Braiden
“Are you ready?” I look at Ava, her arm hooked through mine as we stand outside the pack hall.
By the time I had showered, Ava was dressed, and her choice for tonight was surprising. An off-shoulder black
dress, with her hair pulled into a high ponytail. It was unusual in that she never showed off her scars, usually
choosing outfits or hairstyles that covered them. Tonight, she owned them.
Acc epted them.
“You look absolutely beautiful.” She smiles and tips her head to the side.
“Perhaps your scars gave me courage. We need to speak about them, Braiden. About everything. I want to know
you.”
“I will tell you everything you want to know. To you, I’m an open book.
No secrets.”
She smiles brightly and then pecks me on the cheek, her heels giving her some height.
“Okay. I’m ready.” She takes a de ep breath and I signal Samuel, who enters the hall, to announce our arrival.
The excitement from the pack is overwhelming. As soon as we enter, a sea of faces stares back at us. Pack members
bow and bare their necks as we make our way to the front of the hall.
The King’s chair, always in the front of the hall, now has a matching one next to it.
“You don’t need to sit in it yet. We can join Samuel and Nick at their table. No one will question it.”
Before she can answer, my parents appear before us, Selene trailing behind them. After the shit she pulled by using
a forbidden move in the training session against Ava, she had been cast out to live on the outskirts of the pack,
close to where my mother and father were living. If it were not for our years of history, she would have been
banished from the pack permanently. Made rogue.
“My King,” my mother addresses me formally. Her invitation to this event was only given at Samuel's suggestion.
Hopefully, we can patch things up. Perhaps by now, they would understand that Ava was here to stay.
They must have extended the invitation to Selene. Not theirs to extend, but I didn’t want to cause a scene at this
point. I eye Selene, a warning in the glare I give her. If she doesn’t behave, she will be out. For good.
“Mother. Father.” My eyes drift from them over to Ava, my silent command to them to address her being
conveyed.
“What shall we call you?” Mother asks Ava, the dislike in her tone still clear. The question was rude, and I bristle,
trying to calm myself down.
While Ava did not strip them of their royal rights, they blame her nonetheless. My mother would have gotten what
she wanted if she had not appeared. A docile queen by my side that she could control.
“Ava is fine. Nice to meet you both.” Ava gives them a warm smile, my father returning it with one of his own
while my mother remains stoic.
Looking at Ava, my mate, like she is an ant that needs to be squashed.
“Perhaps we can all have a drink and a meal together?” I am surprised at the suggestion, considering it comes from
my mother, who remains icy even as she suggests it.
Ava looks at me quizzically before smiling once again, the hope in her eyes not missed. She wants them to acc ept
her. I just don’t know why they won’t. By now, they know she is my mate, yet they still push against this match.
“That would be wonderful.” I nod to Samuel, who st eps forward to guide my mother, father, and Selene to the table
they used to sit at. Near the front, reserved for pack royalty, are wolves from higher ranks and the Alphas and
Lunas of neighboring packs. Seven couples join us, along with a handful of their pack members, filling the room to
capacity.
“I don’t think I am ready,” Ava whispers, eyeing the two chairs nervously while looking around the crowded room.
I was disappointed but hide that feeling, hopeful that soon she will take her place by my side.
“It’s fine, we will sit with my parents.”
After the incident with Selene and my announcement that Ava was my mate, I had to address it with the pack. They
deserved an explanation. I explained that Ava would need time to adjust to everything, briefly alluding to the fact
that she had not been in a pack for some time.
My pack understood. With the rehabilitation center, they were exposed to many who were no longer part of packs.
We all saw what it was like for them and how they needed time to integrate again.
No one, besides my parents, bats an eyelid when we sit at their table, a sign that the room can relax and enjoy the
evening. Pack members approach us, eager to meet Ava. She greets them warmly, the anxiety fading as one smiling
face after another welcomes her. She was nervous they wouldn’t like her. Who wouldn’t? Besides my mother.
Whose scowl was growing de eper and de eper, with every pack member indicating acc eptance of Ava.
By the time the main course has come and gone, Ava has relaxed and is happily chatting with Alpha Chase and
Luna Olivia from the White Water pack—my favorite of the pack leaders currently sitting at the table.
“So, Ava, which pack were you from originally?” Ava only slightly stiffens before answering Olivia's innocently
asked question.
“Bloodmoon Pack.”
“Oh. Oh my. You’re that Ava. Alpha Alexanders' ex-mate.” Olivia’s quietly spoken words draw my mother's
attention, who latches onto this information like a tic would a dog.
“You were mated to Alpha Alexander?” My mother's question brings even more silence to the table as others start
zeroing in on the conversation.
“I was not mated to him. He rejected me, and I acc epted. It was a mutual decision.”
“And why would someone reject their mate ordained by the Moon Goddess herself? It is a rare occurrence. Surely,
it is not done for no reason.” My mother’s implication was clear, and her eyes meet mine briefly before returning to
Ava. If Ava wasn’t good enough for an Alpha, what made her worthy enough to be Queen? This was what my
mother saw.
She didn’t see the abuse that Ava suffered at the hands of her pack and enabled, if not mirrored, by the behavior of
Alpha Alexander toward her. All my mother saw was all the flaws, all the reasons not to acc ept Ava.
“Mother,” I warn, already regretting my invitation. Tables nearby have gone silent as they watch the scene
unfolding.
Ava places her hand on mine, squeezing it gently.
“It’s fine, Braiden,” she says softly, calming me before leveling my mother with a gaze.
“I suppose it was because I was needed here. Next to My King. Where I belong. As his Queen.” Ava suddenly
stands up, pointedly looking at my mother, while she grips my hand tightly.
Her gaze meets mine, and then she says the words only I know the meaning of.
“I’m ready, Braiden.”
My heart explodes, and pride wells inside me as Ava squares her shoulders and flips her ponytail.
As I stand up, I notice the entire room is now silent, all eyes on us.
“What are you doing?” Mother asks me quietly, her face now bright red with alarm as she looks between the two of
us. I smile and then bring Ava’s hand to my lips, kissing her knuckles gently before we turn our backs on her. Side
by side we walk the couple of st eps to the front of the hall.
With a huge grin, I dip my head and tilt it to the side, gasps echoing around the room. This small sign of their King
baring his neck to the only person he would ever submit to seals our fates. Ava turns around, my hand leaving hers
only once she has taken a seat—a feeling I can only describe as peace settles over me as I sit beside her. Seconds
later, the room erupts with applause.
Finally. The King of the werewolves has found his Queen. As I look over at Ava, emotions whirl around inside me.
A prominent one linking all the others together. Love. I was falling in love with Ava. I just hoped she felt the same.