THEOSeeing Ava like that broke my heart. It made the Alpha in me want to wrap her up and protect her, despite the fact I knew she was more than capable of defending herself, and that she was already a much stronger Alpha than I’d ever be.I could see the same pained expression on everyone else’s faces as we waited for the doctor to finish cleaning out the bite on Ava’s arm and discharge her. By the time it was done, every other bruise and cut on her body had healed. Even her ribs were well on the way to being healed; according to the doctor, they probably would be within 24 hours.Once Ava was discharged and dressed, we all headed off to Beta Alex’s room. He was in worse shape than Ava, he didn’t heal as well.“Fuck, Alex,” Ava whispered, sitting on his bed next to him. “I heal better than you, why did you jump into that?! You could have just picked them off from the outside, you didn’t need to jump right into the middle of the bundle.”“I couldn’t leave you to do it on your own, Ava
AVAI winced at Callum’s voice. I knew the situation couldn’t be avoided, we had to talk about it sooner or later. But that didn’t mean I wanted to.I let my eyes fall closed as I sat back in my chair.“You’ve now all seen the scars on my back and my legs,” I started, voice low. “Since I’ve had my wolf since I was thirteen, I assume you’ve all put two and two together to say that the scars are from before I had Artemis.”They all nodded.“I came here as an orphan when I was nine, as you all know. Even then, Artemis was protecting us by hiding her scent. Even before you shift for the first time, all werewolves smell like werewolves, it’s just less distinctive. Because Artemis can shield our scent, it was like I didn’t have one. That led to people assuming that actually my adoptive parents had taken in a human or a cursed child. I was bullied incessantly for that, and it’s not like Artemis or I could do anything about it because I couldn’t talk to her until I was thirteen.”I stood, wal
AVAI hated the look of pity on people’s faces, and that was exactly what was currently staring at me.Pity.They didn’t need to pity me. I just needed people that would have my back and be on my side now and in the future. “That’s enough of the pity, people,” I said, my voice exasperated. “Pity won’t change the past. I need you all to have my back now and in the future.”They all snapped out of it, like they’d been in a trance.“Wait Ava…” Izzie started. “You’re a Lycan?”I nodded. “I’m heir to the Eclipse Mountain pack.”Her mouth fell open. “But you can run as a wolf?”I nodded.“The Legend of the Alpha Queen?”“You’ve heard it, Izzie?”“I grew up with it as a bedtime story.”“Have you got Lycan heritage?”“My maternal great, great, great grandma was Lycan, but there hasn’t been enough Lycan DNA in my family to have a baby born as a Lycan in a long time now,” Izzie replied. “They all grew up with the more positive Legends being told as bedtime stories, and I grew up on the Legend
AVAOnce Jacob and Alex had left, Leo and Izzie quickly excused themselves too with dirty smirks on their faces.“What now, Ava?” Theo asked.“I could go for a swim. Want to come?”“You’re meant to be taking it easy, Ava, swimming isn’t easy,” Callum’s voice was angry.“Swimming is low impact. I’m not talking intensive lengths, I’m talking relaxing in the lake.” I paused for a moment to talk to Artemis. “How are my ribs looking?”“All healed, Ava,” she was skipping around excitedly.“Oh Artemis, I love you!”“Awww, Ava,” she smirked.I turned my attention back to Callum. “Artemis says my ribs are healed, I’m all good to go.”“Ava, the doctor said 24 hours.”“He said until I’m healed, Callum.”His face said he wasn’t going to give.“Fine, would it make you feel better if I get doc to x-ray my chest?”He nodded.“Fine, come along you lot.” I rolled my eyes.Callum insisted on driving, so we reached the pack hospital in no time at all.“Alpha Ava, are you okay?” the doctor called out.“I
AVABy the time we’d all wrapped up round one, it was late. We made our way back to the Beta’s house since Callum and Oscar have the biggest bedroom, not expecting that all of the pack’s senior wolves would be sitting in their living room having drinks when we walked in.“Ava!” Alex called out, face amused. “Why don’t you join us for a drink?”I growled at him through the mind link, making him snort.“Come on Ava,” Jacob added. “One drink for our young Alpha.”I rolled my eyes. “Fine. Alex, if I’m hungover for our run tomorrow, it’s your fault and I will not hold back when we spar next after your ribs have healed.” I gladly took the rum Jacob was offering me, still scowling at Alex when I sat down in between him and Jacob.“How are you feeling now, Alpha Ava?” the pack gamma, Jamie, asked.“All good, Gamma Jamie. Ribs are healed and everything. Confirmed healed too since this lot,” I motioned over my shoulder to the twins, “wouldn’t let me swim without an x-ray, so I got an x-ray.”Th
AVAI woke up sweating a couple hours later. Callum was hot, really hot.“Artemis…” a new voice whispered. “Help me.”My eyes snapped open, trying to identify the voice. Callum? Surely not. His birthday was still months away.I rolled over to face him, to see sweat pouring down his face, his face contorted in pain.“Callum,” I stroked his hair reassuringly. “It’s okay, I’m here with you.”I nudged Oscar awake. “Oscar, get me a clean flannel and a bowl of cool water.”“What?”“Now, Oscar.”He turned the light on, running down the stairs.“Callum,” I whispered. “You’re okay, I’m here with you. Your wolf is coming early, but I’ll help you through it, okay?”He whimpered. Oh this was awful to watch.“Ava…” he groaned, grabbing my hand, his eyes flying open.His wolf’s eyes were bright green, a beautiful colour, but the pain in them was awful to see.Once I had the cool water, I damped the flannel, using it to wipe Callum’s head, cooling him down. “I’m here with you, I promise,” I whisper
CALLUMI woke up dripping with sweat and in agony to the sound of another voice in my head. It was awful, uncomfortable, and just really unpleasant. If Ava hadn’t been there to help me through it, I don’t know what would have happened.When I shifted, it was like there was a string tying me to Ava. I didn’t want to be away from her. I don’t think it was a mate bond, we were both too young to recognise our mates. But… there was definitely something there. I planned to talk to my dad in the now I could through the mindlink.When Ares told me he wanted to hunt for Artemis, I wasn’t sure what to think, and I definitely didn’t think he’d go for a deer. Artemis insisted on sharing the deer with him, and he practically melted, rolling around in my head with happiness.Ava and I made love as the sun rose, before shifting back to run to the training ground.I wanted to meet Lloyd.Somehow, despite our distractions, Ava and I beat my dad and Alpha Jacob to the training ground, so we settled dow
AVA“That explains it,” Alex murmured.“Is he freaking out because Artemis didn’t say it back?”“I think Ares is, I’ll be honest.”I bit my lip again, before talking to Artemis. “How do you feel about Callum and Ares?”“I want them around, I miss them right now. More than anything, I want to go roll around with Ares. I’ll be honest, Ava, I’m freaking out.”I sighed before looking back at Alex and Jacob. “As Artemis just put it, she wants them around, misses them, and more than anything, wants to roll around with Ares. But she’s freaking out. I’ve slammed a block down on my emotions to try to stop them bleeding through to Callum.”“I think you two are mates, Ava,” Jacob’s voice was low. “All the things you’ve described say he is your mate. Lycans are rare, really rare. I don’t know how that would affect the mate bond. Perhaps on his birthday, it will fully click into place?”“Maybe,” I shrugged.“I’m curious to see if you react in the same way to Oscar when he gets his wolf, Ava. Twins