CALLUM
It broke my heart more than I ever thought possible to hear what Ava went through. It’s disgusting that
arranged political marriages are still even an acceptable thing in any pack, regardless of whether it’s
run as a monarchy or not.
Absolutely despicable that people would put their children through that.
I’m sure there are genuinely happy marriages that come out of that arrangement, and I know Ava’s
biological parents were happy despite being in an arranged marriage… but I couldn’t put my child
through that. Absolutely never.
I’d lock up anyone who tried to force someone into that and throw away the key. The fact that
someone is trying to force Ava… well. I would come down on them like a tonne of bricks.
The room was deathly silent once Ava finished telling her story. I walked around the table towards
her, sitting on the desk in front of her. I pulled her into my arms, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “He
won’t take you away from us, little one,” I whispered. “I promise you that.”
AVA
I couldn’t help the tears that broke free when Callum pulled me against him. “Thank you, Callum,” I
replied, my face buried in his chest. Another pair of arms appeared around me from the left, and from
the smell; it was Oscar. Noah followed to my right shortly after.
“I love you, Avelina Wroblewski,” they all whispered together. I cried harder; I’d never felt safer and
more supported, and yet I was still missing a piece of my puzzle.
I couldn’t honestly tell you how long I cried into Callum’s chest, but either way, he was soaked by the
time I finished.
I stood up, wiped my tears, kissed all of my boys and put my boss lady face back on.
“Now that’s all out in the open, we need to get going.” I wiped my face again as I turned back to look
at the map.
“It’s okay to be vulnerable, Ava,” Alex gave me a small smile. “You’ve been through a lot, you don’t
have to pretend you don’t have feelings in front of those closest to you. You know you’ve always been
like a daughter to me, and as much as that makes the fact my sons are two of your mates a little…
awkward, it will never change that fact.”
I smirked back at him. “Thank you, Alex. I appreciate that.”
“You’re welcome,” he smiled. “Just promise me one thing.” He pulled a face. “Actually two things.”
I raised one eyebrow. “What…?”
“One, promise me you won’t shut us out. If you need us, we’ll be there.”
I nodded.
“Two, please make sure you shut doors behind you, I’ve seen things I never wanted to see.”
I chuckled, nearly choking on my rum. “I can do that.” Where possible, anyway…
“You’re never gonna let that go dad, are you,” Callum smirked.
“Absolutely not, son. I’ll make a point of giving a speech on your wedding day, your mating
ceremony, coronation, whatever it happens to be, just to tell that story.”
“There will be one before that lot, dad,” Oscar smirked; a smirk that turned into a laugh at Alex’s
confused look.
I put two and two together, and scowled back at Oscar.
“What?” Alex asked.
“Ava should be having a formal ceremony that announces she will be ascending to the throne. Since
she already has us, it will involve introducing her mates too. With everything that’s going on, that’s on
hold until things are calm,” Oscar explained.
“Alpha Michael is aware Ava is planning to claim her throne, but she’s told him any ceremony and
announcement has to wait until everything is settled. Considering he had the Crown suite setup for the
five of us complete with wardrobes and a crazy amount of tiaras and crowns for Ava, he’s probably
already planning the ceremony.”
Yeah… very true that.
I rolled my eyes. “Okay, people, enough of that. Bigger fish to fry in the here and now than my future
ascension ceremony.”
Alex just smirked.
I pulled up my metaphorical big girl pants, straightened my metaphorical crown and put my Queen-
face back on.
“We need to get going if we want to find Theo any time soon. Callum,” I met his eyes. “Pick two
warriors to stay here, and round up the rest.” He nodded.
“Alex, round up the trackers you can lend me.” Alex bowed his head.
“Noah… we need gear. I’m not sure what we’re going to walk into. It might not be possible for us to
actually shift to deal with threats.” Alex’s face fell, Oscar’s was tense and Callum was unreadable.
“Every wolf or Lycan involved in this trip needs to be carrying a handgun. If we’re close enough for
blades, we’re close enough for claws.”
“On it, Ava,” Noah smiled. “Go-bags for twenty on the way.”
These bags were something the real Jacob had spent money on years ago. They were little bags that
you could tie around your ankle before you shifted. The straps were stretchy enough that no matter
how big your wolf, you wouldn’t be able to rip the straps. They weren’t big, just enough to carry a t-
shirt, pair of shorts and other basics. In this case, they’d all include a gun.
“Okay then. You’ve all got your jobs,” I smiled, motioning for them all to get going.
They all nodded, before sprinting out of the room to get on with it.
Whilst they ran errands, I stood in front of the map, working out the best possible route. There was no
way to avoid the massive river unless we ran the entire way along the rail line itself… and that wasn’t
an option because they’d see us coming. We’d have to find a shallow place to cross.
Or… and the wolves wouldn’t like it, we’d have to at least find somewhere Lycans can stand up, and
the Lycans could carry across anyone that doesn’t have a Lycan form.
They’d hate it, I know I would in their position, but I’d rather have to deal with embarrassed wolves
than drowning ones.
Within twenty minutes, everyone was ready to go.
Alex had thrown a bit of a strop about not being able to come with us, but he got over it. We’d
introduced him to the two Lycan warriors Callum had chosen to leave behind.
The six trackers were briefed first, and we sent them and four Lycan warriors off as an advance party
to try to work out the crossing situation.
The four of us and the remaining six Lycans would follow up the rear, sweeping for problems and
taking out threats as we went.
As Noah put it, they were the scope, we were the bullet.