Ava's Mate Read online

  Ava’s Mate

  by

  Hazel Gower

  Ava’s Mate

  Copyright © 2013, Hazel Gower

  ISBN: 9781937325886

  Publisher: Beachwalk Press, Inc.

  Electronic Publication: September, 2013

  Editor: Pamela Tyner

  Cover: Live Love Media

  eBooks are not transferable. No part of this book may be used or reproduced without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations in articles and reviews.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

  Back Cover Copy

  They’re not what either one expected or wanted, but they’re destined to mate.

  Ava Wolfen has dreamed of her mate since she was a little girl—a powerful werewolf shifter—but what does fate give her? A shifter-hating military human named Logan Brown.

  It has only been a few months since Logan learned that werewolves exist. And although they’re protectors of the earth and are fighting to save the world from demons and other horrific creatures, Logan despises them. Because of that he’s having an extremely difficult time coming to terms with the fact that both his sister and brother have mated with werewolves. And if that wasn’t enough, now he finds out he’s supposedly destined to mate a werewolf also.

  Ava and Logan try their hardest to fight fate, not willing to settle for a mate they neither expected nor want. When a girls’ night out goes wrong, Logan comes in to help save the day, and in the process he reveals a huge secret of his own….he has supernatural powers that he’s kept hidden.

  After the rescue, the attraction they’ve fought for so long becomes undeniable, and they spend an explosive night together. But if they give a relationship a go, will it work, or are they a disaster that’s doomed from the start?

  Content Warning: contains graphic sex, strong language, and violence

  Dedication

  To my awesome children, thanks for letting Mummy write and supporting me in all I do. I’m the luckiest mother in the world.

  Acknowledgements

  A huge thank you to my Publisher Beachwalk Press and my wonderful editor Pamela Tyner. I’d also like to give a big thank you to Elizabeth Ellen Carter, my beta reader. Lastly, to my Word whisper group, thanks for your help and support.

  Prologue

  Snarling at the ten demons before him, he grabbed the largest and ripped off his head, throwing the body at the wall. “When I say I want one of their females, I expect you to bring me one. Not excuses that they keep killing your scouts or destruction squads. I’m making it priority one to get our hands on their mated females.” Staring down at the terrified demons before him, he licked the blood from his hands and smirked. “Anyone who can bring me a pregnant female will get a reward. If you can bring me a pregnant female and a werewolf female I will do even better—I will give you a world to command.”

  The beady eyes before him lit up and they groveled at his feet before scampering out of his hall.

  Looking around his domain, his gaze rested on the chained woman huddling in the corner. “Ah, my pet, let us hope one of your predictions come true. As of late everything you have said has not come to pass. If I keep having to punish you, I don’t know how much longer I will keep you alive.” Stalking over to the trembling woman, he pulled the chain around her neck and hands tighter until she was just a breath away from his sharp fangs. “If we don’t have a female werewolf and a pregnant mate within the time frame you have given me, I will kill you slowly, limb by limb.”

  She tried to nod and gasped out, “Master, I promise this will happen. I have not seen another path.”

  He growled and threw her down. “For your own sake, you better hope so.” He walked out of the room and to a portal.

  Chapter 1

  Ava’s first couple of weeks at human military central had started out so well. She loved organizing the military base. She doubted it could run without her now. She’d found a better supplier for everything, not to mention she’d arranged for two more large barracks and three bunkhouses to be erected .

  Men. How on earth would they survive in life if they didn’t have a good, reliable woman around? If she hadn’t come in and taken over, they would still be waiting for material and labors. Her brothers expected fifty human men to somehow squeeze into one small bunkhouse with no cafeteria.

  Ava’s brothers were the most unorganized men. If it wasn’t for her, she was sure most of them would still only have a TV, lounge, and bed in their houses. Ava didn’t even want to think about food. The frustrating thing was they all knew how to cook bar Jamie, thanks to Faith. Jamie never learnt, because Faith always took over his duties. But Ava’s brothers would rather live on junk food.

  Ava had just come back from a lunch with her new sister-in-law, well soon to be sister-in-law. Kirby was a human mate and didn’t seem to recognize the mate mark as proof. She wanted a human ceremony so she could have a piece of paper that stated they were married.

  It was so hard to understand humans, because mating was a lot more powerful than a marriage ceremony. When werewolves, or any weres for that matter, mated it was for life. There was no such thing as divorce. Over and over again this had been explained to humans, but they just didn’t seem to grasp the concept.

  She supposed she would have to get use to humans, especially as two of her brothers had mated one, and her close friend Sandra had mated another. God, she prayed she was never stuck with one. Ava wanted a werewolf mate, not a weak, small, delicate human.

  Really, she shouldn’t be so mean. She loved Faith like a sister and Kirby, Rane’s mate, was fast becoming her best friend. With her twin sister Eve now in the air force, Ava had had to make some new friends to help with the loneliness. Ava smiled as she thought of her crazy sister. Eve was the only werewolf who would be game enough to want to fly fighter jets. All the weres she knew liked all their feet firmly planted on solid ground.

  Ava shook her head at the fact that she and her sister were like fire and ice. Eve had counted down the hours until she could get away from small town life, whereas Ava thrived on it. She loved knowing everyone’s business, being so close to family, the togetherness of community, and most of all she loved the nosiness and help available.

  Ava was always up for helping anyone and usually ended up taking over projects. Her mother called her a ‘mother hen’ and said she had never known anyone in her long life who organized people better than Ava.

  That was why Ava knew this was the perfect job for her. It also helped that it put her secretarial and management courses to good use. Plus, what sister didn’t enjoy organizing her brothers’ lives, and showing them she was better at most things than them?

  Lost in her musing, she didn’t catch the mango and coconut scent. It was her usually quiet wolf that alerted her, but it was a minute too late and she bumped into a rock solid chest. She corrected herself before she fell, but muscular arms wrapped around her anyway.

  Ava shut her eyes, afraid, terrified, of what she would see. She took another deep breath of the mango and coconut. Mmm, her favorite.

  She was startled out of her dreamy haze by the sound of Faith’s voice muttering, “Oh fantastic, I haven’t missed the show yet.”

  Ava groaned as the source of the heavenly smell that she knew was her mate gave an awkward chuckle. Still not willing to look up at her future mate, Ava focused on Faith.

  Leaning against a nearby wall, Faith had a bag of popcorn in her hand. She smiled at Ava and waved, saying, “Don’t mind me. I’m invisible.” She reinforced this by putting popcorn in her mouth and used the other hand in a shooing m
otion.

  A feeling of dread started to kick in. If Faith had come here to watch her meet her mate, then something very entertaining or amusing was going to happen. That scared Ava more than anything. She groaned as it registered that her mate was human. Shit. Fate had fucked up.

  She took a deep breath and shut her eyes, now really afraid of what she would see as she turned back around to her mate. Cracking one eye open, she looked up to see brown eyes sparkling with amusement. Oh, okay, so far so good. Ava opened the other eye and saw he had red eyebrows and a crew-cut that matched the color of his eyebrows. She was pleasantly surprised to see he was quite a bit taller than her five-eight, she guessed him to be well over six feet.

  Her mate didn’t look very old for a human, he was maybe in his late twenties or early thirties. He had a killer smile, with a dimple in each cheek, perfect white teeth, and a very masculine, square jaw. Ava sighed and stepped back for a better look at the gorgeous man. His smile grew wider and another chuckle escaped his mouth as she tore her gaze from his face to travel down the rest of his body.

  Ava was blatantly checking him out, and she was loving what she saw. He wasn’t as big or as tall as her eldest brothers, but even in his army shirt she could clearly see the outline of his hard, toned, muscular arms and she knew he would have six-pack abs to match. She wished his pants were tighter so she could get a better look at the rest of him. He cleared his throat and her eyes darted back up to his face.

  “Like what you see?”

  Ava couldn’t believe she had just stood there staring at the guy. Well, not just any guy but her mate. At least she hadn’t done what her wolf was yelling in her head for her to do. Jump his bones. Bit him, make him ours. Let’s take him back and show him that once he goes wolf he will never go back. Jump him now. Her wolf had turned into a hussy.

  Arousal coursed through her body and she moaned out loud when he spoke this time. “I’m Logan. Corporal Logan Brown, and you are…”

  It was like someone threw a bucket of ice cold water over her. She should have seen the similarities and guessed. But Faith being there waiting for the entertainment to start had put her off. Logan was Kirby’s asshole brother.

  Ignoring Logan’s question, she turned from him and closed her eyes, counting to ten before opening them to see Faith, who now sat on a chair against the wall watching. Whirling back to Logan, she pointed behind her at Faith. “It doesn’t bother you that we have someone sitting in a chair watching us? You don’t find that strange?”

  His shoulders lifted slightly. “Not much I can do about her. She is an odd one, and my superior’s wife.”

  Trying to prolong the inevitable, she spun back around to face Faith. Ava knew how Logan felt about werewolves and anything paranormal, everyone did. He was very vocal about it. He hated them and had made it known he wasn’t happy working with them. Logan’s mood would change as soon as he knew who she was.

  Glaring at Faith, she growled. “This is some sick cosmic joke, right?” She clenched her fists as Faith grinned and shoved a hand full of popcorn into her mouth.

  Slowly turning this time, she plastered a smile on her face as she stared at her human mate Logan Brown. “Sorry for my little breakdown just then. I’m usually quite normal, considering…” She let out a huff and in one quick breath said, “It’s nice to meet you, Logan. My name is Ava Wolfen.”

  As soon as her last name left her lips, his whole body stiffened. His jaw clenched as he muttered, “Apology accepted. Bye.”

  He started to walk away, and without thinking of the consequences, Ava grabbed his arm and pulled a stunned Logan to her. Reaching up, she grabbed his face and pulled it down, pasting her mouth over his. He stood still for the moment, not reacting. Frustration kicked in and she let her wolf slip out. Tracing his lips with her tongue, she mashed her body against his.

  When her hands slowly trailed down his back to grip his ass he growled and opened his mouth, and his tongue met hers in a dance as old as time. She slowly started moving them toward her office door, putting her plan into action. She spun them, holding him close to her as she leaned against the door and moved her hands back up his chest.

  Her body was on fire, burning for him. Logan’s mango and coconut scent clouded her head and she fought to stay focused on her goal. She moaned and almost rethought her plan. Reaching a hand behind her, she slowly opened her office door. She pushed against his chest, nipping his lip as she took a step into her office, leaving him standing alone outside.

  A surprised Logan stared at her, his eyes filled with lust and want. Ava gave herself a mental pat on the back for staying strong, and hoped she could do the rest. With a saucy smile on her face, still panting from the heated kiss she said in a breathless voice, “It’s such a pity you don’t like us werewolves, because there are so many possibilities…” She trailed her finger down his chest and blew him a kiss before she turned and walked to her desk, Faith’s laughter in the background.

  * * * *

  What the hell had just happened? Logan had been coming back to base after having some leave time, and had reported to Major Rane, when on his way back he literally bumped into the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Now that he knew what she was, he used that term lightly as she wasn’t human, she was a werewolf. She was stunning though—supermodel stunning. Tall, with shiny jet black hair all the way down to her bottom. She had the most striking ice blue eyes he had ever seen, with extra-long lashes that matched her hair. Her dark olive skin and dainty little nose sat over thick, full lips which topped off her perfect face. Her body was every man’s dream, breasts that were more than a handful—and he had large hands—and legs that wouldn’t quit.

  Logan knew right now he looked like an idiot standing outside her office door. Sitting at her desk, Ava looked like she hadn’t almost made him cum in his pants like some randy teenage boy. His cock was rock hard at the moment and straining in his trousers.

  It took him a minute to register the laughter behind him was coming from Faith, Kane’s wife. He slowly turned, placing his hands over his crotch to conceal his dick that wouldn’t stand down, and stared at the strange pregnant woman.

  She smiled at him as she eased up off her seat. “That was even better seeing it live than it was weeks ago in my vision. Now I know who you are for one, and two, I have seen two ways for you to proceed. Do you want my advice? Will you take it, or will you be rude and pretend I’m not here?”

  Logan debated what to do, he didn’t want to know what this woman thought she saw or not. Logan knew he wasn’t going to be rude, he couldn’t, not only was the crazy woman in front of him the alpha’s wife, she was also one of his sister’s friends, and he would do anything for his sister Kirby, even ask questions he didn’t want to know the answer to. “Please, give me your advice.”

  Faith raised her eyebrows at him and then looked over his shoulder at Ava. “Don’t fight. Accept your fate. You, Logan Brown, are very important. This notion you have about being a normal human was exactly like mine. I tried to be normal. I’ll tell you a secret.” She moved closer to him and her voice dropped so low it was barely a whisper. “No one is normal. There is no such thing. Everyone has something special about themselves, some stronger than others. You can pretend like thousands of others or embrace it. Think about it.”

  She patted his cheek and walked away. Terrified at what had just come out of her mouth, Logan stared after her until he could no longer see her. With his brain going a million miles a minute, he turned around and headed for the gym, needing to sort his thoughts out and figure out what he should do.

  * * * *

  Hours later, after he had beat the crap out of a punching bag and almost put two of his buddies out of action for a while, he still couldn’t get all that had happened out of his head. Thoughts of Ava made him rock hard. So hard in fact he could probably hammer nails with his dick.

  Fucking werewolves. He was the only member left in his family who hadn’t fallen in lust with one, and he said ‘
lust’ instead of ‘love’ because how could you love an animal like that? He cringed as he remembered Rane and the other werewolves shifting into half-human and half-werewolf. The sight of them in that form was scary, and the full change to a wolf was just as weird, but he would admit, even if only to himself, that in wolf form they were beautiful. He couldn’t help wondering what Ava would look like in her wolf form. Logan bet she would be magnificent.

  The last couple of months had been a real eye opener. Not only had he learned werewolves, were tigers, were lions, and were panthers existed, but they were there to save the world from demons, minions, and zombies. He shivered as he remembered when he’d found out that the creatures from his worst nightmare existed. Rane had taken them out after he’d shown them what he was and explained what he and other werewolves did. At first Logan wasn’t convinced that eight-to-ten feet tall demons existed. Boy was he wrong.

  Shaking his head to get rid of the images of that first encounter, he stomped into his quarters. He knew he should feel grateful to the were creatures for keeping his family and the world safe, but Logan was having a hard time accepting that humans weren’t the only Homo sapiens living on earth.

  The biggest problem for him was that the other beings who protected the humans turned into animals, unnatural monsters. He shuddered, remembering Rane, Devlin, Tray, and all the others in half-change. Logan had no idea how his sister and brother found that attractive. He grudgingly admitted to himself that when they were in human form they were a good looking bunch, but when they fully changed into their animal they were magnificent. Logan’s thoughts reluctantly turned back to Ava, and once again he wondered what she would look like in her full wolf mode.

  Collapsing on the bed, he buried his face into the pillow, groaning. He needed to stop thinking about her, because she was off limits. Not only was she a werewolf, but she was also his sister’s mate’s sister. Plus, he was going to find a normal, sweet, human woman to get it on with, marry, have some kids and all that. Not that he was even looking for anything like that at the moment, but when he did, she would definitely not be a werewolf.