NOAH“And this is Artemis,” dad said, motioning towards the other side of the training grounds.A huge midnight black wolf trotted towards us with bright yellow eyes. Yellow eyes that we’d seen before…The wolf, Artemis, walked over to us, stopping directly in front of us before licking each of our faces in turn. My dad and Beta Alexander chuckled at the show, but the four of us just didn’t know how to react to a massive wolf licking our faces.We’d all seen wolves around the territory before, of course we have, but never quite this up close and personal. I definitely hadn’t been licked by one before.Typically, the first time kids in our pack get up close and personal with other wolves is when they shift for the first time.Unless there’s an emergency, our pack members aren’t permitted to run in wolf form through the middle of the most densely populated areas in daylight hours. We have a lot of young pups, so all possible steps need to be taken to make sure they don’t accidentally g
CALLUM“I’m sure you all have some questions for Ava, but I would appreciate it if you can hold off until after we’ve gone through everything that’s happened today,” Alpha Jacob said, before turning to Ava and my dad.“What happened when you two ran this morning?”“Three rogues by the river. I made Ava hide whilst I shifted back to talk to them. They were here on behalf of their ‘boss’, who believes his mate might be in this pack.”“Of course, we believe they’re actually talking out of their backsides, and he’s planning on forcing a matebond on someone,” Ava continued, before throwing a concerned look towards my dad. “This she-wolf they’re looking for is apparently a special woman with a special wolf.”Dad’s face was stressed, and just got more stressed as he looked at Ava. Was it her?“The three wolves fled before we could do anything about it. All three of them were in the group just now, two are dead, and the third is in the cells waiting to be interrogated,” dad explained.“What e
AVAThe next morning, the twins insisted on joining Beta Alexander and I at the training ground for our 5am run. Of course since they were on two legs they couldn’t keep up, but we took it in turns carrying them around the forest for a while. Callum loved it when I took him; Noah was nervous at first and thought I was going to crash into a tree, but when he settled, he just wanted to keep going.I high fived Beta Alexander after our run, chucking a bottle of water over to him which he caught easily. “Hey, Ava?” he shouted.“Mmm?” I turned to look at him, water bottle still in my hand.“Think fast.”He sprinted at me, going straight for my legs.I rolled out of the way, spinning back to my feet a few metres away from where I started. When he ran for me again, I was ready.I dropped to the ground and spun, kicking his legs out from underneath him.He skidded across the floor from the momentum that he had been carrying, scowling at me when he stood. I shrugged. “You always taught me not
AVAI took advantage of his distraction; darting behind him before flinging my massive body at him, knocking him onto his back. This time when Artemis had her jaws around his neck, he had no choice but to submit.The applause when he did was enormous, and only got louder as we both shifted back and lay on the floor trying to catch our breath. “Good fight, Alpha Jacob,” I laughed, noticing that my ribs were sore from some of the kicks he got in.“Good job, Alpha, Alpha,” Beta Alexander appeared over us, throwing us both spare clothes since we both shredded everything we were wearing.“What was the final time, Beta? Alpha Jacob asked, both of us still lying on the floor. “One hour and forty eight minutes!”“Jeez, no wonder my ribs hurt,” I laughed, before wincing at the pain.We both got to our feet, and it was only then that I realised Alpha Jacob had come off considerably worse. I winced when I saw his face. “Sorry about the black eye, Alpha,” I grimaced.He just laughed, pulling me
CALLUMI would love to know what Ava said to dad over the mindlink to distract him that much. Since it involved Oscar and I… I had a pretty good idea.I also was very aware that the only reason we were here and Ava wasn’t was because of whatever she had said.She walked in between us on the way back from the field, winking as she went, before pulling the t-shirt over her head, leaving it in one of the spare clothes stashes and shifting to run back to the packhouse.Noah and Theo were on the other side of the group, both still slightly shocked that they’d seen Ava take their dad down. Who wouldn’t have been shocked though?An hour later, dad finally let us go.The FiveAva: I’m lonely, boys. Come join me.Noah: Where are you, Princess?Ava: You’ll find out soon enough. No cheating, you have to work it out on your own.Ava: For now though… enjoy.She followed that message up with a photo of her having just gotten out of the shower. As soon as we saw that, Oscar and I sprinted straight b
AVAI made a point of not seeing any of the twins for the rest of that day. One way or another, they would learn to shut doors behind them like civilised people.I still hadn’t spoken to them by the time I got to the training grounds for what had become my regularly scheduled run with Alex. Not many people could keep up with Artemis, and I needed to run with someone who stood a chance.“Morning, Alex,” I called out when I saw him.“Morning, Ava,” he smirked. “Have you spoken to my sons?”“Not since yesterday. Nor the Alpha’s sons.”He laughed so hard he nearly cried. “Oh Ava, you really are my favourite. Shall we run?”“Let’s do it.”We both shifted, and after Kieran and Artemis’ usual display of respect, we ran straight into the woods. We’d been running for an hour by the time I noticed something was… wrong.“Alex,” I called through the link. “Can you feel that?”“Feel what?”“We’re being watched.”“Fuck. Okay carry on like normal whilst we try to work this out.”“We’re too far out
CALLUMI was left standing there dumbfounded when Ava left. The looks on Oscar, Noah and Theo’s faces said they had exactly the same thoughts.“Dad,” I asked. “What is Ava? How… Why can she…”“That’s a question for Ava, son. But as she tried to tell you, she doesn’t need to go to the hospital, wolfsbane doesn’t affect her.” He sighed, turning back to Alpha Jacob. “You and I should probably go and apologise to her, Alpha.”Alpha Jacob nodded, sighing too. “We fucked up, she’s going to be pissed, and rightly so. Her power when she commanded you was something else… I know I would have had trouble resisting if it had been focused on me.” He groaned.“Yeah, I had no chance of resisting that command, Alpha,” dad replied.“If she doesn’t forgive us, we’re going to have to come up with a plan to back her up because she’ll tackle this on her own.”“Wait, Ava commanded you, dad?”He nodded, a scowl on his face.“Boys, why don’t you go down for lunch and make sure Ava is okay? Beta Alexander and
AVAJacob and Alex never did really calm down enough to talk about the rogue problem like grownups. I tried, but Alex and I just had an argument again.Now, I just wanted to drown my sorrows in alcohol, and there were six lovely people I wanted to do that with.The Super SevenAva: I feel like dancing. Who wants to come to the club with me tonight?Izzie: I’ll be there! I miss you, sweetcheeks.Callum: Of course we’ll be there, little one.Theo: Dinner at the pack house first?Ava: I’d rather not, I’ll be honest.Oscar: We can help keep dad and Alpha Jacob away from you if you want us to, Ava.Ava: Oscar, I’m not asking any of you to join the side of an argument against Alpha Jacob and Beta Alexander. If you do that, you’re declaring for me, and there’s no going back from that.That would give them something to think about. At this point, the Alpha and Beta of this pack had acknowledged me as an Alpha in my own right, and therefore our wolves really would see this as taking sides. Sin