Her Devilish Alpha - Chapter 183

And that’s when Xavier saw it.

Cornelia’s gaze flickered and he no longer saw her as some supreme sorceress. He saw her as a lonely woman who was estranged from her daughter, despite caring deeply for her.

“She even takes after me in personality,” Cornelia remarked. She told him, “I watched her grow up, I check on her when I miss her, but in all truth I don’t really know much about her. I just saw parts of her life, and I wasn’t there to watch her grow up in person. You must know something about her.”

‘So she made me come all the way here to discuss Madeline, seems right,’ Xavier thought to himself, surprised Cornelia wasn’t interrogating him or something and seeing if he was good enough for her daughter.

After all, it did seem like Cornelia treasured her daughter. Both Emilio and Cornelia seemed to care for Madeline, although they had different ways of displaying their affection for their daughter. Emilio chose to spend as much time as he could with Madeline, whilst Cornelia kept her eye on the girl and also made sure Madeline was alright by herself.

Another difference was how Emilio was present, it was his way of trying to make up for his absence in Madeline’s life, which wasn’t his fault, and Madeline knew that now. Meanwhile, Cornelia apologised, and didn’t explain herself.

“She bites her bottom lip like you do,” Xavier pointed out. He added, “She’s also very compassionate, you must know she took Rosalynn in when Rose was in the form of a stray cat. Even made her a bed, from what she told me.”

Cornelia chuckled, remembering that, “Oh yes, I do. Rosalynn was surprised Madeline took her in. Still can’t believe you allowed Rose in with her taking that form.”

Xavier pursed his lips, “Well I couldn’t tell her to just get rid of the stray cat out of nowhere could I? Rosalynn would have killed me if I just threw her out when Madeline wasn’t watching or something. Not only her, Madeline too. She can be incredibly fierce sometimes. Intimidating too.”

“You wouldn’t,” Cornelia said, doubting Xavier was capable of doing such a thing. The man was ruthless, he could be, but he wasn’t that ruthless. Not to someone who didn’t deserve it.

Cornelia took in the other things Xavier said, telling him, “I know that I’m no one to tell you that, I’m not actually Madeline’s mother, sure I gave birth to her but the way she sees it she has no mother, she just has a dad and I’ll eventually come to terms with it. You’re a good man, and I know how much you care about her. So please do this one favour for me.”

“I’m listening.”

“Protect her,” Cornelia uttered.

“Of course, I’ll always do that,” he said, meaning every word he spoke.

“It’s nice that Madeline has someone like you in her life, and I finally get to say this. Don’t break her heart.”

Xavier saluted Cornelia, and she scoffed before he vanished.

“It’s been decades and he’s changed so much too,” she commented, sighing.

__

“So I make the drinks and you make breakfast?”

“That doesn’t seem like a fair deal,” Adrian commented, turning to see Briar with her hands planted on her hip.

“You still lost the bet.”

“Hmm, you make a good point. You’re right.”

“Of course I make a good point, and I’m always right,” Briar remarked.

Adrian tsked, “Sure you are.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Briar questioned casually.

“Nothing!” Adrian exclaimed, getting to work so Briar wouldn’t question him further. He and her decided on breakfast tacos, and for the drinks, they chose to go with beer.

“Don’t just stand there and watch me do all the work, help me,” Adrian whined.

Briar chuckled, “I’d much rather just stand here and do nothing, thank you very much. Besides, I’m done with the drinks.”

“Please?”

“Never expected to see the day where you ask me for help,” Briar admitted, only for Adrian to answer…

“I just need an extra set of hands to speeden up the process, is all,” Adrian said to her.

“Well, we have quite a lot of time this morning, I don’t see why we can’t just take things slow. You’ll be better off making the tacos on your own, besides you’re an amazing cook,” she reasoned, taking a swig of the beer.

“Want some?” She teased, holding the other glass in her free hand.

Adrian scoffed, “Of course I do, but I can’t right now. Not unless I want to ruin some soon-to-be tacos.”

Briar held up the glass to Adrian’s mouth, “Here.”

“Why thank you, milady,” he said to her, taking a sip.

“Call me milady one more time and I’ll leave you all alone and wait in another room,” Briar said.

“How cold! I didn’t think you had the heart to leave me when I’m the one making breakfast! What if it affects my performance somehow and I end up making a bad batch of tacos?”

“I doubt you’re capable of making bad tacos. Besides, food’s food. And we can always make another batch,” Briar reasoned.

Adrian smiled. He then went on to ask her, “So, you and Xavier are friends now?”

Briar had a wide smile on her face, “Yeah, it’s a new improvement. Xavier and I are friends, it’s pretty cool.”

“And being friends with me isn’t? Ow, that stings,” Adrian said.

Briar stared at him, “You know I don’t mean it that way, you and Xavier are different. I never would have thought he’d just call me his friend that easily, I thought it would take more. Look at you, you told me it took you ages to befriend Xavier. For a split second, I thought the same case would apply to me, even if I’m Madeline’s friend. I guess not though.”

Adrian had finished assembling the tacos by then.

“And voila! Ground beef tacos, all done,” he announced proudly, gesturing towards his creation.

__

Author’s Note: Feel free to write down your thoughts in the comments below~! Love, mari.