AVA“Your Highness,” one of the warriors suddenly mindlinked. We were still on the way back to the Blood Moon territory; but fortunately, we weren’t that far away. We could get Theo settled in the pack hospital, and then all go after his parents.“What’s happening, Jeremiah?” Jeremiah was one of the oldest Lycans that would go on to form part of my Queen’s Guard when I officially took over on my birthday.“We’ve got eyes on the Alpha and Luna.”I almost squealed with excitement. “You’ve found them?”“Yes,” he replied, voice low. “They’re at the bottom of a cave network. From here, we don’t believe there are any rogues throughout the rest of the complex, but we can’t be sure until we get in there.”“Thanks, Jeremiah. We’re taking Theo home; we’re driving because he’s in no state to run, and we’ll be back at the pack grounds within twenty minutes. As soon as he’s settled, we’ll head your way. Can you send me a GPS location?”“Of course, Your Highness,” he replied. Within seconds, my pho
NOAHI cried when Ava told me she’d found my parents.It had been too long since my mum, dad and brother had all been home. None of them were out of the woods yet; they all had physical injuries that they needed to recover from and who knows what kind of mental demons they would have picked up.For now, I could just be excited to see them all again.Goddess, I missed them.AVAOscar, Callum and I jumped in the car to drive Jacob and Amelia back to the packhouse. I had wanted to run so Artemis and I could clear our heads so we could work out a plan for tomorrow, but Callum would have insisted on coming with us… which would have made it impossible.He’d never agree to what I’m planning. But unfortunately for him… there was absolutely no way I was going to let my Kings put themselves in harm’s way when it could be avoided.I groaned inwardly. It was going to suck, trying to sneak away from them and go after the Rogue King on my own, but it needed to be done.I let my eyes fall closed, ac
23 hours until the moon is fullAVAIt was past midnight by the time we’d gotten back, gotten everyone settled and I had a chance to make sure everyone was okay. I needed to somehow sleep so I was at my physical best, but sleep was definitely going to evade me…Who would manage to sleep when the hours were ticking down like this? The moon would be at its peak in the sky at midnight. Which meant I had 23 hours until I’d be face-to-face with Elijah. Twenty. Three. Hours.I’d told Callum and Oscar that I wanted to try to get some sleep, so they’d joined me in their room. Noah was spending the night with Theo and his parents. We’d managed to arrange a room big enough that the family could be together.Callum and Oscar were snoring away on either side of me, but I couldn’t sleep. I was staring at the ceiling, my mind was blank. Both Artemis and I were trying to force my mind to let us sleep… but that wasn’t exactly going to plan.In the end, I dug out my phone, and pulled the map back up t
20 hours until the moon is fullAVAThe sun would set at about 7pm, so five hours before the moon peaked. In fifteen hours… I needed to be at that clearing, ready to confront Elijah. If what Artemis and I had put together was true, the Rogue King was planning to attempt to force the mark on me when the moon peaked…So at that point he planned to either have me restrained, unconscious or force me into a situation where I had to agree to him marking me.Being in the direct light of a full moon could make mate bonds stronger, so that just meant I’d have to make sure that one way or another, one of my Kings was there. From my conversation with Selene… it had to be Callum and/or Oscar.She specifically talked about my protector and lover… so did she mean it had to be Oscar?It was incredibly unlikely Theo would wake up in time to help, and if he did, he wouldn’t be well yet. Noah needed to be here, not just for his family, but because if it came down to it, the Lycan warriors would turn to
15 hours until the moon is fullAVAI sent Callum and Oscar off to make sure safe rooms were set up and ready to go for the night. We’d agreed that everyone would be in safe houses and the hospital would be locked down from two hours before sunset, and everyone would stay in those safe rooms until everything blows over, so probably tomorrow.The rest of the pack warriors were getting involved too, making sure that the safe houses were stocked, and that they were ready to protect the borders. It was a big job… but I will admit that I had a second motive to get Callum and Oscar to do it.Yes, I trusted them to pull it off. But, I also needed them out of earshot so I could get everything arranged with Jeremiah.“Take a seat, Jeremiah,” I motioned when Oscar and Callum left. We’d even moved the other warrior outside the office. This was need to know.“Before I start, Jeremiah, I need to ask you a question.”“Of course, my Queen. What do you need?”“What I am about to tell you needs to be
9 hours before the moon is fullAVABy 3pm, most of the pack was ready to go. Oscar and Callum had the safe houses ready, and they were now helping set up patrols around the pack house. Once that was done, they were getting the hospital ready to go into lockdown.Busy, busy…I sunk down into my chair, sighing as I tried to work out how to tell Callum and Oscar what they needed to know. I thought back over what the Moon Goddess had told me. Don’t trust the spoken word… What does that even mean?! Does that just mean I’m being listened to?I felt a strange warmth at that thought. Instinct said Selene was agreeing with me. So I was right to be suspicious.Before going any further, I opened a link to Jeremiah. “I need my office swept for bugs, as soon as possible please, Jeremiah. Both audio and visual.”“Fuck,” he swore. “Apologies for my language, my Queen,” he added quickly.“It’s fine, Jeremiah, ‘fuck’ covers it. When can you make it happen? I don’t want to write this letter if I migh
8 hours until the moon is fullAVAJeremiah picked up the envelope as planned, and within what felt like no time at all, it was time for me to get going. Now, just to help Jeremiah with his distraction… whatever that was going to be.“Hey Jeremiah,” I called through the mindlink, trying to sound lighthearted in case Oscar was listening. “I beat my half-mile record.”I could feel something in the back of my mind, like another presence. Oscar. He was definitely listening.Jeremiah snorted through the link, evidently having put two and two together. “Well done, my Queen. Once this is all over, we’ll race.”I smirked, slamming the link shut, before standing to leave my office and the pack house.We’d already dealt with the Lycan warriors I had guarding me; they’d stay in position until Jeremiah called for them later. Commanding this lot had been a mess, but I needed to get out of the pack grounds alone.“I’m proud of you, my child,” Selene whispered through my mind. “This has been hard, I
Seven hours until the moon is fullCALLUMOscar and I were going out of our minds. Ava had somehow gotten around us and slipped out of the pack territory on her own. She’d hidden her scent very well, so we didn’t even have a clue which direction she’d gone in.We knew she would be looking for the Rogue King, but she hadn’t told us where he would be.“Ava has been linking Jeremiah a lot today,” Oscar said, voice stressed. “Even before that, she was talking to him in her office for a good while.”“What did they link about?”“Most of it didn’t make sense, I assume because she knew that I’d listen in.”“What did she say?”“First she said she’d set a new personal best over half a mile, and then a while later, over a mile. He challenged her to race once this has all blown over.”“Okay, yeah. That was in code. She hates running.”“Yup. But what is it code for? Who knows.”“I also heard her saying something about sage and wolfsbane, but either she was too far away for me to hear the entire co