AVA
I couldn’t believe it.
We actually had a lead on Theo’s location.
For the first time in days, I had hope.
I turned to sprint from the office, motioning for the guards to move him back to his cell as I went.
“Noah, Oscar, my office,” I shouted through the link I had with my mates, Callum was only a foot
behind me as I ran. “Callum, round up the Guard. Theo, if you can hear me, we’re coming for you, I
promise.”
“You know he probably can’t hear you,” Callum replied, out loud, his voice quiet, almost delicate.
“I know,” I replied. “But I have to keep trying.”
Oscar and Noah met us at the door to my office, also evidently having run. I couldn’t help the smile
that started to appear around my face at the thought that we were going to get him. We were going to
get the missing piece of my soul.
“Ava, is it true? You know where he is?” Noah’s voice was frantic as we all sat down.
“We have a good idea,” I replied. I was trying not to get either my or Noah’s hopes up, but it was hard
and I could see in Noah’s face that his were up too. “Callum, can you mark the location on the map,
and give us a rundown on what Julian told us about Matthew?”
“Wait,” Oscar interjected. “Julian gave information on his own brother?”
I nodded. “There’s no love lost between Julian and Matthew. Getting him to turn on the Rogue King
was much harder.”
I met Callum’s eyes, before letting mine move between his red knuckles and the blood stains on his t-
shirt. I saw Oscar and Noah’s eyes do the same, and the look of acknowledgement in both of their
eyes at what had been necessary. There was also a grateful look in Noah’s; he knew that most of the
conversation had been about finding his parents and brother.
Callum gave us all a quick rundown of what Julian had told us, and we got going on a plan.
“Callum, did Michael agree to send more warriors?”
He nodded. “Another six will be joining us later tonight ready to deal with the Rogue King
tomorrow.”
“Perfect,” I whispered, letting out a deep breath I didn’t realise I was holding. “We’ll leave two of the
current Guard here, and take the other ten with us. We have no idea what we’re going to be running
into. Matthew might have hundreds of wolves with him for all we know.”
“So what do we do?” Oscar asked, biting his bottom lip.
I sunk back in my chair. “The location Julian gave us is a good three hour run, so we really want to
take enough wolves with us because we’re on a time limit today. The four of us take ten of the Lycan
warriors, the other two can stay here to help look after Alex and the pack. We need to find out if we
can borrow some trackers, ideally a full team. An established team will be able to get the job done
quicker.”
I tapped my fingers on the table, deep in thought. “And then, I guess, we go for a run, send the
trackers in, find out what we’re dealing with, and then get Theo back.” I gave a small smile. “No
biggy. If we can knock Matthew out and bring him back with us, that would be good, but if it’s a
choice of his life or one of ours, we’re all the priority.”
They all nodded.
“Alright then,” I smiled. “I’ll get Alex here, and then we can get this show on the road.”
I mindlinked Alex asking him to come up to my office quickly, and knowing none of us would eat
today, I also asked Paula to bring up finger food for us all to eat whilst we finalised plans.
Alex burst in just minutes later, his face frantic. But that frantic, stressed expression moved between
excitement when he saw the looks on my and Noah’s faces, to concern when he saw Callum’s blood
splattered t-shirt.
“Ava… what’s going on?” His eyes were fixed on Callum, especially his red knuckles.
“We believe we have a lead on Noah.”
Alex’s eyes snapped back to me, mouth open. “Really?”
“As sure as we can be until we get there.” I gave him a small smile, one he returned tenfold.
“What about Jacob and Amelia?”
I sighed, rubbing my face. “I don’t have as much information as I’d like at this point. We have a vague
description of where the Rogue King’s main camp is, but nothing specific. He gave some information
about what the attack is going to look like tomorrow, but not much.”
He nodded. “So what’s the plan, my Queen?”
“Callum, Oscar, Noah and I plus ten of the Lycan warriors are going to head out to look for Theo. If I
can borrow an established team of trackers, that would be great.”
“Of course, I’ll make it happen. They can be ready in an hour.”
“Thanks, Alex. For tomorrow… I have another team of Lycan warriors on the way, they will be here
by the end of the day. Once we’re all back, hopefully with Theo, we’ll scout the borders, see what we
can find, and make a plan from there. We’re going to be running this thing to the wire, but we don’t
have much of a choice.”
Alex nodded.
“I’m going to leave two of the Lycan warriors here with you in case this is actually a trap and our
territory gets rushed the second our attention is elsewhere. They’ll also be able to help get the new
warriors settled if they beat us here.”
“Okay,” he gave me a small smile, before turning his attention to Callum. “Are you okay, son?”
Callum nodded, giving him a small smile. “It’s not my blood, dad.”
“That’s not much of a comfort, Callum.”
“I’m fine, dad, honest. Julian just needed a little… persuasion to turn on the Rogue King.”
Alex’s face was unreadable. He definitely didn’t like the fact his son had to knock someone around a
bit to get answers.
“On another point, Ava…” Alex started. I raised one eyebrow. “Who is the Rogue King?”