"So you're my new roommate?" asked Ava, as she threw her duffle bag onto the spare single bed. After a one-hour drive from Mystic Falls, she had just arrived at the Silver Moon Pack, and it had only been one day since the visitors had left. There was less than three weeks to go until the Blood Moon Ball, and they had no time to waste. Caden had held an emergency meeting, the day after the party, with herself and Jaxon, to debrief them on the security plan he had devised with Alpha Roberts. It was decided that Ava, along with a handful of their soldiers, had to be immediately dispatched to Silver Moon, to begin training their less than stellar warriors.
The doe-eyed brunette, looked up from her sketch pad, and blinked a couple of times at the tall blonde super-model standing in her room.
"Oh that's right! You must be Delta Ava, my name is Lily. Sorry, I tend to go into a trance when I'm sketching, and sometimes I forget things" said Lily, as she stood up from her desk and outstretched her hand to shake with Ava. Lily was about 5'3" in height, almost 8 inches shorter than Ava, she had chestnut coloured hair that cascaded in soft waves down her back. Ava instantly thought Lily was beautiful and she had a strange kind of attraction to her. It was not a sexual attraction, but something else she had never felt before, it was like her wolf wanted to submit to, and protect this little female all at the same time. When she shook the girl's hand, her wolf stirred, and she felt the inception of a bond forming.
"They only told me you were arriving this morning, and I tried to clean up as best I could" Lily glanced nervously around the room and quickly stacked up a pile of her drawings, in a futile attempt to make her desk look tidy. "I'm an artist, and we're kind of messy, it sort of goes with the territory" Lily shrugged her shoulders awkwardly, "but please Delta Ava, make yourself at home".
"Please just call me Ava, no need to use my title all the time, and don't apologise. I appreciate you putting up with me for the next few weeks, to be honest I don't know why my Alpha insisted I had to room with another woman" said Ava, as she began to unpack her stuff.
Ava had argued with Caden, that she was fine to sleep on her own, and she didn't need a minder at Silver Moon. Caden had claimed it was because of the many visitors that were descending on Silver Moon for the ball, and there wasn't enough space, so everybody had to bunk in together. That was partly true, but she knew for a fact that Alpha Roberts had offered for her to stay as his personal guest at his private Alpha residence, separate from the pack house. As Alpha Roberts had a Luna they no longer resided in the pack house, and reportedly lived in quite the lavish mansion. However, Caden had stipulated in their security agreement that Ava was to reside in the Silver Moon pack house, and to be roomed with a female pack member at all times, or he wouldn't let her go. Ava got the impression Caden didn't trust Alpha Roberts, and he didn't want her dealing with any unwanted male attention. Ava huffed, as if she couldn't snap any man's neck with the flick of her wrist, if she needed to.
"Oh I don't mind, in fact I'm really honoured. I must confess I've heard everything about you. I mean, wow, a female Delta! That's kind of unheard of around here, I guess I'm kind of a fangirl, like I think you're super awesome!" blurted out Lily, then she slapped a hand over her mouth and began blushing with embarrassment. Oh god, did she just tell Delta Ava she was her fangirl? Lily felt like such a loser. Ava laughed at the cute brunette; she could already sense they were going to be fast friends.
Ava looked around Lily's bedroom, is was quite large and lavish for a pack room. Then she remembered that Lily was Luna Sophie's niece, and therefore must be afforded certain extra comforts.
"Ok little Lily, why don't you take me on a tour of the great Silver Moon pack? I want to see what all the hype is about."
By noon the girls had arrived at the pack cafeteria for lunch, as they lined up with their lunch trays, Ava reflected on what she had seen today. The Silver Moon estate was certainly large and impressive, with plenty to look at. Lily had shown Ava the large central pack square, with a massive round water fountain, complete with two life sized sculptured wolves, appearing to be howling at the moon with water spitting out of their mouths. Lily had told her that Alpha Roberts had commissioned the sculptures, and two wolves were modelled from Alpha Roberts and Luna Sophie in their wolf forms. It was a gift to Luna Sophie for their latest mating anniversary, although Lily didn't seem to think her Aunt liked it all that much. It was a little over the top Ava thought, she couldn't imagine Caden erecting a statue of himself back at Mystic Falls. They also toured Luna Sophie's magnificent rose garden, she had every kind of coloured rose imaginable, even some very rare species apparently. Ava had to admit she loved the rose garden, Luna Sophie certainly had good taste, but not so much her mate.
If you had keen eyes like Ava, it didn't take long to see past all the grandiose attractions on display and start to notice the tell-tale signs of cracks in system. At one point the girls had walked close to the pack boundary, and Ava spotted a guard asleep at his post. She gave him a swift kick to wake him up.
"On your feet soldier! What is your name and rank?" Ava demanded to know. When the guard realised it was the visiting Delta waking him up, he stood up immediately and removed his cap, casting his eyes down and baring his neck in submission. He glanced briefly at Lily, and blushed.
"Josh T-T-Taylor, I am a first-year trainee mam. Apologies Delta Ava, I have been on watch duty since 10 pm last night. I only meant to rest my eyes for a minute, but I must have drifted off..." Josh winced as he said the last part.
Josh didn't look like he could be more than around 18 or 19 years old. Ava glanced down at her smart watch, it was 10am, this boy had been at his post for 12 hours straight. Mystic Falls never put trainees on night watch by themselves, and guards only did 6 hour shifts max before being replaced with someone fresh. It was important to be alert and always prepared when on guard duty, you couldn't function properly if you were tired.
"What time does your shift end boy?" Ava inquired. Josh looked nervous and began to fidget with the cap in his hands.
"Well...er...my shift was meant to end at 6am this morning, but Brad, who was meant to replace me, begged me to cover his shift today. You see he's gone to visit his girlfriend, Stacey. Her parents left this morning to go visit Aunty Barbara at Redwood pack. So you see, Brad and Stacey have the house all to themselves. And since they've been together for 3 months now, Stacey said she would let Brad ..." Ava held up her hand to make Josh stop rambling.
"Stop! I've heard enough. Run over to the Stacey's house and tell Brad to come to his post now! If he is not here within 15 minutes, he will be scrubbing the pack toilets with a toothbrush. Time starts now" said Ava as she started the timer function on her smart watch.
"But what if they're in the middle of having..." Josh began in high squeaky voice.
"I don't care if he's performing life-saving heart surgery on the girl, you tell him to get his ass over here NOW!" Ava boomed. Lily had never seen Josh run so fast, the poor lad looked like he was about to pee in his pants. Lily gave the Delta a mouth gaping look, if she was a fangirl before, she had just become the president of the Ava Appreciation Society.
Ava chuckled at the memory of Lily's expression, as she reached for a chicken sandwich to place on her tray.
"LILY! Why have you brought Delta Ava to the pack cafeteria?! She is a visiting dignitary! She should be eating in the VIP lounge with the other high-ranking officials! And what is this I hear about you showing the Delta around the pack grounds yourself? You are not ranked for that task, I was scheduled to give her the official tour!" yelled the stocky man, as he stomped up to the girls. The cafeteria fell silent, and all eyes were upon them. Who is this douche bag? thought Ava.
"I'm sorry Beta Mark, nobody told me I wasn't allowed to show Ava around, and I didn't know she had to eat in the VIP lounge" said Lily, her eyes cast down and her body trembling slightly.
"That's DELTA Ava to you! Always address her with respect and know your place girl! Now get back to your room. I'll take over the tour from here" snapped the beta, then he turned his attention to Ava, his demeanour and tone completely changing "Delta Ava, such an honour to finally meet you. Apologies for Lily's insubordination, please allow me to escort you to the VIP lounge, where you will feel more comfortable". He said in a smooth voice, stretching his arm out in the direction of the cafeteria exit, trying to usher Ava out of there.
Lily began to shuffle away with her head still bowed, but Ava grabbed her by the arm to stop her. She manoeuvred Lily behind her back in a protective stance and stood tall, looking directly into the eyes of the Beta. Beta Mark was about the same height as her, which was not very tall for a male werewolf, but he had a solid build and an intimidating manner. Ava could feel her wolf's hackles rising, and again she had the strange urge to protect Lily at all costs, she was fighting her wolf not to shift and rip this asshole's throat out.
"Lily is with me, where I go she goes. It was under my request that Lily show me around the pack today, and a good thing she did. Beta Mark...are you aware that you have guards falling asleep on the job because they are doing back-to-back shifts with no breaks? And are you also aware you have inexperienced first year trainees handling night shifts with no back up? Did you also know your soldiers are shirking their duties so they can sneak off to have sex with the young she-wolves in your pack? Instead of yelling at an innocent pack member, maybe you should be having strong words with your so-called high-ranking officials. Or are they too busy enjoying the pleasures of the VIP lounge to be bothered overseeing the security and protection of this pack?"
You could have heard a pin drop in the cafeteria. Ava wouldn't normally tear strips off a Beta in front his pack, but he started it by humiliating Lily in public. Beta Mark was turning a strange shade of beetroot red, and she could tell he wasn't used being put in his place by a woman.
"Delta Ava, I heard about the unfortunate incident with Josh and Ryan and believe me they will be severely punished. We weren't expecting you to walk the perimeter today, if you had have waited for me to officially escort you, this could have all been avoided" he said as he glared at Lily. "Why don't we go somewhere private to talk about this further?" said Mark as he glanced around the cafeteria.
"Yes I think we need to discuss this and many more important matters. However, right now Lily and I are hungry. Once we've had our lunch, I will meet with you," said Ava. Beta Mark waited to escort Ava to the VIP lounge, but Ava turned back to her food tray and grabbed a second chicken sandwich, two bottled waters, and two apples. She handed the tray to Lily.
"Why don't you go and find us a table" she addressed Lily, then she turned to Mark "I will come and find you when I'm finished, you're free to go for now". With that she flipped her signature long ponytail behind her shoulder and sauntered over to the table Lily had chosen for them.
Beta Mark stood there dumbfounded, he had never been dismissed before, and certainly not by a female. He fisted his hands, turned on his heel and stormed towards the exit of the building. As he was walking out, he noticed not one pack member was looking at him. All eyes were fixed on Ava, and was that a look of awe and admiration on their faces? The Ava Appreciation Society membership numbers had just skyrocketed, and Lily was still the president.
We finally get to meet Lily, and it appears that Ava and Lily like each other. Was that a surprise to you? We also get to see a bit of Ava's character. What are your thoughts? Please vote and comment :)