AVAThe run back to Blood Moon was faster this time, we managed it in only four hours. But that will be because part way back, I felt Theo being tortured. There’s nothing like the feeling of your mate being tortured to help you somehow run even faster.We set up my twelve warriors in one of the guest houses, one nicely close to the pack house in case we needed the backup quickly. I’d agreed with Callum, who was essentially my head of the Queen’s Guard, that I’d have two warriors tailing me at all times, not including him.I could deal with that.With everything that was going on, being tailed by two warriors is hardly a concern. I was planning on insisting each of my mates had a tail too once my Queen’s Guard was fully in place. They wouldn’t like it either, but they’d have to learn to deal with it.Until they didn’t, I’d keep knocking them on their asses in training.Of course, we hadn’t told Jacob and Alex yet that I’d brought twelve Lycan warriors back with us from our adventures,
AVATo summarise, it’s two days before the full moon. And it’s not early in the day either, it’s nearly 11pm.According to the Moon Goddess, Selene, that’s when shit is going to get serious.There are two psychopaths that want to forcibly mark me. One is the Rogue King, the other is the brother of the Beta female of a pack that’s not even that close to ours. They both believe that if they forcibly mark me, any future pups of ours would be all-powerful, help them take over the world… and whatever else power hungry psychopaths want.They’ve heard the legends of the Alpha Queen, and most likely interpreted it wrong.I’m still missing one of my fated mates. He's been captured by the power-hungry psychopath who wants to forcibly mark me and is being kept somewhere in a basement near a train line. We’ve still got about fifteen miles of train line to search, and it’s in a territory we’ve got to sneak into so we don’t immediately start a war.At the same time, our pack’s Alpha has been kidna
One day before the full moonAVAWe searched the territory for hours. Callum, Alex and I plus our warriors finished first and drew a blank, so we all pushed out to help Noah, Oscar and their teams search the forests.By the time we finished, we’d been going for six hours and it was the middle of the night. On the day before the full moon. My stress levels were through the roof already, and I knew that was only going to get worse.But not just for me.Noah’s parents were missing, his brother was missing. He needed me that night, and I didn’t have any issue with that whatsoever.We might not have had long to rest in between problems to solve, but I’d give him whatever I could. As soon as we reached the bedroom I had set up in the packhouse, we stripped off and fell straight into bed, wrapped in each other’s arms.“I love you, Avelina Wroblewski,” he whispered in my ear.“And I love you, Noah William Hughes.”His smile was like a kid on Christmas. His hands moved until he cupped my face
AVAI managed to get a whole three hours of sleep before I was up and out again. The first job of the day was interrogating our friend Julian Stanley. We needed to know what he was doing and why the bloody hell he was doing it.Was he just acting on behalf of the Rogue King like he claimed? Or is he actually a third psychopath that I’d need to worry about? That’s the question.I burst into the interrogation room in the basement, Callum hot on my heels. I’d already had security move Julian from his cell to the interrogation room; his hands were bound with silver cuffs to the table in front of him, and his ankles were shackled to the chair legs.Callum had found a witch to remove the spells he was using, so instead of seeing a replica of Jacob, we were now seeing him for who he is. He wasn’t as tall as he was pretending to be, or as muscled, so all of his clothes were now hanging off him. His mousy brown hair looked like it hadn’t been washed, and his face looked like it had an argument
AVAI couldn’t believe it.We actually had a lead on Theo’s location.For the first time in days, I had hope.I turned to sprint from the office, motioning for the guards to move him back to his cell as I went.“Noah, Oscar, my office,” I shouted through the link I had with my mates, Callum was only a foot behind me as I ran. “Callum, round up the Guard. Theo, if you can hear me, we're coming for you, I promise.”“You know he probably can't hear you,” Callum replied, out loud, his voice quiet, almost delicate.“I know,” I replied. “But I have to keep trying.”Oscar and Noah met us at the door to my office, also evidently having run. I couldn't help the smile that started to appear around my face at the thought that we were going to get him. We were going to get the missing piece of my soul.“Ava, is it true? You know where he is?” Noah’s voice was frantic as we all sat down.“We have a good idea,” I replied. I was trying not to get either my or Noah’s hopes up, but it was hard and I c
AVAI opened my mouth to reply, but immediately let it close again. How do you tell this kind of story? That’s the question.When my Kings and Alex all saw my expression, they all gained a worried look.“Do you know who he is, Ava?” Callum asked.“Yes.” I paused for a moment, biting my lip. “Unfortunately. Before I tell you this story, you’ve got to understand that Lycan packs are a monarchy that is operated in a much more old fashioned way than most wolf packs. There are a lot of things that I plan to change when I take over.”I let my eyes fall closed, face tense. When I opened them again, I knew Artemis was forward. She wasn’t looking forward to this conversation either. “Callum, can you pour me a drink for this conversation, please.”He nodded, grabbing a glass and a bottle of rum. He poured a generous glass for me, and put the bottle next to me on the table. He knew me well enough to know that this wasn’t going to be good.“I was betrothed to the Rogue King before I was even born
CALLUMIt broke my heart more than I ever thought possible to hear what Ava went through. It's disgusting that arranged political marriages are still even an acceptable thing in any pack, regardless of whether it's run as a monarchy or not.Absolutely despicable that people would put their children through that.I'm sure there are genuinely happy marriages that come out of that arrangement, and I know Ava's biological parents were happy despite being in an arranged marriage… but I couldn't put my child through that. Absolutely never.I'd lock up anyone who tried to force someone into that and throw away the key. The fact that someone is trying to force Ava… well. I would come down on them like a tonne of bricks.The room was deathly silent once Ava finished telling her story. I walked around the table towards her, sitting on the desk in front of her. I pulled her into my arms, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “He won’t take you away from us, little one,” I whispered. “I promise you th
NOAHAs soon as I heard Ava thought she knew where Theo was… I couldn’t help but get my hopes up. I know I needed not to; I needed to be prepared for the worst, but I couldn’t help it.Theo is my twin. My other half.We’ve been together our entire lives.Him being missing… is pain beyond belief.Between that and my parents… well. Without Ava, I’d be a mess.As soon as the plan was in place, we got ready to go. Our trackers and the first group of Lycans sprinted off in advance, finding the best route for us to get through. All being well, the run from Blood Moon to where we believed Matthew’s camp would be should only be a couple of hours. I needed my brother back; but I was very aware of how little time we had.The first hour went swimmingly, but we didn’t expect that it would be for the full trip. And that was why when I saw Ava stop and shift back with her eyes glazed over… I couldn’t help but panic.AVAThe first time the Moon Goddess came to me… I was asleep. The second, I was sp