AVA
I meant exactly what I said.
Dinner felt like it lasted an eternity, and by that time it was kind of socially acceptable for the five of
us to dismiss ourselves… well.
My Kings had been teasing me constantly. I had hands on my thighs, inside my t-shirt, dancing along
the edge of my bra… the works.
They definitely succeeded. By the time we finished dinner, I was dripping wet and more than ready
for whatever the boys had all planned. And boy oh boy did they deliver on their promises.
We woke up the next morning thoroughly sated, looking forward to another day to relax. It was a
beautiful morning, truly beautiful.
I was up first, as per, and when my Kings woke up, I was sitting in one of the chairs in the garden
with a cup of coffee. I had a topic to broach with them today, and I wasn’t entirely sure what they
were going to say… I knew, after all, that they were talking to Alpha Michael, even if I wasn’t
supposed to know exactly why or what about.
The five of us went for a run after breakfast, letting our wolves stretch their legs. They needed it, they
all started feeling cooped up and grumpy if we didn’t let them out often enough.
Once we were back at home in front of the TV… it was time to tackle the pressing issue.
“I want you all to mark me tonight.”
In almost comically perfect sync, the four of them turned to look at me.
“No,” Callum’s voice left no reason for debate.
“Why?”
“You’re still recovering.”
“I’m fine, Callum. One, I miss being connected to all of you. Two. We need to do this before shit hits
the fan again.”
“Michael hasn’t told us if it’s safe yet, Ava.”
I couldn’t help the scowl on my face. “Seriously, Callum. I’m fine. I’ll be better than fine once I’ve
claimed all of you and you’ve all claimed me.”
“Ava… we don’t know much about you, not really. Nor do we know why Elijah was able to break the
existing bonds. All we know is that when we marked you before, we couldn’t do them in one go
because it wasn’t safe to.”
I sighed, leaning back in my chair, letting my eyes glaze over as I linked Michael.
“My Queen!” he exclaimed. “How are you and the Kings doing?”
“We’re getting there, Michael. We’ve gone away for a couple days.”
“You all deserve it, my Queen. You all need to take the time to heal.”
I completely agreed.
“Michael… my reason for reaching out today. Did one of the Kings reach out to you about marking?”
“Yes, my Queen. I spoke to King Oscar.”
“What did he ask you?”
“He asked me to have the scholars look into the legends to see if there is anything about what happens
if the bonds are broken, my Queen.”
“Have the scholars found anything?”
“No, my Queen. The information about marking doesn’t specify if it’s for a first or second marking.”
“So you haven’t found anything that says it’s a bad idea?”
“Exactly that, my Queen.”
I suddenly felt Oscar crash into my link. “But that also means there’s nothing that says it’s a good
idea.”
“My King, I didn’t realise you were here!” Michael clammered.
“It’s fine, Michael. Oscar was just leaving.”
I slammed blocks down on my link with Oscar, kicking him out of the conversation. I heard him
swear out loud, and had to stop myself chuckling. Getting forced out of a link isn’t comfortable.
“What do the legends say, Michael? About the marking?”
“It says that they need to be done in order, and that how quickly will depend on your wolf, my Queen.
We also know that the five of you will truly come into your power once you have all four marks.”
“Is that all it says, Michael?”
“No one has found anything further, my Queen. I have teams going through old books, scrolls with
the legends and talking to the elders who have passed them down through word of mouth. So far,
there’s no mention of anything further about the marking.”
“Thank you, Michael. All being well, my Kings and I will be visiting the pack in a couple of weeks.
I’ll let you know exactly when it is closer to the time.”
“Of course, my Queen. I’ll make sure the Crown Suite is ready for your stay.”
I cut the link, bringing myself back to reality to see Oscar watching me, his face unimpressed.
“There is absolutely nothing that says we shouldn’t do this,” I stated, voice controlled, despite the fact
I wanted to actually scream at them. My Queen-face was thoroughly in place.
“And there’s nothing that says it’s safe!” Oscar exclaimed.
I sighed. “What happens if a mate bond between just two wolves isn’t completed?”
“You start again,” Theo replied. “It’s like it didn’t happen.”
“Exactly. Right now, our bond wasn’t completed. It’s like it didn’t happen.”
Callum met Oscar’s eyes, both of them looking concerned. I glanced towards Noah and Theo to see
that their faces were just stony. I had no idea what they were thinking.
“But three out of four did happen,” Callum replied.
“Perhaps, but perhaps without the fourth, none of them were complete.”
“There’s a lot of unknowns here, Ava.”
“I know. But we can’t live in fear forever. If there was something bad, we would have found it by
now. Legends like bad stuff, it makes for better storytelling.”
Callum’s eyes fell shut. “Fine, but we wait until we’re home in case we need help. We do one mark to
start with, and make sure everything is okay before doing the rest.”
“Fine. Artemis will tell us when she’s ready anyway.”
I felt her nod. “I need this too, Ava,” her voice was low. “I miss them.”
Finally we were going to do this again…
Now I could just count down the days until I felt complete.