Prologue
One year. It had been one year since Adrian had last seen his sister. And now that he had become an uncle, he was eager to meet her again, to see what had changed in her life.
Mary-Jane, a.k.a M-J, was only too happy to see her brother again. It had been far too long since she had last seen him. Ever since her wedding day, he had made himself scarce. But the moment she called him to tell him she had given birth to a little boy, he had announced he was coming to see her.
They agreed to meet up at a restaurant. It was but a get-together really, but neither of them had any idea what the evening had in store for them.
It started out normally; greetings were exchanged, with M-J hugging her older brother like there was no tomorrow before finally letting him sit down. Justin, her mate and husband, simply shook hands with his brother-in-law. And then it was Adrian's turn to marvel at his little one-week old nephew.
His nephew, being a pureblood vampire, already looked like a six-month old. His growth was quick, as to be expected of a child born a vampire.
“We'll have to move out soon,” M-J told her brother with a small smile.
“Yeah, I guess there's no way around it,” was his response, “although you could come home, you know.”
“We talked about this before,” she countered on a sigh.
“Yeah, yeah, sorry,” he dismissed the matter with a wave of his hand.
He knew she had grown sick of their lifestyle. A royal's life could be tiresome. He too felt under the weather sometimes. He therefore understood her reticence only too well.
They were happily talking about the small Josh, when, all of a sudden, a sweet scent teased Adrian's nostrils. He turned to his left and met the eyes of a waitress. Said waitress quickly averted her chocolate-brown eyes. He was glad he had fed already or he would be in serious danger of letting his beast side show.
‘She smells divine,’ he mused on a sigh.
As it happened, she was the one who took their order. She was also the one to bring their food. As she leant slightly forward to put Adrian's plate on the table, she almost dropped it. Lucky for her, Adrian's reflexes kicked in to save the day.
Their hands touched and he had a hard time squashing down the urge to bring her closer to him. The tingles he felt upon contact were unmistakable.
Adrian had found his mate.