Chapter 3: Hello Princess

Yvette

After finishing up at the office I went back home and immediately I stepped inside, before I could say jack my phone started ringing again.

Oh my dayssss. How I wanted to scream my ass off.

Did I suddenly get popular overnight for my phone to have been ringing nonstop since morning? I begrudgingly picked the phone up from the table and glanced down at the screen.

Jaxon Vale.

Oh, that was a surprise. My cousin was calling.

“Jaxon?” I answered in a calm voice. He was always pleasant to talk to… I mean most of the time.

“Yvette, are you off work now? Are you busy?” He asked slightly hesitantly.

I glanced at the slice of apple in my hand and leaned back against the sofa.

“No, I just got home, what’s up?” I asked and he paused briefly before speaking again, sounding unusually excited.

“I just got promoted today and guess what?? I got a raise too…. AHHHHHHH” he screamed so loudly I had to take the phone out of my ears for some time so he wouldn't end up making me deaf.

Jaxon was very dramatic like that.

“I’m sorry… I’m really sorry, I’m just too excited.” He apologized and I nodded as if he could see me. “It’s fine,” I replied with a small smile.

“My parents said they haven't seen you in a while and wanted to invite you to dinner with us tonight.” He finally spit out the reason he was calling and a small smile touched my lips.

Jaxon’s parents had always treated me kindly.

Back when my mother left the pack after her divorce and we had almost nothing, it was my uncle Philip and his wife who quietly helped us survive those difficult years.

They had never had a daughter of their own, so they treated me like one.

“Alright, I’ll come,” I said softly.

“Great, I’ll come pick you up.” He replied quickly.

After the call ended, I stood up from the couch and one of the maids who had been tidying the living room, looked at me curiously.

“I’m going out for dinner,” I told her and she nodded, but I noticed the way she studied my face carefully.

Gina had worked for the Draven household for years. She knew me better than most people.

And she knew one thing very well.

I wasn’t someone who simply endured things quietly.

If I stayed silent…

It meant I was planning something and right now? Maybe I was planning something. It was up to her to think whatever she wanted anyway.

I grabbed my bag and left the villa.

The evening air outside was so cool and refreshing that I felt like stripping off my clothes and going for a run but I shook the thought off my head.

Tonight I was going to have dinner with Jaxon and his family and I would make the best time out of it.

As I walked toward the entrance gate, my phone buzzed again. It was a message from Jaxon.

Jaxon: My car just ran out of gas, wait there for a minute.

“Okay.” I texted back immediately.

Jaxon was three years older than me and already twenty-seven this year. My uncle and aunt were always worried about him settling down, but he never seemed interested in finding a mate.

So even though I didn’t interact much with the main Vale family anymore, I still visited my uncle’s home often.

To me, they were more family than the Dravens ever were.

I had only been waiting outside the neighborhood for a few minutes when my phone rang again.

“Yvette,” Jaxon said quickly, “it’s rush hour and I’m stuck far away. I asked a friend nearby to pick you up instead.”

Just as he finished speaking, a sleek black car pulled up in front of me.

Before I could react, the tinted window rolled down slowly and my breath caught.

I knew him… the person he had sent to pick me up was someone familiar… someone I hadn’t seen in years.

“I think… I see him.” I murmured, clutching my phone tightly.

The man sitting in the driver’s seat had sharp, defined features that were impossible to forget.

He wore a black shirt with the sleeves rolled up, exposing his strong, tanned forearms.

But what struck me most wasn’t his appearance, it was the powerful aura surrounding him.

The unmistakable presence of a high-ranking Alpha.

Alpha Soren Blackwood, leader of the Blackwood Pack and one of the most powerful packs in the northern territories.

Nine years ago, when I visited my uncle in a remote mountain town, my uncle had rescued an injured traveler who had fallen down a cliff.

That traveler had been Soren.

Back then, I was still young and curious. I used to follow him around with a book in my hands, pestering him with endless questions while he recovered.

I didn’t learn his true identity as the heir of the Blackwood Pack until later on.

And now that he was driving so closely towards me, his window rolled down, he looked…even more imposing than before, and dare I say more handsome?

His dark eyes lifted slowly to meet mine and for a brief moment, something unreadable flickered in them.

Perhaps he was remembering the past too, the little girl who used to trail after him endlessly.

But that girl was gone.

Tonight I wore a fitted smoke-purple dress, my hair pulled back into a high ponytail. I wasn’t that little bubbly girl anymore… I was now a drained miserable Luna who hated her life but was willing to make the very best of her last days.

Soren’s gaze darkened slightly as he studied me, then his lips parted.

“Get in.”

I ended the call with Jaxon and walked toward the car.

Once inside, I sat in the back seat instinctively, placing my hands neatly on my knees.

The silence inside the car was thick.

Soren didn’t speak.

But his presence was making me somewhat uncomfortable.. When did he have this aura? Or was this because he was an Alpha now?

I chuckled at the thought and laughed at my silliness.

“What’s funny Yvette?” He asked in that deep voice of his and I felt my tongue tie..

Oh oh… did that slip out? “Ummm, nothing is funny,” I replied, swallowing down nothing and this time it was his turn to chuckle.

“Hello, Princess.” He said and I froze.

Princess… that was the nickname he had for me. So he hadn’t forgotten that name since all these years?