The entire pack congregated to welcome them back and the cheers were deafening. Adrian and Ava stood side by side, their hands linked and the other in the air waving at the pack members.
Ava heard a scream of excitement and turned to see Cynthia’s parents and siblings running to and hugging her. They were all crying with the happiness of seeing her once again. Ava’s smile grew lighter as she watched them. Looking in the crowd for her family, she saw only Alex blowing a kiss at her which she playfully caught.
She saw Jenny and her mate Nelson standing next to each other smiling at her. Next to the couple was Dylan and she almost ran to join them.
Dylan had been unable to make it to the wedding due to a booking problem for his girlfriend. It would seem like he had travelled to make up for lost time with Jenny to be able to congratulate her as well as see Ava after hearing all about the mate bond from their video calls.
Her parents would need more time to come to terms with this but Ava was ready to wait. The best things they said came with time. She wanted all their problems to be resolved already but she had to be strong, she was a pillar of strength for her pack.
********
It was evening already but it didn’t concern Gabrielle. She was at the pack training centre. Usually, Gabby hated training but after all her trials with Adrian, this place had become a place of solitude for her. For her to come, hurt someone, hurt herself, anything to make the pain feel lesser.
They returned from the meeting today and while she had not gone for the welcoming ceremony, she had seen enough of it to see what was going on. Gabrielle noticed the easy vibe between the both of them. They now looked comfortable in each other’s space. While Gabrielle was losing all her safe spaces, including the one in her head, they were acquiring new ones.
Gabrielle swung hard again. Pain pulsed in her fist, when she was done, she knew that she would have injuries from boxing without protection. Her parents were already on the last leg of the understanding race with her. They had spurned Ava because of their fears about Gabby’s state of mind. Now they felt maybe it was time she met her sister again and settled matters so that they could be a family again.
A family is what she could have had with Adrian if Ava hadn’t ruined everything. Bitterness and rage coated her tongue as she hungered. For revenge, for the life she should have had.
“Your pain tolerance seems to have increased with your idiocy.” That voice.
Gabrielle froze to see her former bestie walking towards her wearing drab, unattractive loose clothing. If it hadn’t been for her voice, Gabrielle might not have believed it was her.
“Cynthia, what are you doing here?” Gabrielle asked. *You were banished, if anyone sees you…”
“Don’t be worried for me, old friend. I will be perfectly fine, the new Alpha couple has pardoned me.” Cynthia said, her features looking uncharacteristically serious without all the make-up and beauty techniques.
“You, on the other hand, are hurting yourself, continuously, is that how much this situation hurts you?”
Gabrielle stopped punching, needing privacy to continue, her pain too raw. “How much it hurts me is no business of yours. Now if you will excuse me. I’ve got places to be.”
Gabrielle shouldered her way past Cynthia on her way out.
“Gabrielle, I would like us to discuss something of great import, privately. Whenever you are ready and tired of hitting and hurting yourself and want to do something constructive, you can contact me.”
Cynthia gave her one last indecipherable look before leaving.
*****
It felt like the welcome ceremony took forever to end before they could enter their room. By that time both Adrian and Ava were dog-tired.
Ava came to a halt seeing their bed and recalling how it felt to sleep so close to Adrian for hours on end and how good it felt.
She remembered the almost-kiss that they had almost shared and the make-out session they had shared in this room and how things might have escalated very quickly if not for Calvin. How she had felt extremely disappointed.
“Want to use the shower first?” Adrian offered generously. He was always courteous with her, she realized.
“I…Adrian…”
“Tell me Ava, are you okay? Are you hurt somewhere?” He looked over her anxiously as if waiting for an injury to reveal itself. He was so caring as well.
Ava took his hand. She wanted to put it on her chest, to tell him that was where it hurt because this conflict was killing her. She wanted to submit to his masterful kisses but at the same time, she felt too guilty about Gabby and the rest of her family.
So instead, she enclosed his hand in hers.
“Thank you Adrian for being you and being so extra supportive. I appreciate you. I know we had a rough start but I would honestly like us to be friends and support each other. I want to take up my mantle as the Luna of this pack but I can’t do it without you.”
“You have me, Ava. Always.”
He squeezed her hand back and she saw something that scared her in his eyes. Something she couldn’t acknowledge without breaking herself so she pulled away averting her gaze
“I need to change.”
**********
“That is unthinkable. You can’t just force the entire pack to have mandatory training every day. We have it once a month and they still don’t turn up. Why do they need to when the pack warriors are here to protect them? Or do you think the warriors are subpar?” Elder Elvis raised a brow sounding thoroughly unconvinced.
“I am not doubting the prowess of our guards but with the current amount of insecurity we have, it is a valid concern. It’ll just be for one hour daily. I don’t want our people to be sitting ducks when this fight comes to us.”
The elder scoffed as though he had heard something extremely ridiculous. “Insecurity? With all due respect, Luna, perhaps you should pay more attention to the current status in the werewolf society. We are currently at the most peaceful and civilized that we have been in a really long time.”
Ava’s cheeks burned.