Ava watched in shock as her brother found his mate. They gazed at each other as though the world had stopped just for them.
Ava stole a glance at Adrian wondering if that was how they had been entranced with each other at that very moment of discovery before they had realized who they were to each other.
The cheers from the Primo pack members cut into this deep reverie. They whooped and cheered so much that Alex and his mate looked away from each other abashed.
“Zinora has been given an able-bodied mate.” Adelaide nodded. “He will do.”
Ava wanted to congratulate her brother but felt that he would want to know his mate a little bit better before he would talk to her about it. She couldn’t wait to tell her parents and Gabby about this.
She wanted to just mind link them about it but it seemed like a piece of news to share in person.
She gestured for Calvin. “Tell Gabby to come to the pack house once she’s done at the clinic. Don’t tell her about Alex. I want to do it myself.”
Calvin flashed her a grin in amusement and she smiled back at him. Gabby would be so shocked.
The rest of the party finally stopped hooting and were shown into the pack house with Alex and Zinora at the rear. Ava walked side by side with Adrian and Adelaide continued to ask him the strangest of questions.
“How fast can you track a bear?”
Adrian seemed unsure of how to answer that.
“That would depend on if it were solo or with the pack. I like to take my time in the chase and deal with death quickly.”
Adelaide practically glowed with approval. “A clean death is honourable both to the animal and the other parts of the cycle of life.”
Ava scowled. At this rate, Adrian and Adelaide would be mated by dawn. Adrian continued to banter with Adelaide while Ava sulked walking a step or so behind them.
Maybe if Gabby had been here, she wouldn’t have felt so much like a third wheel that she wanted to disappear. Adrian was her mate even if she hadn’t officially accepted him. What did he think he was doing talking to that woman like that?
When they finally dropped off all the members of the Primo packs at their respective rooms to rendezvous for lunch, Ava wasn’t speaking to Adrian. She went up to their room to change to go and visit her parents and Gabby hoping the news of Alex would thaw their hearts.
“The Primo pack is definitely something.” Adrian commented with a laugh as he entered their room taking off his shirt and leaving his chest bare as he reached for a towel.
“They are something.” Ava said with a bit of snark.
Adrian didn’t seem to notice her tone.
“Can you imagine it? A pack that has no Beta or Gamma? That relies on brute force as the means of succession. It sounds rather antiquated but refreshing in a different way. And Alpha Adelaide… she is so different and unique. I would have thought she would be unable to harm a fly but to have won and lived unopposed for years, she must be quite the combatant.” Adrian mused, something like admiration colouring his tone.
Ava tossed the shirt she had crumpled in her fists while he spoke.
“Sure, sure. She’s different. Why are you here instead of with her to hear more of her ‘conquests’?”
“What? Ava what…” Adrian said finally catching on to the fact that Ava was pissed about something but it was too late because Ava was on a roll.
“You know what? You two will make a really good match with her uniqueness and your exceptional tracking skills. So what if you already have a perfectly normal mate? Just do whatever it is you want, Adrian, you always do anyway.”
Ava picked up her shirt and was about to leave the room when Adrian pulled her to a stop.
“You can’t just leave after saying something like that.” Adrian said calmly.
“Watch me.”
But she couldn’t release herself from his vise grip. “Let me fucking go Adrian or else–”
“Or else what? You said that I always do whatever I want. Well, I don’t want you to go anywhere. Are you jealous? You confuse me Ava. Because every time I think that you don’t want me and I try to accept our situation and keep my distance, you do something that has me questioning everything. And now,” Adrian let go of her arm and backed her up against the wall.
Ava’s breath came heavily. “I will do what we’re both pining for. I will kiss you and you won’t push me away because you feel the same way I do.”
Then Adrian kissed her. It was hungry and consuming. Her shirt fell out of her hands for the second time that day. Ava wrapped her hands around his shoulders and moved them up the back of his neck pulling him closer.
Ava opened her mouth to him, deepening the kiss. Adrian pulled away for a second. “Stop me now, Ava.” Ava looked at him with dark eyes. She couldn’t speak. She didn’t want to. In the back of her head, a tiny voice spoke. Telling her to mend her ties with her family before forming new ones. She ignored it and drew Adrian back to herself.
Adrian kissed her feverishly while one of his hands went to her tank top. She helped him pull it off their kiss pausing for that moment then once it was off leaving her in a tiny sports bra, Adrian dipped his head and kissed her mating mark.
Ava’s legs went weak beneath her. She gasped, need pooling between her legs, she’d never realised that the mating mark could be an erogenous zone. Every touch, breath and Adrian’s tongue on it brought waves and waves of pleasure that Ava found herself on the edge of an orgasm.
“Adrian.” It was a moan, a plea, a supplication. Adrian nipped at the skin and sucked it into his mouth. Ava was about to tell him exactly what she was going to do to him if he didn’t continue what he had been doing when they heard a crash and were startled.
Gabrielle was at the open door, a broken vase on the floor.
Ava’s ardour cooled and she reached for the shirt on the floor feeling exposed in a sports bra that made her boobs look a tad indecent.
“Sorry, don’t stop on my behalf. It’s just what Calvin said… forget it. Please excuse me.” Gabby’s cheeks were bright pink as though embarrassed on her sister’s behalf and she practically ran out of the room.
Ava nearly facepalmed. How could she have forgotten that she had sent Calvin to call Gabby so that they could talk about Alex’s mating?
Ava looked at Adrian. Saw the want in his eyes that mirrored hers. She wanted to finally cross that boundary between them, to be his in every way possible as he would be to her.
She pulled away from Adrian, pulled on a shirt and went after her sister.
“Gabby, wait up.”
Gabby stopped, her face no longer red and embarrassed.
“Ava.”
“I’m so sorry. I never wanted you to see something like that. I’m so embarrassed and–”
“Ava there is no need for you to apologise. I think there will always be this awkward feeling between us regarding Adrian but he’s your mate. You have a right to touch him whenever you want. I was in the wrong. I should have knocked before entering a mated couple’s room. It’s just Calvin said it was an emergency and with all the bad situations we’ve been getting into, I overreacted.”
Ava could have cried in relief. They were alright. They were alright.
“Thank you, Gabby. I don’t deserve someone as understanding as you.” Ava hugged her sister feeling the last bits of their relationship stick together.
“Nor I you.” Gabby laughed. “Now what was the emergency?”
“You won’t believe it.”