33

Chapter 33
Ava woke up earlier than usual, it was the morning of her routine hunt, and she liked leaving as early as possible, she was one of the believers of the ‘early bird gets the worm’ saying.
Needing no routine preparation, she headed out of the house, not before downing a glass of water from the jug that sat beside her bed.
It mildly tasted odd, but Ava brushed it off, she had not cleaned her mouth, so she blamed it on the possibility of it being her taste buds.
There was nothing wrong with the water, it had not been there the previous night so she assumed one of the maids had kept it there for her, everyone was very remotely aware of her routine.
Walking out of the room, she heard a slight clatter to her left and turned to stare at the shelf of antique items and books that she had collected a while back.
It had been her hobby as of then, but just as quickly as she had jumped into it, she had also jumped right out.
Everything looked fine, she thought as she walked out, perhaps it was just a rodent or the wind, she thought, the windows were open after all.
Walking out of the house, she headed for the woods, taking a slow and long inhale she filled her lungs with the cool morning air.
She hated mornings, but she loved ones where she had to go hunt. The sky still looked dark blue and the sun was not out yet.
The slightly dark sky held a few stars, and she could see the moon slowly but steadily making its way home, its head still peeking out from the horizon.
She heard rustling but quickly dismissed it, she was in the woods after all and there most likely were other creatures like herself and more.
“Ready?” She asked her wolf for permission, before she transformed, not even waiting for her to approve.
The excitement in her surged through her veins and she dashed into the dark forest. The farther she ran In, the darker it got.
Tall trees marring the filtration of light, but that did not bother her, she was used to it and mostly could find her way around.
She heard the rusting again but dismissed it yet, this time it sounded almost as if it were behind her or somewhere close to her, but Ava was too excited to pay heed to anything else.
The wind danced in her mane, and her fur rose and fell as she ran in the wood for a bit. Stopping, she stalked deeper into the woods, looking around for her first prey.
Ava could feel her head spin a little but dismissed it as the side effect of having run the long distance. In her condition, it was nothing to worry about, she reminded herself as she continued the search.
Her feet grew weaker with every step, and Ava forced herself to stand upright. What was worn with her, she kept asking herself as the spinning continued.
Looking around her, she began to pant as her sight became more and more hazy with each passing second, barely able to focus on one direction.
Slowly she felt herself go down, no, no, no, she chanted slowly trying to keep her eyes open to hold herself up, but she could not.
She felt arms close around her, catching her mid-midair and holding her to what she could barely make out to be a hard chest from the few of it.
Blinking severally, she tried to catch the face, who was it? She asked herself just before her eyes closed and she fainted.
Princess could not help but envy her as she pranced through the woods. Her dark fur danced to the tunes of the wind.
Sometimes princess would have to remind herself of why alpha Damon was smitten by this woman. She was unforgivably beautiful, even in her truest form.
She stepped on a twig and stepped aside, from the loud noise causing a low rustle. Furthermore, she inhaled sharply holding her breath, Ava only stopped to look around but continued.
Sighing, Princess followed suit carefully this time, she wondered what was taking so long for the tonic to kick in.
They ran in the woods, even further deeper and Ava stopped, this time she swayed a little and Princess could tell it was beginning to kick in.
Her hands held on to a tree for balance, and she left it too soon, stumbling even more. She looked light-headed and drunk, and the princess stood ready for the next phase.
Slowly she went down, princess could see her fight to stand upright, she was visibly struggling to find her balance, but Princess knew there was no going back.
It had been done, and soon she fell straight into his arms, just in time for her to jump out of her hiding and do her part.
Ava groaned at the pain that nicked away at her skull, her hands flew to her head and she held on. Hoping that holding the head in place would relieve her of the intense pain that emanated from it.
“Are you alright?”
Her eyes flew open at the voice, and she cringed even more when she found out she was naked under the covers.
Her eyes grew even wider when she peeked under the covers to confirm and stared back at him in bewilderment.
Alpha Jude cracked a smile, genuinely finding her funny. His hands were thrown up in surrender as she stared back at her, the smile still perched on his lips.
“I had the maids do that for you, you were too filthy to be placed on the bed just like that.” He said.
“And I know how much you hate dirt.” He added when she still looked at him like his explanation made no sense.
“Thank you,” Ava muttered more out of curtsy than out of genuine gratitude.
“Anytime.” Alpha Jude said, walking over to sit on the edge of the bed. “What happened out there?” He asked, his voice holding unfeigned concern.
“I do not know” Ava admitted, she had no idea what had happened, all she could remember was falling into someone’s arms and that was it.
” You should get as much rest as you can, even the physician had recommended that.” He pointed out.
“I will, I was just sick for a minute. I will be fine.” Ava said, putting on her tough girl cloak once again.
He barely had the right to see her like this, weak, tired, and vulnerable. The only reason was that he was here, In his house and his pack.
“I will leave you to rest, and ask the maids to fix you supper.” He said. Getting up to go, she would need enough sleep and rest, he figured.
“Supper?” Ava asked in shock, “Was I passed out for the whole day?” She asked again.
“Now do not shout, I could tell from how you winced earlier that you have a raging headache” Alpha Jude advised.
“Thank you, again,” Ava said, a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
She watched him walk out and sighed when he was out of sight. Turning to grab some water for her patches’ throat, Ava was met with a different jug and glass.
Her eyes squinted as she got lost in thought. The jug from earlier in the day had been different, very different, and had a pattern and style that differed from the one that was used in the house.
The water also tasted funny, and when she had moved to leave her room she had heard some rustling noise and a presence in her room but had immediately dismissed it.
And then when she had gone into ether woods she had also felt like she was being followed, even heard some rustling like earlier.
Even when the arms had caught her while she fainted, it was as if planned, like he knew exactly the minute she would feel like that and had caught her just in time.
None of it made full sense to her, and Ava tried not to think about it.
Could it be…? No, it could not be. Ava told herself, dismissing the thought and pushing it away from her mind.
Maybe the maids had just forgotten and served her in a different mug, perhaps the rustling she had heard in her room was indeed the wind and perhaps the man had seen her stagger and had caught her just in time.
She was just overthinking the whole thing, nothing like that happened or could happen. It was just a mere coincidence and perhaps morning sickness.
Pouring herself a glass of water, she sipped from her glass and smacked her lips, grateful that there weren’t any more mucky tastes.
The headache persisted, and Ava knew at this moment she would do anything to rid herself of this suffering.