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
AVAI wasn’t sure what, but something was telling me that I needed to run back to the pack house. So I did.What I didn’t expect to see was two almost identical wolves staring back at me. “Oscar,” I whispered through the link. “You’re stunning.”Both Oscar and Callum were sandy brown wolves with bright green eyes, there were just subtle differences. Oscar’s fur was speckled with darker brown hairs, much like his hair in his human form, and Callum was very slightly taller. Callum’s wolf eyes had a blue ring around the irises, just like his human did.Artemis sat down on her haunches, a little confused. There was a bond there with Oscar too. When she closed her eyes and we just felt for it, it felt like I had two gold threads, one running to Callum, one running to Oscar.I shifted back, sitting cross-legged on the floor. Oscar’s wolf trotted over to me, and lay his massive head down in my lap. I reassuringly ran my fingers through his fur, revelling in how soft he is.“Oscar, can you sh
AVAThe three of us ran together, jumping over and into each other, all laughing over the mind link. We slowed to a stop when we reached the pack house and saw Callum and Oscar on the stairs.Once we stopped, the three of us shifted back, but not by choice. It was like something yanked Artemis back, leaving me (and Theo and Noah) face down in the mud.“Fuck,” I swore, rolling over and wiping the mud off my face.“Ava!” Callum shouted. “Are you okay?” He ran towards me, pulling me up to stand.I nodded, and when we touched, it was like a jolt of power moved through me into him. His eyes immediately flared gold, and he fell to his knees. “Ares is trying to shift,” he growled, fighting it.“Callum, don’t fight it, let it happen, baby.” I fell to my knees in front of him whilst everyone watched the display. Even Jacob and Alex were on the steps of the pack house now.He shifted, and he had completely changed. His wolf was now midnight black, the same colour as mine, his eyes gold, and on
AVAAfter dinner, my new King Consorts joined me in my parents’ living room with tea and cake. Mum and dad looked nervous, really nervous.I put my plate back on the coffee table, cake half eaten.“Mum, dad,” I whispered. “What’s going on?”“Ava… I’m sorry we kept things from you… but I promise, we’ll tell you everything now.” Mum was almost crying as she spoke.When they felt my aura start to suffocate the room, Oscar and Callum took my hands, calming me instantly.I took a deep breath, before sitting back and nodding for her to start.“The first thing, sweetie, is your name. When you came here, we started using a shortened version of your name to make it easier to keep you safe. You go by Ava Wright, but you were born Avelina Wroblewski.”“I knew that,” I whispered. “Artemis told me.”They didn’t need to say anything for me to know that my eyes were shining gold.“How long have you known?” Mum’s voice was quiet.“Since I was ten.”“Ten?! You didn’t get Artemis until you were thirtee
AVAThe faces of my Kings were all stoic, uncertain. “The Moon Goddess, Ava?” Noah asked.I nodded. “The short story is that I need to have mated and marked the four of you by the full moon, which is only a week away.”“Why that soon?”“Because that’s when the rogues will come for me, and if they do before I’ve got all the four marks, they’ll win.”“But we don’t have time? If we have to wait in between each one and we don’t know how long we need to wait, seven days isn’t really enough time?”“I will know when Ava is ready for the next mark, Noah,” Artemis said. “Ava is strong. I am strong.”I took back over from Artemis. “She’s right, Noah.”He sighed, nodding. “So how do we do this?”“In the order you came to me, so Callum, Oscar, you, then Theo.”“Don’t look so smug, Callum,” Theo growled, his aura flowing. Of course Callum’s flowed back, and as the two boys stood off against each other, their respective twins came to stand behind them, also growling.I stood in between them, lettin
CALLUMWe lay there attempting to catch our breath, and I could safely say, I had never felt better.Where my skin was in contact with Ava’s, it felt like sparks were flying along my skin. Her voice was almost musical, her laugh hypnotic, her smell intoxicating. I could lose myself in her body, stay there forever, and die a very happy man.It was at that point when a searing hot pain shot through my body, leaving me dripping in sweat and in unbelievable agony. It was like a first shift, but so much worse.“Callum, we need to shift,” Ares said, his voice sounding strained too. “I don’t know what’s happening, but not shifting feels like it’s tearing me apart.”I let go of my control, letting Ares take over and shift.Ava gasped when I completed the shift, and ran her hand along my wolf’s face. “Ares, Callum,” she whispered. “I think our marking unlocked some kind of magic.”Huh?I shifted back, confused. “What do you mean?”“It was like something tingling and shimmering around your body
AVAI shifted straight back when I got to the clearing in front of the pack house, not even paying attention to the crowd that had gathered, or caring about the fact I was as naked as the day I was born.Callum pulled me into a hug, pressing his lips to my forehead, before checking me over for injuries. He didn’t find any, and instead turned his attention to his mark on my neck. Gone was the bite mark, and in its place was a delicate pattern of the Aries constellation.“Beautiful,” he whispered as he teased his fingertips over the still sensitive flesh.I tiptoed in front of him, reaching up to admire my own mark on his neck. Gone were the teeth and in its place was a delicate tattoo of my wolf staring up at the moon.I pressed a gentle kiss to the mark, enjoying how his body shivered in pleasure at the feel of my lips on his skin. He groaned when my tongue teased over the mark, his hands ending up intertwined around my back.Artemis reminding me that the rogues were a very real threa
OSCARThe feel of Ava beneath me was something I’d never take for granted. She was all soft curves, passion and fire; and it was like every inch of her was designed specifically to drive me crazy with need.I wasn’t sure why I’d been blessed with someone quite like her for a mate, but I’d never take her for granted, and I’d always treat her like the Queen she is and deserves to be.At the first touch of my lips on hers, she moaned contentedly, melting into the kiss. She tangled her fingers in my hair, pulling me on top of her, gasping at the feel of my cock pressing against her core.I tilted my hips, rubbing my tip across her opening and clit, leaving her moaning with every touch.She broke the kiss to catch her breath, tilting her head to give me access to her neck. I obliged immediately, focusing on the spot above Callum’s mark where I’d be marking her. I teased the spot with teeth and tongue, and slid my right hand in between us, searching for her clit.Her eyes rolled back at th