Spain
“Guess what?”
“What?” She was still half asleep after a ten-hour shift.
“Silly, you are supposed to actually guess.” Jonny was exceptionally chipper for… Ava looked at the clock. It was 1 am. For Jonny with the time zone difference, it was around 10 am. Goddess, she was so tired.
“You have a dog?” Ava reached for the closest thought, her eyes heavy with sleep.
Jonny laughed and for a minute, Ava felt like she was back home again with mere miles separating her from her friend.
“We are having our mating ceremony in two weeks!” Jonny shrieked in joy. Ava could just imagine how happy she was in person.
“Oh my goodness, so soon?” Ava was wide awake now.
“Soon? We should have been mated almost two years ago now.” Right. It seemed like time just flew past sometimes.
“I know. I know. It’s just that you just launched your brand online and I guess I just felt you would want to wait a bit longer.”
Jonny laughed. “Oh, Ava. I’m not sure Nelson can wait anymore. He said I’m giving him the longest case of blue balls.”
“Wait. You guys haven’t been… you know.” Ava’s eyes were wide as saucers.
Ava had missed Jonny’s 18th birthday only to find out that Nelson had turned out to be Jonny’s mate. She’d been so happy for her. Nelson was a good guy and she was sure he would keep her friend happy.
Jonny had been ecstatic, they’d spent hours talking about everything before doing a group video call with Dylan to include him and tell him all about it and together he and Ava had teased the hell out of Jonny.
For the first time, Ava saw how beautiful a mate bond could be and mourned the loss or lack thereof of hers.
It wasn’t like her independent mindset had changed, it was just the thought of being with someone so in sync with her and that loved every aspect of her was an intoxicating one.
Jonny laughed again and Ava couldn’t help but realize she did a lot of that recently.
Maybe it was so strange to her because Ava couldn’t remember when she had laughed like that in a while. Light, open-heartedly and free.
“Ava, you can say sex you know. S-E-X.”
Jonny spelt it out snarkily.
“Whatever, that’s not the point. So both of you haven’t gone that far yet?”
It was almost impossible to believe. Jonny had asked her mate, Nelson, to give her time to completely set up her business. Apparently, she didn’t want to be a liability in the relationship plus she’d already put in so much work and effort to toss it all away for a man. Mate or no. Nelson, being the good supportive wolf that he was, agreed.
So they’d begun to date, and Ava had assumed they would also be doing the deed. Having sex with your mate was possible without getting marked. It was difficult, not impossible.
“No, Ava. We haven’t had SEX yet.”
Ava would have rolled her eyes at Jonny’s antics if she weren’t so shocked.
“But how? Why?”
She was lost for words. Ava could remember how difficult it had been for her and Adrian to stay apart despite their intense dislike towards each other. She could only imagine how much worse it would have been if they’d liked each other from day one.
They would have been marked and mated in hours.
“Because we would have ended up marking each other in the throes of passion. We couldn’t risk it so here we are. Though that doesn’t mean we didn’t have other… ahem clandestine encounters.”
Ava could understand that. The newly discovered mates usually had a ceremony in front of the pack proclaiming them mates with the official mate markings that began with a formal acknowledgement to the marking and the official acceptance of the couple before the pack members.
However, there had been instances where the wolves unable to control themselves during sex and had ended up marking and solidifying the bond. Those couples were still celebrated though. It wasn’t really a big deal although they would get teased about it a lot.
“Oh, so who’s being coy now?” Ava teased wriggling her eyebrows before realizing Jonny couldn’t see her.
“Drop it.” Jonny threatened before moving on. “I called to inform you that you will be my bridesmaid. You must escort me down the ‘aisle’ so to speak.”
Ava froze. “Jonny I can’t –”
“No buts. Dylan will also be there. He’s bringing his girlfriend along as well. It’s going to be a blast. Besides, it was our dream when we were little.”
“Jonny, you know I can’t come. Not until everything with Adrian is sorted out and he’s mated to Gabby.”
“That’s already fixed. Their mating is next week and mine is in two weeks so once theirs is over, you can come back immediately.”
“Oh, so soon? No one told me about it.”
“Seriously? Is Gabby still not speaking with you?”
“It’s complicated.”
Complicated didn’t even begin to cover it. After Ava left, she thought she could still be there for Gabby as much as she could from sygngr miles away. She couldn’t have been wronger.
Their conversations were stilted and weird with Gabby giving one-word non-answers until they had finally stopped almost a year ago.
Ava didn’t know how everything was going with Gabby personally but her parents had given her the highlights. Adrian stopping the omega status for Gabby. The engagement party. How endeared the pack seemed to be of Gabby now that she had ‘suffered’ with them.
It was weird to think of the fact that her sister was getting married for life and no one had informed her not even the so-called Adrian who had sent me packing.
“So you are coming home, right?” Jonny’s cheerful voice asked over the phone.
Ava sighed. “Maybe. I can’t promise anything. I need to ask for off shifts and holiday time. Once everything is sorted out, I’ll let you know.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m not listening to any of that. I’ll come over to Spain if I have to drag you home for my day. You have responsibilities as my friend to me here.” Jonny said seriously and Ava suddenly felt like she was going to have to go to that party even if her plans initially had been to miss it.
She would see Adrian again. This time he would be with Gabby and their bond would be gone. Maybe if she was able to see him and his mate together, she would finally be able to move on with her life and allow men like Javier to show her what love could be like.
After Ava finished extricating herself from the call, it was past 2 am so she closed her eyes and went back to bed.
In the morning, Ava went downstairs to wake herself up with coffee. Coffee was vital for life.
“Ava, you are up early today.” Alex asked, his dark hair so similar to hers in looks fell over his eyes as he read a book. Alex was the quiet one in their family always content to further intellectual arts over others. Often times Ava wondered if he would settle in well with the often sociable life of a Beta.
“Yeah. Jonny disturbed my sleep. Apparently, Adrian and Gabby are tying the knot next week. Did you know anything about it?”
“No. Are you sure she didn’t make a mistake?”
Alex’s eyebrows rose high. “I would–”
As he was about to continue speaking, a knock sounded on the door.
Ava went to get it and thanked the pack member who had come to drop it off. It was an official letter from home. Addressed to Alex.
She watched pensive as he opened the letter.
He read it for some seconds then reread it before looking up at Ava.
“I’ve been summoned home to take up my mantle. Father will be retiring from his post by next week.”
What?