Apologies for short chapter in advance, will make it up by posting another one in a few days.

Chapter 10

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"Jeff!" Evelyn exclaimed.

"Fuck!" Maxwell muttered simultaneously, but both Evelyn and Jeff could hear what he said and she stamped his leg in response.

"Ow!" Maxwell exclaimed as he winced and eyed his violent mate.

"Jeff, this is Max. My mate Max, Max is my mate. He is Max" Evelyn rambled.

"Max" Jeff said lips press together and a low grumbling comes from his throat, he said his name like it was poison ivy.

Max eyed him warily, this was her mate's father or rather someone she considered her father. He needed to make a good impression for everyone's sake.

"Yes sir, Max" Max stepped forward and put his hand out.

He stared at Maxwell's hand for a moment "Max" he echoed unpleasantly and shook his hand in a vice grip.

"Yes. Max" Max confirmed, pulling his hand from the death grip.

He just looked at him trying to intimidate him. Maxwell put up a bravado while Evy was sweating bullets next to him.

"Tonight. Dinner. 8 PM, don't be late" Jeff spewed and disappeared back in to the house.

Both Maxwell and Evelyn let out a breath of relief and stood there in silence recovering.

"A man of few words isn't he?" Maxwell deadpanned.

"Not really" Evelyn added back "But the image of his daughter making out could have something to do with it."

"Yeah, he is such a buzzkill" Maxwell added with a smile as she swatted his arm.

"Just because of that, no goodnight kiss for you" She said moving to the door.

"Don't you think that is a punishment too severe" He asked in mock hurt.

"You will live" She added.

"Barely" he said ruefully.

"Good night Max" She said stepping in to the house and holding the door to close it.

"Good night Evy, have naughty dreams all about me" he grinned.

"I will, but what is to say I will limit my dreams just to you?" She smiled evilly at him and closed the door.

"Ouch, my poor heart!" she heard him say from the other side of the door. She couldn't stop smiling as she walked to her room.

***

They had audience today. Apart from the usual.

Being trained by Roma wolves was bound to attract attention. There were a bunch of her pack wolves loitering on the sidelines of the pack grounds. Evelyn tried to ignore the extra eyes and focused on her target in front of her, an impossible target. She took a deep breath and lunged only to meet air where her target was a moment ago. Adrian moved like a ghost, she landed and turned, cursing. Today's theme was 'catch me if you can' and looks like Adrian was as slippery as an eel. She tried to hide her disappointment at her failure, tried to reassure herself that she was dealing with one of the best warrior of Roma.

After forty five minutes of huffing, panting, lunging and turning up empty. Adrian called it a day, mercifully. As a sweaty Evelyn beat a hasty retreat to where Alex and Jeff were standing. Adrian was intercepted by one of her pack wolves and after a short discussion they both returned to the ground.

Looked like one of Nick's wolves wanted to spar with Roma wolves. As Evelyn gulped down a bottle of water, she looked at the ground where Adrian and one of her pack wolves took stance. Her pack mate tried to lunge at Adrian and missed, it kept going on for a while.

"Looks like I am not the only one who is terrible" Evelyn commented to Alex who was standing next to her. He had been there the whole time, showing up with Adrian in the morning.

"Don't be hard on your self Evy, Adrian is one of our best" Alex reassured. Both of them still wanting the action in the training ground. Her pack member had yet to land a punch on Adrian who was evading skillfully.

"What about you? Are you any good?" Evelyn asked Alex.

"Me?" Alex confirmed "I can survive" he paused and added "Barely. I am nowhere close to my brother. I am more of a strategist and my brother is the muscle."

"He is good" Evelyn confessed, still looking at the action taking place in the training ground she vacated. The Roma wolf was still untouched.

"Of course, he was trained by the best" Alex declare proudly.

"The best? Who is it?" Evelyn asked wondering who the best Roma wolf in regards to fighting was.

"Sebastian" Alex said with utter confidence and awe in his voice "He is something else."

"Is it?" Evelyn couldn't help but ask, regarding someone who had such admiration from Alex.

"Yep" Alex confirmed "He is a natural and has unmatched instincts. Here you are just trying to fight my brother, he will teach you how to engage ten people like my brother."

"I am not even sure if I can ever catch up to your brother let alone engage ten people like your brother" She scoffed at herself.

"You need to remember that fighting is also like every other thing that we do in life Evelyn. It take practice and dedication to get good at it. Very few are naturals like Sebastian but the rest of us, it is practice and dedication, something I suspect you did not have in this field till now" Alex said looking at her.

"Never did like fighting much" Evelyn confessed.

"I gathered" Alex smiled at her.

"So why do I have to fight?" she whined.

"For you own protection Evelyn" Alex said seriously looking at her.

"Why bother when I have a hundred guys following me" She said sarcastically, indicating her bodyguards who followed her every time she stepped out of the pack grounds. Even when in pack grounds, she always had a few Roma wolves in her line of sight.

"That didn't help Maxim Roma" Alex said regarding to bodyguards, he was surrounded by his guards when he died.

"That wouldn't help me either, I don't think some fancy karate tricks will save me from a bullet" She blurted and winced "Sorry" she said realizing she was being a little insensitive. She knew from her previous interaction how much the brothers idolized Maxim Roma, he was like their father.

"It just might Evy" Alex said ignoring her apology "It just might and that is why you need to take your training seriously" Alex implored.

"I Will" she nodded in earnest, she had been taking it seriously, not that she thought it was helping. She still sucked at it.

"You have fifteen minutes" he said looking at his watch "get ready and I will buy you breakfast"

At the mention of breakfast her stomach grumbled.

"Looks like your stomach agrees with my thought, fifteen minutes, now go" he said pushing her towards her house and turned back to the action in the practice ground where Adrian was still ruling.

***

They were seated in one of the outside tables at Joe's. This was a popular joint and it was pretty full during breakfast time, this was becoming a ritual for Evelyn and Alex. They quickly ordered a healthy portion of breakfast and the waitress poured them some coffee while they waited for their order.

"So yesterday was interesting" Alex broke the silence.

"It was" Evelyn added with a small smile.

"You have a devious mind Evy" Alex said grudgingly.

"What makes you so sure that it was my idea?" Evy asked.

"Because your mate cannot come up with something so sinister" Alex added.

"He just might" She simply said.

"What, you just spend all of two days with him and now you are an expert?" He scoffed.

"I know Maxwell better than anyone else. He is usually so uptight and wound up." Alex said then looked at her intently and added gently "But seeing this side of him is refreshing, he...he already seems different with you in his life."

"You have no idea how Maxwell's life is like. He lives in the constant shadow of his father, every step of his is compared to his father. Maxim Roma was a great man, a legend, a tour de force of a man who revived his crumbling empire on sheer will. It is not fair for anyone to be compared to him. Maxwell might be his son but he is his own person in his own way. But the amount of pressure on him. It's a wonder he has not cracked till now. You might be the best thing that happened to him yet" There was absolute sincerity in Alex's voice.

"Thank you Alex, I hope so. I don't want to be a disappointment." Evy softly said. Voicing out her fears.

"You can never be a disappointment Evy" Alex said with absolute confidence.

She hoped she had Alex's confidence, she didn't. So she just nodded mutely instead.

***

The man stood across the street. His telephoto lenses capturing the moment in perfect clarity. He clicked series of pictures rapidly. And then looked in to the LCD display of his camera toggling between pictures. They were beautiful, he had to admit. The captured his targets perfectly, both his targets smiling in one picture, laughing, deep in conversation. Luckily today they had sat outside the food joint. It would have been much difficult if they had sat inside.

As his targets got up to move he took few more pictures, both of them getting in to an SUV and drove away. A moment later a table away, couple of guys got up and another SUV arrived and they got in and drove off. He captured all of this on his camera. Satisfied he packed up his equipment and made a hasty retreat. No point in hanging around when the job was done.

He got in to his car and slowly put it in to motion, his client surely would be happy. He had no idea who his client was, never met him. Not that it mattered as long he was getting paid, which he was in advance. Internet was a beautiful thing. He had been contacted on the internet for this job and the client had transferred him an healthy advance. His task was simple, to take pictures of any strangers or unusual vehicles or persons in this town. Since he had lived in this town all his life it had been easy. He could easily sniff out outsiders.

As he drove towards his office, all he had to do now was to e-mail these pictures to his client.