Now that morning had come, Ava didn’t know what to do with herself. If she had been in Spain she would be in the hospital making her rounds and moving from one end to another with Javier popping in to check in on her.
She missed her life. The one in Spain and the one she thought she would have had here after returning. What did Lunas do apart from standing beside their Alpha mates and smiling prettily at members of the pack? She had no idea.
The truth was she had never thought she would be in this position so she had never tried to find out or even watch Gabby to see what she did.
She knew that Gabby socialized with people a lot and that she had little tea parties that she hosted but what did she actually do at those events? What were the pack expecting from Ava now as their Luna?
The bathroom door opened and Ava shut her eyes immediately acting as though she were still asleep. The last thing she needed to see was Adrian half-naked this early.
She heard the opening and closing of the wardrobe then nothing. Was he gone already? Where did he go?
Ava opened her eyes to see Adrian’s green eyes about an inch away observing her curiously.
She yelped and moved away only she overcompensated and landed on the floor.
“Goddess Ava are you alright?” Adrian began to come close to her wearing just his towel.
“Stop!” Ava shouted, raising her hands. Adrian stopped looking perplexed.
“Ava?”
“Just stay where you are. I can stand up by myself.” Ava said, trying to lift herself up.
“Look Ava–”
“I said I’ve got it!” Ava stood upright. “See I’m perfectly fine. I don’t need your–”
She tripped on the water tracks Adrian had left while walking around the room.
Adrian caught her in a heartbeat. The only problem was that as he did, Ava tried to hold on to him to stop her fall, somehow her hand slipped from his wet body to the towel around his waist unravelling its hold and it went to the ground.
They paused.
Adrian was naked. Adrian was naked and he was holding her. She was wearing just his shirt and a pair of panties. They were in his room together alone.
Their gazes locked and she saw his pupils dilate and heard her breath grow laboured.
“Adrian.” She tried to remember why it would be a very terrible idea to kiss him. She couldn’t.
He was her mate after all. There was nothing to be ashamed of.
“Ava I…” He swallowed. Ava straightened in his arms and their lips were inches apart.
He wasn’t going to do it. He shouldn’t. Ava took an imperceptible step forward. Adrian pulled her closer and buried his hand in her hair, fisting it as he closed the distance between them and kissed her.
She said this relationship wouldn’t mean anything to her. He would stop.
Ava opened her mouth for him and Adrian forgot he was supposed to stop her. They kissed fiercely, their tongues duelling and Adrian pushed her onto his bed. Adrian moved above Ava and she licked her lips almost nervously.
Adrian took her lower lip between his… the door of their room slammed open.
“Adrian I swear if you are hungover I–” Calvin broke off mid-sentence as he realized what he’d walked in on.
He turned around quickly.
Ava let out something between a squeal and a laugh as she pulled the duvet around her legs. Adrian grabbed the nearest thing, a pillow and used it to cover his rapidly deflating erection.
“Really Calvin? What are you even doing here at this time?”
If looks could kill, Calvin would be at least 12ft beneath the ground not that he knew with his back turned to Adrian.
“The invite to the summit came in and you were supposed to meet the pack elders an hour ago.” Calvin checked his watch.
“It’s the next day after my mating ceremony, how the hell am I expected to be at a meeting this early?”
Calvin coughed awkwardly. “You insisted on the meeting being moved yesterday if you can recall.”
That was right. When he’d thought he’d be getting mated to Gabby. He’d scheduled the meeting early to avoid and limit any interaction they might have.
“I’ll leave you now. I’ll tell the elders that you are currently… occupied.” Calvin walked away briskly shutting the door behind them.
Ava wanted to crawl into a hole and hide till she grew old.
Adrian picked up his towel somewhat awkwardly and secured it around his waist before turning to face Ava.
“Ava, I–”
“I need to take a shower.” Ava announced and practically ran into the bathroom.
Adrian sighed and began to dress up. Seriously would it have killed Calvin to wait ten more minutes before entering the room or not at all?
Ava waited until she was sure Adrian had left the room before leaving the safety of the bathroom. What had he been thinking? What had she been thinking?
She needed to clear her head and find a solution to this sleeping arrangement before she ended up jumping Adrian.
Okay, she had to leave the room first. The only problem was that she couldn’t. Not without clothes. She didn’t recall where she had dropped her luggage when she was under the influence of the mate bond draw. Her luggage held her phone. Javier would have called the hell out of her by now.
At least now she had an agenda. Firstly, find a solution to the sleeping and bathing arrangement so that a repeat of today never occurred again. Secondly, find her luggage. It was a plan.
For now, Adrian’s clothes would have to do. His scent was driving her crazy slowly though. She liked his scent on her way too much. He smelt like coffee, of spring, of something dark and sensual and indisputably Adrian.
Great, now she was sniffing at his cloth like a weirdo. She needed help.
Ava locked the door and then went to take a shower. After the shower, she hunted for clothes in his closet. Everything was too large for her. The shirts, the shorts. She needed to ask around for the bag of clothes she had brought from home if they had been laundered but she needed to leave the room first for that.
Then she finally decided on a blue round neck with shorts with an adjustable waistband that she supported with a belt at her waist.
Then she left the room. The entire top floor was reserved for the Alpha and the rest of the house was for some of the pack, the kitchen, and the Alpha’s office. Leaving her floor, the house was bustling with wolves moving about.
Movement that stopped immediately after they saw her. Some whispered, some ignored her, some glared and a few among them bowed.
Ava inclined her head and walked faster away from everyone. It wasn’t until she was alone that she realized that she would have asked any of them where the laundry was.