The Last Lycan (On Hold)

Four

The fresh air felt amazing especially after all the food Ava had just eaten, Rose only had a few mouthfuls before occupying her hands with Ava’s keys again.

It was then that Ava left the rowdy group of teens and headed outside for some air.

Rose was more than excited to go out barefoot and squidge her tiny toes between blades of grass.

Ava held Rose’s hand and she walked around. Looking up Ava saw Mason with some of his pack setting up the stage and lighting for the ceremonial parts of the pack games.

“Come on, let’s go see what daddy’s doing” Ava encouraged Rose to head in a certain direction and she giggled as she moved.

Upon hearing his daughter’s laughter, Mason stopped his conversation and turned to his daughter who was being led by Ava and smiled.

“How’s my two favourite girls today?” mason wondered.

Ava look at him surprised, Mason chuckled, “I don’t have to have a pack link with you to know what you’re thinking, and Sarah’s my favourite woman” Mason explained.

Ava’s lips form for a silent ‘oh’ as mason scoops his daughter up in his arms.

“Mason, do you have a minute to talk?” she wondered.

Mason automatically nods his head; he would always have time to talk with Ava.

“So, training” Ava begins.

Mason nods his head, “Sarah filled me in on your rant earlier” finishing with a little laughter.

Ava smiled, but it wasn’t one of happiness, “Felix needs to be removed as head warrior” Ava blurted.

Mason was shocked that Ava would just come out and say it, she had gotten much bolder since the last time he had seen her.

“Felix’s family have been the head warrior here for decades, I can’t just remove him from the position” Mason defends.

Ava sighs, “That may be so, but he is the reason your pack is in danger, among other wolves – Ava mutters – he isn’t training the warriors and that is his only job to train and defend and if Felix doesn’t train right how can you expect him to protect your pack with a simple run around the territory. When I went on my run this morning I didn’t see any patrols on your border, when you are sleeping that is when your most vulnerable and you are just asking to be attacked” Ava pointed out.

Mason didn’t like what Ava was saying and a growl ripped through his lips. Wolves nearby stopped what they were doing and bowed their heads in submission to their Alpha.

“You know what I’m saying is true, I wouldn’t lie to you” Ava finished.

Mason didn’t get to apologise or say anything as the wolves fixing the lighting needed help and Ava was the first to respond.

“We need someone light and fast to climb up to the top and tighten the lights onto the frame”. A young man Ava didn’t know explained.

She takes the wrench in his hand and begins the twenty-foot climb to the top.

Everything was going well for a few moments until the fame itself began to move. Ava stopped work and looked down. No one was holding onto the frame “Where did you go?” she called out.

“You’re fine, were just checking the lights work”.

One wolf wasn’t cautious of the wires. He tripped and moved to hold himself up the lighting frame that Ava only just noticed wasn’t correctly secured at the back of the stage.

“It’s going to fall” she claims.

They had only attached it to the wooden stage instead of the ground too like you would tenting.

The metal continued to wobble and then a cable snapped.

Mason placed his daughter down and rushed to help. They grabbed the cable, but the weakness on one side caused the other side to follow suit and soon panic arose.

The lighting frame was going to come down any second, and Ava was twenty feet in the air.

“Ava you need to climb down” Mason yelled. All the wolves were losing control.

Ava didn’t have time to climb and instead jumped down, landing with a thud, but thankfully on her feet.

Glancing over her shoulder she sees all of them trying to get the falling frame under control, but they weren’t going to make it.

“It’s going to come down, just clear out the way” Ava called.

Mason linked them all to move just in time for the final few cables to snap. A few of the wolves would have gotten hit if they stayed where they were.

Ava turned around to jump of the stage when she sees Rose in the firing line for the lights.

“Rose” she screams.

The toddler stops playing and looks at Ava wide eyed.

Mason watched from behind the stage, he wasn’t going to get to her in time and his eyes go wide in fright.

But Ava was on the ball and pushed herself forward. Leaping off the stage, she reaches the three-year old in time to shield her but not to get away.

Ava was sworn to protect wolves, in her pack or not, Rose needed shielding and that meant Ava taking the entire scorching hot weight of a frame and lights.

When the frame and lights fell on top of Ava and Rose every wolf stood there frozen.

It was only when Sarah, Kyle, Harris, and others came running out of the house that he snapped out of his shock state.

“Quick get it off, Ava and Rose are underneath” Mason screamed the order, this Alpha had never been so scared in his life.

Upon hearing her daughter was under the mass of metal, Sarah screamed in fear.

Kyle was the first person to react for once, pulling Harris along with him, the pair begin to pull the metal from the pile. More wolves join in until a large beam holding a heavy light was all that was left.

People gasped in shock to see Ava’s burned shirt and scorched skin.

The light had gotten so hot along with the surrounding metal, when it landed on her flesh it left burns, not even her wolf abilities could heal.

“Rose” Sarah whispers, fearing her daughter had also been burned.

At the sound of her name, the young girl walked from underneath Ava as if nothing happened.

A wolf closest to the baby reached for her and she was immediately handed to her mother who held her close and cried.

“Oh my god, Rose, baby, are you hurt?” Sarah searched for any sign of injury, but it was the weak voice that confirmed she was fine.

“She’s okay, there’s not a scratch on her” Ava mumbled out.

Mason climbed through the rubble and reached for Ava, “We need to get you to the medical bay” he says.

Ava shakily got to her feet, her fists automatically clench in pain, she wasn’t going to cry out in pain, she wasn’t that kind of person anymore.

As Ava took her final out of the heap of metal she stumbled.

The nearest person caught her, and a small tingle shot up her arm.

Kyle. Not looking at him, Ava yanks her arm from his grasp and steps away from everyone, she didn’t want their help.

Kyle stood there and watched as she walked away with his father by her side.

When he heard Ava was in the rubble along with his baby sister, his wolf took over and was working to get her out.

Then when she fell, he felt that tingling sensation the moment he caught her. But the awful part was her recoil in disgust at who caught her and that sent Kyle’s wolf Cody to hate Kyle even more than he did when he rejected Ava.

In the medical bay, the doctor was already forewarned of the disaster that was about to enter his room, but it was a lot worse than he thought.

Ava was laid stomach first on the bed.

“I’ll be outside” Mason spoke and patted Ava on the arm before leaving.

The doctor examined the large wound and sighed, as he walked over to his supplies to clean the wound he spoke, “It’s a good thing you have wolf healing, however this will leave a nasty scar when it does heal”.

Ava shrugged her shoulders, then squished her face in pain “It’s nothing new, another one to add to the list” she informed him.

Th doctor was surprised that she had this kind of thinking.

“Most girls your age would be freaking out that your mate would find it ugly or something”.

Ava laughed, “Yeah, good thing I don’t have to worry about that then”.

The doctor understood immediately what that meant.

Walking to her side he placed a bottle on the table “This is probably going to hurt like a b***h, but I need to clean the wound before it starts healing”.

Ava nodded and wrapped her arms around the bed, lowering her face into the pillow she closed her eyes, she learned a long time ago, when facing pain, she needed to go to another place.

Whimpers of pain escaped her lips, but she managed it a lot better than others.

The doctor bandaged her back onto her left shoulder and helped her to sit up.

“Healing would have already begun; I’d give it a day or two before doing any strenuous work and lay off the training” he pointed out.

Ava sighed “Thank you…” not able to finish as she had no idea of his name.

“Garrett” he confirms as he removes his latex gloves.

“If you’re in any pain, let me know and I’ll get some morphine for you” Garrett added.

Ava took her torn shirt and got off the bed, Garrett looked at her weird, “Where are you going, you need to rest” he stated.

Ava shook her head, “I can’t. There’s too much to do” she said.

Garrett was a doctor and even if he told his Alpha he needed to rest, he wouldn’t even follow his orders.

Ava opened the door and stepped out closing it behind her, Mason stood up from leaning against the wall and looked at Ava.

“What are you doing? Go and get into bed, you need time to heal” he stated.

Ava shook her head again, “I’m no good at just sitting in bed”. And she walked past him and headed to find Sarah and Rose, wanting to make sure they were both okay.

As usual, Sarah was in the kitchen, Rose was sat on the counter and Sarah was fussing over her.

“Hey, how’s she doing?” Ava wonders as she gets closer.

Stopping by the trash to throw her ruined shirt in.

All of Sarah’s boys along with Harris and Mason’s Beta John. They were all stunned to find her up and about.

“What are you doing up? You should be resting” Sarah claims and she looks at Ava.

But Ava shrugs, hiding the pain of it hurting when she moved. “I’ve never been one to sit around”.

Sarah completely forgetting how bad the injury on Ava was when she swooped in and hugged her.

Ava reciprocated but more delicately, she wasn’t really a hugger.

“How’s Rose doing?” Ava questioned, it was the only way to get Sarah to release her and go back to her daughter.

“She’s fine, thanks to you. You stopped her from getting hurt and I’ll be forever grateful for that” welling up as she spoke.

Ava stood beside Sarah and placed a hand on her along with young Rose and smiled, “I would do it all over again if it meant keeping Rose safe. Not only is it my job to do so, but Mason is my dad’s best friend which makes you family”.

Sarah smiled with teary eyes and turned back to her daughter.

Ava reached over to Rose and placed a delicate hand on her cheek. Rose looked up and smiled at Ava, none the wiser to what had happened.

Unfortunately, Ava could see it happen repeatedly every time she closed her eyes.

“I’m just glad no one got hurt” Ava finished and turned to leave.

Only Kyle had something to say about that “No one got hurt?” he called out.

Ava stopped walking and turned around to face Kyle, he stepped away from the counters edge and moved towards Ava.

“You have third degree burns all over your back that are so bad they will leave scaring even for a wolf”.

Ava was starting to get angry with Kyle and his interfering self.

“Listen here boy, the only reason all of this happened was because of you” Ava practically yells.

He takes a step back from Ava, scared she would shift any moment and go for his throat.

“How is it my fault?” he calls out.

“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you, if you would have just stepped up and done the jobs you were supposed to do as an Alpha, and been outside to make sure your pack was doing their job right, instead of sucking faces with your w***e of a girlfriend, this would have never happened”.

Everyone in the room remained silent, they had no words to speak.

Ava was the first one to call Kyle out of his faults and lack of responsibility.

Kyle was speechless.

Ava nodded, “The fact you can’t argue back shows you know everything I just said was true. You will kill this pack before you even become Alpha, you are reckless, selfish, conceited but worst of all you’re a coward. And cowards don’t deserve the chances you’ve had in life”.

Her body was shaking from anger so much she was on the verge of crying.

Turning around, Ava headed out of the pack house she couldn’t be near him.

The kitchen remained silent long after Ava walked out. Kyle didn’t turn around; he could already feel the stares on his back.

Clenching his fists in anger, Kyle swiftly leaves the pack house. He was too focused on shifting into a wolf that his clothes shredded when he changed.

Ava avoided the pack house for the rest of the day. She didn’t want to deal with him, or anyone else for that matter.

Ava sat at the furthest point of the territory; she was sure she wouldn’t cross another human for as long as she wanted.

It was silent of humans, the trees rustled in the wind and Ava could hear the creatures in the distance roaming for food.

It was peaceful of all humans and wolves for a short while.

It was as though nature was warning Ava. The wind suddenly ceased, and all small creatures went silent.

Ava listened to her surroundings and when a twig snapped, she shot up on her feet.

Ava searched the area look for any sign of a creature.

It was silent, and for a moment she thought she was alone, but the wind began to gather, and a scent was carried within.

Ava moved into fight mode. There was a wolf, but he wasn’t from a pack; a rogue, his smell was of dirt and blood.

Ava readied herself for more, she made her way through the trees, looking for any other’s that may be lurking.

She had passed the territory line, Mason wouldn’t sense the intrusion, he also wouldn’t know that Ava had crossed the line, she wasn’t a part of the pack, but she was invited onto the territory which enabled her to cross the territory line without alerting anyone.

Rogues are wolves kicked out of their packs, they tend to live a life of solitude because they have no pack, and because of this they end up going insane, their eyes turn red from insanity and their wolves take over, they will struggle to shift into human form, because their wolves are now in control.

Ava used her wolf sense to see if there was any other wolf about, he was alone.

She had crossed paths with rogues before, but she was wasn’t injured before the encounter.

The rogue had smelt the blood of Ava wound and came to investigate, wounded prey wasn’t the most fun, but it was an easy meal.

Ava soon came face to face with the feral wolf. As she examined the creature in front of her, she saw that it was a new rogue, its eyes were deep red, like blood, it was yet to be consumed by its wolf. But they were the worst of rogues, a new rogue was most volatile. It’s anger still focused on being kicked out of their pack.

Ava kept her hands where the rogue could see them, if she moved too quickly it would attack, and with her wound, and the pain from it growing, a fight would most likely injure Ava more.

She had fought rogues before, but never a new rogue. She had obviously trained for it but never thought she would have her first encounter with a new rogue alone.

Ava kept her eyes on the rogue and slowly took steps backwards, the best way she could get out of the situation.

Ava cautiously stepped backwards, unfortunately, she stepped onto a twig, the loud snap was all it took for the rogue to pounce.

Jesse braced herself for the impact. It was difficult but Ava managed to stay on her feet the entire fight, her body was in too much pain to shift.

Using her instincts, Ava dodged the advances of the rogue and managed to get it pinned to the ground.

Though one of its back paws got free of Ava’s vice and stuck them into her side, she screamed in pain, the pain in her body grew. Wrapping her arms around the rogue’s neck, Jesse knew she had no choice.

A continuous squeeze followed by a quick wrench of the neck and Ava heard a snap. The rogue goes limp in her arms.

She hated taking a life, but it posed too much of a risk to the Snow Stone Pack, especially if Ava couldn’t deal with it.

Getting to her feet, the sight around her became a blur, she glances down at the wound on her abdomen and her ripped shirt was covered in blood.

On top of the burn she suffered earlier the pain consumed Ava and she collapsed on the floor in agony, the light above her began to fade and she soon fell unconscious from the pain.