“You’ve been having secret Alpha meetings at the Green Light Club?” Ava asked, perplexed, as Xavier led her through his ninth-floor suite and into the familiar sitting room lying beyond the dark chrome elevators.“I’ve thought of the club as a lot of things the past few months,” Ava said, her eyes casting around the space as if this was her first time seeing it. “A political HQ was definitely not one of those things.”In a sense, it was her first-time seeing Xavier’s space. Truly seeing it. Every other time she’d been in this suite of rooms she’d been sick, panicked, or angry as hell. The details that made up the area had all been a blur of mental notes – where she should go to escape, where to hide, what could be used to put as much distance between herself and the male she willing trailed behind now.And, now that she looked at Xavier’s home through the eyes of a guest and partner, instead of a prisoner, it looked…different than she remembered. The dark, moody color scheme sat prett
“The rogues?” Liam asked, his eyebrows drawing together in concern. “What do you know about the rogues, Ava?”“For one, I know that rogue is a subjective term,” she started.“Ava….”“No, don’t Ava me,” she bit out through clenched teeth. “You said we would do this my way, Xavier. And the first step to that is acknowledging that the Council’s rogues don’t exist.”Xavier turned to the other males and opened his mouth again, most likely to reinterpret her words, but a hand from Liam gave him pause. The Silver Moon Alpha stared at her intently, his normally intense dark eyes, practically boring holes straight through to her soul, peeling back the layers as if to spot the first sign of deceit at its inception.“Can you please explain what you mean?”Ava swallowed but nodded. “Of course,” she began. “The Council brands anyone who works outside of them or against them a rogue, right? And because cases like that happen so rarely, and the consequences for being branded a rogue are so severe, j
Ava kept a white-knuckled grip on the edge of the speed boat as it cut through the roiling dark waters just off the coast of Rhode Island. They’d purposely chosen a particularly dreary evening, hoping that the in-climate weather would dissuade would provide adequate cover for their trip into the Eclipse stronghold.It honestly hadn’t crossed her mind that rain on the open ocean meant waves, and waves meant Ava’s long forgotten propensity for sea sickness once again reared its treacherous head.“Looking a little green, Red.”She glared at Dylan who’s signature laissez-faire grin still held an edge to it. Now, guilt added to the awful roiling in her stomach caused by the choppy waters. Ava didn’t know why she felt guilty, and that bothered her even more than the guilt itself. She hadn’t hidden anything from Dylan, and even if she had, that was her right to do so.“It’s just the waves.”“Hmm,” he gave a non-committal nod and turned away, letting his gaze roam the indigo horizon.“Dylan,
The tunnel leading into the Eclipse was long, nearly a full mile out from the compound, but the two made quick work of it, even with the careful pace they’d set. There was no light in the darkness, so Ava kept her eyes fixed on Xavier’s back as he led her through the darkness. It was an unwelcome but unsurprising realization that her night vision wasn’t nearly as good as it had been while she’d been locked up, much less before her arrest. Where she should have been able to see in this cave almost as well as she would have in stark daylight, she’d wager that her sight was only slightly above a human’s.Ava probably wouldn’t have realized that Mia’s blindness had affected her vision at all if it weren’t for how oppressively dark this cave was. As long as there was some source of light around, even if it was just the light of the moon, her own naturally heightened vision was enough to make up for Mia’s inability to see at all. Now, though, she had to keep her eyes locked on Xavier’s bac
Xavier crept into the room that was supposed to be Montgomery Bennett’s old office and found it pristine, with not a single sheet of paper out of place. After a thorough search of the room, it became clear that there was nothing of use left in the picturesque shell, much less anything incriminating.It didn’t surprise him that Bennett was too smart to make the same foolish mistakes as Victor – he’d probably had strict instructions for his office to be cleared if there was anything there he’d been stupid enough to keep around at all.Xavier ducked behind a wall and pulled out his phone, bringing up the log of access codes. There had to be something here that he was missing. From what he could see, the code for Montgomery’s office was used regularly, most likely for routine cleaning. It was the same for most of the other ten rooms on the floor.No, he thought. There are nine rooms. He’d counted them on his way here. Xavier listened at the door, going still as he heard the single patrol
“You have a lot of fucking nerve showing up here,” she heard Rhys snap the moment the office door closed behind them.Luckily, the office shared a wall with the closet she’d hidden in, making it easy for her to overhear their conversation. She pressed an ear against the wall and listened. “Do I? And here I thought I belonged here. After all, my father grew up here, same as you, and our forefathers before them,” Noah said. “Hell, I was even born here.”Rhys growled, “Make no mistake, you were born outside the gates like the mongrel you are.”She couldn’t see him, but she could only imagine the derisive look on Noah’s face. It was the same one he got whenever he talked about the Council or his father.“Never been one to hold your emotions close to your chest, have you, Rhys?”“Don’t you presume to know the first thing about me.”“I don’t need to know you, brother,” Noah replied. “I know that you’re sitting on something that belongs to me. And I have designs to get it back.”She heard R
The flight back to New York seemed to pass in an absolute flash even as each anxious moment bringing her closer to her tete-a-tete with Noah seemed to carve years from Ava’s lifespan. She spent half of the time trying to formulate what exactly she could possibly say to make up for being caught red-handed. And the other half, she spent mentally berating herself for even feeling as if she had anything to apologize for.After all, she reminded herself, all of this she’d done for him and his well-being. And, damn it, she was proud of what she’d accomplished here tonight! Other than setting fire to the Eclipse Alpha’s mansion – which she sincerely hoped Noah wouldn’t end up being blamed for – tonight couldn’t have gone better. Not only had she and Xavier found the missing pieces they needed to set their lives straight, what she’d found would all but deliver the Eclipse Pack to Noah in a shiny new bow. Or send him down an existential rabbit hole, but there’s nothing to be done about that.
For a place Ava had been convinced she would never see again only a few months ago, the flashing neon of the Green Light Club was becoming an all too familiar staple in her life as of recent. And yet here she was, sitting in the passenger seat of Noah’s car as he pulled into the club’s private parking lot.She clenched his hand tight in hers, just as she had for most of the trip down to Rochester, doggedly attempting to take even the most minute portion of Noah’s tension into herself. Thankfully, it hadn’t taken much more to convince Noah to hear her out – the revelation about his stolen birthright and his family’s many, many crimes had all but sealed the deal by providing the irrefutable evidence they’d need to force the Council into acknowledging Noah’s stake.Even so, after her reassurances that the Alphas were as interested in an even playing field as he was, he was still reticent about their meeting. And, as much as Ava hated to admit it, he was probably right to be hesitant. Af
The helicopters hovered above the arena as long dark ropes unfurled from the gaping voids of their cockpits, and soldiers in white began to descend into the Trial grounds. The largest chopper in the group tilted downward, and Xavier watched in horror as gun turrets descended from the vehicle’s hull.Just as he shouted a warning, it was drowned out by the spray of rapid machine-gun fire that bathed the stands where his people, his allies, his mate stood watching on in bewildered shock. It was a stroke of luck and good fortune that Emmaline and Marnie Adair had insisted on attending the Trial along with several other representatives from their coven.The witches were quick to respond, throwing up glimmering shields that did an excellent job of deflecting the rain of bullets, sending them careening off to join the hundreds of other projectiles currently reducing the two-hundred-year-old structure to little more than kindling.Xavier roared his fury and shifted, sna
The weeks leading up to the next month’s Blue Moon and the Trial by Combat scheduled for that night went by surprisingly quickly and quietly. The calm before the storm.Ava, for her part, spent most of that time talking, getting to know as much as she could about her newfound allies. There was a host of information that the spellcasters and the shapeshifters had to bring to the table; doors that she had never known were there to open. Her analytical tactician's mind was thoroughly stimulated at the influx of new information.She had to be thankful that Marnie and Emmaline’s coven had deemed their cause worth investing their time and resources into. And the Selkies? Ava was under no naïve misconception that their involvement was due to anything less than desperation. It just so happened that desperation was as good a motivator as any.Slowly, ever so carefully, Ava worked with Emmaline, Marnie, and the Selkie diplomats to covertly spread the word of th
“The nerve of you is astounding, Adair. What, pray tell, did you think you would accomplish by bringing them here?”The hostile vibe Ava had picked up even from a dozen yards away and through several inches of bulletproof glass somehow didn’t manage to improve by coming into close proximity to the…finfolk? The Selkies, Marnie had called them. People who could turn into seals.It seemed ridiculous, given her own circumstances, that…well, anything really, could surprise her at this point. And, to be fair, it wasn’t the existence of seal people that was currently throwing her for a loop; it was being hit, once again, with the staggering realization of just how little she actually knew about the world around her, her own wider community.And it wasn’t just Ava, either. Through their bond, she could feel Xavier’s mind whirring, struggling to quickly process the new influx of information. Even now, after all this time,
“Alright, alright, shock aside, this is good for us, right?”“That we’re so out of touch that we didn’t even know that there’s an ancient order of witches ruling the world?” “I’m having a hard time tracking your logic, sweets.”“First, to be clear, the institution is ancient, not the witches,” “Well, save for a few that I can think of, but none that we know personally.”“All that aside,” Ava reiterated through gritted teeth. “We all want the same thing! We came here looking for allies to start a new society, and here you all already have irrefutable proof that our plan has legs.”“In theory,” Emmaline emphasized. “Once again, I feel the need to impress upon you the fact that we have no real insight on the inner workings of these pan-supernatural communities outside of the fact that they exist. Much less whether something of the like would
Ava and the Alphas gaped as the two embraced. One female, one woman. One Wolf, the other a human witch. And yet, somehow, they claimed to be sisters. It wasn’t just a turn of phrase or empty words, either. Now that the idea had been spoken, Ava saw the glimmers of recognition solidify into irrefutable shared features between the two.The piercing emerald green of their eyes, the deeply rich, almost black of their hair, even the shapes of their noses and their general bearings were the same.“You’re sisters?” Ava asked.“You’re Alpha?” Liam asked even louder.Emmaline cocked her head to the side in the same bold challenge that Marnie was good for adopting pretty much anytime she found herself speaking with any Wolven male. Ava was beginning to realize that the habit was probably born of more than simply dealing with male bravado.“Why wouldn’t I be?” Emmaline asked, her supple voice thick with saccha
“No.”The line went silent as Ava blinked rapidly, her neurons firing at all cylinders struggling to process the fact that her brother had just blatantly shut down such a simple request for information and why on earth that would be.“Excuse me?” She finally asked. “What do you mean no?”“I mean that I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to go meddling in Grave Crown affairs,” he said, his voice stern and giving no quarter. That was all well and good that he felt so strongly, but as long as he was also giving her no answers, ‘no’ wasn’t going to cut it for her.“Grave Crown affairs are Alliance affairs, Aiden. You know that,” she replied.Her brother huffed on the other end of the phone – a frustrated sound. “Even if the Alliance still existed, you, I, and everyone else knows that hasn’t been the case in a long time.”“Bullshit,&rdquo
Ava blinked in and out of consciousness as searing pain ripped through her abdomen. Whenever she surfaced, the renewed shock of pain would cause her to take a quick breath inward that would send yet another, even more, intense wave rocketing through her, sending her back into oblivion.It took a couple of tries and several hours for Ava to wake and stay awake; the pain finally dulled to a thrumming ache. When she could finally open her eyes without her eyelids feeling as if they were made of lead, the first thing she saw was Jack’s pensive face hovering over hers.And the second thing she registered, along with an intense sense of déjà vu, was Xavier’s equally pensive face a little ways off, slumped in a nearby chair.“This feels awfully familiar,” she quipped, her dry throat making her joke sound more like a croak.“Really? And to think that I was just beginning to forget what it was like trying to glue you back togeth
First came the rat-a-tat-tat of machine guns. Then came the screams.All around her, bodies flew into motion as she stood with her phone gripped numbly in her fist.“Ava,” she heard Noah’s desperate voice faintly through the other end of the line as if through a fog. “Ava, what’s happening? Talk to me! Has it already started, damn it?!”Without a word in response, Ava ended the call with a flick of her thumb, far too thrown by just how quickly the tide had shifted today. Neia hadn’t just crossed a line – she’d obliterated it and re-drawn a new one in her image.Ava sprung into action, doing the first thing that came to mind as she ran to the nearest emergency call button and smashed it. The system was relatively shiny and new, having only been installed after her run-in with those sadistic bastards in room 701.Now, flashing warning lights lit up every hallway in the building. The blaring alarm made it im
Eight months ago, if someone had told Ava that just the sight of the Green Light Club’s garish neon sign would be enough to make her smile, she would have laughed in their face. Alright, well, she probably wouldn’t have, but she certainly wouldn’t have believed them either.And yet, here she was, grinning from ear to ear, at the prospect of feeling something familiar, even if the majority of her memories of the place were of the variety that was best left forgotten. She was fairly sure that there was probably some sort of clinical diagnosis with a long name used to describe the contextually perverse sense of relief she felt at her first glance of shiny black lacquer and crushed green velvet. Goddess, this place was awful, and she was so glad to be back.Then again, the journey getting back to the club had been fraught enough to make her eager to climb under the first black silk duvet she saw, regardless of the fact that it could never, under any cir