Two days until the full moon
AVA
I woke up in a tangle of sated bodies, but it wasn’t right. It wasn’t right without Theo. I still felt like
something was missing.
We all went for a run before breakfast, which definitely wasn’t as relaxing as normal, thanks to the
security escort Michael had insisted upon… and by the time we returned to our suite, the room had
already been made up and handmaidens must have picked our outfits for the day… including my
heels and tiara.
I groaned when I saw the ‘casual wear’ that had been laid out for us. The men had dark blue chinos
with black formal shoes and shirts, each in a different colour, whilst I had a blue chiffon cocktail style
summer dress with black heels. Fortunately the tiara laid out with the outfit was a delicate one, as
close to casual as it’s possible to be… but it’s still a tiara.
“You look amazing, my Queen,” Callum smiled, taking my hand and spinning me around. “This
royalty thing suits you.”
I rolled my eyes.
“He’s right, Ava,” Oscar replied, pulling me away from his brother with another swirl.
Noah wrapped his arm around my waist when he pulled me out of Oscar’s arms, pressing a kiss to my
lips and dipping me backwards, leaving me giggling.
“Well then, my dashing Kings. Shall we go for breakfast?”
Like everything else, breakfast was a formal affair. Because the heir to the throne was attending, no
one else would start eating until I did. Which made me very uncomfortable. As did the fact that
technically everyone else should stop eating when I did, so I just made a point of playing with my
food until everyone else could finish. As soon as I formally took over, these customs would be
changing. Immediately.
Fortunately, breakfast was delicious, which made up for some of the discomfort at least.
By midmorning, we were sat in Michael’s office, enjoying coffee and mini cakes whilst he caught me
up on the affairs of the territory.
“My Queen… if you are here, does that mean you are planning to claim your throne?” Michael asked.
“I am, Michael. I realise that typically requires a ceremony and big announcement, but current
circumstances mean that is going to have to be put on hold for now.”
“Of course, my Queen.”
“Now, to the problem at hand. There is a group of rogues and some… questionable power hungry
individuals who believe they can forcibly mark me and claim their power for themselves.”
Michael nodded. “Unfortunately this has happened before to previous Alpha Queens, Your Highness.”
“Both parties currently believe that without the fourth mark, I’m ripe for the picking, which is why
Theo has been taken. We have some leads on where he may be, but nothing concrete as of yet.”
Michael’s face was just getting more tense as I spoke. “We need to sweep a section of the train line
that runs through the Eclipse Mountain territory, and we need to do it today. Between the rogues and
the power hungry wolves… Well, we need to get Theo back as soon as possible.”
Noah reached out and took my hand, squeezing my fingers.
“I will support you as much as possible, my Queen. What do you need me to do?”
“After we’re done here, we need to go and sweep the relevant section of the train line. If they aren’t
needed here, I’ll take the six members of my security escort with us.”
“Of course, my Queen. They will be the first six members of your Queen’s guard when you take the
throne, so they are yours to use as you see fit.”
I nodded. “Before we head out, do you know anything more about the legends that may help us here?”
“Not the greatest amount, my Queen. Whilst you are investigating the train route, I’ll talk to our
scholars who may be better placed to assist. If they find anything, I’ll have them link you.”
“Thank you,” I gave him a small nod as I stood, motioning for the others to follow me. “Oh, just
quickly, Michael. Before we all come back, it would be greatly appreciated if some more casual
clothing could be added to the wardrobes.”
“Of course, my Queen! I’ll have it arranged.”
We didn’t find anything. Nothing at all that would help us find Theo. There was no evidence of
rogues, Matthew Stanley or Theo himself anywhere near the train line, either above or below ground.
We got back to the castle compound just in time for afternoon tea. We had just sat down with Alpha
Michael when a frantic link came in from Jacob.
“Ava! Are you okay? Where are you? Where’s Noah? Are Callum and Oscar with you too?” Jacob
called through the mind link.
“Looking for the missing part of my soul.”
“Ava… what if the note was real?”
“I can guarantee it wasn’t real, Jacob.”
“He’s my son, Ava. I believe it’s real.”
“He’s my mate. I know it’s not real.”
“But…”
“If he’d gone willingly, why would he currently be getting pumped full of silver and wolfsbane?”
“How do you know…”
“He’s my mate, Jacob. I can fucking feel it.”
“But it still could be…”
“Jacob, why do you want your son to have walked away from us willingly?”
“I don’t, Ava, I just…”
“You know what, we’ll talk about this later. Meet me in my office at 10pm.”
I slammed the link shut, absolutely fuming.
“Alpha Michael, I’m sorry to say that we are going to have to head back after tea, unfortunately
something has come up that I need to deal with.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, my Queen. I hope next time we see you, the circumstances are better.”
“I’m sure they will be, Alpha. I did have a favour to ask you though, before we head out.”
“Of course, my Queen, anything.”
“I need to borrow warriors that are loyal to me for the search for King Consort Theo.”
“Of course, Queen Avelina! How many do you require?”
I thought for a moment. I still had two train lines to search, approximately fifteen miles of track, and
that was if we were right. Goddess knows what we’re going to encounter when we find Theo, and
then we’ve got the rogues to worry about too…
“How many can you spare?”
“You can take the six that have been your security escort whilst you’ve been here and another six, if
that is sufficient, my Queen?”
“Twelve is perfect, Michael. We will need to leave by 4. 30pm to get back in time.”
“I’ll have them ready, my Queen,” he bowed.