Ava’s POV
I’m twirling my champagne glass by its stem, constantly glancing over my shoulder where the men just disappeared. Whatever that just was, it wasn’t good.
Lily slides over into Ralph’s seat, murmuring thanks to a server who sets another glass of white wine in front of her, before looking at me.
Her voice is small as she leans towards me. “Ava? What’s going on? Do you know what that was all about?”
I hold back my frustration at her question, I mean, obviously, she was here and saw the exact same thing I did.
“I imagine it has to do with the Red Night pack, Lily.” I can hear the frustration in my voice, so I smile at Lily and try to be nicer. “I’m sure it’s nothing we need to worry about, and Caleb will fill us in later.”
She looks at me with her eyes wide and nods, taking a gulp of her wine and looking around the room nervously.
I inwardly sigh.
“The dinner setting looks great, Lily. You did a great job planning for tonight.”
She beams at me from across the table.
“Oh, thanks Ava! I thought of it as practice for my upcoming ceremony and I’ve decided that I definitely do not want the beige napkins.” She lifts a crumpled beige napkin off the table with two fingers and lets it drop back down, a crease on her forehead.
I feel a little uneasy when she mentions the ceremony, my conversation with Caleb earlier coming to mind, followed by the memory of Lily walking away from Ralph’s hallway.
“So…how’s that going? Everything ok between you and Caleb?” I really don’t want to ask the question, the last thing I want to be doing is having a conversation with my sister about her relationship with my ex-boyfriend, but I feel some sort of weird obligation to check on her.
Lily blushes slightly. “Oh! Well, it’s ok I guess.” She picks at the napkin again and glances around the mostly empty table.
“I don’t know, Ava, it’s like Caleb is never present. He’s always so distant. I mean, we fool around, but it’s like he can’t open up to me or ever like, you know, have a conversation.”
I feel my stomach flip. Oh god, I really don’t want to hear this.
Why did I ask?
Honestly, I’m slightly shocked to hear Lily say this, I’m surprised she even cares if he has a conversation with her.
Ugh, and I really don’t want to hear about them fooling around!
So much for Caleb regretting his decision to not reject Lily, obviously he doesn’t regret it enough to keep his hands to himself.
I mentally shake my head. Stop it, Ava! Their mates, they should be together.
I look up and Lily is looking at me earnestly.
No. Oh no, please. I know that look.
“Avaaa.” She elongates the second ‘a’…never a good sign.
“Do you think you could talk to Caleb for me?”
Hell no! I shake my head and take a swig of my champagne.
“Pretty please? I think he might open up to you…”
I nearly spit out my drink.
“Lily!” I can’t hide my exasperation. “You need to learn to talk to him, I won’t always be here to help you discuss your relationship!”
Her eyes got even wider.
“What do you mean? Are you leaving?”
She looks so shocked that I almost laugh.
“Lily, yes, I’ll be leaving when Cameron does…he’s my mate, remember?”
Lily’s lips go into a pout.
“What am I going to do without you! You can’t leave!”
I shake my head again.
“I’m not leaving anytime soon, we’ll stay for your ceremony.”
Her eyes perk up. “We? King Cameron is going to be at my ceremony?” Her lips curl into a smile and her face brightens.
I can almost hear her mentally think, ‘wait until Daphne hears a Lycan King is coming to my ceremony.’
“I think so, but nothing is for sure yet… Lily…” but she is no longer listening, she’s got her phone out and is furiously typing away.
I roll my eyes and take another sip, the server bringing me another glass as I finish mine.
“Are you still in the dining hall?”
I sit upright. “Yes! What is happening?”
“An attack, I’ll fill you in later. Stay in the dining hall with Lily, Ralph will be back shortly to stay with you guys.”
An attack! I turn to look towards the main doors, anxious to see Cameron.
“Is everyone okay?”
There’s a long pause.
“No. Don’t say anything, I’m waiting on his parent’s to meet me outside…but it was Benny…”
Benny Hopkins?? He’s just a kid!
“He was attacked. He didn’t make it.”
I cover my mouth with my hands in horror and look around the room, seeing Andrea and Steve Hopkins making their way to the doors, looking confused.
“No! Oh no, Caleb!”
“I know. Don’t say anything, I’ll be in to address everyone later.”
I nod to myself.
“Ok. Caleb, I’m so sorry…”
“I know.”
The connection breaks and I glance back again to see Ralph striding through the doors. It’s unusual to see Ralph without a smile on his face, but he looks dead serious right now as his eyes meet mine and then looks to Lily, who still is typing away at her phone, a little smile at her lips.
He looks back at me and I know he can tell that I know somehow. He stops behind my chair and puts his hand on my shoulder, giving it a squeeze.
“Ralph! There you are! What’s going on? We have been so worried that it’s something terrible!” Lily’s tone is accusing but in a light way, clearly her spirits have been boosted by the fact that a Lycan King will be at her ceremony.
I want to throw my plate at her. Feel a room, damnit!
Ralph squeezes my shoulder again before moving around the table to sit by Lily, draping his arm around the back of her chair and reaching across her to grab his drink from in front of her, catching the eye of a passing server and gesturing with his fingers that he wants another.
I take another swig of my champagne and do the same.
The severity of the Red Night pack situation just got a lot more real. It’s not some fight among other packs, it’s now against OUR pack, and we’ve had our first casualty.
I turn back around the door, watching for Cameron and Caleb.
“Ralph?”
“Oh, Lily, did I tell you how amazing this dinner was tonight? For your first time ever hosting, you really did a fantastic job.”
Lily smiles and starts his rant about the beige napkins again. Ralph meets my eyes briefly and gives me a wink.
I can’t help feeling a little friendlier towards Ralph right now. He’s always been in my life, always right there with Caleb. Nearly every memory we have growing up, Ralph and Lily were there with Caleb and me for it. At least until we found a way to sneak off by ourselves.
Ralph always annoyed me with his arrogance and flirty nature, but he really does handle Lily well.
Ugh, no. I shake my head slightly as the thought brings an unwelcome visual of Ralph handling Lily well in other ways.
I watch Ralph patiently listen to Lily, nodding his head, and wonder why in the world they didn’t end up as mates. They clearly have always had an attraction towards each other, he tolerates her way better than most people, how the heck did she end up mated to Caleb?
The Moon Goddess must have a weird sense of humor.
I hear the scraping of chairs around the room and turn to look at the door. Caleb was walking back in looking solemn, and people were standing up to get a better look to see what was going on.
Caleb’s eyes lock on mine. I can feel how hard this is on him, losing a member of his pack.
I feel an urge to run up to him and grab his hand, but I don’t move, just keep my eyes on him as he reaches the table and turns to face the room.
I turn to look at the room too, everyone looking at Caleb.
“I have sad news. Today we sent a patrol on a large perimeter with King Cameron’s men to look for the Red Night pack. While on the patrol, one of our members were attacked.”
He pauses as everyone gasps, murmuring to each other, looking around to see if their loved ones were missing.
“With a very heavy heart, I have to tell you that we lost a brave pack member today, Benny Hopkins.”
“No!” My eyes look towards the scream. It’s Cassie, Benny’s girlfriend.
I bring my hand to my mouth, swallowing back the lump in my throat.
I catch a movement at the door, and I see Cameron stepping in, his eyes hard on mine.
Without thinking I stand and run as quickly as I can to him, my vision blurring from the tears that I can no longer keep back.
He wraps his arms around me as I reach him, holding me tight, and strokes my back.