23 hours until the moon is full
AVA
It was past midnight by the time we’d gotten back, gotten everyone settled and I had a chance to make
sure everyone was okay. I needed to somehow sleep so I was at my physical best, but sleep was
definitely going to evade me…
Who would manage to sleep when the hours were ticking down like this? The moon would be at its
peak in the sky at midnight. Which meant I had 23 hours until I’d be face-to-face with Elijah. Twenty.
Three. Hours.
I’d told Callum and Oscar that I wanted to try to get some sleep, so they’d joined me in their room.
Noah was spending the night with Theo and his parents. We’d managed to arrange a room big enough
that the family could be together.
Callum and Oscar were snoring away on either side of me, but I couldn’t sleep. I was staring at the
ceiling, my mind was blank. Both Artemis and I were trying to force my mind to let us sleep… but
that wasn’t exactly going to plan.
In the end, I dug out my phone, and pulled the map back up that I was using earlier. The clearing I
believed I’d find Elijah in was about fifteen miles to the north of our pack territory. It would likely
take me about an hour and a half to run it just because I would need to look out for… abnormalities
whilst I was out. If there were odd rogues or camps between the pack and the clearing, I’d need to deal
with them.
The area was covered in streams and marshland. In the winter, it looked like rivers of ice. In the
summer, the water combined with the colours of the trees and the setting sun means it looks like the
clearing is on fire.
“A clearing bathed in crimson fire, and streaks of blue, like frozen ire,” I murmured under my breath.
It must be that clearing. It’s the only place I know of in the territory that not only fits that description,
but has any chance of holding a massive group of rogue wolves.
“Ava… go to sleep,” Callum whispered, his voice tired, concerned.
“I can’t sleep,” I replied.
He took my phone, stashing it back on the bedside table, before rolling back to face me. “Ava, talk to
me. What’s going through your mind?” His hand stroked the side of my face, and I leaned into his
touch.
“I’m scared, Callum. I can’t lose any of you. I couldn’t live without any of you. I’m scared Theo
either won’t make it or will reject me, I’m scared one of you will get seriously hurt or die, I’m…
terrified someone innocent will get caught in the crossfire.”
At the first sign of tears, Callum wrapped his arms around me, and tugged me against his chest.
“We’ll all be fine, Ava,” he whispered, lips against my forehead. “We’ll all be okay. We won’t let
Elijah touch you, okay?”
I smiled, giving him a small nod.
“I love you, Ava,” he whispered, pressing his lips to mine.
I let myself sink into his kiss, feeling my body calm down against him.
“I love you too, Callum,” I smiled when he pulled back. “And you, Oscar,” I called over my shoulder.
“I know you’re awake back there.”
He chuckled, before pressing himself against my back, his arms around my waist and mouth kissing
my shoulder.
Callum met his brother’s eyes and gave a small nod, before running his fingers through my hair and
crashing his lips into mine.
I melted into the kiss, my body becoming a puddle of need. I needed a distraction, more than
anything. And what better distraction than sex on the eve of the apocalypse?
“Do you want us tonight, Ava? We won’t be offended if you say…”
I cut Callum off with my finger on his lips. “I need you both. So fucking badly. I need… to feel
normal.”
“Anything for you, my Queen,” Oscar whispered in my ear, his hands sliding across my stomach and
over my ribs to cup my breasts.
I cried out when he tugged my nipples, and groaned in satisfaction when Callum’s hand made its way
to the apex of my thighs. I moaned at the first brush of his finger across my core, a touch that
somehow left me even wetter.
They drove me crazy between them, all teasing tongues, tugging teeth and dancing fingers. The three
of us made love again and again, until I finally fell into an exhausted sleep.
CALLUM
“She’s planning something,” I whispered to Oscar once she fell asleep between us. “I don’t like it.”
“I know,” he replied, voice low. “I assume she’s planning to go after the Rogue King by herself.”
Yup, that’s what I thought too.
“We need to be ready to follow her,” I whispered. “She won’t tell us what she’s doing, and we won’t
be able to make her tell us. We’ll have to just be ready to follow her. We’ll have six warriors on
standby to run with us, and leave the remaining twelve here to guard the pack.”
Ava stirred in between us. I swore under my breath, mouthing that we should swap to linking instead.
Oscar nodded. “It’s the only way, isn’t it.”
“Yup. She’s never going to willingly tell us anything, so we’ll have to just be ready to follow her when
she does go.”
“It can only be us, though,” Oscar added. “Noah needs to stay with Theo.”
“I agree. We can’t tell dad either, not yet.”
Oscar raised one eyebrow. “Why?”
“Ava is like an adoptive daughter to him. If he knows that she is planning this, both him and Kieran
will not be able to stop themselves from confronting her about it. If he does… she’ll know it came
from us, and she’ll command him to stay put. There is no chance either of us could give him a
command that would override hers… I don’t think anyone could.”
“So… this stays between us?” Oscar sounded stressed.
“It stays between us…”