After Adam left, I traveled up to visit Xavier in his library. When I walked in, he was standing over several open books that laid out before him on the table.Upon seeing me enter the room, he looked up and smiled brightly."Evelyn, how are you today?" He asked.I smiled. "I'm fine. How are you?""Just splendid."Xavier left his spot behind the table and walked across the room to meet me there. He placed his hands on my shoulders and looked into my eyes deeply."How are you feeling?"I was taken back by the forwardness of the question, but I knew what he was referring to."It was miserable," I confessed. My shoulders slumped as I made this remark, but I felt relieved to be able to talk about it."I never want to go into Heat again," I sighed. Xavier gave me a grim smile. "I do not wish to make you feel forced into an uncomfortable situation, but I would like to stress the importance of makingsure you are aware of what you have to do to prevent another cycle of Heat," he warned.I

The ringing of the phone startled me out of slumber.I got out of the bed in a hurry and answered the phone."Hello?""Alpha Superior Devereaux wishes for you to join him in his study at the top of the hour," a high-shrill voice said. I looked over to the clock. That was in six minutes. She hung up and so did I.Why on earth they got someone with such an annoying tone of voice to be a telephone operator, I didn't have a clue.I changed out of my t-shirt and jeans into a dress. I walked into the bathroom and tried to comb my hair.I stared at myself in the mirror. Well, this is as good as it is going to get.I was trying to look as nice as possible. I thought maybe Adam would have an easier time forgiving me if I did.As I left the room a voice in the back of my head scoffed. Why on earth would you think this will impress him? Since when do you need his affirmation? And why on earth are you searching for forgiveness from someone who has done worse things to you and never apologized f

I stood in a conference room in Adam's sweatshirt and a pair of his sweatpants-which were both notably too large for me- as Jace showed him pictures that had been taken that day of my house as it burned to the ground."Oh my God," I whispered as I grabbed one of the photos and observed it. "Was there anyone in the house?"Jace shook his head. "No, one of our men ran in and couldn't find anyone. The fire department confirmed there was no one inside."I felt a rush of relief."How did it happen?" Adam asked, passing me another picture as he finished looking at it."They're doing an arson investigation, but the results could take up to a week to come back," Jace said.We all stood there in deep thought."Did someone see anyone trying to flee the scene?" Adam asked.Jace shook his head. "No, our men saw the smoke from a few miles away and they were the first on the scene. No one came out of the house after they got there and no one in the fire department saw anyone leave either.""No one

I never heard Adam come back into the room and I never heard lunch being brought in. I slept right through it all. When I opened my eyes, I opened them to a nearly dark room. Getting out of the bed, I saw the sun setting behind the mountains off in the far distance.It didn't take long for me to remember I was about to enter Heat again. My throat was dry and scratchy and I was achy all over. I walked over to the untouched tray of food that had beenbbrought in while I slept. The soup was long-cold, but I downed the glass of water in twogulps. I changed out of my dress into Adam's t-shirt and washed off what was left of my makeup.The cold water felt refreshing on my skin.Sweat had already begun to accumulate on my forehead and thebsun hadn't even set yet. I turned on a few lamps and ran a bath full of cold water. I stuck my feet in it for a while until it was no longer satisfactory. I felt like my insides were on fire. It was like I was trapped in a locked car on a mid-summer's day

"You did what?!"I sat awkwardly in the desk chair watching Adam yell at Victoria with a very confused looking Devereaux Sr. looking on."You have been very distracted lately," she said coolly. "So, I took it upon myself to inform your father and bring him here to help keep you focused.""Does anyone want tea?" His father asked.Very focused indeed."You took it upon yourself?" Adam asked. "No one asked you to do that, if anything he will be a distraction.""A distraction?" Adam's father asked. "I'm not a distraction. Now, your pretty lady over there is a distraction, which we have promptly been ignoring. Hello, darling! My name is Malcom Deveraux, I'm Adam's father. It is a pleasure to meet you."He reached out and kissed my hand.This was the second time that morning he had introduced himself to me."You are a very stunning woman!" He exclaimed brightly."Barely a woman," Victoria muttered.If looks could kill, Adam's glare would have done the job. "Don't listen to her," Malcom s