The meeting started around midday the next day.
“The rogue patterns have regularized and all the abnormal activities have stopped in our quarters.”
Janine said, her hands on the patrol reports spanning the past six months.
The welcoming ball was for socialization and unwinding. The meeting was to catch up on security measures and beaches if they had occurred at all and to keep each other abreast of the current security status across their borders.
Ever since the attack on the Blue Moon, Mountain Coast and the Silverwolf Pack years ago, the rogue wolves movement had fluctuated causing great concerns for the actual wolf packs because of the risk of exposure to humankind.
These wolves attacked both races with impunity, they didn’t seem to differentiate between them when their bloodlust got the better of them. The werewolf hunters worked to keep their population down to keep humans safe but even that wasn’t enough at times.
Their general activities had come to an uneasy pause and it would seem that the rogue population had either died down or the rogues had migrated, which didn’t make much sense as they weren’t in the best frame of mind to make any decision as complex as migrating over such a large area of land.
“Abnormal activities? I would think that the rogues suddenly disappearing from sight would be the abnormal activity.” Rachel said with a sardonic smile.
“Calm down. We all need to guard our flanks not fight amongst ourselves.” Angeline said serenely, trying to diffuse a fight before it happened.
Ava merely watched and catalogued what they were saying. She had known of this issue but in a distant way of a coddled pack member but now as the Luna of her pack, she would need to be more knowledgeable about this.
“Easy for you to say when your pack is one of the most defensible locations. When was the last time your pack got jumped by rogues? Fifty, hundred years ago?” Rita said her eyes flashing.
Ava realized Rita must have been Luna when the vicious attack that nearly took down the Silverwolf pack a little over two years ago had happened. They had never really recovered well from that attack.
“Ladies, Ladies. Things are getting a little heated in here. Perhaps we should take a break?” Arthur smiled.
Rita looked like she still had a lot more to say but Gilbert took her arm and she settled for giving Angeline such a glare that Ava was almost scared on her behalf. The female Alpha looked unflappable though. Ava would have expected her to at least react to the flagrant disrespect on Rita’s end.
The break was close to an hour long and when they returned, the arguments were even more intense than before. Ava noticed something else. The Alphas didn’t interfere or give their opinions. Just the women and Angeline who didn’t bother to interfere again after the break. Was this going to be her role as Luna?
Getting into vicious and word-cutting arguments with the rest of them. Had Gabby also partaken in this? Or had she even spearheaded some of the arguments?
After the meeting ended, they came to an agreement to keep each other in the loop and when they could spare men, to investigate the sudden disappearance of rogues.
Ava went to use the restroom. As she washed her hands afterwards, Rachel came out of one of the stalls.
“I know who you are.”
Ava paused and looked at her. “Sorry?”
“You are Gabrielle’s little sister. The one into healing and medicine.” Rachel cocked her head.
“You look so innocent but you stole your own sister’s mate.” Rachel turned on the tap washing her beautiful fingers that looked like they had never done a day of hard work.
Ava was shocked. “You…”
“I approve.” Rachel smiled at her. “Ruthless and beautiful. My type of woman.” She turned off the tap and dried her hands before applying a hand lotion.
Ava stood still watching as Rachel approached her, the edges of her jacket moving in the wind. She stopped right next to Ava and whispered.
“I’ll even tell you a little secret because you remind me of me once upon a time.” She met Ava’s gaze, her lips drawn into a secret smile like she was in on a joke that Ava wasn’t aware of.
“The danger we should be afraid of isn’t the rogues. It’s people like us that will never accept what we are given when we can take whatever we want.”
Ava woke up refreshed and ready to face the world. After that rather cryptic statement from Rachel yesterday, she didn’t know what to think.
So she had decided to not think about it at all. She didn’t tell Adrian about it either. Mostly because she didn’t know what to say or how to say it. If there was anything to say.
The other couples had begun to leave for their various packs. Rachel and her mate were among the first to leave but due to some air turbulence, Adrian and Ava’s flight was cancelled at the last minute. So they were unable to catch a flight back that day, they would leave the following day.
In a spirit of spontaneity, Ava decided to dedicate the day to exploring as much of Washington as she could before they left.
The only problem was that Adrian had decided to invite himself along.
“No, you can’t follow me.” Ava said for the umpteenth time.
“And I will tell you again, Ava. I am not asking. This is uncharted territory for you. If Alex finds out that I let you out alone in an unfamiliar location, he might just castrate me or something.”
A laugh escaped Ava before she could stop herself. “And that concerns me how exactly?”
Adrian’s eyes widened comically, his hands moving downward as though to protect himself from any unseen harm. “But our future children, Ava.”
Ava laughed so hard that her stomach hurt and Adrian joined in.
It should have been difficult to talk to Adrian after all that had happened between them so far.
They were still recovering from their confrontation of a few days ago. Ava no longer felt bad about what Adrian said.
In fact, she felt more than a little bad about the way she had spoken to him. Not that he hadn’t deserved it but she knew she wouldn’t have gotten pissed so easily if she hadn’t felt so self-conscious about not being good enough in the first place.
She had to listen to Liana and believe that she was enough. She was strong enough to shoulder this burden. This responsibility. She would stop comparing herself to Gabrielle because the truth was they were two different people with different ways of doing things. She would make her own way and not conform to societal norms or the expectations set by Gabrielle.
As they left the pack grounds, Ava resolved to ditch Adrian. She refused to let him cramp her style. Plus she was getting along too well with him. Ha.
“I think we should visit this national park.” Adrian said, sounding exceptionally enthusiastic as he flashed a picture he’d gotten on the internet to her. He seemed even more excited than her about the outing which annoyed her immensely for some reason.
Escort her indeed. Adrian knew he would be returning to the pack in less than 24 hours. To his responsibilities, it was obvious he wanted to make the most of the time out.
“I don’t want to go that far. When I said exploring this place I didn’t mean going to human tourist attractions. We won’t be able to have any fun if we move at their pace.” Ava actually wanted to go but she was trying to be cautious about spending time with Adrian.
Even if it sounded sort of hypocritical seeing as they were together most of the time, it felt like every time they shared moments together, she soften up a little bit more to him.
“I want to go to a spa. Get some really good massages and just relax. You can go to the park and meet up with me later.”
Adrian narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “Really a spa? I see what you are doing.” He accused. “You are trying to get rid of me.”
“What? No way. I mean it’s not like I’m looking forward to having you hover above my shoulders. But the thing is these past few days have been stressful as hell. I just want to let my hair down and just relax for some hours. Is that too much to ask for?”
Ava was telling the truth. Sort of. She would love to get a masseuse right now but she would kill for some Adrian-free time. She was still having trouble looking away from his face.
Adrian considered it for a moment or two. “If you really want some downtime, I can give you one hour max at the spa then we will see whatever places you have in mind together.”
“Sounds like a plan to me.”
Ava couldn’t believe that he had bought it. Now all she had to do was wait until he was gone to sneak out.