Cameron’s POV
Ava’s nose twitches in annoyance, but she doesn’t complain when I tell her that she has to leave.
I can feel her acceptance of the situation. Our mate bond even stronger than before now that we have marked each other, I feel more in tune with her.
I kiss her forehead and give her another squeeze.
It is a relief that now I won’t have to worry about her as much since we can communicate without phones. Of course, she will be too far away to communicate through mindlink when she leaves, but at least I will know that she is safe.
I sit up as I think about the attack on the Blue Moon pack, all the werewolves that were on their way here, on their way to help…and not one survivor.
That was a large group of werewolves to take down so quickly, and it wasn’t just Lycans that attacked, I can smell different werewolves on the bodies as well.
Ava wraps her small arm around me and leans her head against my back.
I inhale her scent, enjoying the calming effect it has on me.
I am going to miss that when she leaves. A huge, selfish part of me wants her to stay, wants her to be right here in this bed for me when I return, but that is not fair to her.
It is not fair for the men fighting with me, for me, if my mind is still back at this packhouse worrying about her either.
I place my hand on top of hers at my waist.
We both have to go back downstairs. There are plans to be made. We have to retaliate against the Red Night pack, but we have to rethink our strategy. Will we have enough men now without those reinforcements?
Also, I need to make arrangements for Ava to leave tonight, and I need to personally help take her out of the danger zone, especially after seeing what happened to the last group who tried to go through it.
I sigh and run my hands through my hair.
As if she is reading my mind, Ava gives me another squeeze and starts to move off the bed.
“Should we get ready and go back down?”
I nod and stand as well, watching Ava get dressed in jean shorts and a black tank top.
I quickly throw on a grey tee and blue athletic shorts and pull Ava into my arms again before we go down.
She makes me feel stronger somehow and I feel the need to constantly be touching her, holding her, to feel her skin on mine.
I don’t want to, but I pull away, grabbing her hand and leading her downstairs to the dining hall again, a place I have grown to dread since my arrival. It constantly feels like we gather here for bad news.
There is already a crowd in the dining hall, and it looks like every member of the Silver Streams pack along with my Lycans are here, except for those on patrol, which we have increased yet again.
Ava slightly hesitates at the door and I give her hand a reassuring squeeze as we move to the front of the dining hall where Chris and Ralph are standing.
It looks like Caleb hasn’t made it back yet. He was going to tell Lily about leaving and change his clothes too.
As we get closer to Chris and Ralph, I feel Ava resisting and I look down at her. She’s chewing on her lip, which she does every time she’s feeling some emotion that she needs time to think through.
I lift an eyebrow at her. What is she thinking about?
There is definitely some tension in her since we walked in. Is it just the entire situation, or something different?
She glances around me and I look where she glances too.
Chris.
I sigh.
He is a huge pain in my ass.
I know Ava doesn’t like him, and I totally understand that, but he is my best fighter after Darius and I need to keep him on good terms until we take down the Red Night pack, and then I’ll make Eric my new beta, somehow.
I give her a small smile and bend down to kiss the top of her head, pulling her hand against my chest and covering it with both of mine reassuringly.
She relaxes a bit, but I can still feel some hesitation, as if she is deciding whether or not to tell me something. I lean down further towards her.
“What is it?”
She glances behind me again.
“Um…nothing…”
That is a lie.
I give her a stern look and her face turns a light pink, which it seems to do a lot. It is one of my favorite things about my mate, that you can always see her emotion on her face. Lycans are too good at masking their emotions, it’s refreshing to be with someone who shows them so easily, whether it’s actually willingly or not.
Before I can press the matter, I notice Caleb’s scent at the same time that the crowd starts murmuring louder.
I look up to see him and Lily heading our way. I pull Ava the rest of the way to the front of the room beside Ralph and Chris, who I nod to.
I push Ava in front of me and wrap my arms around her as she faces the room, wanting to give her support, but getting as much of it back from her.
We watch Caleb and Lily approach the front and turn around to the crowd.
I haven’t seen Lily and Caleb touch very often, but I notice that they are gripping tightly on to each other's hands now.
Good. Maybe Caleb will stop paying attention to my mate and solely focus on his.
I feel Ava squirm slightly and I loosen my grip that I hadn’t realized I was unconsciously tightening to an uncomfortable level for her.
We listen as Caleb explains the attack, the reason why the Blue Moon pack were coming to us. He tells them the new plan, my plan, to attack first.
This is met by a lot of disgruntled murmuring among the werewolves, a lot of exchanged looks of panic.
My turn to step in and speak. I pull Ava slightly behind me and hold her hand.
“I know that it seems like the Red Night has an advantage because they hide so well and we do not know much about them, other than the fact that they have Lycans helping them, but we believe that they only have around fifteen Lycans working with them, and most likely less than 100 werewolves. This might seem like a lot to you, or to a group of fifty men, but we have more Lycans arriving in the morning and we already have fifty here with us, and with the Silver Streams pack, we have more than 100 werewolves. Numbers are on our side, and we have to take them down and end their terrorizing.”
I feel Ava’s distress and squeeze her hand.
Caleb looks at me and nods before turning back to the crowd.
“We wait for the new arrivals, then we attack. We will be in four large groups with backup close by. If we do not end this, who knows how long the attacks, the killing, will last. So, we end this tomorrow.”
The crowd murmurs their agreement, some nod their heads enthusiastically, but many more just stare back, probably too nervous to do anything else.
“Go spend tonight with your loved ones.” Caleb comes over to us and I pull Ava back into my arms.
Lily’s eyes are wide as she looks at Ava, who reaches a hand out for her to squeeze it.
I’m not quite sure how Lily will cope once Ava leaves the Silver Streams pack for good. She seems to rely on Ava for emotional support a lot, something she should be able to rely on from her mate.
I glare down at Caleb.
He looks slightly taken aback and glances at Ralph beside me.
“We’ll meet in the morning at 6:00 AM. We’ll be ready to go as soon as the new reinforcements arrive.”
I jerk my head in acknowledgement.
He looks at my mate.
“You and Lily will be safe, it’s a relief to know you both will be away from the fighting.” He gestures towards Ralph. “I cannot go with you all through the border, I need to stay at the packhouse, but Ralph will be going through the border with you.”
Ava nods.
I can’t see her face at my angle, just Caleb’s.
He gives Ava a tired look and glances at Lily.
“Okay, we’ll meet back here in two hours.”
He grabs Lily’s hand and they walk away. I glance at Ralph as he makes a slight movement before stopping and watching them leave, Lily glancing over her shoulder at him.
Hmm.
I give Ava another squeeze. Time to go back upstairs. We have only two more hours until she leaves and I plan to make the most of it.