Chapter 5

Sam grits her teeth harder against the stupid gag. Her legs are cramping, her arms are cramping and even her jaw is aching. But at least after this, she can go home and curl up in bed. Stupid, Adrian Carter. Why could he not just have given her an old-fashioned telling off, and be done with it. Not even a warning. And she would have argued, fought him, however she has no shadow of a doubt Adrian would stick to his word and call her team to drag her into jail.
Minutes feel like hours and hours later, a beep sounds, signalling the release of her punishment.

Ade is shocked when the timer goes off, unable to believe it’s gone so fast. He still hasn’t come to a decision on how to break it to her-that she needs to carry his child. An ‘accidental’ pregnancy is out of the question, especially seeing as how she could easily do something to sabotage his plans. No, he’ll have to make sure that she sticks to it and gives him his child.
For that he’ll need a contract. And before he can draw up this contract, he needs to unbind his mate.

Sam glances up as he wordlessly crouches down to her height beside her. Taking the bonds off her, he helps her stand.

“So can I go now, Sir?” she asks sarcastically slipping on her shoes and wiping the corners of her lips.
Although Sam says it sarcastically, Ade can’t help the jolt of excitement he feels hearing her address him in such manner.
“Yes but...We need to meet,” he calmly states leaning against his desk and crossing his arms.
“What for?” retorts Sam. She doesn’t want to see him any more than necessary and right now seeing him at all isn’t necessary.
“I have a proposal that I believe you’ll be interested in that can be mutually beneficial; as in you get what you want and I’ll get what I want,” he states.
“And what do you think I want from you?” she snorts.
“You want to be rid of me. You want me to forget the whole mate bond, forget about you and you want to go on your way, right Princess?” a smirk forms on his beautifully carved features.
Sam flinches slightly at his words-he’d got it all so spot on.
“Right. I mean, yes. Yes, that’s exactly what I want from you,” she nods in agreement.
“I anticipated as much. So how about a meeting at lunch to discuss this further?” he suggests although coming from him it sounds more like a command, as all words from him are.
“...Fine. Text me the details,” sighs Sam running a hand through her hair and then suddenly remembering that she has the collar on. Reaching around her she starts unbuckling it as Adrian starts speaking.
“Wait, how are you getting home?” he asks stunning Sam. She blinks her eyes at him, unable to quite believe that he’s actually concerned about her safe return back to the apartment.
“I don’t know, a cab, probably,” shrugs Sam stroking her neck after having taken the collar off.
“At this time of night? To your neighbour- I mean, don’t bother. I’ll give you a lift,” he declares, reaching in his pocket for his keys. Although he has Cain, his driver; Cain’s a senior man and Ade usually allows him to leave after 10 at night.
“What? No, it’s fine! I’m fine! You don’t-”
“It’s a car ride. Don’t argue with me on something so trivial,” expresses Ade with a roll of his eyes.

He strides past Sam and out of the door, as she follows behind glaring at his broad stupid perfect back. For a brief second they flash down that sexy back to his backside and what a nice rear it is, she notes. A cheeky pinch of that wouldn’t be too bad, she muses with arousal. And she could definitely wrap her thighs tight around that narrow waist, maybe dig her fingers into that broad muscular back and...Christ,snap out of it Sam! She tells herself. If she’s having these kind of fantasies, she really does need to get laid and soon!

“Are you going to stand there all night? Or are you getting in?” he asks in a bored tone as he holds the door to the sleek Mercedes open for her.
Sam manages to snap herself out of it and wordlessly slides into the cool cream, leather seats. As she slumps into the seat she realises with surprise that she’s actually exhausted. The long day and night really has taken it out of her and she can’t wait to crawl into her large comfortable bed. Although it would be whole lot nicer if there was someone to share that bed with her. Woefully she peeks a glance to her side as she hears the driver door closing. Of course, she’d also be stuck with a hard ass, cold-hearted bastard as a mate because as Sam’s learnt fate’s a bloody bitch.

“So...you know what I want from you but what do you want from me?” she drawls not liking the silence. Silence in a confined space with him means her thoughts wander. And in particular they persist in heading in the direction of Ade naked and in her bed. So Sam decides that she has to do anything to stop herself delving too deep into those thoughts and what better way than getting angry at him.
“Well that is interesting,” mumbles Ade in return not at all answering her question, which causes Sam to roll her eyes.
“What?” she flatly demands.
“That neither of us posses the virtue of patience,” he replies, the corners of his lips curling in an ironic smile. It’s fucking typical that fate would pair him up with someone so incompatible as Sam-the-cop. He should be paired with someone with class, sophistication, poise; none of which Sam seems to posses.
Although there is something odd about her...something he can’t put his finger on. She’s not a werewolf, or at least not a regular one, but then again, she’s not an Alpha female, which leaves...what? Nothing. Because she’s not human either. He can sense that as well. So what the hell is she?

“And one of us likes to avoid questions,” Sam sing back under her breath.
Ade twists his head towards her and just gives a smirk in answer. Sam surprisingly isn’t too bothered by it; in fact she just smiles in return and shakes her head at him.


Sam finds herself swaying. She feels weightless and warm and so comfortable. Sighing, Sam twists to the source of the heat and that’s when her ears perk up. She can hear echoes of...footsteps. Hang on. Suddenly she can feel hard muscular planes, arms coiled around her, a musky strong scent and-Holy shit! Sam’s eyes shoot open and a short ultra-feminine squeak escapes her lips. As his bright blue eyes shoot down at her, Sam feels herself flush with embarrassment.
“W-why are you carrying me?” she softly asks, completely uncomfortable with him carrying her. She’s not exactly the lightest person, not to mention it excites her a little. But then again, which straight woman wouldn’t want to be carried bridal style by a handsome stud.
“Ade, can you put me down, please?” Sam whispers, tiredness catching up to her once again.
Adrian glances down and complies. As he lowers her back to the ground and her arms recoil from him, he finds himself meeting the feel of her pressed close to him. Stupid, he tells himself shaking the feeling away.

“Er-thanks for walking- well-I guess carrying me up to my apartment but you didn’t have to,” she tells him awkwardly. This is probably one of the first conversations they’re having that isn’t an argument or banter.
“In this neighbourhood- I’d rather risk the safety of my car than you,” he responds.
Sam blinks at him unbelievably. Only he would insult and flatter her in the same sentence.
“Thanks Ade, I’m so glad I mean more to you than your stupid car,” she sarcastically chooses to respond, digging in her bag for her keys.
“Yes, well, my car is replaceable, you unfortunately are not,” he mutters back. She spins around with eyebrows raised yet again in surprise.
“Gee, you really know how to make a woman feel special,” once again she sarcastically snaps.

Ade smirks; the challenge already laid out there now that he can’t do anything except rise to it.
He grasps her forearm and softly pushes her back against the adjacent wall. He bends down to her wide brown eyes, full of surprise, excitement and there’s that fire; those flickers of passion dwelling with her, enticing to be activated, fired up.
“You are special Princess. You just have no idea how much,” he lowly whispers, watching in delight as her lips part slightly and a soft hitch of her breath can be heard.

Pulling back he smirks at her dazzled state and that smirk only grows wider as she snaps herself out of it and the fire returns like an inferno brimming at her eyes. A cute wrinkle appears at her forehead when her eyebrows pull together in annoyance and all that just causes Ade to surprisingly want her more. He so wishes to transfer that burning of anger towards him to a burning of passion between them-or rather between their bodies.
“Goodnight Sam. Sweet dreams.”

Sam watches the bastard smugly stride away and steps inside her apartment before she curses him to hell. She can’t help but curse at herself too though, to her ridiculous reactions to him. And what’s worse is that he seems to know exactly what he causes in her.
Exhausted, Sam strips down, washes off the make-up and climbs into her bed to sleep away the rest of the night and hopefully most of the next morning.

Adrian sighs as he types out the last page of the document and sends it to print. Collecting the papers, he also sends a quick text to his mate of their arrangements for tomorrow before climbing into bed exhausted. He can’t possibly fathom how tomorrow will go, but he hopes for the best.

Sam is still half-asleep when she steps off the bus and starts her walk towards Adrian's proposed restaurant. Her fatigue is evidenced by the carelessness of her outfit. Though tossing on a clean white t-shirt under a cropped black leather jacket, with black jeans and black boots seemed to work and look okay. It does show that Sam doesn't care much. This idea again being highlighted by her fresh make-up free face and hair pulled up into a high ponytail. She hopes that all in all she's projecting an image of 'don't give a fuck'.
Sam pulls out her phone and checks the address once more before carrying on down the busy Saturday afternoon high-street, keeping an eye out for the restaurant written. It isn’t surprising that she’s never heard or known of it previously; especially seeing as it’s one of those high end ones. Of course, he’d pick the fanciest one, even if it’s only for a quick lunch because of course, he doesn’t need to worry about money. Sam on the other hand is cautiously aware of the few crumpled 20s in her purse and knows that she’ll be stopping over in Subway on the way home.
With a deep breath, Sam pushes open the heavy doors and walks into the unknown territory.

Ade sips at his 3rd cup of strong coffee, mentally noting that he really needs to start cutting down. But it can’t be helped-much. He needs the energy to deal with the day and having a late night and early morning, he’s exhausted. Mentally, physically and....well, not so much emotionally he guesses, for that he’d have to be emotional.
“Could you not have picked somewhere less....posh?” whispers a voice causing Ade to glance up and see his mate sliding into her seat. Beneath her chocolate orbs, she’s angry, but then again, when is she not? Ade wonders what trivial thing it’s about this time and then noting her clothing choice and the few disapproving glances from patrons, he supposes she grudgingly does have a small right to be annoyed-perhaps he should have told her to dress casual-smart. But then again, why the hell does it matter?
“It’s a nice place,” replies Ade monotonously.
“Fine, whatever. So what is this all about?” she sighs, breaking away as the waiter arrives to take their order. She orders a cup of sweet tea before waving him away. Then her attention turns back to Ade and he hands her over the stapled papers.
“What is this?” she queries not having a title to read on the blank cover page.
“Read it,” he simply states, popping out his phone and opening up the emails as he allows her to set about her task.

Sam folds over the paper and cautiously scans the words. As she starts getting the gist of it, the seedling of panic grows in her and her eyes frantically examine the content. By the 4th page and near the end, she can’t take it anymore. 

“Oh my God, is this a joke?! Please tell me this is a joke!” she exasperates with wide eyes.
“You find this amusing?” he coldly questions.
“No, I find it disgusting!” she cries, “I will never sign this. Ever.”
“IVF is an option if you-”
“No, conception isn’t the problem,” she argues.
“Then what is? If the monetary value is not satisfactory, it can be negotiated-”
“Money? You think you can just hire me like some prostitute to have your child?!...I honestly had no idea you were this low,” she spits.
“That child is important to me. I need-”
“If you want a kid so much, find some other willing woman! I’m sure there are plenty who wouldn’t turn down your dirty money.”
“It won’t work with other women,” he punctuates every word, trying to remain patient and not let her see how much he actually wants this.
“Why? What could possibly be-”
“They’re not my mate. You are.”
Sam rolls her eyes; of course they’re back to the whole mate thing.
“Right, ‘cause that makes so much of a difference for you,” she sarcastically drawls. The way he’s treating her is in no way the way she would expected to be treated did her ‘mate’ acknowledge their bond.
“Unfortunately, it does.”
“Why?”

“Because...because I’m a Carter. First born Carter actually, and so it makes all the difference. Why do you think that we don’t have a large, wide spread family? It’s because nature- God-fate, whatever you want to call it, has decided that the line be exclusive. This means that the first born child of the first born is the one who inherits the ‘pure’ Carter gene. So I, as first born to my father who was first born, inherited the pure Carter gene and will pass it down to my first born. My brothers, although their children may be Carter’s, their grandchildren are most likely going to be regular werewolves. This keeps the Carter population steady as very rarely does natural selection cause us to die before our times. However like with everything there is a catch. To keep us at our strongest, I can only produce a child with the pure Carter gene with my mate- the one person fate has decided and not who I have chosen. And copulation with women other than my mate to produce a child, can have...atrocious results,” he explains.
This burden had been laid onto him from birth and it was only at the age of 20, he was made aware of it. Since then it has haunted his every waking moment and thus his persistent search for him mate. Because what would the point of trying to start a relationship with someone other than his mate? It would fall apart soon enough and he can’t put himself or this other person through that. It took him a whole 2 years to realise this and that’s when he decided that loneliness would be the best way forward. Though far be it for him to display his turmoil of that deep ache to others-no, he prefers them to believe that he is a cold, selfish bastard who wants solitude.

Sam takes a moment to absorb all the new information and as far-fetched as it seems, Adrian seems to believe in it and she guesses that’s what really matters.
“What kind of ‘atrocious results’?” she tentatively asks.
Ade sighs and glances up at her, “I have heard that whatever thing has decided all this, also posses cruelty and so, going against It’s plans seems to only anger It. As a result many of the ‘unwanted’ pregnancies have ended in miscarriages or still-born births. Although I have not had the misfortune of this, I am not willing to risk it.”

Sam nods at that-at least he has a heart somewhere in that cold tin shell.
“Okay, but...that doesn’t explain why you want a child,” she softly urges.
“The boy will be my heir. And I need to train him early. Besides...There are high mutation rates in sperm with age and therefore I’ve always believed it to be best to have children in my late 20’s, early 30’s,” he shares, shocking himself for parting with the information.
“Boy? What if it’s a girl? Will you toss her away, use her, ab-”
“Don’t be ridiculous! I would...care for each and every one of my children, if there were to be more than one. It’s just that my family tend to produce males rather than females. Very rare are our offspring female,” he explains.
“...'Care'?” Sam asks, “I understand you...can’t love me but your own child? Please tell me you’ll love your own child.”
Ade coughs slightly in awkwardness.
“I actually don’t exactly believe in the concept of...love,” he distastefully replies.

Sam nearly spits the tea out from her mouth as she hears this. Who the hell doesn’t believe in love, especially when they come from a fancy-schmancy family like the Carters. Sam’s pretty sure the man before her is showered in love from the moment he was born-even those that aren’t his family seem to love him or...lust him but nonetheless, how can someone like that not believe in love when all they’re shown is love.
“What is there not to believe in? I thought you had brothers. Don’t you love them? Your parents?” she questions.
“Yes but..it's complicated,” explains Ade. His family, yes, he can love because well, he's obligiged to and his child probably as well he could love. 
Though a woman on the otherhand-a mate...It’s not that he hasn’t tried. But for him...to feel a love towards a woman so intimately is seemingly impossible. Of all the theories and years of pondering of this, he’s simply concluded that he just can’t.

“Adrian...” sighs Sam almost in defeat.
“It’s not a disadvantage, Miss Torres. On the contrary, I believe it to be to my advantage. So do not ever pity me for it,” coldly spits Ade feeling her tone’s taking that soft quality of pity. He refuses to be pitied. He is a man. A Carter man. He refuses to be looked down upon.
“I’m not pitying you, you stupid fool. I’m...Nevermind,” concludes Sam with an air of finality, the stubborn man won’t ever take her compassion anyway, so what’s the point?
“It doesn’t matter anyway because I’m not signing your outrageous contract,” off-handily says Sam, bringing them in a 360 all the way back to the original debate.
Ade hisses out a breath as his jaw clenches. How the hell can he convince her to do this? Can he even convince her to do this? What if he can’t? Then what? He’ll have no child, no heir, no-one to teach all he knows to...He’ll be a disappointment. He’ll have let his whole family down. Finished off the whole Carter line. He’ll be hated. Despised.
“But...” starts Sam.

Ade perks up and with a raise of his eyebrows he repeats, “ ‘but’?”
“I think we can make a sort of deal...” smirks Sam.
“What do you suggest?”
“I won’t bring a child whose father isn’t even sure he can love, so if you can love me then I’ll have your ‘destiny’ child.”
Ade’s eyebrows scrunch in confusion and his expression freezes like this as he takes a few minutes to ponder this.
“You want me to love you?” slowly asks Adrian.
Sam’s cheeks flame at that. The way he says it, it makes her sound like some desperate needy woman, which she is definitely not!
“Basically...yes. Any children I have will