constructed here for your father’s exclusive usage but I still need to get to the vault and grab the blueprints so that I can plan it out properly.”
Lexi snorted loudly from the other end of the phone.
“Ok, we’ll placate the Elders for now then.” she sniggered, seeing right through Ann’s line of thinking almost immediately, “No biggie, although I’d rather avoid Allen if possible.”
“Ah, yes. Bartholomew filled me in on your little dilemma there, Lexi.” Ann teased, “Since when do you keep secrets like that from me?! Ordinarily, you’d have been jumping all over yourself to tell me you had two strapping men fawning over you.”
“Rotten little snake. I didn’t think for a minute that Barty would gra*s*s me up. Rude of him.” She muttered, her irritation obvious. “I would have told you but I mean… it’s Allen for Goddess’s sake, and you were so busy… look, how about this. I’ll steal you when we get there once Papa is settled and we can sit and drink ourselves into oblivion while I whine about the trajectory of my life.”
“Ha! I can’t drink myself into oblivion, but I’ll happily sit and watch while you do and listen attentively sweets.”
“Sounds good. I’ll see you in a couple of hours then. I think I’ll need a bit of dutch courage before I have to face Allen and his stick up the a*s*s again though,” she muttered in resignation, “Ciao for now Queenie. Love ya!”
Ann exhaled slowly as she waited for Adam to finish up on his call. As soon as the opportunity arose in a brief lull in their conversation, she asked him to let Allen know about Lexi’s imminent arrival with her father.
As soon as he hung up she smiled softly at him.
“After everything we faced, the drama doesn’t seem to stop does it? Dereliction of duties on the elder’s behalf, an imminent war looming on the horizon on one side and murderous, rampaging rogues on the other whilst we battle the depravity of our own people against the very people they were meant to protect… all the while trying to hold down stable diplomatic relations with our allies.” she sighed, her shoulders slumping slightly as she looked up at his eyes swirling with heavy clouds of complex emotion.
He would give anything to take this enormous amount of pressure from her and give her a quiet life with no upheavals or major emergencies, just a simple dream of a stable pack and a house full of their strong, healthy pups. But he knew that it wasn’t possible, at least for now.
Adam wrapped his arms around her tightly and cradled her head to his chest as he stroked her hair. “We’ll get through this, Ann. It’s just another bump in the endless road of life. Before you know it, we’ll be able to look back on this and laugh at the insanity that we’re facing now.”
Ann smiled weakly against his chest. She just hoped that all of them could get through this in one piece.
She knew they should be making their way to the next meeting but she just wanted to lose herself in his arms for a few moments more, a rea*s*surance that only Adam could give as his scent invaded her very being.
The longer she stood in his arms, the more she wanted a bigger distraction, something to feel anything but this pit of dread that was gnawing away on the inside of her stomach.
Without thinking too much about it she turned and led Adam over to one of the benches that lined the sides of the small side room. She a*s*sumed that it was merely a quiet space for reading, or catching up on notes between meetings but ultimately, she didn’t care at this moment in time.
Adam looked down at her questioningly as she ran her hands over the material of his shirt and slipped her fingers into the little gaps of material between shirt buttons.
Slowly, she began unbuttoning the top few buttons of his shirt as she raised her eyes to meet his confused look with a sultry, lustful stare that told him exactly what he needed to know.
She wanted him, right then and there.