Chapter 17

Chapter 17
In the dead of the night, Ava's stomach growled and she pouted, the chaotic feisty left her hungry. Not to mention all the worrying–even though it's stupid, wrong, downright daft of her she still wonders if Bloody, or Donatello Rossetti as Archibald revealed his Christian name to be, was alright. She also wondered if the other guy she had once had a heated argument with was okay. All of the pressure brought a migraine and a growling stomach as the result–what could be worse than this?

“Hey watch out!” Nox's big hands grabbed her arms to pull her back before she stepped into a hole in the ground. Ava was so deep in thought she failed to see what lay ahead of her. “You should be careful, watch where you step. It's dark but we're in a less dense part of the forest.”

“Get off me!” she shrugged Nox off. “Just leave me alone and don't touch me. I'm hungry, I'm cold, I'm hurt and I'm having a fucking headache,” she left the poor Alpha standing and sauntered towards a random tree to lean against it. She stayed there for a while and felt Wave's piercing gaze, Ava's stomach sank into a hole, feeling bad about the way she treated the man. He was only trying to help.

She discreetly stole a glance at the man to see him still standing and silently watching her, though it was dark and his face not very clear she somehow...knew he was hurt by her reaction. As if she could feel what he was feeling through an invisible connection between them. Ava gulped down the lump in her throat, she pinched her lips together when another growl sounded from her stomach. ‘𝑪𝒂𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒆𝒕? 𝑰'𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒑𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒊𝒛𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝑾𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒅. 𝑺𝒉𝒖𝒕 𝒖𝒑 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆,’ while she had a mental conversation with her stomach Waverly vanished.

“W-Wave? Waverly? Waverly–ouch!” standing too abruptly shot pain from her injury. “Wave! Where are you?” 𝑰 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒐 𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒈𝒂𝒏𝒕. 𝑯𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕.

“Here,” he came from behind one hand on her hip, “It's an apple. There are not many fruit trees around here so I was lucky to get this. Oh and, it's okay, you don't have to apologize. I did kiss you without permission–that was rude of me.”

Ava looked at the apple, then up at his grey eyes. So bright, yet dark and tantalizing. She could drown in his pretty eyes. “Wave...I-I can't accept this. And stop apologizing! You already said sorry about a hundred times for the kiss, it was a kiss, you didn't rape me! I should be the one apologising for my behaviour–living in Sin City sort of changed me. I'm sorry.”

“No! You don't have to apologize about anything, it's called having personal space and as your mate, I need to respect that.”

“But Wave–”

“Shh, Ava,” he cupped her face, “Eat this, fruits are good for you. I'll get you something better to eat once we leave this area, okay? I'll carry you on my back so we can move faster. Just...just eat,” he presented a beautiful American Apple to Avalyn, a light smile dancing on his pink lips.

Ava took the apple, examined it, looked back at Wave, and took a bite. The fruit was indeed delicious as it should be, the burst of sweetness from the juices in the Apple had her taste buds buzzing with life. She moaned softly as she feasted on the Apple, big, round, and red with a stem still attached to a leaf. All her attention went straight into finishing it and when she did only seeds were left.

She moaned again. “That was amazing. Thank you, but, why are you doing this for... Waverly?” Ava caught him staring down with a look in his eyes she couldn't explain. They beamed with something different, a look she recognized. Bloody had once shown her that exact look–a somewhat dark, lascivious, dangerous look–but it didn't make her scared. Ava's body shivered under the intensity of his gaze, when Waverly caught on to this he quickly snapped out of the trance.

“Avalyn, are you still cold? Is everything okay?” he inquired innocently. Pushing away her vibrant orange curls to cup her whole face in his hands. “Talk to me.”

“I...I'm okay. It's nothing. I just really love the Apple, it quenched my hunger, thank you, Waverly. You're...you're so sweet and gentle. It's unbelievable and alarming,” as a person not used to gentleness and affection Ava is sceptical–but somewhere inside a voice tells her to trust him.

It tells her that he's safe. But another says she should turn back to find Bloody–while he was the very opposite of Waverly, he never actually hurt her, he just showed his affection differently. After observing Bloody for a while, and what happened, she believes Bloody isn't as bad as he seems. ‘𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅! 𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒂𝒎 𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒂𝒎 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈? 𝑩𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒅𝒚'𝒔 𝒂 𝒅𝒐𝒖𝒄𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒈𝒖𝒚 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒓𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒆𝒆𝒌 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒎!’ she convinced herself.

“Ava,” Waverly waved his hand before her face. “Do you like my face? You've been staring for quite a while now. I'm sure I'm not that handsome, I'm a pretty average guy. I know you're probably wondering why I wear piercings and my hair in split bangs like an Asian male. It doesn't suit me, someone said it made me ugly because my face doesn't fit my body. I know I'm not the best looking but looks don't matter, it's what's inside, right?”

Ava shook her head.

“It's always the good-looking people who downgrade themselves, thinking they're these grotesque creatures that came from Hell while the ugly ones go around parading as self-proclaimed beauty Kings and Queens,” the words came out one by one, “Wave, you're beauty is one in a million–you have such a unique and non-stereotypical personality with oddly enthralling features to match. A gentle giant. I've known you for two hours and I can already tell the type of person you are like I've known you for a millennium. Waverly, you are a divine being. Everything about you screams perfection, and your name is marvellous. So don't let anyone tell you that you're ugly, you are not, you are beautiful. So very beautiful,” Ava swept his hair away to hold his face and look into his eyes as if she was staring into a sea of the most exotic flowers ever.

Stunned silence came upon them.

𝑾𝒂𝒗𝒆, 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒖𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒕 𝒖𝒔 𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒇 𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒆𝒎𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉?

Wave was too speechless to answer his wolf.

Ava, on the other hand, didn't even know she said what she said until she said what she said and now she's embarrassed by what she said. “Oh, my God...I had...I... I'm sorry I..I..”

Waverly looked down, trying to process what she said, no one...no one in his life had ever said something like that to him. Not even close. And there she was, the mate he fought for and managed to get saying such...such things to him. Wave sniffed and pulled her into his arms to bear hug her as if his eyes would never glimpse her again. ‘𝑰... 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒕...’ Alpha Nox shed one tear without her knowledge.

Avalyn again felt an emotion she knew didn't belong to her, she smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. What she said affected him so much that she wondered about his past–was he bullied? She wasn't quite sure.

“Ava...”

“Yes, Waverly?”

“Thank you.”

“Wave–”

“You have no idea how much those words affected me–they touched my heart, I can't believe someone looked at me and said that. I'm so happy it was you that did it–my mate, the one Goddess sent for me. You don't even know how much those words made me feel... Like somebody...” Nox buried his face in her neck, getting a deep whiff of her scent, it relaxed his muscles but her words made his heart race uncontrollably. It made his wolf bounce around his head without stopping and wag his tail.

Wave began to rock her body side to side, Ava didn't mind this, it made her almost happy seeing him this way. She felt proud of what she said.

What felt like an hour later, Wave finally let her go so she could breathe some fresh air–his scent must've been stifling for her. “Ava, are you okay?”

“Well I'm not cold anymore,” she grinned, “Wave, are you okay? You look...sad, but happy, but glum, but still happy. I don't know what to say.”

“Neither do I,” they shared a laugh. “But yes, I am okay. But seriously, thank you for saying that. It means a lot to me, Ava. Your words are powerful.”

“I'll take that as a compliment,” she winked with a smirk, “Shall we keep going, Mr. Alpha?”

Wave's smile stretched from ear to ear, he was about to answer when a loud ringing sound bore its way into his right ear. They twitched and without hesitation, he hugged Ava and pushed her to the ground. A bullet went straight through the tree they stood in front of, Wave rolled onto his back with his mate protectively in his arms. A demonic growl burned his throat, his eyes turned blazing crimson red–Wave looked around and found a man standing feet away and he was holding a glass-equipped rifle. He held it in both hands and slowly lowered it when he missed the target.

“Bloody,” Nox growled.

“Nox,” Bloody on the dirt.

Going into protective mode Wave jumped to his feet and placed his mate against a tree. “Mate, don't move, I'll take care of him.”

“Wait... Wha–Bloody! You're alive!” she was relieved to see him, but scared. If he was here, her so-called master, and Wave was her so-called mate, there can't be any good outcome.

The two tall and built men faced off, feet away from each other. Their expressions were menacing, with hate and rage mixed with disgust.

Avalyn knew then and there that it was about to go down.

And it was all because of one person.

Her.