“If you touch that chicken, I’ll break your wrist.”
Naturally, Ava’s mom had to bring violence into everything.
“Mom, I’ll still eat it at dinner. What is the difference?” Ava whined, her voice in childish tones that always got her dad to do whatever she wanted.
“Touch it and find out.”
Like she would be that stupid.
Ava rolled her eyes and caught Gabrielle’s gaze, Gabby seemed to be biting back a laugh at the exchange between them.
Ava grumbled under her breath but dropped the plate on the dining table without taking anything from it.
“Is that chicken I smell?” Ava’s dad wandered into the dining room, took one fried chicken thigh from the plate and bit down on it. “Oh my. I think I should invite Sean over more often. You never make anything like this for me.”
“Because I’m trying to keep you healthy.” Ava’s mom sounded like she was about to throw something at her husband. Something heavy and blunt.
Her dad must have felt the same because he turned to Breana and spoke. “In that case, Ava, you can have this.”
Her father gave her the chicken.
“Dad, you are the best.” Ava pressed a cheek to her father’s cheek. She bit into the chicken and moaned in pleasure. Her mom was really good at this.
“You are spoiling that girl.” Her mother sounded a little putout but Ava knew she wasn’t really angry.
“She’s my baby. Of course, I will.” Her dad gave her an exaggerated wink and she giggled.
“You are my favourite parent.”
“I had better not catch either of you on that dinner table.” Her mother punctuated this with a vicious slam of the freezer door.
“Mom.” Gabrielle laughed.
It was beautiful. It was her family and she really loved them. She suddenly felt a pang of guilt about keeping the mate bond between Adrian and herself a secret. It should have been a cause for celebration not whatever it was right now.
****
“You are barely eating anything, Adrian.” Gabrielle said her blond hair was lightly tousled and over a shoulder, her dark eyes regarding him curiously. Her blue dress did wonders for her complexion. She looked very beautiful today. He should have complimented her. He would have if his mind hadn’t been on the other side of the table to where Ava was weGabbyng sweatpants and a sweater, her hair pulled back into a messy bun.
She was eating her food without a care in the world even though he knew she had to be as disturbed as he was about what had happened in the woods that morning. He had felt her come apart around his fingers and even now all he could think about was her. He wanted to unravel that bun.
“Yeah. I don’t have much of an appetite.”
I remember a certain someone telling me that they were not going to be affected by the mate bond. Ryan remarked drily, his tone packed with sarcasm.
I’m not. It’s just biology. Okay? She was beautiful and naked, I am a full red-blooded male. What was I supposed to do? Not look? Adrian argued.
Last I recalled, you did more than just look. Ryan wasn’t buying any of it.
That was the mate bond, alright? I don’t feel attracted to Ava. I’ve known her since she was in diapers and I haven’t felt a flicker of attraction towards her once. Adrian replied then blocked out Ryan to focus on the dinner.
“… I tried to explain it to them but they wouldn’t listen. You aren’t mad, are you?” Gabrielle looked at him trying to gauge his mood.
“Mad?”
“At me? I wanted to discuss it with you first but we can still talk about it after dinner. It’s not a big deal, right?”
“Right.” It’s not like he could tell her he had zoned out in the middle of their conversation to argue about her sister with his wolf.
Beta Arthur looked around the table before his eyes finally settled on Adrian. “Adrian, my boy.” Adrian felt a thin slice of fear slither through him, anytime Beta Arthur called him my boy, it was never good. Was this what Gabrielle had been talking to him about?
“I am always straightforward. Before I am a beta, I am a father. What are your intentions towards my daughter?”
“Arthur…” Alpha Sean started but Beta Arthur cut him off.
“Alpha, I respect you however this is between your son and me. He will speak for himself.”
“I…” Adrian started then looked at Arabella who was watching him intently beside Marie Connor.
He looked away. “I care about Gabrielle.” He looked at Gabrielle. He wasn’t lying. He had done his best to put the past behind him but things like that didn’t fade from one’s memory so quickly and completely.
“I love her and I want her to be my mate.” As he spoke, he felt a slim thread of doubt but he tried his best to erase it. Gabrielle was good. She had been a more faithful partner than he was. Even if Ava was his Goddess-given mate, she still couldn’t compare with Gabrielle.
He tried to smile at Gabrielle, it must have worked because she beamed back at him. “For the longest time, I have felt that way and it’s not changing anytime soon.” He directed that last part in Ava’s direction.
Beta Arthur nodded approvingly. “That’s all this father needed to hear. Your relationship is your business, just ensure you do not break my daughter’s heart.”
Alpha Sean laughed. “If that happened Arthur, I would deal with him myself.” The men laughed good-naturedly and the awkward moment passed.
Gabrielle’s laughs got lighter and she leaned on Adrian’s shoulder playing with his hair. He felt… uncomfortable. This was how they’d always been but now it somehow felt wrong.
A push on her chair and Ava excused herself. Adrian watched her leave the dining room. It would seem like she was always leaving anytime they were eating. But no one ever seemed to notice. He stared at the door she’d left through.
He should stay in here with the woman who loved him. The woman he loved. Mostly.
“I need a drink.”
“Oh, I can–” Gabrielle offered.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got it.”
*******
Ava breathed in the cool night air. She wanted to run again but after this morning, she was scared to even shift. She knew Adrian was inside the house so what happened couldn’t repeat itself yet she was hesitant.
She stood at their house’s balcony and looked up at the moon. Adrian and Gabrielle being lovey-dovey had never bothered her before but now she could feel a pang of jealousy at how easy it was for them to just relate with each other.
She still hated Adrian and loved her independence but now she wondered how much different things would have been if she had been mated to someone other than Adrian. Would she have fought it as much as she did or would she have let herself go with the mate bond?
There was a sudden charge in the air and Ava immediately knew Adrian was close by.
“You have to stop this habit you have of leaving in the middle of every meal.” Adrian’s cool voice came from behind Ava.
“You have to stop the habit you have of following me.” Ava turned to look at him. Even in the shadows cast by the moonlight, he was stunning.
“I think you do it on purpose.” His expression was inscrutable, his tone dark and restrained.
“Do what?” Ava asked, genuinely puzzled.
“Leave. Because you want me to follow you.” Adrian said it like it was the most obvious thing. Surely each time she stood up, she did it with him in mind.
Ava laughed. “You are so arrogant, you know? Has it ever occurred to you that I am uncomfortable eating with people who aren’t my immediate family?”
“I am family. Or at least I will be very soon.” He said with a sardonic twist to his smile.
Ava made a face. “You will never be my family no matter what you do.”
“Does it bother you? Is that why you can’t say it?”
“Does what bother me?”
Seriously, what was up with Adrian this night? GAdrian had thought he would try to bring up what happened in the morning but she didn’t understand what he was getting at.
“The fact that Gabrielle and I will be mated soon. That I will take her as my mate. The fact that she will be my Luna, not you.” Adrian was advancing towards her as he spoke. With every step forward he took, she took one back until he backed her up against the handrail of the balcony.
“No, it doesn’t.” It hadn’t affected her before but now Ava was unsure.
She desperately wanted her sister to be happy ever since Gabrielle’s 18th birthday when Gabby discovered Adrian wasn’t her mate and she didn’t find her mate after some time or feel any pull. When they’d told her that sometimes it was because the person’s mate was already dead, she had looked so shattered.
Adrian had looked Gabby in the eye then and told her that it was her mate’s loss. That he would keep her for himself. Ava had witnessed everything and for the first time thought maybe Adrian wasn’t a complete waste of space and oxygen after all.
Now, Ava felt unreasonably anxious at the thought of both of them being as close as she was to Adrian now.
His eyes looked like uncut emeralds and dazzled her beyond reasoning.
“I think you are lying. No, I hope you are lying because the thought of you with anyone would kill me and whoever that was.”
Before Ava could finish decompressing that statement, his lips were on hers. She didn’t actively recall the moment she shifted from just letting the kiss happen to pushing him against a nearby wall. The kiss was frenzied and rushed like they were aware that anytime, anyone could walk in on them and the gig would be up.
Ava shivered against him, their tongues duelling as though oxygen was irrelevant. His hand slipped under her shirt and brushed her nipples when they heard Gabrielle’s voice.
“Adrian?”