Ava didn’t know what to think.Her anxiety had hit the roof as she had waited for them to do whatever they had brought her there to do, but the Council members had just been drinking and talking about people and things she had no idea about.Like normal people. It was as if in this house, they weren’t the psychotic people who’d clapped when she'd stood in the puddles of blood.This was a mind game; she was sure of it. To make her drop her guard before they swooped in? Make her trust them and spill her secrets? It would never happen. She could still feel Mr Patrick’s magic protecting her from their probing, but she didn’t think they had even tried.“Hey, you haven’t touched your drink,” Andrei said, pulling himself away from Iulia. They had been disgustingly affectionate with each other the whole time.“I... I don’t really drink, and it’s still too early in the day.”Plus, she wasn’t going to put anything from them into her mouth.“There’s no one here to see you break any rules, Ava.
After dinner, Zeke found Ava sitting with her feet in the pool, looking completely lost.Her guilt had been weighing on him all day, and he knew it wasn’t just about the students she had been forced to kill. She was also thinking of the ones she had to choose as a sacrifice.He pulled the legs of his sweats up and sat next to her. She didn’t even look at him.What had they discussed at that house? He was still a little paranoid because he knew whatever the Council was trying to achieve was no good for them as mates. “Are you okay?” he asked. “Yeah,” she said.Lies, of course. He’d already seen that her training didn’t go so well. The coach had made her sit it out because everyone was too scared to spar with her. But they were out in the open, so they couldn’t discuss things like before. “I’ll train with you tomorrow. We need to focus your mind so you get familiar with your wolf.”They needed to shut themselves away in the basement and talk things through, but Ava still thought she
Ava looked into Zeke's eyes. She already knew what he wanted to say. He’d sat her on a bench and sat on the floor in front of her. His chest was still bare; he’d only hastily put his sweats back on before he’d grabbed her hand and led her to the basement. He was pissed off, and this time she was sure she was the reason. Had he wanted her to let him hurt Andrei?“I’m going to tell you something you have probably figured out yourself by now,” Zeke started. “Your wolf will never bow to anyone. Not your professors, instructors or coaches. Not the dean. Not the Council and certainly not Mr Hansson. You will never submit. Your wolf would die before she allows that to happen.”She looked away from his eyes to her hands on her bare lap.She already knew that. There had always been something in her that had refused to submit to anyone. Until Zeke came along, and she’d offered him her neck before she even realised what she was. “I will never forgive myself if my father died.” “You will neve
Ava looked down at the stripes on her brand-new blazer. An Alpha. She had Alpha stripes.Zeke came out of his dressing room, still adjusting his tie. “Looking good, Alpha,” he said with a grin. “This is so weird,” she muttered. She’d become so used to wearing her plain blazer that the added stripes made it look like a different uniform.“Get used to it,” Zeke said, dropping a kiss on her head as he pulled her into him and met her eyes in the mirror.They looked like a power couple. She had never been one of the popular kids while growing up, so being with Zeke felt a little unreal. If only their problems were about jealous girls and deciding what clothes to wear to a party instead of the Council.He was more content today, as she was. Being alone by the lake all night had done them some good, and she felt more hopeful that they could pull this off. It was probably the excess oxytocin in their bodies. She blushed as she looked away from her handsome mate and wished again that they h
Ava sat very still next to Zeke in the lounge. Her gaze followed Andrei, who was walking around lifting little trinkets to inspect and putting them back down as if he couldn’t sense how on edge they were. Myles and Derek stood behind them as if they were still officially Zeke’s Beta and Gamma. But they didn’t have to be there. They had nothing to do with any of this.She looked away from Andrei to look at Alpha Diego and saw that he was in some sort of staring match with Zeke. The war of wills was impressive to watch. Zeke said her wolf would never submit to anyone, but she hadn’t thought they could withstand the glare of a wolf that old. Zeke wasn’t backing down, and she knew it was because he was still angry that Alpha Diego had taken her to their house.Samantha and Julie walked in with trays full of sandwiches and salad bowls. The plates and cutlery rattled together as the wolves trembled. She didn’t know who had told them they had come home for lunch, but the two of them had dec
Ava was aware they couldn’t trust the councillors. Zeke didn’t need to keep telling her that. But what if they were telling the truth?She had been so preoccupied with the lunch meeting that she didn’t mind being forced to sit out the training session again.“For safety reasons,” Coach Henderson murmured before he turned to instruct the rest of the class.So she sat down for hours and mulled over what they had to do. Even though Alpha Diego had almost commanded her the other day, she could still feel Mr Patrick’s magic in her body, so she still had some form of protection. At least, she hoped so. The thoughts she was having were dangerous. Because she knew it wasn’t just Mr Hansson they would have to fight; it was the councillors and the guards, too.“Ava.”She snapped out of her thoughts and saw Douche Dexter standing in front of her, wiping his face. She hadn’t even seen that the session was over. After hours of sitting, she was no closer to a solution.“Hey,” she said warily.“I...
Ava stopped meditating to open her eyes and look at Zeke. He was feeling restless, probably like how she was. Maybe he could feel it, too. Their time was up.“Why do you hate Jared?” Zeke’s attention came back to her, and he frowned.“We’re here to try to speak to your wolf, not worry about that bastard.”“I think my wolf will make herself known when she wants to,” she said as she stretched her legs out on the lawn and then lay back to look at the night sky.They had come out to the backyard again. The moon was almost full, and the stars twinkled in the sky. If she had been back home, the pack would have been preparing for their monthly pack run on the full moon while she decided on which books she would read while they were gone. Simpler times.“We can’t mess around, Ava.”“I can’t force this. What else am I supposed to do? We’re better off going to train than wasting time on that insane wolf.”Zeke sighed and lay beside her. “You can’t call her that. She’s an extension of you, and
Zeke needed a run—something to calm himself.Did his mate really feel sorry for Jared? Did she think his fate would somehow change just because she didn’t approve of it? She hadn’t been there!She hadn’t been the one to come back from a hunt and see so much chaos and destruction. She hadn’t been the one to find her mother murdered in the woods and her father tied up when the breaking of the bond had weakened him.And then to hear Jared whimpering that he was sorry. Sorry wasn’t going to undo anything that his family had done.It didn’t matter whose sin it was; Jared would still pay for it, too.“Do you need a minute, Mr Michelson?”When he heard the professor’s nervousness, he looked up and realised his claws were digging into the desk. Shadow had taken control.“I’m fine.”He had bigger issues to worry about. His anger was likely pointless because they were all going to die. He should have been thinking of the beautiful connection he’d had with Ava’s wolf. That moment when her wolf h
Human blood still scented the air hours after the fight. It was everywhere. On the narrow path up the mountain. On the cold, unyielding side of the mountain. Over the trees, bushes and dead leaves on the ground. Silver bullet casings and broken silver weapons were scattered on the forest floor. Sharp lengths of twine were tied between tree trunks like traps, and blood dripped from them. There was something else on it besides that metallic scent, something spicy and woodsy, and very faint.Putting her nose closer to the twine, she started to inhale. A second later, strong arms circled her chest and wrenched her away.“Don’t touch that. Wolfsbane,” Zeke said.Of course. She had never been around it, but she was sure the other wolves in the pack were taught how to detect it from the moment they shifted. It was deadly to wolves, poisoning their systems as quickly as silver. A chill rushed down her spine at how close she’d come to making a rookie mistake.Stepping out of Zeke’s arms, she l
‘Let’s at least find out what happened to the Moonvalley Alpha first,’ Zeke mindlinked Ava. ‘There are too many humans here.’Ava’s apprehension was obvious through their bond, but so were her rage and fear. Tension coiled up in his stomach. Whenever he got like this, he always pulled the silver chains out for Derek and Myles to restrain him. But now, they were freely running near humans. Even if it was a small town, people would notice if half of them got wiped out by raging beasts.‘I’ve only been this far from our territory once, and Dad didn’t even let me get out of the car. I don’t even know where this diner is, so we need to speak to Nate.’It was clear from her tone that she didn’t like that, but some of the tension uncoiled because she wasn’t about to burrow through innocent people in town without a plan.The sun was setting when they stopped near the forest’s edge. Zeke followed Ava to a small wooden cabin, where she shifted without much regard to the humans he sensed close to
The Silver Daggers. A bunch of fucking neanderthals who’d dwindled their numbers even before the Council had formed to take them down. Probably the only good thing the Council had done.Psychopaths on the same level as Hansson, with their well-documented kills and torture methods. And they had somehow dug up enough information on his mate to have a recent photo of her and also know which orphanage she’d been at before being adopted. In which world was that the kind of information someone kept to themselves?Shadow growled in his head, pissed off with Ava’s family for the first time since meeting Roland. ‘Let’s go hunt them down,’ he ordered. Oh, that was a given. The only question was how to make Ava go back home. Dealing with Hansson together was one thing. They had been trapped at the academy and had no other options. But he would not willingly let Ava face another asshole like Hansson. He would not risk her life. “Answer me,” Ava said, stepping closer to Nate.“No, I don’t thin
Ava glared at her brothers after she pulled a T-shirt over her head. The boys had accepted shorts and were already eating the bowls of a meat and vegetable stew that they had been offered. How could they even eat at a time like this? She took her place beside Zeke, and the older woman who’d given her the clothes gave her a bowl, too. She recognised her as the Luna immediately. Audrey had come forward before Nate could tell her anything about the secret they were keeping.When her father first brought her to visit the Moonvalley Pack, she was impressed that the pack's protection fell on all their shoulders equally despite being so traditional in other roles. Her father said Luna Audrey could kick ass as hard as Alpha Barrett.“I’m sorry, Luna. I don’t think I can eat right now,” she said, smiling at the woman.“Your wolf needs to eat,” Luna Audrey said, pushing the bowl towards her. “It’s true, isn’t it? You shifted?”Her reputation as the only human in the Mystic River territory had sp
The air was sharper, and his eyes picked up the smallest grain of soil—as impossible as that seemed. He could hear the smallest critters scurrying under the decomposing matter on the forest floor. His hind legs launched him easily over shrubs and fallen trees while the wind rushed past his face with an almost overwhelming force.His heart pumped with the surge of adrenaline, and below that, the strange, unfamiliar energy. What the hell was this? Nyx hadn’t stopped running since they shifted when they reached the forest. Keeping close behind her, Shadow followed the almost non-existent trail. Even with his stronger senses, Alpha Morgan’s scent wasn’t there at all. And the warriors he’d taken with him must have been some of his best men because they’d hardly left a trail.He’d expected Nyx to flounder a few times because she was still new, but the other half of him hadn’t lost the trail even once. Not that he expected anything different. Even without the strange boost they seemed to h
No. No, no, no.Her fault. Why the hell hadn’t she trusted herself?Ava was out of the door before anyone could stop her. The guards had already gathered in the front yard, discussing what was happening. “...they’ve brought the bodies to the morgue. Can’t recognise them...”“...might be the same rogues that attacked the Moonvalley pack...”“...they didn’t make it there, so we still don’t know what’s going on over there...”Her fault.It was Emily and Dexter all over again.She shouldn’t have stayed in the background when she knew she was strong enough to help.“Ava,” Caleb called out as he followed her down the front steps. “I’ve already organised the search party. The trackers are already out there, and I’m going to join them. Stay here and—”“Even now, you’re trying to stop me?” she asked, facing her brothers.“It’s not safe—”“Then tell me why the hell you’ve kept me inside when you know I can help?” she growled.Caleb didn’t look away from her, but Nate, Alex, and Nick glanced a
Ava opened the back door again and glared at the wolf leaning against a tree at the edge of the forest. It was long past noon, and there hadn’t been any word from her father or the people he’d left with. Nyx growled, growing restless. She should have listened to her wolf from the start.Nyx was not very vocal, but she understood her wolf’s emotions perfectly. And it wasn’t helping that something else was simmering just under her skin, ready to burst. It had worried her when she woke, but there were bigger things to worry about now. Anxiety made the wait unbearable.Her father had always taught her to stand up for herself, so whatever rumours were going around about Zeke shouldn’t have made him go to such extremes. It was easy to prove that he was innocent. Why did it feel like she was missing something?That was the only thing stopping her from going after him. The fact that she didn’t know what was really going on. Her brothers were protective but always let her make her own choices.
It was strange to see all four mini Morgans looking at him directly without an ounce of fear. He and Ava sat on one couch while the brothers sat on the massive leather one that ran along two walls of the lounge. They had the same ash-blond hair in different styles and the same piercing blue eyes. Alpha Roland’s genes were clearly superior because he couldn’t see a trace of their mother. Even the judgy expressions were the same as their father’s.“Is this what they teach you in your pack? To disrespect a girl in her own home?” Caleb growled.They’d remained quiet until they herded him and Ava into the house. The rest of the pack had remained at the school, but he could sense some of them coming closer.“I meant no disrespect—”“She’s my little sister,” Caleb interrupted. “Don’t give me that bullshit.”As the oldest and the one who would take charge after his father, Caleb would have been given the same lessons as he had. At least the basics. Did he not understand what a true mate was?
Okay, now that was messed up. Nyx went on alert when all the attention focussed on Zeke, and Ava’s blood started to simmer. “Why are you looking at him?” she asked, finally lifting her head to look around the room.She’d anticipated some backlash once everyone heard the whole story about Hansson but assumed it would die as quickly as it usually did when she caused her father some trouble. It was why she’d not wanted to cause any waves for minor things. But for them to call Zeke a demon and blatantly suspect him of such a heinous crime?“He’s walking around with you, so something is obviously wrong with him,” Riley muttered from somewhere behind her.“As opposed to a wolf who can barely shift and can’t be admitted to an academy where a mere human was accepted?” she growled, not ashamed to hit below the belt.Several gasps brought her back to her senses, and she breathed deeply to calm the storm brewing inside her.The last time anyone had been a threat to Zeke, she’d levelled him in