THEO
Seeing Ava like that broke my heart. It made the Alpha in me want to wrap her up and protect her, despite the fact I knew she was more than capable of defending herself, and that she was already a much stronger Alpha than I’d ever be.
I could see the same pained expression on everyone else’s faces as we waited for the doctor to finish cleaning out the bite on Ava’s arm and discharge her. By the time it was done, every other bruise and cut on her body had healed. Even her ribs were well on the way to being healed; according to the doctor, they probably would be within 24 hours.
Once Ava was discharged and dressed, we all headed off to Beta Alex’s room. He was in worse shape than Ava, he didn’t heal as well.
“Fuck, Alex,” Ava whispered, sitting on his bed next to him. “I heal better than you, why did you jump into that?! You could have just picked them off from the outside, you didn’t need to jump right into the middle of the bundle.”
“I couldn’t leave you to do it on your own, Ava.”
I watched as her lips pursed and her eyebrows tilted down in a scowl. “You’re no good to any of us if you get seriously wounded, Alex.”
He shrugged, and I thought Ava was going to rip him a new one.
Artemis flashed in her eyes, but she somehow managed to retain control. “What’s the damage, Alex?”
“Broken arm, five broken ribs, concussion, sprains, the works. Where are you at?”
“Basically everything has healed. I’ve got two broken ribs that look like they’ll be healed within the next 24 hours. The bite on my arm will likely be healed in a couple hours, and even my concussion is on the way out. You should have let me take the lead, Alex, really.”
He sighed. “I couldn’t do it, Ava.”
AVA
The doctor came in before I could rip Alex a new one for taking unnecessary risks.
“Good news, Beta!” the doctor called. “I’m going to give you some painkillers, and you’re good to go home. Just take it easy, and absolutely no training until you’re healed. Come back in two days and we’ll give you another x-ray to check how you’re doing.” He glanced around to look at me. “I know you’re basically good to go, Alpha, but you aren’t training until you’re fully healed either. No funny business of any kind! If I find out either of you is letting the other train, I’ll rain hellfire down on your asses. Understood?”
We both nodded, the twins were trying not to laugh at their dad and I getting lectured.
Alex nodded. “Thanks, doctor.”
“Don’t worry, doc,” Callum said. “I won’t let either of them train before they’re healed.”
I grumbled under my breath. It was going to be a long 24 hours.
“Come on then, Alex. Let’s get you out of here,” I said, moving around to help him up. “Neither of us have eaten, so we’ll get some dinner.”
I opened a mindlink to Jacob. “Jacob, Alex and I have been patched up and are being discharged, we’ll be at the pack house dining room getting dinner soon.”
“Ava! Glad to hear it, I’ll meet you there. How are you both?”
“I’ll give you a proper run down when we see you, but I’ve got a 24 hour strenuous activity ban, and Alex has a 48 hour ban.”
“As long as you’re both on the mend, Ava. I’ll see you both shortly.”
I closed the link. “Alex, Jacob is going to meet us in the dining room when we get to the pack house. We can eat, then debrief.”
“Ava…” Callum started. “You need to take it easy.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “Sitting down and bitching about rogues isn’t strenuous activity, Callum.”
He scowled at me. “I’d rather you stayed at home and rested, Ava. You too, dad.”
Alex looked at me, a smirk on his face. “Do you want to say it, or shall I?”
“Be my guest, Alex.”
He turned to look at Callum. “That ain’t gonna happen.”
“Okay my choice of words would have been more colourful, but you get the point.”
“Fine! But I’m following you around to keep an eye on you both.”
“Also not happening, Callum. We’ve both got this. We’ve both worked and trained with worse.”
Callum didn’t stop grumbling the entire way back to the pack house. On the plus side, by the time we got there, most of my bruises had gone and even my ribs didn’t hurt. They were sore if you touched them, but they didn’t hurt.
Alex was walking better as his muscles healed, he just winced if he twisted his torso. Five broken ribs will do that to you.
“There they are!” Alpha Jacob shouted when Alex and I walked in. “Alpha Ava and Beta Alex, everyone!” I chuckled as the warriors cheered. Alex did the same, and then immediately regretted it when it twinged his ribs. “No one else could have pulled off what these two have done lately, especially you, Alpha Ava,” he smiled. “Single handedly taken down 47 rogues in the last three days!”
I shook my head at him as the cheers got louder. Alex and I sat down, only to be swarmed by warriors trying to check in with us. After the first two tried to pat Alex on the back, we implemented a no-touching policy. Getting patted on the back by a crazy strong werewolf when you have broken ribs is a recipe for agony.
Jacob sat opposite us, his arms loaded with a bottle of rum and three glasses. “To my favourite two wolves,” he toasted.
“Hey, dad!” Theo shouted. “I thought we were your favourite?”
Alex and I laughed as Jacob tried to dig himself out of the hole. “Okay, my favourite two that aren’t blood relatives.”
Once we’d eaten, Jacob, Alex and I settled in his office to debrief, with the twins, Leo and Izzie insisting on coming with us.
“So, Ava, you first. What’s the damage?”
“I had three sprains, broken fingers, a broken foot, two broken ribs, a concussion, a massive bite and countless scratches. Most of that’s healed, doc thinks I’ll be back fighting fit within 24 hours.”
Jacob winced at the list. “How did that happen?”
“She got thrown against a tree.”
I scowled at Alex. The twins weren’t going to be happy about that piece of knowledge.
“Alex? What’s the verdict?”
“I’ve got a 48 hour training ban. Five broken ribs, sprains, broken arm, probable concussion, and most of my joints are swollen.”
“What happened to you?”
I glared at Alex. “He tried to take on more wolves than his healing can keep up with the damage from.”
“I couldn’t leave you to do it on your own, Ava.”
“I didn’t ask you to! I heal better than you, you should have let me lead.”
“Alex, Ava. You both did great, you’ll both heal. The rest of the warriors and I just got minor bumps, bruises, cuts and sprains, but of course by the time we got to you, you’d both taken out the brunt of their forces. No losses on our side, and without what you two pulled off, we would have lost some.”
He smiled.
“So we found out some information before the last rogue died. Ava, are you happy with everyone knowing this?”
I shrugged. “I trust your judgement, Jacob.”
“The wolves confirmed that you were their target. They hoped it would just be you and Alex because they think they could have overwhelmed you two, knocked you out, and taken you with them. Their king has completely convinced his followers that you are his fated mate.”
I snorted. “Great. Has anything come out about Eclipse Mountain?”
“The rogues didn’t mention your pack, Ava. If they know about the Alpha Queen though, it’s likely they know about Eclipse Mountain.”
I nodded. I hoped we’d have enough warning that Eclipse Mountain would be okay. “What about Blue Mountain and our friend Matthew Stanley?”
“Who is Matthew Stanley?” Callum asked.
“That’s the guy I kicked out of the bar yesterday.”
“Ava… we had confirmation Blue Mountain is still working with rogues. It’s possible they are the ones who gave the rogues the information they needed to find you.”
I froze.
“So Matthew Stanley…”
“Was a scout.”
I swore under my breath.
“So we need to return the favour and scout out the Blue Mountain pack.”
Jacob nodded. “I already have a team prepping to go, they’ll be on their way within a couple hours.” He glanced at Alex. “Alex, when you’re healed, you and Ava can tackle the border issue. Until then, we’re just going to run it with more hands. You two can work out optimising and improving the strategy once neither of you have broken ribs.”
“So that’s that for now then, isn’t it? We focus on defences and intelligence?”
Alex and Jacob looked in my direction, nodding their agreement.
“Now that’s settled, then, Ava. What the hell is going on?” Callum’s voice was blunt.