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Chapter 29

"Are you crazy, Lina?" I questioned as I placed my hand on my hip. "Stefan is the hotter one, he's not only hot, but he's so sweet and kind. Not like Damon," I said as I shook my head and completely disagreed with Lina's opinion.

"I'm the crazy one?" She asked. "Do you hear yourself right now, Tiana? You're picking Stefan over Damon. That's just absurd, are you blind, my friend?" She questioned as she placed the palm of her hand on my forehead. I rolled my eyes at that.

"I'm perfectly fine, it's just that I prefer Stefan over Damon. He's the perfect man, not like Damon. So mean and evil," I said the last part to tick her off.

"Oh hell to the no, you did not just diss my man," she shrieked playfully and with that, she leaped on me. I squealed out in shock as both she and I fell from the couch and onto the hard floor as we laughed our butt off. I pushed her off of me and she shook her head.

"You're one of a kind, girl!" She spoke. "Everyone loves Damon, and you're the first person I hear to say that they pick Stefan over my future husband." She told me as her eyes closed at the thought of a man she would never have.

"It's because I like the nice guys, not everyone is into the bad boys. Besides, he isn't your future husband, he's a vampire, remember? Mortal enemies!" I reminded her. She gave out a dreamy sigh and looked at me with a wide smile crawling onto her lips.

"But he's a hot vampire. I would ditch this place for him anytime, anywhere." She cooed. I rolled my eyes at her and shook my head.

I was in Lina's room at the moment. We were having a 'The Vampire Diaries' marathon. I don't know how many episodes we watched but we watched it to the point we looked like cavemen, food splattered everywhere on the ground. The curtains closed shut like we were some vampires hiding from the light, our hair in every direction because of the constant mini fight we would make due to the fact we did not agree on the same guy. And our faces filled with every emotion you could possibly think of because of how the series was an emotional roller coaster.

Today Lina offered this to me and I couldn't decline. This was one of my favorite series even though it was based on vampires, the ones we dislike the most.

"You're saying you'd date a vampire?" I asked her with a brow raised. She laughed and nodded her head.

"If he's like Damon, then yes. I would," she said dreamily. I rolled my eyes at her.

"Well, good luck with finding one like him," I told her. She laughed and nodded her head.

"Thanks, I'm going to need it." She said jokingly. We brought our attention back to the episode and watched it with a little bickering here and there. She would defend Damon, while I would defend Stefan. We eventually got into another fight.

"Take it back," I shouted at her as I pushed her off the couch again with a scowl on my face.

"No," she shrieked then laughed as she hit the floor.

"Take it back, Lina. Or I will do something you won't like," I threatened her. She gave me a smirk as she got off the ground.

"Oh really? Like what?" She asked then crossed her arms against her chest. I gave her a smirk and stood up.

"I'll eat this," I threatened. I grabbed the last piece of pizza that was on her plate that she was saving for a moment in the episode. Her eyes widened then the smirk that was on her face fell and her eyes gave me a deadly glare.

"You wouldn't," she growled. My smirk grew and I shrugged my shoulders.

"Oh, I would," I spoke. As soon as that left my mouth she took a step closer to me but I placed the tip of the pizza in front of my now open mouth.

"Ah ah ah, I wouldn't take a step closer if I were you," I advised her. She gave out a sigh and her shoulders fell down in defeat.

"Fine, fine. I take that back. Stefan does not look like a donkey," she said as she eyed her pizza carefully. My smirk grew and I looked down at the pizza that was in my hands and then back at her.

"Great," I spoke out happily. And with that, I bit down onto the delicious pizza. Lina gasped and her eyes widened in betrayal.

"You traitor," she screamed and then jumped on me for the hundredth time today. I laughed hysterically as we fell to the floor as she attempted to hurt me in any way. "I can't believe you, I thought we were friends." She spoke out dramatically. I rolled my eyes but snapped my head when I heard someone speak from beside the door.

"You both are a pair of drama queens," Adam said with a smile on his face and stared at us with a disbelieving look on his face.

We looked at him with a scowl on our faces. Lina and I stood up and wiped off the dust from our clothes then looked at him.

"We're not drama queens," Lina defended. Adam rolled his eyes.

"Yes, you guys are. Anyone in their right mind would think that. Your voices could be heard from the end of the hall," he told us.

"Um, no we're not. Anyone in their right mind would do the same, it's Damon we're talking about," Lina backfired using his words

Adam rolled his eyes again but soon nodded his head, not convinced.

"Sure, I'll go along with that." He said sarcastically.

"Whatever," Lina muttered lowly. "What are you doing here?" She asked. "You're interrupting our marathon." Adam looked over at the tv and raised a brow.

"Seriously? You do know that vampires are our mortal enemies," he said, exactly what I said a while ago. Lina and I both looked at each other but shrugged our shoulders.

"We don't care, they're hot," Lina said. I smiled and nodded my head. "She's got a point." I agreed. Adam furrowed his brow and glared at the tv which had Stefan and Damon on it right now.

"Hot? No, they're ugly. Especially the brown hair dude." He said then looked at us. My eyes widened at what he said about Stefan and a growl escaped my lips as I stepped towards him. Lina was laughing her butt off from his words and Adam looked at me with wide eyes when he realized what he just said.

"Oh shit," he muttered. "I'm sorry, Tiana. I didn't realize-," I cut him off as I jumped onto his back and repeatedly hit him. He started screaming like a teenage girl as I attempted to hurt him.

"How." Hit. "Dare." Hit. "You." Hit. "Say." Hit. "That." Hit. "About." Hit. "My." Hit. "Favorite." Hit. "Man?" I squeaked as he threw me on the ground.

"Favorite man?" Adam scoffed. "I'm your favorite man!" He said with no room left for discussion. I growled then got up, but before I could disagree with him, a familiar scent hit my nose and someone entered the room.

All faces turned to the person that was by the door to see Mason standing there with a straight face.

The last time I saw him was a couple of days ago. Ever since last week, the day I saw him outside the packhouse and when he peeked into the window and frightened me, we actually started talking. I would see him here and there and we wouldn't argue this time. Just have small conversations, then that's it. Nothing much.

"Is there something wrong, Mason?" Lina asked him. Mason's eyes went from Lina to the tv, to the room, and then to me. He looked at Adam but then turned his attention back at Lina.

"No, I just need help with some papers. I want you to come with me to my office," Mason answered. Lina nodded her head then looked at us.

"Ok then, bye guys." She waved at us. "We'll continue this later on." And with that, she and Mason walked out of the room. I looked at Adam and he gave me a shrug.

"I guess it's only you and me now," he said as he sat down on the chair and turned on the volume. I raised my brow but shrugged my shoulders. I sat next to him and grabbed the bowl of popcorn as I continued to watch the episode.

I was walking down the hall when I noticed I was close to Mason's office. I slowed my pace when I was nearly next to the door. I then stopped when I heard a growl coming from inside it, knowing exactly it belonged to Mason. I frowned in confusion.

"Dammit," I heard him growl. "How the hell am I going to finish this on time?" He growled. I wasn't sure whether he was talking to himself or with someone else. My wolf was telling me to check up on him and see if I could help him with anything while my subconscious told me to mind my own business. I sighed out in defeat and then knocked on the door.

"Come in," Mason growled out in annoyance. I slowly and hesitantly opened the door then peeked my head inside the room to see him sitting alone in his office. Wasn't Lina with him or something? Mason looked up to meet my eyes and then frowned.

"Tiana?" He questioned a little surprised. "Is there something wrong?" His face turned serious as he asked the question.

I entered the office completely and looked around to see that it was a mess. Papers everywhere like a mini hurricane took place not too long ago. Stress was radiating off of Mason as I looked around the office flabbergasted.

"What happened here?" I asked him, not answering his question. He looked around the office and his eyes widened like he hadn't noticed the mess until I pointed it out. A huff of frustration escaped his lips and he ran both of his hands through his hair.

"Dammit," he cursed again. "I don't have time for this," he grumbled as he looked at all the papers that were scattered around his office. I looked up at him and couldn't help but feel bad for him. He must be under a lot of pressure.

"What's wrong?" I asked him, wanting to know the reason why he was under this stress. He looked up at me and his eyes softened. I stepped closer to his desk as another tired sigh made its way out of his mouth.

"I have lots of paperwork I have to deal with, paperwork from other packs due to that vampire incident. We're trying to look for a solution and I have to handle some stuff. They're expecting all of them to be done by tomorrow but I can't seem to finish, and this mess-," he said looking around his office, "isn't helping at all." Mason explained.

I nodded my head, understanding.

"Wasn't Lina with you? Why couldn't she help you?" I asked him. He shook his head and ran his hand through his hair another time, Mason then looked up at me.

"She was, but Nick called her for something that had to do with the pack warriors," he answered. I nodded my head again and looked at his office one more time before looking at him.

"I can help you," I said, but then my eyes widened when I realized what I said, "I mean, that's if it's ok with you."

He looked at me with wide eyes as well, looking disbelieved that I offered to help him. He then snapped out of it before giving me a small smile and nodding his head.

"I'd appreciate it," he said. I gave him a small smile and took another step towards him.

"Ok, what can I do?" I questioned.

"First, I'd like you to clean this mess. I can't work in a dirty environment. Then once you're done, I want you to organize these files," he said pointing to a bunch of files on his desk. "And then when you're done with that, I want you to look through these papers-," he showed me a stack of papers, "and let me know if you see anything important," Mason explained.

I nodded my head understanding what he wanted and started cleaning his office. Mason immediately got back to work and I couldn't believe that we were talking like decent people. Wow, who knew Mason could be spoken to like a normal person. After 20 minutes or so I was completely done with tidying his office. I glanced at Mason. He didn't even look at me. He was too caught up in the work he was in. I grabbed the files that were on his desk and started organizing them on the shelf.

When I was halfway through them I felt a stare on my back. I turned around to see Mason looking at me. I raised a brow.

"Is there something wrong?" I asked him, thinking that I did something wrong. He shook his head and immediately went back to the papers that were on his desk. I shrugged my shoulders and continued to organize the files. When I was done I sat on one of the chairs that were in front of his desk and grabbed the stack of papers.

I skimmed through them. They were mostly letters from packs declaring peace, guessing that they didn't want to be on this pack's bad side. This pack didn't have a reputation of being friendly, it had a reputation of being the deadliest pack of them all. Of course, the rumors are exaggerated most of the time but most of the parts are actually true. I kept showing them to Mason and he would tell me to keep them on the side.

Some of the papers were boring stuff that I understood nothing about. The others I came across were letters from other alphas asking for a meeting of some sort. I showed these to Mason and he told me to put them aside with the others.

I looked through the rest and didn't find them important. As I made it to the last one I realized that it was another letter. What's up with all the letters? Have these people heard about technology or what?

I opened the last letter and skimmed through it. My eyes widened when I read it. This letter was discussing the vampire issue. The alpha wants to meet up with Mason to propose a solution. At least, that's what it says in the letter. I immediately showed it to Mason and when he read it he nodded his head.

"Ok. Thank you, Tiana." He said and placed the letter on top of his desk. I realized that I finished everything so I slowly got up and looked at him.

"Well, I guess I'm done from here," I told him. He nodded his head and gave me an appreciated look.

"I appreciate it, Tiana. Thank you," he said, his voice truly thankful. I smiled at him and shook my head.

"There's no need to thank me, do something else in exchange and we're tied." I said with a smirk on my face, completely kidding. He raised a brow, amusement written all over his face.

"So everything you just did, wasn't from the goodness of your heart?" He asked.

"Good? In me? Ha!" I laughed out, he chuckled and I took a step back.

"Well, what can I do for you then?" He asked. Thinking that he's playing along I turned around and opened the door, but before I could walk out I turned and looked at him.

"Take me out to dinner and we're tied," I said jokingly and walked out of his office.

"Shit," Adam cursed for the hundredth time. "How are you so good?" He asked as I won another time. I gave him a smirk and shrugged my shoulders.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because I'm awesome?" I suggested. He rolled his eyes as he stared at the chessboard with a look of defeat. We've been playing chess for about an hour now. Adam found this in his room, inside a small closet, guessing that it was for someone that was in his room before him and they forgot it there. He took it and came over to me challenging him to a match. Little did he know that I was a master in chess.

When he lost the first time he declared another match, then another, then another. He kept saying that he was going easy on me, not wanting to admit defeat but I kept winning and winning. Slowly waiting for him to give up.

"Dammit," he muttered under his breath. "I can't believe I lost to a girl." He whined. I laughed and shook my head.

"Let me rephrase that. You lost about 20 times to a girl," I laughed and my laughter got even louder when Adam pouted. He whined liked a baby and shook his head. "Ugh...you need to teach me your ways," he said to me. I shrugged my shoulders and a smirk crawled onto my lips.

"Oh, I don't know. It doesn't look like you'll be learning any time soon," I teased him. His eyes furrowed and a scowl appeared on his face.

"Tiana," he tried to growl but it came out as a whine.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding," I said between my laughter. He sighed out and stared at the chessboard like he'd learn something just by doing that. I rolled my eyes and got up to head to the bathroom to do my business. I've been holding it in for a while because Adam wouldn't let me off the hook until he won. But he never did. Before I could enter the bathroom, a knock on my door was heard. I frowned and looked at Adam.

Who could it be? Lina?

Adam got up and walked towards the door.

"I'll get it," he said. He grabbed onto the handle and turned it around, opening the door wide. His scent immediately made its way to my nose and my eyes widened when I saw Mason in front of my room. What was he doing here? I saw Mason's eyes turn a dark shade of black as he looked at Adam. Adam's eyes were hard, they held curiosity in them. I bet he was questioning why he was in front of my room, just like me.

Mason's eyes then turned to me and then back at Adam.

"Can I help you, Alpha?" Adam asked. I frowned at his tone. He didn't sound too happy at his appearance.

"No, I didn't come here for you." He said.

Obviously, he did come to my room.

His eyes then looked at me and his dark eyes went a little back to their natural color.

"I came to speak to Tiana," he said. Adam looked between Mason and me, he sighed out and I gave him a small smile. Telling him it was ok if he left. It wasn't like Mason was going to hurt me. Adam's frown deepened and he walked out of the room without another word. My small smile dropped as Adam walked out of sight. I mentally shook my head at him, I'm going to need to talk to him later.

I brought my attention back at Mason to see him looking down at the floor. He then looked up at me and a straight expression appeared on his face as he took a step closer to me.

"Get ready at 7. I'm taking you out to dinner."

And with that, he was out of my room, faster than light. My eyes were wide and my mouth hung open as any fly could have flown in there. It took me a moment to comprehend his word, it took me a moment for his words to register in my mind and when it did, my wolf started freaking out. I, on the other hand, was shocked. Did he really take my words seriously? I was only kidding, I didn't really mean it.

But it looked like it didn't matter, because he was taking me out to dinner, and that kept roaming in my mind. My wolf was more than happy, that for once she and her mate could connect in some way. While I was still too shocked to think of anything.

When I first came here, I never would have thought that Mason and I would have a decent conversation, but he's taking me out to dinner. And that surprised me to an extent. And I knew, no matter how much I wanted to stay away from this mate bond, deep down inside me, I was sort of happy.