Her Sweet Flavour

promising care

POV: Evane

"She's just not settling in like I'd expected she would," I complain to my brother, taking a swig of my wine.

"You did kidnap her. And drug her. And take her dog."

"Shut up," I snap at him, finishing my third glass of wine in the last hour.

He sighs and takes my glass, preventing me from getting another drink. I'm not drunk yet, just a little irritable.

Adeline hasn't settled in to her life with me at all. Its been over a month and she still hasn't settled in. She just about lets me bathe and dress her if she's in the right mood for it. Every other time she fights me or goes into a complete strop and refuses to move.

I've been trying so many different things to get her to settle in and trust me but for the past month she's just been getting more depressed.

I wanted to have her allowed out of her room by now but if she isn't crying or laying silently and still in her room, she's fighting back against me. I need to know she won't run before I let her out of her room.

"You could find ways to give her a little more freedom. Maybe that'll cheer her up," he suggests.

"If I let her out of her room without some way of restraining her she'll try to run completely," I snap at him.

"Then maybe let her walk around her room without the chain. Show her you have some trust in her rather than fearing she'll abandon you the first chance she gets," he yells back at me.

"I'm sick of this. I'm going home," I scoff, getting up from the couch and storming to the door.

"Just try to show her a little more trust. Let her out under supervision if you must, just don't keep her chained up forever."

"I'll do what I like with her. She's mine," I yell at him, flinging on my coat and opening the door just as he yells one more thing at me as I leave.

"She might be your mate but you can't keep her like a pet!"

Yes, I can.

Adeline is mine. I can do what I like with her. How I get her to trust me and cheer up again is my problem to solve, and I don't need my brother's input on how to solve it.

Slamming the door to my car, I clench my hands around the steering wheel. No one is going to tell me how to deal with my mate. She is mine, and she is my responsibility. I will figure out how to help her on my own.

I try to calm down before driving to the house I'm keeping Adeline in, forgetting to check the cameras first. I have left her alone for a couple of hours. She's meant to be asleep but she does sometimes have difficulty sleeping.

I'd meant to check before I left my brother's place but I forgot. I hope she hasn't needed me while I was gone since I didn't tell her I was going out.

Parking outside the house, I turn it off and step out, not liking that I see the light in her bedroom on. She should be asleep and I know that her bedroom light was off when I left.

A little nervous that she's now scared and I wasn't there to help her, I dash inside, taking off my coat and tossing it onto the floor instead of wasting time hanging it up. I calm myself down and steady my breathing before knocking on her door and slowly opening it, just in case she is actually asleep.