The Black family had finally resolved their issues and Adrian felt that might have inspired Ava’s change of heart.
In fact, Alex had spoken to him like a human being when he had come to invite him that morning for the family dinner they were having in two days to introduce Zinora to the family.
It was a new dawn for the entire family and Adrian could finally breathe care freely. He was under no illusions that their lives would be perfect from now onwards but he was optimistic.
“I will lead the ambush group. Adelaide will lead the attack group as she is more familiar with the terrain. Calvin will take the reserve group.”
Alex would not be participating in this mission because firstly he wasn’t as familiar with the men as Calvin was and for a sensitive operation such as this, nothing could be left to chance. The second was the fact that he just found his mate, Adrian of all people refused to disturb their time together.
Adrian pointed to the map showing the locations where they would strike when the time came.
They convened for a little over an hour more to iron out the details. Adrian said his goodbyes to a more subdued Adelaide that was more tactful with the way she spoke to both Ava and him since that day at breakfast and a few of the elders before heading upstairs.
Ava stopped him before he entered their room. “I want to go with you tomorrow. I can’t wait here. I’ll go mad with worry.”
Adrian’s heart warmed. He cupped her cheeks and stared into her clear blue eyes. “I’m glad that you care. I can’t tell you how much but I do. I want nothing more than to fight side by side with you but our pack needs you here. In case something happens to me, they’ll need your strength.”
Adrian paused, seeing the fear in her eyes. He kissed her forehead. “Nothing will happen to me, don’t worry. I have a lot to live for. We still haven’t gotten around to ‘doing stuff’.” He waggled his brows dramatically and Ava laughed smacking his shoulder.
“Goddess, you are such a pervert.” She got out amidst her laughter.
“Only for you.”
Ava laughed but her cheeks were on fire. Adrian wanted to kiss her lips, and her cheeks and kiss every part of her. And he would, he realized. Ava would let him because she wanted this as much as he did.
She was beautiful at that moment and Adrian wondered what he had done to deserve someone like her. Nothing but he would do his best to be worthy of her.
********
They left at dusk the next day and Ava tried not to feel anxious. He knew what he was doing. Adrian was a capable warrior. Ava arranged their entire room and noticed a locked door that she had no idea where it led to. She ignored it and continued to arrange and clean hoping to tire herself out so that she wouldn’t be so anxious.
It didn’t work.
She went downstairs and got some food from the kitchen to eat at the dining table. For the first time since she started staying at the pack house, the table was empty. Ava realized it was because the majority of people who stayed in the pack house were the pack warriors. She felt oddly lonely as she picked at the food.
“Hello, Stranger.”
Ava looked up to see Gabby and she smiled.
“Gabby, what are you doing here?”
Gabby merely cocked a brow. “I noticed how nervous you were at lunch before they left. In the absence of your bestie Jenny, I am here for moral support and to tell you that Adrian has had more difficult fights. He will be fine.”
“That’s not as encouraging as you think it is. The more I hear he’ll be fine, the more scared I am. I just wish I could have gone with him.”
Gabby moved close to her and settled in beside her giving her a hug. “Oh, Ava. Calm down. You are doing the best you can. Want to see a movie to get your minds off things while we wait?”
Ava hesitated then nodded. She didn’t think a movie would do anything for her but Gabby was trying so hard to get her spirit up that she relented.
She nodded with a smile. She was lucky to have good people in her life. Adrian would be fine and one day she would look back at her anxiety and laugh.
*******
The attack was not going as they had planned. The rogues’ numbers had doubled and Adelaide’s attack group had to fall back according to the correspondence he was getting from the mind-link from his pack members in her group.
His group, the supposed ambush group, were being herded and slaughtered. Forget about ambushing anyone, they were struggling to keep themselves alive. They didn’t have room to fight due to the large number of rogues they met. Adrian would have been bothered by this unlikely phenomenon if he had enough time to breathe much less worry.
He mind-linked Calvin and asked him to split the reserve force into two so that half could come to their aid and pin the rogues between them.
The forces were in their way. They just had to hold out. The battleground was a mess, wolves tore at each other, some in wolf form, others in a partial shift. Adrian ripped out the throat of a wolf and continued on to slash another at his flank. He leapt atop an enemy wolf that was attacking one of his men and tore into him. He moved to another, rescuing the wolves in his group.
He needed to move quickly before the rogues caught on to the fact that he was the one in charge and began to team up on him.
Adrian howled, signalling his team to fall back so that they could regroup and attack again. His group moved back but the rogues followed them despite the rogues rapidly reducing numbers, they didn’t seem to care. The bloodshed continued with wolves dropping left and right.
This was to be their final stand. Adrian recalled his mate that was waiting for him to return. He would not fail her. He fought more fiercely than he had ever before. Slowly but surely, he began to flag but he refused to back down even as he received slashes to his side. He continued to fight.
Calvin’s troop came to their rescue and together they finished off the rogues on their end before heading off to assist Adelaide’s group. Dawn was minutes away when the final rogue fell.
It had been a bloody battle with more losses and injuries than they had anticipated.
But it was over.
Adrian sectioned off his people, some to help the Primo pack to raise walls around their pack while the others took the injured and they would have to return for their dead.
Adelaide grasped Adrian’s forearm, her face streaked with blood and grime. “Thank you, Alpha Adrian, we owe you a huge debt for what you have done for my pack. Anytime you need help, all you need to do is call upon us and we will be there.”
Adrian grasped her forearm in solidarity, nodding.
Every inch of him hurt and he wanted nothing more than to return home and rest. He could scarcely believe that he was still standing at that point. Every step hurt but he shouldered on because his mate waited for him.