Cynthia sat her thoughts racing. It felt like none of her moves were going as she had envisioned them. Had she made a mistake using Gabrielle as her pawn? Would Ivy have made a better one?
No, she couldn’t think about that right now. She was already committed to a course of action. Even if that course of action was sticking with Gabrielle for now. At least until she could discard her in a way that would be profitable for herself.
She was already tired of pandering to the woman’s illusions of grandeur. That was why she had allowed Ivy to discover the truth of Gabrielle’s actions. When she wanted to sink that ship, that ace would come in handy. The stage was almost set and the timing couldn’t have been better.
She only wished she had been able to seed more chaos but there could still be an opportunity to do that.
Cynthia glanced at the burner phone on the table in front of her. She looked away but her eyes were drawn to it again. The call was yet to come in.
She gave up on waiting for a call that very possibly wouldn’t come and stood to get herself dinner.
The phone rang.
She picked up the call.
“How did it go?”
“My job is done.”
Naturally, he felt the need to be cryptic. Not that she was the one to talk, she hadn’t gotten her hands on anything valuable yet being so caught up in her plans for revenge.
“Okay.”
“Have you gotten them?”
Her pulse accelerated involuntarily. Of course, she hadn’t.
“Not yet. I will very soon.”
There was a pregnant pause.
“You are taking far too long with this. Perhaps it was a mistake for you to go to a pack you were affiliated with.”
Cynthia fought the urge to tell him to go and fuck himself.
“I will have it ready soon. You may prepare for the attack rest assured.”
Her revenge would have to take a pause now. There were bigger fish to fry now.
*****
Adrian woke up with his mate in his arms and realized that he could get used to this. To the warm press of flesh against his, to her event mingling with his, to the little sounds she made while she slept. He inhaled deeply, her scent making him feel warm all over.
He wanted nothing more than to stay in bed with her but he had to get back to work. He had left the running of the pack unattended for too long. He must have troubled Alex and Calvin a lot.
The problem was that now he had to decide on what he would do with Gabrielle, the treacherous snake that was his mate’s sister.
Adrian disentangled himself from Ava and went to take a shower, his mind moving rather quickly as he thought of the ways he could punish Gabrielle without causing Ava any grief. His mate was a good person. He wished she weren’t so good. It would have made making this decision much easier.
He was pulling on his clothes when she woke up.
He wasn’t looking at her or even actively monitoring the mate bond. He just knew. Was this how it had been between his parents? This satisfying feeling of completeness. He had always judged his father harshly for his mother’s death but now he wondered how the death must have affected him.
Adrian wasn’t sure he could live without Ava anymore. They had become too intertwined.
“You are leaving already?”
Ava shifted in bed, her dark hair falling over her naked chest as she watched him shamelessly while he buttoned his shirt. If only he hadn’t been late for work, he would have crossed the distance between them and kissed the hell out of her.
Instead, he settled for smiling at her.
“Yes, why? Missing me already?”
Ava scoffed albeit playfully.
“Right. Because you are hot stuff.”
“The hottest. To be precise, I’m so hot that I make you burn.”
Adrian smirked.
Ava’s cheeks turned a bright red and she threw a pillow at him. It smacked him straight on his chest.
His shoulders shook as he laughed at her.
“Stop laughing, damn you! We were having sex, whatever I said was in duress.”
“Too late. It’s already saved in my head and I’m never letting you live that one down.”
Ava scrunched up her face and raised her hand to cover her face.
“Goddess, you are so arrogant. I hate you.”
Adrian straightened his shirt and walked towards her, he leaned in and kissed her on the lips lightly.
“No, you love me.”
Ava couldn’t feign anger anymore and she pulled him close and kissed him back. The kiss went on for far longer than he’d anticipated and he found himself pushing her onto their bed.
Work. He had to get back to work.
He pulled away from her and looked down at her beautiful body. Goddess, how had he gotten so lucky?
Ava’s fingers entwined with his.
“Stay.”
Her blue eyes were electric with passion and he felt his resolve waver. Slightly.
“As tempting as that sounds,” He stole another kiss. “The real world is calling, our pack needs their Alpha, and I need to make a decision on what to do about Gabrielle.”
At the sound of her sister’s name, Ava sat upright, all traces of desire gone.
“You won’t sentence her to life as a rogue, right?”
“Ava.”
“Promise me. I can’t see my family broken up again. At least not right now.”
“Ava, she did terrible things.”
Just thinking about it almost got his blood boiling. How Ava could have forgiven her uneasily was out of far beyond his scope of understanding. Perhaps it was because he was an only child.
“I know. I know. Just let her off this once. If she does something again, I won’t intercede for her. Please.”
It was the earnesty in her plea that got to him. He really needed to learn how to say no to Ava.
“Fine. I will spare her.”
As Ava engulfed him in a hug, he sighed hoping that he wouldn’t regret this decision.
*********
“This looks worrisome.”
Naturally, it was the time he took days off that something like this would happen. The rogues were back and in rare form. He got the chills merely from reading the detailed report that Alex had put together rather brilliantly.
“That’s what I thought as well. It’s bad enough that we can’t get an actual eye witness testimony but the Primo pack can’t also rendezvous with us on this by scoping out the raided lands because they are still busy getting themselves together. They aren’t ready for another attack.”
Alex looked brighter, better and more than a little friendlier. It could have been because his mate was back and it could have also been because his sister was finally conscious again.
Adrian nodded thoughtfully.
Calvin sprawled on the couch to the side looking more than a little tapped out. He has been running back-to-back drills with the pack warriors. Nelson was due back from his honeymoon with Jenny anytime now. Once he was back, he would be able to relieve Calvin.
“I can’t report this to the council without substantial proof to show that the rogue numbers are out of proportion. And we can’t take on their numbers as we are now without taking substantial losses. We need reinforcement.”
Adrian rapped his fingers on the table, in deep thought.
“I could go.”
Alex and Adrian looked at Calvin.
“What? What does that look mean?”
Adrian cocked a brow.
“Apart from the fact that you are in no shape for a recon mission, do you think I would let the Delta of my pack leave the pack at such a turbulent time?”
Alex nodded in agreement although he looked thoughtful about the idea if a little surprised that Calvin had taken the initiative.
Calvin sat upright on the couch.
“But it is recon for the pack. We need to know what we are up against. Ava’s workouts have been beneficial in getting our pack members up to shape but the numbers aren’t in our favor. So many other wolves can run the training, I’m not irreplaceable here but I can make a difference if I went to scope it out.”
Adrian sighed. “I will take it under advisement. Now tell me about how the training exercises are going.”