Chapter 12: Lycans
Brooke trailed cautiously behind as Avery sprinted towards the source of the chaos. She could feel adrenaline coursing through her veins as her heart beat out of rhythm. It was dark in the clearing and all she could see was a group of tall figures at the edge of the forest. Maybe half a dozen of them. Their very silhouettes seemed threatening, sharp, skeletal, and slightly stooped. Brooke tripped on a tree root but before she hit the ground, Sebastian was there at her side, pulling her back to her feet.
“Come on. If it’s who I think, she’ll need you,” he said, linking their arms and half-carrying Brooke towards the conflict.
“What do you mean? What’s happening? What are lycans?” Brooke gasped.
“Trouble. They outnumber us five to one ever since humans got serious about hunting wolves.”
Sebastian shouldered his way through the crowd that had gathered at the far edge of the clearing. When the werewolves saw Brooke, they cleared the way for them. Avery stood at the front of the pack, flanked by Rachel to her right and Jade to her left, as they faced off against the group of strangers. The lycans were roughly the same height as the werewolves but had none of their obvious muscle. They were all very thin, their joints knobby, their cheeks and eyes sunken, their skin sallow. They looked like humans, albeit tall, unhealthy ones. They dressed all in black, with most of their skin covered. The leader of the group, the tallest among them, had long, oily black hair, jaundiced-looking skin, and fingernails that curled 3 inches out from his hands in grotesque claws.
“–quite the party you’re having here, Black,” the leader spat out Avery’s name like it was a curse. “My invitation must have gotten lost in the mail.” His voice was nasal and slimy.
“Get the fuck off my territory, Atticus, before I remove you by force,” Avery growled in response. Her hands were clenched in fists at her sides.
“You really think your paltry pack is a match for mine?” Atticus scoffed, flaring his fingers into a loose fist and admiring his disgusting nails. “Didn’t work out too well for you last time, did it?”
One of the other lycans behind him growled, baring her teeth.
“I only see six of you here. I think we can take you,” Avery shot back, projecting confidence. Behind her, Rachel growled, and Jade flashed a knife she’d produced seemingly from thin air.
“I seem to recall your parents saying something similar…” Atticus drawled. Brooke didn’t need a mate bond to feel the waves of fury radiating out of Avery’s every pore.
“Get up there, she’s gonna lose her cool,” Sebastian hissed in Brooke’s ear.
“What am I supposed to do?!” Brooke asked desperately, her voice squeaky, her body shaking with fear.
“Touch her! You’re mates. It’ll calm her down.” Sebastian shoved Brooke slightly towards Avery. Not knowing what to do and desperate for comfort of her own, Brooke reached out and grabbed Avery’s hand. The Alpha looked down, shocked at first, then smiled tightly, and turned back to the lycans.
“And what do we have here?” Atticus bent to examine Brooke, who, summoning all her courage, resisted the urge to cower behind Avery’s back, very aware that most of the clearing was watching them. She could smell rancid meat on the leader’s breath, and it made her want to gag. “I had heard that the great Avery Black had a weakling human mate. But you, my dear, exceed expectations.” Brooke’s legs shook beneath her at the force of the growl Avery released in response.
“You DARE come into MY TERRITORY and INSULT MY MATE?!” Avery bellowed.
“I have a feeling it won’t be yours for long,” Atticus responded, his voice as calm as the ocean on a clear day. “I’m sick and tired of squatting in hovels. And so are my people. Quite the nice little setup you’ve got here. Better than In your father’s day. Perhaps I’ll make it my own. Once we’ve dealt with the pest problem.”
“You’ll get my land over my dead body!”
“Undoubtedly.” Atticus shifted his gaze to Rachel, and Brooke breathed a small sigh of relief. “I see you still haven’t managed to house-train this one.” His eyes scanned Rachel up and down scornfully. She growled loudly in response and out of nowhere, Alex appeared at her side, wrapping an arm around her waist. “Oh, cute, the Hunter’s got its own pet human.” He reached out one clawed yellow finger and flicked the gemstone on Alex’s choker. Brooke could see a vein pulsing in Rachel’s temple and knew it was taking all of her self-control not to attack him then and there.
“Your fight is with me,” Avery said, squaring her shoulders, her grip on Brooke’s hand tightening, her skin feverish. “Leave her alone.”
“Coming to our Beta’s defense, are we? Well come on then, show me what you’ve got. Or do you only fight your own family members?” Brooke’s head snapped around to find Joseph several feet to their right, his expression a strange mixture of indignant and terrified. Brooke suddenly remembered the scars on his back and her eyes widened in shock at the realization. Avery dropped her hand and turned, lightning quick, to look deep into Brooke’s eyes for a fraction of a second before pushing her back towards Sebastian who caught her easily.
Avery shifted, tearing her fancy party clothes to shreds, landing on 4 midnight black paws, fangs bared. Atticus laughed in response. A long, lingering laugh gradually drowned out by the sound of bones creaking and tendons snapping as his limbs thickened and elongated, sprouting dark hair, the hunch on his back rising until it broke through his black shirt, his face elongating into a warped mix of human and wolf. His new mouth was lined with razor-sharp fangs, his eyes had turned red, and his already long nails had grown into six-inch-long talons. The resulting beast was 10 feet tall, standing on two legs that bent the wrong way.
Atticus reared up to his full and considerable height, letting loose a guttural roar. Avery looked back at the pair of them once, her gold eyes intense. Sebastian and most of the other pack members scattered at an unspoken command. Brooke saw Rachel shove Alex back towards the house before shifting herself and facing off against one of the lycan lieutenants.
“Come on, we’ve got to go, NOW!” Sebastian shouted, pulling Brooke towards the nearest outbuilding, a garage where they stored pack vehicles. She could hardly stay standing, let alone run. Dark spots were creeping into her vision and her pulse was racing. “Get on my back!” Brooke did as she was told, throwing her arms around his neck and jumping as high as she could. Sebastian’s arms closed like vices under her legs, and he sped towards one of the outbuildings. Gaining momentum, he leapt into the air, landing lightly on the roof. He helped Brooke to a secure spot to sit, up on the peak of the roof where there was a foot of flat surface. Sebastian perched himself to her left on the steeply slanted shingles, holding onto the edge of the roof with one hand. They were out of the way of the fight but close enough to see what was happening.
Scanning the chaos below, Brooke’s eyes didn’t know which combatants to focus on. Rachel was grappling savagely with a blond male lycan in his monster form, rolling over the underbrush, clawing at each other’s faces. Avery and Atticus were trading blows as well. He took a massive swipe with his clawed paw/hand, but Avery ducked under it just in time. Darting under his legs and twisting around, she leapt onto his back, claws gouging into papery skin. He didn’t seem to bleed nearly enough.
“Where’s your mate, Jade?” A female lycan called, catching Brooke’s attention. She was still in her human form. For now. A small knife hurtled through the air towards her. She caught it in her forearm with a dull thud. It stuck there, quivering, as though her arm was made of wood.
“Die, cunt!” Jade screamed. She hadn’t shifted like the others. Another knife appeared in her hand and this time the female lycan dodged to the side and the knife missed her face by less than an inch, landing in a tree just beyond her.
“Oh, now I remember,” the lycan called, taunting. “We exterminated the traitorous bastard! Can you still hear his screams?”
Jade let out a feral shriek and hurled a third knife, this one landing squarely in the center of the lycan’s chest. Her eyes widened in shock. She teetered, then fell backwards, clutching the dagger protruding from her sternum. Jade turned her attention to another of the lycans.
At least half a dozen other pack members had joined the fight, all of them in their wolf forms, until the scene below was a tangle of multicolored fur, twisted limbs, and flashing teeth.
Just then, a ball of white-blonde fur flashed across Brooke’s vision. She let out a shriek of fear. If Sebastian hadn’t reached out and caught her, she would have fallen off the roof.
“It’s okay,” Sebastian said. The bundle of fur was a wolf. Smaller than the rest, about the size of a Labrador. It sat quivering in Sebastian’s arms, nuzzling into his chest. It turned towards Brooke, its familiar deep magenta eyes were filled with fear.
“Is that…?” Brooke asked, pointing at the wolf. Sebastian nodded his head, clutching his baby sister to his chest, one hand stroking down the fur on her neck in a calming gesture.
“Shhhh,” he soothed. Brooke was so overwhelmed that Sebastian’s little sister leaping onto the roof in tiny wolf form wasn’t even shocking to her.
Brooke returned her gaze to the battle below, desperately searching for Avery, hoping she was alright. She spotted her right in the middle of the fray, grappling with Atticus. The other combatants had left them a wide berth. It was hard to tell who had the upper hand. No sooner had Avery managed to get her teeth locked into the side of Atticus’ waist than his massive, clawed hand slammed into the side of her neck, knocking her to the ground. Brooke winced in sympathy, but Avery leapt back to her feet, shaking her head. She crouched low to the ground, waiting. Just as Atticus leaned forward to claw at her face, Avery dodged sharply to the left. She spun around and pounced on him, locking her powerful jaws around his throat.
All at once the fighters froze dead in place. The entire scene was eerily still and quiet for several minutes. The wolves and lycans exchanged glares but nothing more. Sebastian and Mariah both stared off into space, unresponsive. Then the lycan followers backed cautiously to the edge of the clearing, shooting looks back at Avery, who still clutched Atticus’ neck in her teeth. Once they reached the tree line, Avery slowly loosened her grip. Atticus straightened up, slowly crossed to where his female lieutenant’s body had fallen. He hefted her corpse into his arms, Jade’s knife still protruding from her chest, and left to rejoin his people, shooting one last sneer back at Avery. She bared her fangs and growled low in her throat.
“We’ll be back,” Atticus said, his voice hoarse and inhuman. “This was just a warning.”
“What the fuck just happened?” Brooke asked No one in particular.
Brooke sat on the roof, perplexed. On the ground below, werewolves milled around, some shifting back to their human forms, most heading back towards the pack house.
“Here,” Sebastian said, jumping down from the roof and holding up his hands. Mariah followed him without hesitation, landing clumsily on her white-blonde paws, rolling back to her feet and running off towards the pack house, whimpering. “Come on. I’ll catch you, I promise.” Brooke eyed his skinny arms uncertainly. She knew he was a werewolf, so he was sure to be stronger than he looked. But Brooke was heavier than she looked. She was feeling incredibly overwhelmed and shocked. And still no one had told her what was happening. She had no idea where Avery or Alex were. She had lost track of them in the chaos.
“I think I’ll just stay up here for now, thanks,” she called back down, her voice wavering.
“Just hold on, I’ll call Alpha,” Sebastian said, his tone reassuring. His purple eyes glazed over for several seconds and within a minute, Avery came loping over. She was dressed in shorts and a tank top, both too small for her. Her hair was disheveled and full of leaves and mud. Brooke could see blood stains coloring the black tattoos on her tawny skin. Brooke gasped at the sight and nearly jumped off the roof then and there, overwhelmed with concern.
“Oh my god! Are you okay?!” Brooke shouted, forgetting her werewolf hearing. “You’re bleeding!”
“I’m fine, love, I promise,” Avery called back, her voice calm. She took several steps forward and held up her arms. “Come down here and see for yourself.” Brooke paused for half a heartbeat and then launched herself off of the roof, eyes squeezed tightly shut. The next thing she felt was Avery’s strong arms catching her, halting her fall before her feet touched the ground. She breathed deeply in the familiar woodsy smell of Avery’s warm skin. She pulled back and Avery set her down gently.
Brooke ran her hands over Avery’s exposed skin, feeling for injuries. There were several scrapes and scratches, but they all felt shallow and had already formed scabs. Chock one up for werewolf healing.
“You’re sure you’re alright?” Brooke asked worriedly.
“I’ll be all better by tomorrow. Are you alright? Is she alright?” The last question was shot sideways at Sebastian.
“I’m fine. How are you not more badly hurt?” Brooke asked. “I saw that fight.”
“Guess they made her Alpha for a reason.” Brooke would have recognized that voice anywhere. Turning she saw Alex standing behind her, looking unscathed. She ran to hug him. Brooke felt a tapping on her shoulder. It was Rachel, completely naked, a wild look in her eyes. Brooke hastily backed away from Alex, not wanting to get between them.
Rachel grabbed at each of Alex’s limbs in turn, looking them over thoroughly before moving onto the next. She had blood running freely down her left arm, but she didn’t seem to care. When she had assured herself that Alex was uninjured, she grabbed his face with both hands and kissed him forcefully. Then she pulled back, stared intensely into his eyes, and ran off into the woods.
“I’ve called a meeting of the highest-ranking pack members. Immediately,” Avery said, and Brooke turned back towards her. “It’s about a quarter of a mile, can you walk that far, or should I carry you?”
“Wait, you want me there?” Brooke asked. “Why? I’m not even a werewolf.”
“That’s why I’m holding the meeting aloud. You both need to come.” This directed at Alex. He nodded. “I know this is a lot, but you’re Lunas now.” Brooke’s eyes went to the mate mark on Alex’s neck and her own felt somehow bare in comparison. “Or, at least, pretty much. You need to be kept in the loop.”
“I can help her,” Alex said. “Rachel is getting impatient.”
Avery looked him up and down, appraising. “You know where to go?” she asked.
“I can follow her there,” Alex responded. Avery nodded, kissed Brooke quickly, and ran off in the same direction Rachel had gone. “Your girlfriend is weird.” Alex said when she had vanished into the woods.
“You’re one to talk!” Brooke responded. They both laughed and started off into the trees. “Do you really know where we’re supposed to be going?”
“Not really, but I can sort of feel where Rachel is, so I know which direction to go in.” Alex wrapped a supportive arm around Brooke’s waist, and they started off into the forest along a path well-trodden by heavy werewolf paws.
“How does that work? Can you read her mind?”
“No, but I can feel her emotions. It’s hard to explain. You’ll understand it when Avery marks you.”
“If she ever does.”
“Well, she’ll have to eventually, won’t she?”
“I don’t know, she’s pretty set against it.”
“Why? I love being bonded to Rachel.”
“She says it’s because she objects to the proprietary overtones of it, but I think there’s something else she’s not telling me.” An image of Joseph’s disfigured back flashed into Brooke’s mind. “I think I might have to force the issue, though. Earlier, she was so distracted by us making out, I was the one who noticed the lycans first!”
“That’s definitely a problem.” Alex’s brows furrowed. The woods around them were dense and dark, and roots tried many times to trip them. They walked on for several minutes in silence, save for Brooke’s heavy breathing. Eventually the trees parted, and they found themselves in a small clearing, at the center of which stood an ancient willow tree. It was at least 50 feet tall with thick twisting limbs and spring-green leaves cascading down protectively around the base. It looked frozen in time, the boughs hanging perfectly still despite the breeze. Several figures sat on the ground beneath the tree in a small circle.
As Alex and Brooke approached the group, they saw that two spots had been left for them between Rachel and Avery.
Brooke sat, exhausted from the walk, and leaned her weight into Avery’s side, soaking in her warmth. Avery wrapped an arm protectively around her shoulders, pulling her close. Rachel still hadn’t dressed but Alex and the other werewolves seemed unfazed. Jade was there, still looking flawless, seated between two twenty-something-year-old-looking werewolves, a man and a woman. Both wore cut-off jean shorts and nothing else. There were also several other people Brooke had never met. Two muscular middle-aged men who were clearly a couple judging by how close they sat to each other, and a very strange looking older woman. She had thin, grey hair and a deeply lined face, but her body showed no signs of the frailty that usually accompanied old age. She sat upright, her many layers of clothing draping elegantly off of steady limbs, orange eyes shining brightly from deep sockets.
“Now that we’re all here, let’s get started,” Avery said.
“Yes, really, we’ve been waiting for nearly 20 minutes,” The older woman muttered.
Avery shot her a glare but continued. “Brooke, Alex, this is Serena,” she gestured towards the odd woman, who sat several spaces to their left. Brooke vaguely remembered Avery mentioning her once. “She’s the elder of our pack. And this is our Gamma, Benjamin…” she pointed towards the man directly to her left, who had greying sandy blonde hair and a friendly smile. “…and his mate Jonathan, our veteran Luna and schoolteacher.” Jonathan had dark brown hair and olive skin. “And that’s Janae and Pedro, they guard our territory, under Jade’s command, of course. And you already met Skye and brian who run the farms.”
“Nice to meet you all,” Brooke and Alex said almost in unison. Most of them nodded cordially, but the old woman, Serena, just scoffed and crossed her arms.
“So, obviously, we’re here to discuss the threat the Lycans pose. They want our territory. And if they come in force, I’m not sure we have the numbers to stop them. Who has ideas?”
“Could we appeal to the Hunter pack for help?” Benjamin the Gamma suggested.
“If you don’t mind fighting alongside a boatload of inbred fuckwads,” Rachel said.
“I know you’re on bad terms with your old pack, but we have to consider all our options,” Avery responded. “I think Boris might agree to a meeting.”
“I can go in your place,” Benjamin offered. Rachel huffed but didn’t object.
“That’s a good idea. Maybe Boris will… respond better to you. Any idea where thet are right now?”
“No, but I know someone who does. I’ll call him tomorrow.” Brooke could tell they trusted and worked well with each other. A look passed between them full of understanding, and the meeting moved on.
“Jade, any ideas how to beef up security?” Avery asked, turning her attention to the chief guard.
“If you’ll let me recruit some of the high-schoolers, I can run extra patrols,” Jade responded.
“I can free up some mfarm shifts to up the guard rotatiojn too.” Skye added.
Avery furrowed her brows in thought. “Alright. But only the most capable fighters; and don’t give them any shifts that interfere with their schoolwork.” Jade nodded.
“In your grandmother’s day, we would have raided their nest on the full moon and torn them to shreds!” Serena said, slamming her fist down onto a root to punctuate the last word.
“Back then, Atticus’ pack only had twenty members. Now they have easily ten times that number.”
“Fucking lycans,” the male guard, Pedro, spat. “They breed like rabbits.”
“You’re the Alpha,” Serena shot at Avery. “You won the trial. Now lead this pack over to that den of rats and exterminate them!”
“With all due respect, elder, I’m not going to lead my pack into a slaughter. Now, Jonathan, I’ll need you to keep the kids close to the pack house, it could be dangerous for them in the woods.”
Jonathan nodded. “I’ll move recess to the backyard and organize more indoor activities. Maybe we’ll do a unit on culinary science,” He said, drifting off in thought. Benjamin kissed his temple.
“I’ll try to keep holding things down here,” Benjamin said, looking towards the Alpha and Beta and their mates. “But it would be great if you could try and be around more.”
Avery nodded solemnly.
“I’ll try,” Rachel said simply.
“Anyone have anything else?” Avery asked the curirclin general. A moment later, “Aloud, Serena.” Avery gave the old woman a pointed look.
“I was just asking our Alpha why, when she had Atticus’ neck between her teeth, she chose not to end it right there and then.”
“Killing Atticus isn’t going to stop the conflict between our packs,” Avery responded, jaw clenched. “Someone else would take his place and who knowa how bad their new alpha might be. At least Atticus is the deil we know.”
The meeting concluded shortly after, and the group started to disperse. Brooke stood up creakily, stepping aside so Jade and her guards could talk to Avery. She crossed the clearing, grabbing Alex by the shoulder. He turned to face her. Brooke took a deep breath, steeling herself. Her head was starting to throb from the stress so she would need to make it brief.
“I think we need to give up our dorm room and move in here,” she said. “We both already spend more time here than there, and I can’t drive myself back and forth like you can. Avery and Rachel need to be here to run things, not constantly going back and forth in and out of town to see us.”
“I think you’re right,” Alex said. “We’ll go to the RA on Monday.” Brooke nodded. “And you need to convince Avery to mark you already, she can’t afford to be distracted now.”
“I know,” Brooke agreed, and resolved to discuss it with her later than night. The two best friends hugged each other tightly. “How on earth did we get ourselves wrapped up in all this werewolf craziness?”
“I guess we’re just interesting like that,” Alex responded, grinning. Brooke laughed.
“You mean weird?”
“Yeah, but in the best way.”
Later that night, Brooke laid in Avery’s bed wearing only a t-shirt and underwear. She watched as her girlf- mate stripped off the ill-fitting clothes she’d donned earlier. Avery preferred to sleep naked, but she always wore pajamas when they slept together. That night it was a sweatshirt and pajama shorts.
“So, Atticus killed your parents?” Brooke confirmed, her voice soft. It explain a lot
“bbYeah, in the war about 5 years ago. And they weren’t the only ones. He killed my uncle, too. And many others.”
“That’s awful, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s alright, the pack was here for us when we were young. I still sometimes find myself wishing I could ask them for advice, though. You might have noticed our numbers are more on the younger side.” Brooke hadn’t consciously noticed, but she could see what Avery meant. “A lot of us died in the last conflict. I’ve made it known that my pack will take in pretty much anyone, so we’ve managed to fill out our numbers significantly. bbbBut so has Atticus.” Avery straightened up, securing her hair in a long braid over her right shoulder with a hair tie from the top of the dresser.
“That makes a lot of sense.”
“I just hope it works. Their ancestors didn’t see the colonialist writing on the wall like my grandma did when she bought our land. As far as I know, Atticus’ pack still doesn’t have a permanent home. There was always going to be conflict. I’m just crossing my fingers they stay away from town. One of them gets seen by a human it could make things difficult for all of us.”
“Lycans don’t ever hang around humans?” Avery climbed into bed next to Brooke, leaning back on the pillows with a sigh.
“less than most of us. Some of them have passable social skills, but they’re much more likely to keep to themselves for the most part. Especially since most of them are nocturnal.” Brooke cuddled in close, wrapping Avery’s left arm around her shoulders and leaning up to kiss her cheek.
“Well, I’m glad you don’t stay away from all humans. If you did, we never would have met.”
“We would have,” Avery replied certainly. She leaned into the touch, snaking her hand down under Brooke’s shoulder to cup her breast. Brooke gasped at the sensation, craning her neck to see Avery’s face. There was an intense, hungry look in her glowing gold eyes. Brooke smiled, licking her lips. Avery reached over, her right hand biting into Brooke’s thigh as she pulled her smoothly onto her lap.
Brooke giggled, closing her eyes as their lips met, her right hand trailing up over Avery’s chest to cup the back of her neck, while her left caressed Avery’s breast. Avery’s hands trailed up under Brooke’s shirt, her torso hunching as she kissed her way down the left side of Brooke’s neck. Her hands wandered higher as her lips wandered lower, until she impatiently yanked the shirt off over Brooke’s head.
Unfortunately for the moment, the shirt had a tight collar.
“Ow,” she let slip, her head shrieking everywhere it pulled on her hair.
“FuckI’msosorry,” Avery spoke unnaturally fast. She pushed Brooke back onto the mattress beside her legs, but kept a tight grip on her thighs, as though she couldn’t bear to have her too close, but also couldn’t bear to let her go. Brooke pulled her shirt back on slowly and carefully, wincing as her hair fell back down around her shoulders.
“It happens, I’ll be fine.” Brooke gently finger-combed her hair and put it into a loose braid, letting the splitting ends hold it together in place of a band. “Can you get me the meds pouch from my bag?” Brooke asked, pointing across the room. Avery was back with the blue pencil case before Brooke was done asking. She was definitely overdue to clean and organize the canvas pouch. She’d been using the same one since elementary school. Pill bottles draw looks, but no one thinks twice about a student having an extra pencil case in their backpack. Brooke looked through the medicines inside until she found the blister pack she was looking for. Nearly breaking a nail on the unnecessary overpackaging, Brooke extracted the pill she needed and swallowed an almatriptan tablet, leaving a slight bitter taste on her tongue. She had tried every triptan available and decided this one worked the best. She was still glad she had the next day to recover before going back to classes on Monday, though. Avery heldout a glass of water and Brooke drank half before handing it back.
“Why don’t you just get it over with, already?” Brooke asked, settling back in against Avery’s side.
“Get what over with?” Brooke rested a hand on Avery’s thigh, stroking her fingers over the fine dark hair. Avery grabbed her hand and set their joined hands down on the blanket between them. Brooke took a steadying breath.
“Mark me,” Brooke answered simply. Avery went rigid next to her.
“Don’t say that. Please don’t say that.”
“Why not? I know you won’t hurt me. I’m not afraid.” Not much, anyway. “I’m ready. Mark me.” Avery vanished, appearing about 6 feet away from her side of the bed a moment later
“I—don’t want to.” Avery avoided her eyes. Brooke knew there was something deeper going on and it was starting to affect the whole pack.
“I know, but why not? Don’t you want to be able to feel what I’m feeling?”
“Of course! It’s just—”
“Just what?” Brooke thought back to something Atticus had said. “Is it something about Joseph? Those scars he has?” Brooke knew she was pushing, but her instinct said it was worth it.
“It was an accident, I swear!” Avery ripped a hand through her hair, pulling several strands free.
“I assumed it was,” Brooke reassured her. “I saw the way that you guys play earlier.” Avery chewed on one of her nails, finally meeting Brooke’s eyes.
“We were kids, yeah. Sorry, it’s just something we don’t like talking about.”
“I understand, really. But this is a completely different situation.” Avery sighed, shoulders slumping as she returned to her side of the bed, pulling the blanket up tight over her legs.
“I know that. I do. But at the same time I don’t know it, too. Does that make any sense?”
“It makes perfect sense.” Brooke had her own set of traumas she waited for the right mood to talk about. She just hoped Avery would get her mood right before Atticus did. Brooke shifted position awkwardly until they were face to face once more. She looked into the troubled gold depths of Avery’s eyes, reaching forward to tuck a few loose strands of hair behind Avery’s ear.
“I love your hair.” Avery smiled slightly. Brooke ran her fingers down the thick braid that fell over her shoulder, admiring how it caught the dim light from the lamp on the nightstand.
“I love you.” Avery tensed waiting for her response.
“I love you too.” A radiant smile spread across her mate’s face. Brooke traced the line of her cheekbone her eyes glowing. Desire consumed the space between them and their lips met in an long, lingering kiss.
“We have all the time in the world,” Brooke said, wishing it was true.