Taming A Predator

Chapter 55

Xander's POV:

I stepped out of my room in nothing but my sweats, aiming only for the stack of mail on the little table before stepping right back in.

Doe hadn't even committed to getting out of bed yet, and still grumbled into the pillow she held to replace me.

I rubbed an eye before flipping through the envelopes.

Info from my parents that I had to catch up on, more info from my family that I had to catch up on, upcoming territory plans and festivities...

I stopped at the fourth one, looking at a name and address that looked vaguely familiar.

My eyes squinted the longer I looked at it in thought.

As soon as the realization hit me, I was wide awake.

"Doe!" My sudden excitement caused my voice to be louder than I'd planned, getting a louder groan from her in return.

I set the other letters on the desk, speeding back over to the bed

"We finally got a response!" I told her with just as much excitement, but a lowered tone.

She pulled her pillow closer, pressing her face into it with scrunched eyes before muffling out some words

"Response to what?" she grumbled

"You're last name, love."

Hypothetically at least. With being such a well-known shop in that territory I only assumed that they'd have that kind of thing on the record.

She paused for a second before the pillow got pulled away to reveal wide, very awake eyes.

I held the envelope out to her while she pushed herself up into a sitting position.

She just looked at it with unsure eyes after taking it, looking at it every which way.

I sat down and scooched back beside her in the silence, getting met with an envelope in front of my face as soon as I was settled.

I rose a brow in her direction at the action.

"I want you to read it... first," She began, "You're the one who got me this far and... and if it's a bad last name you can just lie to me with a better one."

I smiled at her last statement, plucking the envelope from her hands.

I figured she'd want to be the one to see it first, but this made sense given how she'd handled the rest of things involving this topic.

She wasn't too confident about this new way of life just because it was new to her, and with this last step, it'll all tie together into the result we aimed for from the beginning.

Elongating a nail, I sliced the envelope open and pulled out what was inside.

The handwriting I was met with was a very elegant and flowy cursive.

'Dear Alexander Vanderwood, I was most surprised to find your family's seel on my desk and even more so to hear that you'd favored my shop years ago and snuck under my nose of your position. I'll go ahead and guess that your purchase has suited you well given that she still lives, and for that I am most proud. ABP163 was always a good human. Excelled in her classes and urged her peers to do as they should. I'm happy to hear that she's kept you entertained all this time, as she does hail from a lineage that produces much success. To answer your question, however, I had to trail back a few centuries to locate the surname you've requested, but I found that her bloodline trails all the way back to a Donovan Virez...'