We continue to walk down the similar white hallway, passing multiple doors until we get to an all-familiar dark wooden door with a golden handle, a carved plaque with a letter N on it. “This leads to my wing.” I say as I turn the knob and walk through, Ivy and Tobias following behind.
I decorated this area of the wing slightly different to that of the rest of the palace, and Ivy’s audible gasp makes me chuckle slightly. Instead of all white, I went with tones of grey, navy blue and black when I took over this wing many years ago. The first room is a large living area off to the left with a stone fireplace and an assortment of navy and black couches and sitting chairs, which is attached to a large dining area with a full-on kitchen. Navy cabinets with a grey granite counter-tops and black appliances.
I stop to explain. “This is where you can spend some downtime and eat. Kitchen is fully stocked.”
I continue to walk near the far right of the room that leads into another hallway. “This has a few different rooms, the four on the left here are my office, recreational room, gym, and my personal room. The four doors on the right are all guest rooms. Yours is the one at the end, across from my room.”
Which I planned for.
Ivy’s POV
This place is insane. A girl could get used to this!
I follow Nathaniel into my room, and I’m shocked yet again. This room is all grey and white. Dark wood flooring, light grey walls with minimalistic artwork on them, there’s a large king-sized canopy bed in the middle with a white dresser beside a slightly ajar closet door that is also white on the left. I walk towards the open door, and I have to stop my jaw from dropping to the floor for a billionth time.
It’s a freaking walk-in! For a guest room!
I peek over to the right and see that there’s a large bathroom on that side, seeing the partial side of a bathtub through the open doorway. I turn and smile at Nathaniel as Tobias places my bags onto the large bed. “I’m staying here?” I question, and I know it must come across as just utter disbelief, but when you live as an outcast in your own pack with no privileges like this, I can’t help but be surprised.
“Yes, if you need anything I’m just across the hall. I’ll let you get unpacked and rest. Feel free to explore tomorrow if you want, we can always take a bit of a tour before my meeting.”
“That sounds wonderful.”
“If you can’t ever find Alpha, I’ll be around and can help you out.” Tobias states and I nod. “I appreciate that, Tobias. Thank you.” With that, he walks out, leaving Nate and I alone again.
I look at Nate, the silence proving deafening.
“Thank you for accommodating me here, honestly.”
“It’s not a problem. Are you okay for the night? I know it was a bit of a drive.”
His concern for me makes my heart pick up its pace slightly.
“I should be good, I was just going to unpack, cleanup and get some sleep.” What he says next surprises me a little bit.
“I’ll give you my cell number in case you need anything and I’m not close by. Text or call anytime, okay?” He approaches me and I grab my phone from my bag and hand it to him. A few seconds later, it’s back in my hands with a new contact added.
Nate, but with a winking face.
This man.
“Thank you, I’ll text shortly so you’ve got mine.” I say, waving the phone slightly in my hand.
“Sounds good, see you tomorrow.” He says before he smiles and leaves the room with a soft click of the door.
Ivy’s POV
I groan and roll over as my oh so familiar alarm goes off on my phone. I reach for it, my hands grabbing more and more blankets until I open my eyes slightly and realize that I’m a great distance away from my phone on the nightstand since this bed in this guest room I’m in is massive.
“Ugh.” I groan out in annoyance and lift myself up on my elbows and shuffle closer to the nightstand, grabbing my phone roughly, smacking the off button for the alarm and dropping my phone onto the bed as I roll onto my back and sigh loudly.
It’s been a while since I slept so soundly.
I sit up and slide off the side of the bed and make my way into the bathroom. I run the shower and quickly get undressed and hop in, making quick time of getting myself clean from head to toe. I step out, wrapping my hair in a light towel so I don’t drop water across the floor. I wrap my body in another towel and I head over to the sink and start to apply my skincare and then very minimal makeup a little bit of eyeliner and mascara.
I head back out into the bedroom over to the dresser, grabbing socks, my bra and underwear, and then walk into the closet to choose my outfit for the day. I go for my grey jean capris and a loose, flowy green tank top. I look over in the closet and see my gown for the mating ball now tailored perfectly for me and I sigh. I’ve never worn something so fancy, and it makes me nervous, even though it is a beautiful dress.
I walk out back to the bed, laying down all my clothing. I pull the towel off my head to let my hair air dry in its natural waves and start to get dressed. Finally, after about an hour, I’m ready for the day. I grab my phone and see that I have a message from Nate.
Once you’re up, come on into the kitchen.
I look at the time sent: 4:05 am.
Was he seriously up that early?
I shrug my shoulders and put my phone into my pocket and head out my door, and I’m hit with the smell of pancakes. I peek down the hallway and glance into the kitchen area and I see Nate, humming along as the pancake batter sizzles in the pan. I walk into the kitchen and sit down at one of the stools by the counter. “Morning.” I say and he turns to face me, smiling.
“Morning. Sleep well?” He asks and I nod.
“Really well, thank you.” I pause and then continue, “I saw your text. You always up so early?” I question, and he nods. “Yup. I usually go out for a morning run to let Kiba out, them come back and do a workout.” He says as he turns back to flip the pancakes on the stove.
“I figured you would probably be up by the time I was finished, so I thought I’d make some breakfast for us before the day got hectic.”
How did he know what time I’d be up? Is he that intuitive?
Stop questioning it.
“I appreciate that, especially my first day here. Thank you.”
“You are very welcome.” Nate says as he hands me a plate with two pancakes stacked ever so neatly on top. He places the syrup in front of me and hands me a knife and a fork before grabbing his own plate and coming around to sit beside me.
He’s in a black muscle shirt and grey sweatpants and I quickly look back to my pancakes because he looks just as delicious.
Stop it, Ivy.
“So, up for a short tour of the ballroom today?” He asks and I smile as I start to cut up my pancakes. “Yes, I would love that.”
We eat in mostly silence, which honestly wasn’t awkward at all. Nate stands first, grabbing his plate and mine and bringing it over and rinsing them in the kitchen sink. He turns and faces me.
“I’m going to go get changed and I’ll meet you back out here. Sound good?”
I nod and he heads away from me and down the hallway where I hear a soft slick of his bedroom open and close. I stand up and head over to the couch in the living room, thinking that I may want to practice a small song when I get into the ballroom to get an idea of the overall feel and acoustics of the room for when I perform at the mating ball.
It’s a few minutes before I come to a decision on a song to sing, and as I do I hear Nate’s door open and close again. I look over to my right as he comes into my view and hot damn. Casual black dress pants, black dress shirt with a black vest over top. Both sleeves rolled up to expose his forearms and his hair is tousled and messy, as if he just ran his hands through it a few times.
He flashes me a smirk as if he knows what I’m thinking, and I blush slightly.
“Ready?” He asks and I stand up and walk over to stand beside him. “Of course. Lead the way.”
— –
Nathaniel’s POV
Ivy and I head back into the main hall, towards the ballroom area of the palace. I glance at her quickly as she walks beside me, drawn in yet again by her beauty. I know she’s feeling something for me, but ever since the kiss in the car, she’s clearly been holding back. I don’t blame her; we did get hot and heavy for that moment. I’ve caught her stares and can only really imagine what she’s thinking, but it would be nice to know exactly what goes through her mind.
I open the door back to the main hall and allow her to go first, following closely behind to open the next door that goes directly into the ballroom itself. As we enter, I see workers and assistants all walking around, as they prepare the room for the mating ball. As far as I know, they’ve been at it for a few weeks now, completely changing the normally plain space into this wonderous room to host the packs coming this year.