NOAH
As soon as I heard Ava thought she knew where Theo was… I couldn’t help but get my hopes up. I
know I needed not to; I needed to be prepared for the worst, but I couldn’t help it.
Theo is my twin. My other half.
We’ve been together our entire lives.
Him being missing… is pain beyond belief.
Between that and my parents… well. Without Ava, I’d be a mess.
As soon as the plan was in place, we got ready to go. Our trackers and the first group of Lycans
sprinted off in advance, finding the best route for us to get through.
All being well, the run from Blood Moon to where we believed Matthew’s camp would be should
only be a couple of hours. I needed my brother back; but I was very aware of how little time we had.
The first hour went swimmingly, but we didn’t expect that it would be for the full trip. And that was
why when I saw Ava stop and shift back with her eyes glazed over… I couldn’t help but panic.
AVA
The first time the Moon Goddess came to me… I was asleep. The second, I was sprinting through the
forest looking for my missing piece. She definitely knows how to pick her times.
I woke up in the same clearing as the dream, with Selene in her ethereal gown standing in front of me.
“My daughter.”
“Selene,” I replied, bowing my head slightly.
“Avelina, my dear, you don’t need to bow to me. You are destined for great things, and those great
things will be truly astounding.”
“Selene… do we find Theo today?”
“You do, Avelina.”
“Is he okay?”
“That remains to be seen, my dear. He lives, but he has been through a lot at the hands of Matthew
Stanley.”
I nodded, letting my eyes fall closed. Goddess, I hope he’s okay.
“Will we find Jacob and Amelia?”
“Yes. They are alive and well.”
“Can you tell me where they are?”
“I cannot, my child. I cannot meddle in fate that much. What I have told you about Theo is
information you already had, Avelina. Your premonitions are more powerful than you think, you just
need to trust your instincts.”
“Does that mean… the cave?”
With that, she just gave me a small smile and disappeared.
I suddenly woke up with a jolt. I was laying on the floor with Callum, Oscar and Noah surrounding
me. Our Lycan escort just a few feet away forming a circle around us.
“Ava,” Noah whispered. “What happened? Was it Theo?”
“Selene,” I replied, voice low. “We find him today, and he is alive. But he has been through a lot, it
will take him time to recover from this.”
Noah breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank the Goddess.”
“Noah… I also have a pretty good idea of where your parents are. After we find Theo, we’ll get him
home, and then go after your parents.”
Noah pulled me up to sit and threw his arms around my neck, his breathing heavy as he fought back
tears. “Thank you, Ava.”
“You don’t need to thank me for this, Noah,” I replied, kissing his forehead. “Now then. Lots to do
today, let’s go get Theo.” I smiled, kissing his cheek.
He pulled me up to stand, and both Callum and Oscar wrapped me in a hug.
“How far do we have to go?” I asked the Lycan warriors. They were in constant contact with the team
accompanying the trackers.
“We’ve got about forty minutes left, Your Highness.”
“Alright then. Let’s do this shit.”
I shifted and started running off in the direction our trackers had identified, a new spring in my step.
“Ava,” Callum asked through the mindlink. “Do you know how we pull this off?”
“Sadly not,” I replied. “Selene couldn’t tell me much. She just said we find him and he’s alive, and
that I should trust my instincts because my premonitions are more powerful than I give them credit
for.”
“Okay, so what do you know?” Oscar asked.
“Theo is restrained with silver. He’s guarded by six wolves. Matthew is in the room to the side of
where Theo is and he has another two guards.”
“So we’re looking at eight wolves?”
“Yup.” I pulled our Lycan warriors into the link as we ran. “We’re looking at eight wolves plus
Matthew in the immediate vicinity of Theo. There’s a lot of wolfsbane near him. I’m immune to
wolfsbane, but we don’t yet know if that’s a power that has spread through the mate bond. It might
have, but I don’t know.” I paused for a moment as I concentrated on crossing a large stream. “They’re
in a bunker that, as we know, is next to a train line. I don’t know what the security situation above
ground looks like, we’ll have to wait for the trackers to let us know what we’re dealing with.”
“Sounds like a plan, Ava,” Oscar replied.
Just a couple miles later, I got a mind link from our tracking group. “My Queen!” one of the warriors
shouted. “How far away are you?”
“About ten miles, Warrior.”
“Can you please hold fire for now? There’s a patrol that runs around the top of the bunker and we just
need half an hour or so to determine the timings.”
“Of course. Keep us posted.”
I updated the team with me, before shifting back and pulling a bottle of water out of my go bag.
“Alex!” I suddenly shouted through the link. I might as well deal with this bit now.
“Ava! Glad you’re alive! Are you okay?”
I couldn’t hold back the snort. “We’re all good, Alex. We’re not far out from Theo’s location.”
“That’s great news!”
“Yup. Listen. Any chance of me borrowing another tracking team?”
“Err… sure?”
“Thank you. I have reason to believe that Jacob and Amelia are being held in a cave system in the
mountains in the east of the Blue Mountain territory. I don’t have much information to go on, just that
they’re in a cave fairly close to the surface; I could see the light streaming in.”
“Anything else you can give me? There’s a lot of caves there.”
“I know,” I sighed. “Amelia was shivering, but that doesn’t really tell us much, that part of the
territory is very cold.”
“I love your premonitions sometimes, Ava, but it would be nice if they were more specific.”
“Tell that to Selene,” I giggled.
Alex snorted back down the link. “I will do. Let me know if you find anything else, okay? In the
meantime, I’ll get the team ready and on their way. It’s a few hours run, so we’ve got time.”
“Thanks, Alex. Once we’ve got Theo home, we plan to join them.”
“Perfect, #smashingit,” he chuckled.
I rolled my eyes. “Child,” Artemis growled.
“I know,” Kieran replied, still laughing.