20 Chapter Eighteen

We soon made it to the kingdoms town and it was absolutely gorgeous. The streets were lined with cute shops. Some looking very expensive and some looking cosy and small.

As myself and Azaizal continued through the town, hands still entwined one shop did catch my attention.

It was a shop that was almost centre of the row of shops on the street. It's bright neon red painted bricks stood out among all the white brick that surrounded it. The red shop happened to be a cosy book store that also had a few collectables in the window.

Continuing to peer in I happened to flick my eyes across a wolf statue that looked very similar to Azaizal's. The only difference being the white paw was on the right side and it's tail also had a white tip. It was so similar, it even had his gold eyes. Strange.

Since I was so intrigued by the shop, I had let go of Azaizal's hand. I had to walk back over to him to be near him again since he had moved to also look in a shop window. He looked over his shoulder to see who was approaching before turning to me.

"You ready to go?" I nodded

"Yep, only if you are" He simply nodded and laughed before outstretching his hand for me to take. I stared at it for a few seconds before quickly taking it. He smiled widely before leading down the street.

"Good because I want to take you somewhere." Wherever we were going, he was clearly excited and loved the place. The grin on his face and the gleam in his eyes says it all.

Halting to a sudden stop, I come face to face with a beautiful bakery shop named Emily and Beck Bakes. The outside was decorated in multicoloured fairy lights and the bricks were painted a light blue. It had a decent sized outdoor seating area that had barriers surrounding it so it felt separate from the rest of the world.

Azaizal led us inside and if I thought the outside was beautiful, I was wrong, the inside was breathtaking. The walls were lined with display cakes and the indoor seating area was themed with flowers. Despite the walls being painted in pastel colours, it still seemed so bright and comforting. The counter area was spacious and had a huge selection of cakes, cookies, flapjacks, brownies, biscuits and more. You name it, I'm sure they have it.

"Wow, Azaizal this place is beautiful." He didn't respond, only squeezed my hand and pressed a bell that happened to be placed in the centre of the counter. I assumed it was to alert the staff that we were here. I wondered what he wanted to order. I stayed close by his side waiting patiently until a loud gasp caught my attention.

"Aze? Is that you?" A woman spoke, entering the room with a man trailing behind.

"Hey mum, hey dad" Wait mum and dad? I thought they passed. Ohhhh these must be his adopted parents. Silly me.

"Aze, I've missed you so much" The blonde, brown-eyed woman hurried forward to give Azaizal a hug. I tried to pull my hand away so I wasn't in the way but he held on tighter and give it a quick squeeze. The man stepped forward next and gave a quick side hug as not to squish me.

"We've missed you son, but who may this lovely young lady be?" I couldn't stop the heat flooding my cheeks at that. I went to introduce myself but Azaizal beat me to it.

"Mum, Dad this is Ella. She's one of the members chosen to help with the hunt for Aunt Sydd."

After a brief introduction and fading there disappointment that I wasn't Azaizal's mate, we all sat at a table with a drink and a piece of cake. I had a hot chocolate and a buttercream butterfly cake and let me tell you, it was delicious. We chatted about the situations of increasing attacks and how they adopted Azaizal.

Turns out Emily, who is his adopted mum has been best friends with his actual mum Delilah since they were only babies. She always promised that she'd look after Azaizal if anything happened to her and that's what she did. Her and beck have been his parents for years now and he loves them just as much.

It soon hit 10pm and we decided it was time to head back to the castle to sleep. We said our goodbyes and said we'd visit again soon, then made our way back. Our hands ended up clasped together and I wasn't complaining. For some reason it just felt right.

As soon as we got back into Azaizal's section, we got changed and said goodnight. "Thank you for today Azaizal, it's been amazing and thank you for introducing me to Emily and Beck, they seemed wonderful."

Leaning against his door frame with his arms crossed, he just gazed at me and gave a full smile. "Don't worry about it, they loved meeting you, told me to make sure I bring you back even though you aren't my mate. I also had a really good day but we also have a really long day tomorrow, so goodnight Ella. Sleep well."

He was right, we had a long day ahead.

"Goodnight Azaizal"

With that we both went into our rooms and I immediately crashed onto my bed, but jumped back up realising I should get my things out ready for the morning. I grabbed my gym clothes which included my grey camo leggings and my black crop top from super dry, the only branded and expensive clothes I owned which Alpha Alec was kind enough to buy me for training, including my Nike trainers which I also set out rather than my combat boots. I'd only wear them when we actually went on the hunt.

Setting out the rest of the things I needed I quickly set my alarm, pulled the curtains and hopped into bed getting comfy under the covers.

Tomorrow was going to be a long day but I had to admit, I couldn't wait.