Ava sat at the breakfast table stealing glances at Adrian, her mate. At the head of the table sat Adrian with Ava at his right and Adelaide at his left with the two of them facing each other.
Gabrielle sat beside Ava and Calvin opposite her at the table. Other Primo wolves sat at the table and Alex settled in with his mate around the edge of the table, their heads together in conversation as Zinora spoke while Alex inclined his head and listened.
Ava had gotten to congratulate him and his mate who had now turned extremely shy unlike how jovial she had been the first time they’d spoken. They were going to have a family dinner tonight to officially welcome Zinora to the chaos that was the Black family.
There they would hopefully pick an appropriate mating date for Alex and Zinora who Gabby had now affectionately dubbed Zee.
Ava felt like butterflies were under her skin. The main reason she had stayed away from Adrian was gone. Her family was supportive and had offered her their forgiveness and the guilt that was on her shoulders had lifted. Not that Adrian knew. Ava didn’t know how to come out and tell him that…. Goddess, what did she even want to tell him?
Adrian, my guilt about our mating has faded and I would like to try again with you. But we should have sex first because if we don’t, I might die from a chronic case of blue balls or the feminine equivalent.
Ava nearly facepalmed. She wasn’t that desperate yet was she? No, she wasn’t. Maybe she could just get into an argument with him. Things always got steamy whenever they argued.
She was hopeless. How could she be planning an argument beforehand? She was losing her marbles and it was all because of Adrian.
The man of the hour, Adrian, wasn’t even looking at her at the moment, she had looked away from him enough times to give him a chance to stare back at her but it was no use. He was listening to Adelaide.
The woman always had the strangest things to say.
“So Alpha Adrian, I have found you capable, would you do me the honour of siring my children?”
“If you want to we can agree on how many and the timeframe between each child. Perhaps one every couple of years.”
Ava saw red. Refugee or not. She was going to rip the woman apart. The entire table went silent. Ava moved to stand but Adrian caught her hand and shook his head before turning to face Adelaide.
“It would seem we have a misunderstanding. I have a mate. Ava is my mate and the Luna of this pack which you should recognize by our intermingled scents.”
Ava found herself calming down as she heard the possessiveness in Adrian’s voice.
Adelaide’s eyes widened with shock. “I thought she was your sister or a close friend. Your mate?” She looked over at Ava with disbelief. “But how can the both of you be mates if you haven’t fucked yet to seal the bond?”
Even Alex and Zinora paused their chat to look at Adelaide with mutual horror.
Ava’s cheeks were on fire. Never in her entire life had something this awkward and embarrassing ever happened to her. She had no idea what to tell Adelaide.
Adrian’s expression was stormy. “Adelaide.” His voice was like stone, unyielding. “You have overstepped your limits. This is not your pack or your pack ground. We have accorded you respect in these trying times because of your peculiar situation but you should be careful. My mate, the Luna of this pack will not be discussed so derogatorily. And our sex life is a private affair, not a public one.”
He looked down at the now silent table. “Wolves of the Primo pack, we shall retake your pack lands. In the spirit of refuge, we shall offer you aid so that you can reclaim your ancestral lands and return to it. As you can see, two Alphas cannot reside together for an extended period of time. Have a great breakfast.”
Adrian stood up and outstretched his hand for Ava to take. She took it and they left the breakfast table together, hand in hand.
Ava felt so warm all over. Yes, she still felt embarrassed at how Adelaide had spoken to her but it was overshadowed by the lightness she felt at Adrian taking defending her in front of everyone.
It wasn’t like she couldn’t defend herself. After getting over her shock, she would have confronted Adelaide about it but Adrian doing it felt–
“Are you alright?” Adrian asked, looking at her as they neared their wing.
Ava nodded.
“I should have listened to you yesterday when you complained about Adelaide and set her clear. It would have prevented what happened today.”
“It’s okay, Adrian, there’s no way you could have known what was going on in Adelaide’s head. Besides, she wasn’t completely wrong,” Ava paused, unsure of how to continue as Adrian stared at her in askance.
“As a mated couple, we should erm… do stuff.” Jenny would be laughing at her now if she hadn’t already gone on her honeymoon with her mate.
S-E-X Ava. She could imagine Jenny saying. It was just a word.
Adrian looked like she had just blown his mind away. “Wait, you mean you want us to… you want us to consummate our bond? Where is this coming from? I mean I want to. You have no idea how much I want to but this is… are you sure?”
Ava blushed. “You want to?”
Adrian was even more incredulous. “Of course I do. Do you know how many cold showers I’ve had since we began sharing a bed? I didn’t even tell you about the connecting room… forget I said that part.”
The connecting room? What was he talking about? Never mind that. Adrian was attracted to her? She should have known with the passionate kisses and the spontaneous displays of affection but somehow hearing it now when she was finally unburdened enough to reciprocate, it sunk in.
The tension between them increased and Ava reached for something. Anything to diffuse it. She wanted to have sex with him but not right at that moment.
“Are you really going to the Primo pack lands and oust the rogues?”
Adrian looked startled by the whiplash that was Ava but he followed the drift.
“Yes, it needs to be done. This is the only way to appease the elders without breaking our traditions.”
“Do you have to?” Ava was surprised to realize that she was scared. Now that everything was finally coming together, she couldn’t imagine Adrian going off to risk himself for another pack in unfamiliar lands. He was strong but what if something happened?
“You don’t have to go personally. Adelaide is fierce enough to take care of it with some of our fighters.” Stay with me. She wanted to say but couldn’t voice it out. Ava was already too used to hiding her emotions from Adrian that she found it difficult now to finally speak up. But Adrian seemed to hear what was unsaid.
“I must lead our forces. We will do recons before we head into the situation. Turns out that I am a great fighter, I’ll be fine.”
Ava nodded. Adrian kissed her forehead and then hugged her.
It was time for her happily ever after to begin. Nothing would happen to ruin it. She was sure.
*********
“We will divide our wolves into three. The attack group, the reserve group and the ambush group.”
The plans for the attack were underway.
Adrian unrolled the map of the Primo pack territory drawn up courtesy of Adelaide and the other scouts that had been checking out the lands for the past couple of days to bring intel about the rogues that had settled there.
He glanced at Ava as he laid out the plans for the strike tomorrow. She seemed more composed now. No one would suspect that she was even more nervous than he was about the entire strike thing.
After Ava’s shocking declaration over a day ago about being ready to consummate their bond, they hadn’t spoken much about it. Mostly because Adrian was doing his best to fix the Primo pack problem so that they could face their normal lives again.