AVA
“Ava, Beta, you’re back from your run early,” Alpha Jacob called out across the room.
“I went out last night, Alpha, I didn’t have enough sleep for a full run.”
He gave me a smile. “We’re only young once, Ava. I hope you and the boys had a good night.”
I smiled, blushing slightly.
“Alpha, that’s not the whole truth,” I said in my mind, opening a link with him and the Beta. “We ran into rogues at the border whilst we were running.”
“Rogues?” Alpha Jacob replied.
“Yes, Alpha,” Beta Alexander added. “Three. They said they were looking for their boss’ mate.” Beta Alexander paused, glancing my way before continuing. “They were looking for a special girl with a special wolf. A special girl that they want to take home to their boss because she’s his mate.”
I stabbed my fork into my pile of pancakes hard enough that I broke the plate. Fortunately the room wasn’t exactly full, so I could pretend that I’d just slipped. I thanked the member of staff that cleared it up for me, and wanted to hug her when she replaced my pancakes.
“Ava, I promise, if it’s you they are looking for, the Beta and I will keep you safe.”
“Thank you, Alpha.” I gave him a grateful nod in real life. “Beta,” I continued. “I think we need to increase patrols in the area around where we saw the rogues. I’m happy to run a shift.”
He slammed his hands down on the table. “Absolutely not! We think you might be the target, I’m not having you present yourself to them on a silver platter!”
“Beta, calm down!” Alpha Jacob implored through the link.
“I’m sorry, Alpha. You know Ava is like a daughter to me.”
“And to me, Beta. We will protect her.”
The tension in the room was thick when the Alpha’s sons and the Beta’s sons walked in to join us for breakfast.
“Morning, Alpha, Ava, dad,” Callum called out, voice jubilant. A tone and expression that he lost when he just got grunts from the three of us in response. He didn’t have his wolf yet, so he didn’t recognise that we were arguing over a mindlink.
“I can help!” I shouted. “I’m fast, strong, and more than capable of running a border patrol.”
“Ava, no! Artemis is too easily recognised!”
“Beta, calm it!” Alpha Jacob growled through the link, bringing his hands down on the table too hard in real life.
“Beta, I can do this! As I see it, you have a choice. Either I do it with your agreement and you could even run the route with me, or I do it without you. We need hands on deck here, we don’t have many wolves that are trained in border patrol, and you’re trying to bench one of the strongest currently without an active route who is trained in border patrol.”
Now the Beta slammed his hands down on the table.
I could feel the scowl on my face, along with the confused looks on the twins’ faces.
“Dad, Ava, are you okay?” Oscar asked.
“I’m fine, Oscar,” I retorted. “Alpha, Beta, boys. I’ll see you all later.”
I left the room, slamming the door behind me a little too aggressively.
CALLUM
I could feel the tension when we sat down for breakfast. At first I assumed it was because Dad knew that Ava spent the night, but it couldn’t have been that simple. It wasn’t just Dad and Ava that were tense and looked like they were fighting, it was Alpha Jacob too. From the way fists were being banged on the table, it was a massive fight.
If it was just Alpha Jacob and dad, I would have said they were fighting over the mindlink. But you need your wolf to do that, and Ava is too young…
When Ava stormed out, that all but confirmed it wasn’t just about her spending the night.
“Dad, are you okay?” I asked him, voice concerned.
“Great, son,” his tone was stressed.
I didn’t believe him one bit. Something was going on, and I didn’t like it.
I watched him stand, leaving the room going after Ava, calling her name.
“Ava! Come back here!”
Mumbled swearing met my ears.
“Artemis, for fucks sake!”
“Who is Artemis?” I whispered to Oscar, who just shrugged.
“Artemis, this isn’t the place for this!”
“Isn’t the place, Beta, seriously?!”
My eyes widened. That sounds like Ava, but with a deeper voice.
“I mean it, Artemis.” Now dad’s voice sounded deeper.
“Kieran, if you can’t trust me to look after myself and do this, walk away, right now.”
I stood, turning to head towards the door when Alpha Jacob put his hand on my arm. “Let them argue it out, son.” His voice was gentle, but left absolutely no room to disobey him.
“Artemis, I’m trying to protect you!”
“I can protect myself, Kieran, you know this! You trained me, for fucks sake!”
Growls met my ears.
I glanced towards Alpha Jacob, who was now rubbing his face in exasperation. “I’ve got this, boys. You all enjoy your breakfast.”
I watched him walk towards the door, wondering what on earth we’d walked in on this morning. Not only what had we walked in on, but Kieran and Artemis?!
“Kieran, Artemis!” Alpha Jacob shouted, his voice now even lower. “Get it together, both of you! Give Alex and Ava control back. Now! There is a time and a place for this, and that is not here. Do not make me command you.”
“Yes, Alpha,” dad and Ava replied, voices lower.
“You two need to calm down, finish your breakfast, and then we’ll talk about this in my office like grownups, got it?”
“Yes, Alpha,” dad and Ava both replied.
“Good.”
Alpha Jacob walked back in first, closely followed by Ava and then dad. Alpha Jacob looked normal, dad and Ava looked like they wanted to rip someone’s head off, probably each other’s.
I watched Ava make another coffee before walking back over to our table and sitting back down in between Alpha Jacob and I.
“How was your run, Ava?” I asked, voice sceptical.
“It was great, Callum, thank you,” she replied with a small smile. One that I noticed looked like it would become a growl when she saw dad looking our way.
What on earth was going on? Did Ava already have her wolf?