Aviva
Exhaustions hugs every muscle as I follow Ryan down the wooded trail leading from the hot springs to the village. It’s midday, and the sky is wide and crystal blue as I peek up through the trees, wiping sweat from my brow.
We didn’t sleep last night. Not a wink. The soreness blooming between my legs with each step is a constant reminder of that, and I can’t help but smile as I look down at my sandals. We left Endova the morning after we slept together for the first time. We’d walked back into the village together, silently, both of us thrumming with nervous energy. He’d gone to sleep in the healer’s cottage, and the moment I crossed the threshold of my old home, planning to curl up in bed with the girls, he said into my mind, ‘Goodnight, Aviva.’
‘Goodnight,’ I’d replied through the mind-link, which felt so much sharper and clearer. Before, it had been like he was speaking to me underwater, but now, it’s like he’s standing in front of me speaking out loud.
I woke to Shosh and Lora curled up around me and Mercy gently knocking on my door, telling me it was time to go, so I went, walking beside Ryan into a cool, foggy morning.
We hiked through the woods up the valley parallel to Silverhide instead of following the main road. It took all day, and well into the night, to reach the peak of the valley. We dropped down into Silverhide territory when the first glimmers of morning breached the lazy, misty pools of the hot springs. Ryan couldn’t shift, not with poison still working its way out of his veins, but it hadn’t slowed him down.
I thought we were stopping to rest and maybe eat at the springs, but he had other plans, and soon, he was grinding against me, his cock stretching and filling me, while I kept my legs wrapped around his waist and my back against the side of the pool.
Then we… came home, and the veil of dizzying, sex-fueled delusion lifted in a heartbeat.
Sore, tired, and hungry, we walk into the village to the delight and relief of Ryan’s entire pack.
He’s immediately bombarded, and I’m bustled out of the way, falling back as people rush to encircle him, their voices carrying into the stiflingly hot summer air.
But then I spot Freya running toward me, her eyes wide with concern. She skids to a stop, noticing what must be a very odd look on my face. I glance back at Ryan, who has disappeared in the fray, and stalk toward her.
I take her by the wrist and wordlessly hustle her toward the closest building with an open door. Heat bursts toward us, hot enough to singe my eyelashes. I yelp just as Freya pulls me back into the doorway, facing us toward the cool morning air instead of the furiously hot forge.
Freya grabs my cheeks, turning my face from side to side as she inspects me for harm. Then, she smirks, rolling her eyes to the bright morning sky. “Well?” she says, smacking her lips. “What have you been up to the last few days?”
My cheeks burn, and not from the heat in Andrew’s shop. “Is it that obvious?”
“Something’s different about you,” she says, scanning my face. She turns back to the crowd in the center of the village. I spot James motioning to the crowd, telling people to go back to work and chores. Andrew and Ryan walk side-by-side in our direction, and I realize quite suddenly that if I’m going to tell Freya anything, it needs to be right now, while they’re still out of earshot.
“We slept together,” I rush out.
“Well it’s about damn time–”
“He’s my mate.”
Freya’s brows raise so high they almost touch her hairline. She blinks slowly, then shakes her head, reaching for my hand. “Because of being hand-fast–”
“Actual mates. Fated, like the legends–”
“How–”
“Welcome back, Aviva. We… missed you,” Andrew drawls, rubbing his neck as if he can still feel my blade pressed to his skin.
“Sure,” I growl at him but catch the slightly amused look on Ryan’s face and quickly press my lips together and try to turn them into a smile. “Sorry. I missed you as well.”
Andrew smirks, but Freya throws him a look that immediately has him looking down at his boots. Now, I’m the one smirking.
Ryan clears his throat, directing his words at Freya and Andrew. “I’m taking Aviva home to rest for a while.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll go with her,” Freya says brightly, her hand curling around my upper arm. “Everyone is in a frenzy, Alpha Ryan, I’m sure–” Freya’s voice fades as my gaze fastens on Ryan’s face, on his eyes, which are locked on Freya’s hand.
His pupils expand, and his jaw flexes. It’s almost like–like he’s about to shift. “Ryan?” My voice sounds small, confused.
“We do need to debrief,” Andrew says, but he’s looking at Freya this entire time, of course, watching the way her full lips move as speaks. Now, however, he’s narrowing his eyes at Ryan. Andrew takes a single step between Ryan and Freya, squaring his shoulders.
What the hell is happening right now? I close my hand around Freya’s. “Yeah, I could use a minute with Freya to help–to help braid my hair.”
Freya makes a face, shaking her head. “You know I’m useless when it comes to braids–”
“Alpha, let’s talk.” Andrew claps Ryan on the shoulder, which seems to have broken him out of whatever bizarre trance he’d fallen into.
Ryan scowls, gives Andrew a shove, and storms out of the shop. Andrew gives me a look over his shoulder, rolling his eyes and whispering, “I fucking knew it,” under his breath before taking off after Ryan.
“What was that all about?” Freya murmurs, meeting my eyes.
“I have no idea.”
* * *
Freya sits on the floor beside the huge bathtub, resting her head against the wall as she finger-weaves what I believe might be a pair of socks. “What does it feel like knowing he had a mate before you?”
I sink up to my nose in the overly soapy water. Freya went a little nuts on the soaps and oils, I’m afraid, but after several days in Endova, and then hiking through the forest, I definitely needed a good, hot soak.
I consider her question. I debate telling her the truth–that I hate it. That it makes me jealous and I can’t stop the feeling from festering whenever it crosses my mind. “I don’t really care. She’s dead.”
“You sound like you care,” she taunts, giving me a teasing look over the rim of the tub.
“I don’t like it, of course. But they weren't close. At all.”
“Well, I’d assume they weren't, given that he killed her.”
We shouldn’t be joking about this, but damn, it does feel kind of good. I don’t even know Ryan’s family, but the idea of anyone hurting them, or him, makes me want to go scorched-earth. I dunk my head underwater and reemerge, slicking my hair away from my face.
Freya sighs heavily as she focuses on her knitting while I let my mind wander. I spent the last half hour telling her almost everything. I left out the juicer details about sleeping with Ryan, of course. I want that to stay something that’s mine.
But she knows Jacob and Mercy are mates, and that Ryan and I are mates, and that the mate bond is drastically different from couple to couple.
Speaking of possible mates, we both turn to the sound of boots on the floorboards in the main room, and then Andrew’s voice rings out, “Freya? Aviva?”
“Give us a second,” Freya calls back with a bit of a smirk. She rises, sets her project on the counter, and unfurls a towel for me.
“I can do that,” I murmur, but she rolls her eyes at me.
“This is the most time I’ve had to sit around and do nothing since you left. I don’t mind.”
Wrapped in a towel, I dry my hair in another one and hang back in the bathroom for a moment while Freya fetches me something to wear and briefly talks to Andrew. When I finally emerge from the bathroom in another flowy, calf length dress made of thin linen to combat the sudden stifling heat of summer, Andrew and Freya are waiting for me in the main room. He’s leaning an elbow on the kitchen table as he watches me approach.
“Don’t tell your mate I’m here,” he grinds out.
I brush my wet curls over my shoulders and fix him with a look. “So, he told you?”
“He didn’t have to. He was ready to rip Freya’s arm off for touching you.”
“What? Andrew, of course he wouldn’t,” Freya butts in, but Andrew and I are holding each other's gaze.
Freya hadn’t seen the look Ryan gave her, but we had.
“Why?” I ask.
He fiddles with the busted lockbox that was left on the table after I ravaged it with a hammer a few days ago. “Look, you guys are mates. That’s great. I’m honestly not surprised. None of us are, the guys at least. But you don’t know much about mates from what I understand.” He looks between us. “Right?”
We nod.
“Mates, the males, get really… territorial after… you know.”
“After what?” Freya asks innocently.
Andrew winces, his cheeks going pink as he cuts a quick glance in my direction. “Being friendly with each other.”
Freya looks confused.
“Fucking,” I tell her.
“Oh. You could have just said that, Andrew.”
He runs a hand over his face, cursing under his breath. “Ryan is going to be a little on edge for a while, okay? Just don’t–don’t put him in a position where he feels like he has to defend you, or anything. So no more touching.”
Freya steps away from me, but I find this entire thing ridiculous. “Why is this happening? What's the reason?”
“Uh, well, some people say it’s because of breeding, but that practice is ancient, you know. Like, he wants you…. You know what? I can’t talk about this with you. Either of you.” He throws his hands in the air in surrender.
“Just tell us,” Freya begs, giving him a pouty face.
It’s Andrew’s undoing. He watches her lower lip tremble and finally breaks, saying, “Ryan wants you bred. It has nothing to do with his actual feelings about the matter. It’s just a biological thing that happens to all newly mated guys, and they go a little feral for a while, but it’ll pass. At least, it should.”
“He wants me to be pregnant?”
“No, but his wolf does, and it will snap on anyone who even looks in your direction.”
“Does he know this is happening to him?”
“Oh, trust me, he’s well aware.” Andrew blows out his breath and runs his fingers through his hair. “He’s busy. We have him occupied, but you two should stay away from each other.” He points to me and Freya. “And you,” his eyes slid to mine. “You need to stay up here, away from everyone. Just until he works through this.”
“So because I’m his mate, I’m now his prisoner too?”
“He didn’t mark you, did he?” he asks with a sigh. “No fucking wonder. Okay, look, if he marks you, this will pass quicker–”
“Why? How?” Freya presses, enraptured by the line of conversation.
I feel sorry for Andrew. He looks like he’d rather be anywhere else. “Freya, please, your father would gut me if he found out I’m telling you all of this.”
“I’m a grown woman.”
“Yeah you… are.”
I scoff at the two of them. “Where is Ryan right now?”
“Hopefully where I left him, in the woods, hunting with James. He’ll be back tonight, and you seriously can’t leave. We’ll bring food up for you, okay?” He grabs Freya’s arm and tugs her toward the door. “Clean up in here if you can. Open all the windows so he doesn’t pick up my scent in here with yours.”
“Why? You think he’d hurt you for just–just talking to me?”
“You don’t know anything about being mated, do you?” he says with a wry laugh then leads Freya out the door, closing me in. Alone.
I consider shouting at Ryan through the mind-link to come back and explain this to me but decide I’m a little curious. Do I feel territorial right now? I guess… maybe. I guess I don’t feel any different, or maybe I do.
Maybe I just need sleep. Definitely.
I fall asleep on the couch shortly thereafter, basking in the hot sun coming through all of the windows I opened for Andrew’s sake. I sleep harder than I ever have, and I don’t wake until night falls, and the door opens and closes.
Ryan locks the door. I notice a few containers and bowls of what must be food on the kitchen table, untouched. I hadn’t even heard anyone come in to drop them off.
Ryan slowly turns to look at me as I sit up on the couch, smoothing my curls away from my cheeks. He silently scans my face, my body, lingering on the slope of my thighs beneath my dress.
“I heard you’ve gone feral,” I say sleepily.
He licks his lips. He’s still as stone, quieter than I’ve ever heard him.
“You need to stay away from me for a few days, until this–whatever this is–passes.”
“No,” I tell him with a smile.
“There’s something I need to tell you.”
“Have you changed your mind?”
“No.” He takes a single step into the house and stops. “About my powers.”
“You can shoot light out of your fingertips, can’t you?”
He huffs a breath, obviously annoyed by my teasing. “I think it’s better if I just show you.”
A burst of black mist erupts and swallows me whole.