Chapter 1 – Home Again
Ava
closed her eyes as the plane’s tires touched the ground with a hard jolt. She felt Cyrus squeeze her hand and she glanced
over at him and smiled. They were home.
She bit her lip worriedly and sighed.
“Hey,
why the frown? We’re getting married in
five days. You should be glowing with
happiness,” Cyrus said as he undid his seatbelt and stood up.
Ava
smiled up at him and couldn’t help noticing how happy he was. He was so tall and large that he seemed to
fill the tiny Cessna. His crystal blue
eyes gleamed down at her warmly and his lips curled up in a half-smile as he
watched her.
Ava ran
her hands through her hair and stood up too.
“I don’t have many good memories of Paskell Cyrus. You know that. I am excited
to get married to you. I just don’t want
Paskell’s bad luck to get in the way of our happiness,” she said as he pulled
her in close and wrapped his arms around her waist.
“That’s
why we’re here Ava. We need to show the
people of Paskell that the hard times are over.
You and I are going to usher in a new era of peace and happiness. And
maybe a little good luck too.”
Ava
reached up and played with Cyrus’s rich brown hair, pushing it over his ears
before kissing him quickly. “If you say
so,” she said with a wry grin.
Cyrus
laughed and shook his head. “You’ll
see.”
“Come
on you two, you’re blocking the exit and I need to go to the bathroom,” Zoe
complained, tapping her foot impatiently.
Ava
moved out of her way and smiled as Rory and Poppy hurried after Zoe. Cyrus squeezed her hand one more time before
walking back to help her dad with Perry.
Ava unbuckled Finn from the car seat and lifted him in her arms, wincing
at the automatic tug on her hair.
“Vay-vay,”
Finn said proudly and snuggled into her neck.
Ava
kissed Finn’s chubby cheeks and sighed happily.
He’d just barely begun calling her Vay-Vay during the last few days and
she loved it. She held him securely in
her arms as she moved to descend the stairs.
The relief from having Ben behind bars and her family safe again was
still so huge that she got goose bumps.
The image of Finn’s gray face and Ben’s crazed eyes would stay with her
forever though.
Ava
firmly pushed thoughts of Ben away and tried to focus on the now. She reached the ground and walked over to
Rory and Poppy who looked a little nervous as they stared around at the
breathtaking Canadian scenery.
“You’ll
get used to it,” Ava said with a grin as Rory stared at the majestic mountains.
“You
told me and of course I’ve seen pictures but this is amazing. I’m speechless,” he said as he closed his
eyes and lifted his face to the bright sunlight.
Poppy
smiled and held her arms up for Finn.
Ava grinned and let Poppy hold Finn and laughed as he pulled on one of
her long bright red braids. “He’s a
flirt Poppy, watch out,” she warned.
Poppy
laughed delightedly and blew her cheeks out big to make Finn laugh. She walked
over to Perry who was still making her way carefully down the stairs. She was almost fully recovered from the knife
wound to her throat, but she still seemed fragile.
“Seeing
Poppy with Finn makes me want to have another,” Rory admitted softly as he
watched his daughter charm Ava’s little brother.
Ava’s
heart melted as she looked up into Rory’s handsome face. The gentle, kind man had fallen hard and fast
for Zoe. She’d thought her relationship
with Cyrus had been a whirlwind, but after just knowing each other for a few
weeks, Rory and Zoe had flown to Las Vegas to get married and flown back just
two days later, ecstatic and ready to start their lives together.
She’d wanted to marry Cyrus in a
quick Vegas wedding too, but Cyrus had insisted that the town of Paskell be
invited. She was so jealous of Zoe she
could spit. She reached up and gave Rory
a hug and kiss on the cheek.
“Rory, you and Zoe will make
beautiful babies,” she said, laughing as his eyes lit up.
Rory put his arm around her
shoulder and smiled. “I hope . . .”, he said, not finishing his
sentence as a large, angry man materialized in front of them.
Ava’s smile disappeared as Cole Jansen
stared at Rory with murder in his eyes.
“Say goodbye to your husband
Ava, because he’s getting ready to die,” Cole snarled before leaping on Rory
and taking him to the ground with a vicious blow to gut.
Ava screamed in shock and tried
to pull Cole off of Rory who was doing his best to block the blows from Cole’s
massive fists.
People came running toward them,
but a large black shadow streaked by everyone and within seconds, the black
wolf had Cole by the throat, growling as her teeth began to pierce Cole’s skin.
All havoc, shouting and violence
ended immediately as Zoe vibrated with barely controlled rage. Cole must have known how close he was to
death and remained completely still.
Cyrus moved quickly toward Zoe and kneeled down by her head.
“Zoe honey, let go of Cole’s
throat. We don’t want the hassle of planning a funeral today okay? Just let go so we can find out why in the
world Cole was trying to kill Rory,” he said soothingly.
Ava winced as she helped Rory up
off the ground and glanced at Poppy. Poppy had taken Finn over to see Perry and
so had missed all of the violence thank heavens. Rory moaned a little and wiped a smear of blood
off his mouth with the back of his hand.
“That’s Cole, huh?” he muttered
darkly, staring at the man on the ground.
Ava blew out an exasperated
breath. “Welcome to Paskell where every
man is an Alpha and overloaded with testosterone. See why
I left?” she said quietly as Harry joined them and looked Rory over
quickly.
“Looks like you’re going to have
a black eye. How are your ribs?” Harry
asked, frowning.
Rory grimaced and shook his
head. “I feel like throwing up, but
nothing’s broken.”
Harry nodded his head and then
turned around with a glare. “Idiot,” he muttered and strode over to
where Zoe seemed unwilling to let go of Cole’s throat.
“That’s enough Zoe. Let him up,” Harry ordered, his hands on his
hips and his eyes narrowed dangerously.
Zoe growled low in her throat
but did as she was told and let go of Cole’s throat before moving back. She shimmered quickly into her human form and
stood up, her eyes glowing with fury as Cole stood up as gracefully as he could
and straightened his black t-shirt.
“You better have a really good
reason for attacking this man because I’m really tempted to let Zoe tear you
apart,” Harry said stepping forward so he and his brother in law were face to
face.
Cyrus looked on curiously as he
moved to stand by Zoe in case she went for Cole again. Cole shrugged, his eyes dark and filled with
rage.
“Well, how did you think I would
react? Not one phone call to let me know
Harry? Really? I haven’t seen Ava
in weeks and what do I find when I meet her plane? This jerk here with a wedding ring on his hand
and his arm around Ava. I couldn’t
believe it, but no, there’s a ring on Ava’s hand too. You might have saved his life temporarily,
but I swear I’m going to kill him if he thinks he’s taking Ava away from me,”
Cole swore, his green eyes turning to fire and the muscles in his shoulders
bulging menacingly.
Ava’s mouth fell open in shock
and she turned to look up at Rory. Rory
closed his eyes and laughed a little as he shook his head. “Oh you’re in for it now lass,” he said.
Zoe blinked in surprise and
glanced back at Ava, her body relaxing as an amused smile tilted her mouth
up. “Not five seconds Ava and you’ve got
men fighting over you. That has to be
record, even for you,” she said, walking over to Rory and kissing his cheek
gently.
Rory wrapped an arm around his
wife’s waist, his light green eyes twinkling into hers. “I’m so grateful we’re married. Dating is much too dangerous,” he announced
before kissing Zoe lightly.
Ava swallowed sickly and glanced
at Cyrus. But his attention was centered
on Cole who had watched the interaction between Rory and Zoe in confusion. He
blinked a couple times and then turned to stare at Ava. “Wait . . . what? You said you were dating Rory. I saw the pictures. And now he’s married to Zoe?” he asked, sounding relieved.
Ava walked over to stand by her
father and looked up at her dad pleadingly.
Harry sighed tiredly and put his hand on his daughter’s shoulder as they
faced Cole together. Cyrus walked over
and stood on Ava’s other side, taking her hand in his.
Harry stepped forward and put
both of his hands on Cole’s shoulder as he began to tense again as he saw Cyrus
touching Ava. “Cole, so much has
happened in the past few weeks. Zoe is now married to Rory and Ava is
engaged to Cyrus. I hope that you’ll be happy for them because
they have my blessing,” he said firmly.
Ava felt the full wave of Cole’s
rage as he stared at her, his emotions pouring off of him in wave after wave of
anger, disbelief and hurt. With a howl
of rage he turned and leaped into the air, transforming into a large black
wolf.
They all watched Cole streak across
the air field and disappear into the trees and all the happiness of being home
evaporated. Harry lowered his head and shoved his hands in his pockets for a
moment before turning and looking at Cyrus and Ava.
“Well, we knew he wasn’t going
to be happy about it. Don’t worry though. Give him a few days of running through the
mountains and he’ll calm down. You have
my blessing so he has to accept it. I
won’t put up with any violence where you’re concerned Ava. You’ve been through too much. I want your wedding to be perfect. I’ll have a talk with Cole when he’s calmed
down. No worries, okay?” he said and
tried to smile before walking over to his son and wife.
Cyrus stared after Cole with a
hard look before stepping forward and pulling Ava into his arms. He tilted her chin up and they looked quietly
into each other’s eyes for a moment before he spoke. “I’ll talk to him too.”
Ava’s eyebrows snapped together
as she gripped the back of Cyrus’s shirt in her fists. “He just about killed Rory. What do you think he wants to do to you right
now? We need to leave. If you don’t want to go to Vegas, let’s go to
Washington. Right now. We’ll just get
right back on the plane and keep going. We can stay there until we’re
married. Please Cyrus,” she pleaded.
Cyrus ran his hand down her hair
and pulled her closer to his chest as he leaned his head against hers. “I’m not scared of Cole Jansen Ava. I hope he does go for me. Maybe when he’s lying in a pool of blood
he’ll finally realize that you’re mine.”
Ava sniffed angrily and pulled
back to look up at Cyrus. “I’m so tired
of violence and blood Cyrus. I hate it. The sooner we’re married the better.”
Cyrus sighed and looked up at
the sky. “We can’t go to Washington
Ava. I’ve been on the phone with my mom
for days and she’s already sent out invitations to the entire town. Our wedding will be in five days in the town
park. She’s so excited and happy. It would kill her if we cancelled. Cole doesn’t get to ruin our wedding. Let Harry calm him down. You’ll see, he’ll be fine,” he said softly.
Ava leaned her head against
Cyrus’s chest again and closed her eyes as his heart beat soothed and calmed
her. “Tell that to Rory’s face,” she
muttered.
Cyrus laughed lightly before
nuzzling her neck. “Come on, let’s get
home and unpacked. My mom has dinner
waiting for us.”
Ava watched Cyrus walk away and frowned. She studied his powerful shoulders and the
elegant play of muscles as he moved. If
Cole ever did attack Cyrus, it would be a fair fight. The two men were equally strong and powerful. But Cole would have rage on his side. Cyrus looked back at her and smiled, his eyes
lighting up before he turned away again and she relaxed a little. Cyrus had something Cole didn’t though. He would be protecting his mate and she knew
from experience that Cyrus would do anything to protect her. Cole could never win.
*Copyrighted Material
