Five days until the full moon
AVA
The next morning, I was sitting in my Jacob’s office with Alex discussing border security. Or that had been the plan, anyway.
Right up until we got word that someone vaguely resembling Matthew Stanley had been sighted not far outside our territory.
Now we knew that, we were going after him instead.
I’d put a mental block on my emotions, trying not to let my stress, anger and even really bloodlust bleed through to Callum and Oscar. This needed to be a stealth mission, with as few wolves involved as possible. The wolves best suited for the job were Alex and I, but I did not want to have to tell Callum and Oscar that their dad and mate were off on a stealth kidnapping mission.
“Ava… I know you don’t want to, but we should tell Callum where you and Alex are off to.” Jacob’s voice was careful, controlled.
“Do you really want to have to tell him that his mate and father are going off on a dangerous stealth mission to capture someone that we know is working with rogues, and that potentially wants me for himself?” I scowled at him. “I know I don’t want to have that conversation, and I’m sure you don’t, Alex, either.”
“Not particularly, Ava,” Alex replied. “But I also don’t know if we’ll manage to do this without them realising something is wrong. You and Callum have a very strong bond, he is literally your fated protector.”
I growled. “So what do we do? Do we bring Callum with us?”
“Maybe it’s for the best?”
“Alex… you know he will try to stop me getting involved, and it is very likely that he’ll try to stop you too.”
He opened his mouth to speak, and it was like I suddenly knew what he was about to say.
“Alex, don’t you fucking dare say that maybe it is for the best if I sit this one out. You are absolutely not tackling this either on your own or with Jacob. You two have an entire pack of people right here that are relying on you right now.”
“You have a pack too, Ava.”
“I do. But you know as well as I do that the Eclipse Mountain pack is currently thriving under an Alpha.” I sighed. “I didn’t want to do this, but…”
Alex and Jacob’s faces fell. “Don’t do it, Ava, please,” Jacob begged.
“Beta Alex and Alpha Jacob, I command you not to go out looking for Matthew Stanley.”
At the moment they both bowed their heads, I stood up and walked out of the room, leaving them to stew. I knew if I’d let them out that they immediately would have reached out to Callum and the boys. This way, I could do it on my terms.
I’d take Callum with me, but just Callum.
“Callum,” I called through the mindlink. “Can you meet me outside the pack house? Need your help on a mission.”
The stunning wolf that is Ares appeared in front of me in no time at all, before shifting to reveal my protector. I had to force my eyes away from Callum’s very naked body, a fact that the smirk on his face said he’d realised.
“Before I go further, Callum, I need you to promise me that you won’t stop me doing what needs to be done, whatever that ends up being.”
His eyes narrowed, lips pursed. He nodded once, motioning for me to continue.
“Matthew Stanley has been sighted not far from our pack borders. We need to go pick him up. There’s a cell in the dungeon ready and waiting with his name on it.”
He raised one eyebrow. “Why aren’t dad and Jacob handling this?”
“Originally I was going to be running the mission with your dad, but I ended up forcibly… benching the pair of them.” I bit my lip before continuing. “I didn’t tell them, but I had another premonition.”
He raised one eyebrow in shock. “If they went, either just your dad or both of them, the rogues would get Matthew Stanley out of here, kill him, and disappear. And your father would get seriously injured. He’d live, but he’d get really badly hurt.”
“But you will come out of this okay?”
“I will if you come with me.”
Callum nodded, understanding why I benched his dad.
“Fine. I don’t like you being in danger, but I know why you need to do this and I agree with benching my dad,” he sighed. “Where do we start?”
“We need to make sure we aren’t followed by any of the warriors. I’m not exactly sure where he is, but all the places he likes to hide out are narrow. It will be tight with just you and I going for him. We need to get in, knock him out, and get back here. He should be alone, but I honestly don’t know if he will be.”
I sighed, rubbing my face. “Would be easier if premonitions were foolproof.”
He smiled, wrapping his arms around my neck. “Let’s go hunt down a madman, alright, little one?”
“Let’s do this.”
It took us three hours to comb through the border to the pack lands to find a sign of our friend Matthew. When we did find him… it was too late.
Callum stood behind me like a faithful shadow. I swore when I shifted back when we found his body. “This isn’t possible,” I growled as I bent over his body, looking for signs of anything being amiss.
I was about to give up when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye.
“This isn’t Matthew,” I whispered. “Or at least the man from the club didn’t have that scar on his chin.”
I swapped to a mindlink I’d opened up with Alex, Jacob and Callum. “I need you two to talk to Martha. Find out if they have another brother.”
The silence from Alex and Jacob was concerning. “On it, Ava, we’ll let you know.”
“Thanks, Jacob. In the meantime, I need a recovery team to pick up a body.”