The night passes quickly, and Avery is awoken by knocking on her door, rudely ripping her out of her steamy dream about a not-so-anonymous Alpha."Shit," she mutters, stumbling to the door with her eyes half-closed and one of her hands feeling along the walls for direction. The other is tugging her sleep shirt down to make sure it covers her ass.Unlocking the door, she pulls the door open, yawning widely as she does.She is greeted by the sight of what could basically be described as a god, who has a wide smirk on his face."Morning, Wilcott. You can close your mouth; I wouldn't want you to catch any flies," Roman teases, and Avery shoots him a half-hearted glare."Why are you here so early?" She mumbles, rubbing her hand down her face in an attempt to wake herself up a little more."To make sure you're ready for our day out," he smiles, "and because the beach cook-out starts in forty minutes, and I thought you might like some warning."Avery stares at him in surprise, nodding after
The day passes by in the blink of an eye, and Avery is surprised by how much she enjoys herself.Roman hasn't brought up her random and awkwardly-timed shift, which she's thankful for, because she doesn't know what she would say to him in the slightest.She is dragged off by the women she met the other night to have lunch with them, which turns into a long gossip session about some of the warriors, who are apparently a very kinky bunch.Avery raised a brow hearing this information and made a mental note of it while trying not to laugh, and she noticed Carolyn was struggling to keep a straight face as well, while one girl described her midnight adventure with one.The food is good, and the people are welcoming and kind, so Avery relaxed in their company, letting herself loose and laughing with them."We heard you have the hots for our Alpha," a middle-aged woman Avery vaguely recognises smirks, and they all lean closer to her again.Avery laughs nervously, and Carolyn sits back in her
Three weeks pass, and Avery is still in the Lancaster pack.She extended her stay, much to York's surprise and secret delight.Avery likes this pack, and she hasn't felt as terrible as usual since she arrived.She hasn't had any bad days, and she's actually busy here. It isn't just paperwork and phone calls here; she actually has a purpose.She trains the teenagers every day, except Thursdays, when she goes to the beach, and all of them have improved, much to her shock and delight.She has something to do, and she isn't prepared to go back to sitting in an office all day.This weekend, she's supposed to go home. There's a conference for some of the Alphas, and York is supposed to be there, as well as Roman.Avery hasn't said anything yet, but her brother is operating under the assumption she'll be going home with him on Sunday evening.Tying up her hair for her training session, she bites her lip, putting on a little tinted lip balm and filling in her brows.Alpha Roman was supposed t
By the time they begin the drive to the airport, Avery feels like she's been dragged through a bush backwards.Once she finished training the teenagers, who were all rather upset and anxious about their Alpha being hurt, she had to go and pack a bag for Roman, as Ryan informed her he hadn't yet packed.Carolyn laughed at her the whole walk to Roman's room.While she packed a bag for him, Roman had been semi-conscious and found everything hilarious, including her looking horrified after finding some lacy unmentionables in his bedside table.As she slumped in the backseat of the seven-seater SUV, Avery is exhausted and can't wait to go to sleep that night."Silly donkey," Roman mutters, his head rolling to the other side as the car goes over a speedbump.Avery stares at him, as do all of the guards in the vehicle, who look like they're questioning their choices right about now."What the fuck?" She murmurs, before going back to her phone and continuing to text her brother, who's filling
The Connors pack is a very traditional one; few, if any, women hold important roles in this area, and that enrages Avery.She has refused to speak with Alpha Connors, the new or old one, in the past based on her values, and nobody argued with her over it.She never had a face to put to the former Alpha of this pack before, so at least something came out of that awkward encounter.They arrive at the packhouse, where rooms have been prepared for them to stay in.As soon as the door swings open, they are shown a woman who has her head down, staring at the ground as she greets them.Even Roman looks horrified, as he stares at the former Alpha Connors.The same woman, in a long, conservative black dress leads them up the stairs in utter silence, not even checking their names."Unfortunately, due to rumours that the Alpha Lancaster was coming with his mate, a single room was arranged for the two of you to share," the woman murmurs, "it will take us a while to organise a separate one, so we
The conference is boring, like they all are.Avery is shocked by the amount of packs present, as she had expected this to be a small meeting with just a few packs.The majority of the packs in the country are there, which makes for some mildly awkward conversations when Avery has to greet some of the men she's slept with.She gets a dirty look or two off some of the Lunas, but she brushes it off with ease, not particularly caring about their opinion of her. If they don't like the fact she slept with their mates - before they had been mated and marked - they had better be blaming their males just as much as they blame her.The packs are seated in alphabetical order at round tables, and Avery is tugged away with Roman to his spot, much to York's delight.There could only be two representatives per pack, usually the Alpha and his Luna, but since York was unmated and Avery hadn't been present, he had brought his father.Hence, Avery was exiled to the Lancaster table.Her presence drew som
After 'the incident', as everybody called it for the rest of the day, the conference went relatively well.The Council drafted a plan, and rogue attacks were discussed in detail."Myself and Deputy Alpha Wilcott of Rapid Rock were travelling to my pack a month ago and were ambushed by rogues in Alpha Michaels' pack lands. We still are unsure if it was a planned attack, or if it was one of convenience, but we believe they may have set up camp where the coven previously roosted," Roman announces when it's his go, and Avery nods grimly."Thank you, Alpha Lancaster. Alpha Michaels, have you found any evidence of this?" One of the older Council members asks, looking at the fat man at the table next to them."Yes, we found humans. Well, we found their bodies. They were used as blood banks, it seems like, rather than used with the intention of being turned. So we believe there may be vampires involved too," the man nods, and a groan goes around the room, everybody slumping backwards into the
"Shit," Avery mumbles, stumbling through the hallway as she holds onto the wall."Bye!" Meredith calls, before she falls back into her room, eyes half-closed and looking thoroughly out of it.Avery closes her eyes for a minute, and leans against the wall, blinking hard when she starts walking again."Almost there!" She nods and wanders down the hall to where she thinks her room might be.I'm not so sure about that, Sonya butts in, taking the reigns a little, and beginning to steer her in the opposite direction of where she was going."Thank you," Avery giggles out loud, drawing a weird look from a couple who are strolling down the hall. A door opens near her, and she spots Roman in his glasses."Ave?" He groans, taking in her very drunk figure."Mhmm," she beams, stumbling over to him and cuddling him tightly."Hello there," he chuckles, rubbing her back ruefully."I could have come and gotten you from her room, you didn't have to wander around trying to find it yourself," he adds, w