The escape had been so smooth and as Ivy touched down in Spain, she saluted her father’s sacrifice. Now he would no doubt be imprisoned by Adrian for his involvement in her escape.
He must have felt the benefit would outweigh the cost. If only he knew she was abandoning him to his fate.
She lodged in a luxury hotel and was soaking in a hot water bath when the bell rang. It would be her informant she had asked to keep an eye on Ava for her.
Had there been something that had happened to cause him to come so quickly? Or had Adrian again all odds been able to find her? No, it was too soon. It would be her informant.
She slipped on her robe and flip-flops. She walked to the door and checked the peephole. She was right.
She opened the door and shut it behind him.
“What the hell was so urgent that couldn’t wait one more bloody day? I just got here!”
The man bowed contritely.
“My apologies. I thought this would be very important for you to hear.”
“Well then spit it out, or are you waiting for a signed letter of consent?”
The man bowed again and Ivy nearly slapped him again.
“The woman you asked me to follow, Ava, is pregnant.”
Ivy nearly fell over, her face turning pale as blood drained from her face.
“She’s pregnant? You are certain?”
“Yes.”
If that were true then Ava’s child would be first in line for the pack house, not hers. Ivy would never allow that to happen. She’d wanted to spare Ava but it would seem that wasn’t in the cards for the poor woman.
“I need you to do something for me. Quickly.”
*******
Ava was taking a walk that she surely hoped would calm her down.
Javier’s pack that had once been a home for her now seemed so foreign. Or maybe it wasn’t the place that seemed strange now, maybe it was because she had changed. Evolved from who she was.
Or regressed depending on how she chose to view it.
She was pregnant. It seemed unreal. She didn’t feel any different. Just a touch more tired and frustrated and of course the unending waterworks.
Staying with Gabrielle and Javier had been weird at first because while she knew both of them separately, she hadn’t seen them as a couple together.
But it wasn’t too weird. Javier still pulled the strangest shifts at the hospital and Gabby had begun to invite people over blooming like the social butterfly that she was. It probably helped that both of them had separate rooms.
“But why though?” She asked Gabby.
Gabby blushed. “It just seems right. I… we haven’t had our mating ceremony yet and while it feels like we belong together, the truth is we haven’t known each other very long. Our first time will be special and there is no need to rush it.”
Ava thought of how she had wanted her first time with Adrian to be and how her heat and the other circumstance had changed her plans. She wished Gabrielle would lead a happier mated life than she had.
Her hand drifted to her belly. Would the child look like her or like Adrian? Would it be a combination of their features and behaviours?
How long could she keep this from him? Wasn’t it unfair to him if she decided to keep the news of their child to herself?
Would she even be a good mother to her child if she couldn’t give the child a stable environment to be born into?
She found that she had reached the entrance to the house that she and Alex had lived in while they had stayed there. It was a small bungalow towards the outskirts of the pack settlement.
Alex had always loved his privacy and crossing the threshold she recalled the last time she had been there. She had left with so much hope in her heart. She had thought she would return to her pack, live an independent life and Gabrielle would be mated to Adrian and that would be that.
The key to the door was where she had kept it under the doormat and as she stepped into the empty house, it felt like that of a stranger.
It smelt musty from disuse and she wondered what she was doing there. She needed somewhere to think. To really process everything. Gabby was always hovering over her like a worried mother hen which was surprisingly cute but she just needed time to herself.
Which was why she had insisted on going out alone.
“But it’s dangerous. What if those men come after you again?”
“Gabby, calm down. They attacked me because I was alone and unable to defend myself but we are in pack lands. They wouldn’t think to hurt me here and they wouldn’t be able to cross the border even if they did.”
Gabby had not looked convinced but she had let her out with a promise to call if she experienced even the slightest inconvenience and of course to take a pepper spray bottle. It would buy her enough time to run off.
Ava smiled at the remembrance of what she said. She had missed Gabby and now she missed Adrian because she was sure if he had been there, he would have made a comment about how she should be belled and tagged to avoid her getting herself into any more trouble.
Hot tears dripped down her face as she stifled her sobs. Maybe she should have forgiven him. So what if he cheated, no one was perfect. Maybe if she had, they would still be together and they would celebrate the news together and–
She heard a creak of wood and she started, her hand clutched around the spray. She stood up as quietly as she could moving towards the part of the house the sound had come from. She rounded the corner and there was nothing there.
She sighed relieved. All of Gabby’s warnings were messing with her head. Then suddenly, she felt a damp handkerchief going over her nose. She struggled against the hold and tried to use the spray bottle but it was hit out of her hand alongside her phone.
Slowly she felt herself fade away and her strength wane as her body and mind grew heavier and heavier.
Gabby had been right. The world went dark.
*****
Dorian was going over his plans when his aide arrived. The new council member had just been sworn in and the member was in his pocket. Not that anyone knew. He had decided to begin the attacks against per his plans and the council had reacted beautifully so far.
They were split evenly.
Some of them wanted the detained suspects released as they’d been proven innocent while the other sect felt that it could be a copycat masterminded by the heir that Adrian and Ava had failed to apprehend so far.
Most important of all, none of them spoke about what they would do to address the problem. His time was coming now and while he should have been overjoyed, he was anything but.
Cynthia’s rejection had left him astounded. Maybe he should not have been surprised that the wildcat he took in turned on him yet he was surprised by the drasticness of it.
He had taken an interest in her for her backbone after all then he had taken his time in breaking her down until she had become pliable. He had warned her that he wouldn’t let her go so easily. A dog couldn’t decide it didn’t want a leash anymore, the owner did.
In that way, Cynthia couldn’t leave him when he hadn’t discarded her first. Dorian would find out what exactly made her so confident that she could leave him and then he would take it away.
His aide knocked again. He’d better have news on Cynthia or he would bear the brunt of Dorian’s anger.
“Enter.”
His aide entered and bowed.
“Councilmember, I have the correspondence you were waiting for.”
He handed Dorian an envelope. Dorian waved him away hastily and waited for him to leave the room before ripping into the envelope.
He saw pictures. Pictures of Cynthia with a baby carrier. Pictures of Cynthia kissing a man. Pictures of the man holding a child. His child.
He couldn’t decipher the note that had come with the pictures through the thick haze of fury that enveloped him. Not that he needed to. The pictures spoke for themselves.
Of course, she had found someone in that backwater pack that didn’t mind the fact that she had a child. And the thought she felt she could substitute him for someone so inferior that it was galling.
He crumpled the photos in his hand and flung them away.
If Cynthia thought she could have a cute little family, she would be sorely mistaken.
He still hadn’t chosen the next pack to be attacked after all, wouldn’t it be a tragedy if her lover got killed in this attack and in all the chaos she disappeared right back into his arms?
Then he would take his time to break her once more before deciding if he would discard her afterwards for her infidelity.
He picked up his phone and made a call.