By The Full Moon ( A Hunter Novel #1)

Nine: Wrong Choice

"How many Rogues were there?" she asked.

"Four." I responded, and she gasped. The husband's eyes widened.

"Four and she's perfectly fine?" he asked. I nodded.

"Now, let's get the pups shifted and changed please, I would like to speak with them." I said firmly. They quickly nodded and turned to their cabins. I patiently waited for their return.

Elijah

Do you want help carrying it? I asked her. She merely huffed at me.

Grumpy much. I muttered to myself.

Of course, I'm grumpy! She yelled, making me wince. I asked you guys to respect my boundaries! You said you would, and then, then y-you grab m-my breasts. Your brother kisses my neck. I-I haven't been touched like that ever, and then you go and do whatever you feel like just because you can't control your wolves! The Rogue she held in her teeth twitched as it fully woke up, but she closed her jaw tighter, cutting off its air supply. The wolf went limp again in seconds.

We had just reached the pack jail, a dig out underneath a natural mountain den. She tossed the wolf with a flick of her head and it fell in a lump on the cold rock. A guard came in behind us, quickly grabbing the Rogue and dragging it into a cell. I nodded to the guard and he locked the metal gate, standing directly in front of it for when we came back, shifted and dressed.

Ava turned then, walking out of the jail and I followed. She started up the path that lead through the pack, head held high. The pack members who weren't at work or school in town watched her. She nodded in greeting to them. Though our pack had a bad reputation, we weren't as terrible as people believed. There were just bad Alphas that ruled with fear, and with the myths about twins, people feared us without reason. It made us slightly bitter if we were to be honest, and so we'd toughened our hearts out of spite.

Another group of pups yipped and run up to Ava, causing her to pause. She looked down at them as they tried to stand on two shaky legs, paws braced on her legs. She knelt to them, playfully nudging them as they rolled around on the ground. One jumped up but didn't seem to know where to jump. He ended up landing on her head. She looked up at me then with a pointed look.

What? I asked.

Do you not play with the pups? She asked.

I'm an Alpha not a play toy. I responded with a huff. She rolled her eyes at me.

It's not about being a 'play toy'. It's about building trust and love with your pack members. It shows them that they don't have to fear you to respect you. She said as she swung her tail away from a pup trying to bite it. She turned to him and playfully nipped at him. A small crowd formed as more children shifted, clothes tearing, as they joined the group. The crowd chuckled as the pups flooded Ava, making her fall on her back.

I felt a pull on my tail and yelped. I quickly turned to find a young she-wolf wagging her tail. Then she looked at my face and tucked her tail between her legs, bowing. The crowd gasped, waiting for the 'frightful' Alpha to punish the pup. I looked over to Ava to find her glaring at me. My ears tucked down involuntarily for a moment before I shook my head, the equivalent of clearing my throat as a human. I looked back at the she-wolf. She was shaking.

Love and trust. I heard Ava's sweet voice whisper into my head.

Love and trust. Right, I could do that. I hesitantly leaned down to the young pup and heard her whimper in fear, her eyes shut tightly. Poor thing. I nudged her with my snout and her eyes snapped open wide. I nudged her again and let my tail swing slightly, showing a playful attitude. The she-wolf smiled then, tongue lolling out of her mouth as she yipped happily before running around my legs. Everything was silent. I looked over to find all the pups staring at me. Ava looked at me, an eyebrow raised. Then she nudged them, and they flew at me. My eyes widened as nearly twenty pups charged me.

Emilio

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Elijah, the big bad wolf, was being pummeled by the kids. And he let it happen. The crowd chuckled as Elijah yelped from a pup hanging from his tail. Ava lay on the ground, a few pups sitting around her as they watched the show. As much as I could watch Elijah be out of his comfort zone all day long, we needed to question that Rogue. I walked up to the group, the pups by Ava coming over to sniff at my hands before licking. I patted them on the head before coming up to Ava.

"We need to question the Rogue." I said. She nodded and barked, getting all the pups attention. They quickly scrambled off Elijah and headed to their parents. She stood then and made her way to the house. Elijah and I followed behind her. When we got to the cabin Ava used her teeth to turn the doorknob before heading up the stairs. Elijah shifted in the living room grabbing a pair of jeans from the pantry we kept extra clothes in.

"What did the kids say?" he asked

"Well, they said the Rogues charged her, so she went for the closest one first. She ripped that ones throat out, then shifted, kicked the second one in the jaw, knocking him out, shifted back, and tackled the third one. Then she shifted, snapped its neck, then shifted back and fought with the biggest one until she was able to crush its throat with her teeth. The one she knocked out is the one that is in the jail now." Elijah looked bewildered which is exactly how I had felt when the kids told me the story. At first, I thought they were exaggerating but all five of the stories added up the same way. Elijah rubbed his jaw, a

"I didn't think it was possible for a wolf to shift that much. And to use it in the middle of a fight to her advantage. That must have taken a lot of-"

"Practice." We both looked back to Ava, fully dressed in tights, a tank top, and combat boots, her long hair in a pony tail as she descended the stairs.

"I trained my old pack's warriors. That meant I needed to be able to do any and everything, learn every advantage I could, to always have the upper hand. Even if that meant being naked for a split second." She said as she hit the landing. Then her face reddened.

"Elijah can you please put a shirt on?" she asked.

"Yes ma'am." He said as he walked up to her. She took a step back and braced her hand on his chest.

"Back up, buddy." She said as she walked past him and up to me.

"We'll head to the jail. Meet us there when you're fully clothed." She said as she walked out the front door. Elijah muttered something I couldn't hear, and I couldn't help but smile. Miss Ava hadn't even been here for 48 hours, and she was already making a change.

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Aaahhhhhhh another one down!

Boo ya!

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J. Vas