AVA
I couldn’t help but laugh when I heard Callum had sent his dad flying through the mud.
“I’m sorry, Alex, I’m trying not to laugh,” I giggled.
“You’re not sorry, Ava, I can see in your face that you’re proud of Callum for knocking his old man on his ass.”
“You know it!” I wiped away the tears that had started appearing in the corners of my eyes.
We carried on testing Callum’s defensive abilities for a while, before deciding we should explore my enhanced senses.
Alex found a blindfold, which Callum used to cover my eyes.
“Callum,” I mind linked him. “It’s going to be hard, but I need you to not protect me for this spar. I need to know what I can do.”
“I know,” he replied, voice tense. “It’ll be hard, but I promise I’ll try.”
“Thank you.” I reached up, cupping his face and bringing him down to kiss me, before telling Alex to get going whenever he was ready.
The first time he ran at me, I only just dodged the kick in time. From then on, though, I managed to not just dodge, but actually counter his attacks too. I even took him out, to which Callum and Jacob cheered.
Callum appeared in front of me again, removing the blindfold. “Nicely done, Ava.”
I smiled at him, before turning back to Alex. “I hope I didn’t hurt your ego too much,” I smirked.
“No more than you normally do, Ava,” he scowled.
We moved over to the next field to see how Oscar, Noah and Theo were getting on. I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw Oscar throwing stones into some of the targets we had set up with his mind. “Telekinesis…” I whispered.
He let the stones fall to the ground when we arrived, turning to us all with a smile on his face. “This is so cool!”
I squealed when something scooped me up, like a giant invisible hand, putting me back on my feet in front of Oscar.
Alex, Jacob and I left the boys experimenting, heading down to the houses to talk to the families from Blue Mountain. “I think we should start with Martha.”
Jacob nodded. “I agree. We already know her brother is involved with this mess in some way, she might know something.”
“Martha, have you all settled in okay?” I asked as we sat down in the living room with her.
“We’re doing good, Alpha, Alpha, Beta, thank you.”
“That’s good, I’m glad to hear that. Do you need anything?” I asked.
“Not at the moment, Alpha, thank you though,” she smiled.
“Martha… we need to talk about your brother. How close were you?”
“Not very, we were when we were young, but as we grew up… we grew apart.”
“How come?”
“He started to believe prophecies given by witches, ones that were clearly manipulative. He started getting violent, and talking about how women were born to be abused.”
I growled. Regardless of whether he’s actually involved with this issue, he has now signed his own death warrant.
“Has he ever talked about the Legend of the Alpha Queen?”
She thought for a moment. “I’m not sure.” She paused, still deep in thought. “I heard him talking to someone about how an Alpha female was in another pack and her mate was going to claim her.”
So he was involved.
“Do you know who he was talking to?”
“Our pack Alpha.”
“Can you remember any of the conversation, Martha?”
“They said that she was very powerful, and whoever her mate is would be able to use her to do whatever they desire. My brother and our Alpha seem to think she would be able to be ‘brought to heel’ and do whatever they tell her to.”
I snorted. Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen.
“What are they planning?”
“They want to kidnap her before her mate can get to her.”
I glanced at Jacob. So there are actually two groups of people out to get me…
“Has he ever told you anything about working with rogues?”
“He said something about not wanting to be found out, that they had to be careful going behind someone’s back.”
I stared at Jacob, opening a link with him and Alex. “So is Matthew planning on betraying the rogue King? He’s planning to help but then take me for himself?”
“Sounds like it, Ava,” Alex replied.
“Thank you, Martha, that’s all very helpful. Alex, Jacob, did you have any questions for Martha?”
They both shook their heads.
“Thank you, Martha. We’ll get out of your hair now, let me know if you need anything, okay?”
She nodded, giving us a smile as we left.
“Something is making me uneasy,” I linked to Jacob and Alex. “I’m not sure what it is. We need to sweep the area. I’ll get Callum here if you two can start.”
They both nodded.
“Callum, something isn’t right,” I linked. “I don’t know what it is, we’re sweeping the area.”
“On my way, little one.” His voice was frantic.
By the time I’d moved far enough away from the houses that I couldn’t be seen by Martha, stashed my clothes and shifted, Callum was already here.
Ares ran straight over to me, rubbing along my side. “Are you okay?”
“I’m good, Callum, I promise. I don’t know what it is, but something isn’t right.”
The four of us spread out, noses to the floor, looking for anything out of the ordinary. We hadn’t gotten far when Alex linked all of us.
“Rogue camp!”
“Fuck,” I replied. “Still here or is it cold?”
“Cold, my Queen.”
I sprinted to the clearing to catch up with Alex and Jacob, Callum on my heels.
This time, Callum had wrapped my body in protective sparkles before I’d even shifted back, and this time, he made himself shorts too.
“Nicely done, babe,” I grinned.
Jacob and Alex’s eyes were wide when they shifted back. “That is a nifty trick,” Alex chuckled.
“Indeed it is,” Callum replied, making them both shorts too. “It means no one gets to see my girl and I no longer have to see anyone’s dicks.”