The Last Lycan (On Hold)

Seven

A week had passed since Ava had arrived at the Snow Stone Pack, the training got better, but Ava struggled to see a massive improvement. Jason was getting better and better, the most improved of all the warriors.

Kyle and Harris were no longer passing out at the end of their five-hour training, their wolf abilities eventually merge into human abilities to make exercising easy for the weaker form.

Right now, Ava sat in the office of Alpha Mason discussing Ava’s issues with Felix being the head trainer.

“How am I supposed to do this?” Mason wondered.

“Quite easy actually, you call the high council and begin the process and, in the meantime, get Felix in here and tell him he is no longer the head warrior” Ava says.

Mason groans in annoyance, “I can’t just kick Felix from the position, his…”.

Ava nods “His family have been head warrior’s for generations. I get it, but if he can’t fulfil the requirements needed to be a head warrior, then he doesn’t deserve to continue his family’s legacy” Ava explains.

Mason shakes his head, “I grew up with Felix’s father running the warriors and soon after I became Alpha he died, Felix was already in training and put him in charge because of his family’s past with being great at leading”.

Ava nods, she completely understood where Mason was coming from, “But, your pack comes first, no matter what, that is what an Alpha does” Ava reminded him.

Mason got upset and stood up, growling as he moved.

Ava remained seated, this wasn’t the first time she had to do something like this, unfortunately, this one was more delicate being that Mason was practically family.

“I have already begun the arrangements” Ava informed him.

Mason looked at Ava with astonishment and anger, “You went behind my back?” he roared.

Ava still calm and in her seat nodded her head in response, “I have done this plenty of times before, I have never been wrong when it comes to head warriors and seconds. And this isn’t the first time I’ve had a warrior removed and another put in his place”.

Mason was fuming, he knew why she did it, but he didn’t like being undermined.

“Jason is your best fighter and he works with his warriors, Felix barely communicates which puts everyone at risk, if there is an attack, who gives out the orders, they follow the head warrior but if he doesn’t make plans and gives them to his warriors they will die, and I am not in the business of letting people die” Ava argues back.

Mason was a stubborn man, even though he knew Ava was right, his wolf and himself didn’t like being told what was right and wrong.

Ava got to her feet, “You just need to call the council and agree with my recommendation, they will do the rest and send you all you need to know about the official dismissal, promotion and changing of tattoos”.

Mason was even more angered “You already contacted the high council?”.

The look on his face was beginning to change, his eyes began to change into his wolf’s form. He would shift any moment if he didn’t get control of himself.

“I had no choice; I have to report to the council my progress. The initial report on the first day followed by weekly reports and you know that you were the one to put this in place” Ava bit back.

Being a head warrior, they can go to other packs and train them if other head warriors are struggling or new to the job. Although, the high council must approve head warriors that can train others. Ava is one of only six head warriors across America that travel helping other packs.

Ava left the office, to give Mason time to calm down and mull over what was said.

Everyone in the pack house heard the commotion in the Alpha’s office, they all remained silent and waited for whomever was in there with him to walk out.

They didn’t expect Ava to be that person.

She walked into the kitchen; Sarah was stood in front of the stove cooking as usual.

From the corner of her eye, the Luna watched as Ava walked to the drink’s cabinet. Grabbing a whisky off the top shelf, she filled two glasses with ice and then proceeded to pour in the alcohol.

Sarah looked at the young girl with wonder, there was only Ava sat at the breakfast bar, so why two drinks.

“I heard it getting heated, everything okay?” Sarah spoke softly.

Ava nodded “Just giving him some home truths, he’ll be out in a minute” she said.

Sarah shook her head, “When Mason’s upset, he doesn’t leave his office for hours at a time”.

Ava smiled at the Luna, then moments later Mason came out and joined Ava at the breakfast bar, she slides the alcoholic drink across the bar to Mason. He takes a large swig.

Sarah looked at her husband with shock making Ava smile amused.

“I’ve made the call” Mason mutters.

“Great” Ava says with enthusiasm, “Now you just have to tell both of them” she finishes.

Mason looks at her as though she had grown another head, “Now?”

Ava shrugged, “Better to rip the band aid off now before the council are completely involved. You want to look your best before the games begin”.

Mason sighs, he hated when Ava was right “When did you get so wise?”.

Stepping up to Ava he leaves a kiss on her forehead, just as Kyle walked in.

He saw the interaction his father had with Ava and rolled his eyes.

Sarah saw her eldest son’s response and smiled smugly at the twenty-two-year-old, this is payback for what he did to a sweet girl four years ago.

Mason left the kitchen but quickly came back. Pouring another glass, he downs it in one then breathes before heading back to his office to prepare himself.

Kyle made his way to the fridge, Sarah knew where he was going and cut him off immediately, “Don’t even think about it, dinner is soon, and you’ve been snacking way too much”.

Sarah scolds her son just as she hands over a bowl of fries to Ava.

He points at the bowl his mother was giving to Ava and scowls.

“You’re feeding her, and I can’t eat anything?” Kyle exclaims.

Sarah rolls her eyes, “Ava trains for eight hours straight, and she’s helping your father with the rebuild of the stage so we can get back on track. She is up at four and doesn’t go to bed until midnight at least, she’s doing a job you should be doing and until you start acting like an Alpha, you don’t get the same perks as Ava, now go away”.

You could hear a pin drop throughout the house as the Luna called out her son yet again.

Ava sat there amused by the entire ordeal, she loved watching Kyle being told off and hating everything Ava was accomplishing in his place.

Finishing her beverage and bowl full of salted fries, Ava thanked Sarah and headed outside to continue fixing the stage.

The wolves that had improved in training and were finally following instructions, were the only ones not fixing the stage, Ava figured the wolves not following orders were more likely to do so after she made them work in their free time and Mason was all for it.

By evening of the seventh day, the stage was ready and was better than the original, bigger too.

It was one in the morning when Ava headed back inside, she wanted to do one more check alone before heading to bed.

Mason spotted the work lights on outside from his office and went to have a look.

Ava checked one last light on the frame of the stage; it illuminated the forest behind the pack house, Ava smiled.

Thinking she was on her own she did a dance of success. Mason laughed and it ceased Ava’s dance, she spins around following the noise and sees a smiling Mason.

Ava smiles back. Mason heads towards the stage and the pair sit on the edge, their feet dangling down as they stared out into the newly lit woods.

“I talked to your dad earlier” Mason spoke.

Ava glanced at him, “How is he? I haven’t spoken to him since I got here, not really had the time” she regretfully admits.

“He’s fine, worried about you and the situation you’re in, but I told him you’ve been keeping busy and coping well” Mason spoke.

Ava nodded.

Mason didn’t want to trouble her with the other information his old friend had given him. It would only send Ava into a spin and she would make herself ill with worry and try to split herself between work and her pack and right now that was impossible.

“Well at least the stage is built and sturdy this time” Ava concluded.

Mason smiled which soon followed with a yawn.

It was past his sleep “I’m heading to bed, you should too”.

Ava nods her head, but she wasn’t ready just yet to go, her mind was still full of thoughts too loud to sleep with.

“Goodnight Mason” Ava responds as he heads back to the pack house.

Ava was once again left on her own with her thousand thoughts. She looked at the metal and wood, it stood out from the forest around her and Ava thought she could change that.

Luna Sarah had in a week planned out the games; the locations in which they were to be played, the performances for entertainment, the ceremony. Everything, it was slowly coming together.

The seating: made of half cut logs were laid out in dozens of rows. Thousands would gather on the Snow Stone Pack in a week’s time, the campsite was prepared with toilets, washing stations and areas for children to play.

She had even set it out that her own pack would join the others outside leaving the pack house for elders and the high council to use.

Ava jumped off the stage and turned to look at the dull illumination in front to of her. Then an idea came to her mind.

Ava worked throughout the night, her imagination growing wild as she put her artistic abilities to work.

The warriors were at the grounds ready to train but Ava was nowhere to be seen. Jason set the warriors training the same they had been for the past week; Felix wasn’t bothering to do anything.

‘Alpha, Ava isn’t at training’ Jason mind links Mason.

‘I didn’t see her this morning when I came down, I’ll have a look around’ and the link was severed.

Jason concentrated on the warriors and left his Alpha to look for Ava.

Mason left his office shortly after the contact from his second warrior to look for Ava.

His wife in the kitchen was his first stop.

“Have you seen Ava?” Mason says as he walks through the door.

Sarah looks up from chopping food to her husband.

“Shouldn’t she be training the warriors?” question rang through her voice as she spoke.

Mason shook his head; he mind linked his entire pack and they all came back with the same answer.

He was beginning to worry that something had happened to her.

Twenty minutes Mason moved around his pack territory looking for Ava.

He was about to give up and set up a search party when his Luna called him to a location.

A crowd had gathered by the time Mason stood by Sarah’s side, every wolf was looking at the sight before them in awe.

“Who did this?” Mason spoke with astonishment. Of all the pack games he had been too, none of them had anything like this before.

“Ava” Sarah said and pointed to the young girl laying amongst the vines and flowers.

She was out cold; a long night of design had her tired and sleeping peacefully in the open air.

Sarah smiled, at Ava and the way she fell asleep and the gratitude she had for Ava doing this master piece.

She woke with a start, sitting up to find dozens of people looking at her and the stage in awe. Ava rubbed her face to wake herself up.

“Ava, this is…” Sarah began unable to finish her sentence.

The young girl’s eyes widen in surprise, “I can take it down” Ava suggests about to begin the removal of her overnight project.

Sarah shakes her head, “No, don’t, I’ve never seen something so beautiful” she speaks with little volume.

Ava smiles satisfied she managed to do it to the Luna’s liking.

The back of the stage became a solid white wall, when everyone is looking at the stage, no one wants to see the pack house, so Ava blocked it from view.

Lights dangled as a backdrop at different heights, in the dark they looked beautiful.

The height of the stage from the ground required a couple of steps so it was easier to access.

Ava also found some large lanterns in a storage shed, a quick clean and the rustic look added into the white stage making it a sight to behold.

Sarah walks up to Ava and embraces her in a hug, “This is so beautiful Ava, I have never seen anything like this at a pack game before”.

“I’m glad you like it” she states with a tired smile upon her face. Though Ava had slept some of the night, her body was beginning to ache and burn. Something was different about her and she struggled to figure out what it was.

“This is going to be perfect under the blood moon in a week” Sarah sighed out.

Ava looked at Sarah “Wait, the first night of the pack games is a blood moon?”.

Sarah nodded her head. The last time there was a blood moon was when she first shifted thirteen years ago when she was eight.

And the same thing happening to her now, happened back then. But this made no sense, she had already shifted, so why was her body acting as if it were about to shift for the first time again.

Concern grew in Sarah’s eyes when she felt the heat coming from the girl in her arms.

“Ava are you okay? You’re burning up” placing a hand on Ava’s forehead, Sarah felt the layer of sweat.

Ava stepped back and putting on a fake smile she nodded, there was only a week left till the pack games begin and she was already late for the days training.

“I’m late for training”.

“Don’t worry Jason has already began the training” Mason tells Ava.

“Did you sort out that situation we discussed?” Ava asked Mason.

By the look on his face, Mason was yet to deal with the situation at hand.

Though she still had a job to do and left the Alpha and Luna with many pack members to finish what was left of the warriors training.