AVA
We all needed to unwind with the party, but of course, we were still caught up in the middle of an absolute shitfest, so the happiness and chill-vibes were never going to last forever.
I sat at the desk in my office, staring at the map of the Kingdom I had pinned to my whiteboard. My Kings, Jacob, Alex and Jeremiah were all with me, and we had extra guards on both my office and the packhouse door. I refused to get caught short again.
Jeremiah and Alex between them were marking all the locations where there had been known rogue attacks and where there had been encounters with either Matthew or Elijah over the last few months so we could try to work out where either of them would be hiding. Was it going well? No.
“If I was a psychopath who wanted to forcibly mark someone, where would I be hiding…” I thought to myself whilst staring at the map.
I dragged my eyes across the map, getting more and more frustrated the longer I took. Artemis was pacing angrily in my mind. We were concerned for ourselves, yes, but more than anything… Artemis and I were terrified something would happen to my Kings. I’d nearly lost them all once before, and I did not think Artemis and I could deal with that again, especially now we’ve completed the bond.
I rubbed my eyes in exasperation. Not only was this entire situation incredibly stressful, but I was also painfully aware that Artemis still didn’t feel 100% since we fainted after completing the fourth bond. I didn’t want anyone to worry about me… so I’d been brushing off their concerns ever since.
“Anyone got any ideas?” I stress evident in my voice.
Jeremiah tilted his head to the side as he studied the map, deep in thought.
“There’s been a ring of activity within running distance of this area here,” he motioned to a patch of woodland. “It’s not very accessible, the hills and rivers would make it difficult to navigate in a hurry… but for planned attacks, it wouldn’t be bad.”
We all stared at the map, looking for similar locations. In the end, we had three. “Have we got enough people to scout them?” I asked.
“I believe so, my Queen,” Jeremiah replied. “If I can borrow six pack warriors to work with six members of our Queen’s Guard, we can scout as three teams of four without compromising your safety, my Queen.”
“What do you think, Jacob?” I asked him, my eyes meeting his very stressed ones. “Do you have spare wolves?”
“Gamma Jamie will be able to find six, Ava,” he smiled.
“Alright then. Make it happen, Jeremiah.”
He bowed, before heading out of the room to get the show on the road.
OSCAR
Tension in Ava’s office reached a boiling point. I felt sorry for dad… he was in a room with five very stressed Alpha wolves. In the end, Ava went for a run with dad, taking four of her guards with her.
Unfortunately, Ava’s stress levels had the biggest impact on her aura, which had the biggest impact on the room… which had the biggest impact on us. I didn’t like it, but she was right when she said she needed to run it off.
Ava came back half an hour later, and she was considerably calmer than when they left.
I jumped out of my seat to walk towards her, wrapping my arms around her shoulder and pulling her in against my chest. “We’ve got you, little one,” I whispered. “Whatever happens. Together, we’ll all get through this.”
She smiled, tiptoeing so she could kiss me, a kiss I took advantage of to deepen.
“I’ll never get used to seeing that,” dad winced when he came through the door behind her.
“I would apologise, dad, but I’m not sorry,” I smirked, before smiling at Ava still safely in my arms.
Four hours later… Jeremiah and all the scouts came back. Empty handed.
“Nothing at all, Jeremiah?” Frustration was evident in Ava’s voice again.
“Nothing recent, my Queen.” He put crosses through two of the locations, before pointing at the third. “This one here is the most recent, it looks like it was only vacated in the last day or two. I’ve left a team of six, three of the Queen’s Guard and three pack warriors to investigate the area thoroughly to look for wherever they went next.”
At that point, Jacob burst back in. “Ava… we heard from Blue Mountain. They believe Elijah’s camp has declared war on Matthew’s.”
Because of course they did.
Ava swore under her breath, a lot. Language that would make a sailor blush. “I suppose on the plus side, they might be so distracted killing each other that we have time to make a move on them.”
Good point, well made.
UNKNOWN
“I don’t care what problems you’re having,” the man’s voice on the end of the line growled. “I need to be able to mark her, and I cannot do that if she still has all four Kings. Either,” he growled again, deeper this time. “She needs to reject at least one of them to break the bond, or, at least one of them needs to die.”
“How… how do we do that though, my King?” the woman’s voice quivered with worry.
“You’re a creative person, use your imagination.”
She was pacing now, the hand that wasn’t holding her phone to her ear was weaving through her hair, tugging at the strands.
“I could poison them?”
“You’ll have to move quickly.”
“What about… what about him?”
“Well. If he has an ounce of common sense, he’ll surrender. This is war, and he can’t afford it. I can.”
The line disconnected, leaving the woman pacing talking to herself. “Poison… lies… cheating…” She stopped, glancing around to make sure she wasn’t being watched, before starting pacing again, constantly murmuring those three words under her breath. Poison… lies… cheating.