Ava's Mate Page 2

  Logan rolled to the side and set his clock for four hours sleep. He didn’t know why he bothered, he knew he wouldn’t sleep, even though he needed to as he was on patrol duties tonight.

  He groaned again as he remembered he was still on rotation with Major Rane, his sister’s mate. Logan hoped Kirby wasn’t coming, and even more he hoped Rane’s brother Kane and his petite wife weren’t joining them. That little woman was weird, and that was something coming from him, whose sister and mother could command animals and communicate with them.

  He banged his head against the pillow, not wanting to think any more about powers, because he would then have to admit he wasn’t so normal after all. Logan punched his fist into the wall. His life was out of control. He was just glad that when he had used his power in the battle a couple of weeks ago, everyone was so busy they didn’t even notice it. He banged his head on the pillow again. At this rate he was never going to sleep.

  Getting out of bed, he felt compelled to run, the need to breathe and clear his head overwhelming his tired body. He changed into running shorts and chucked his shirt on the bed. Running across the beach, loving the sound of the waves crashing, the saltwater breeze against him, he had to admit it was the best thing about living there. Logan loved the water and the sea breeze, it was so refreshing. Every morning he got up since he’d been there felt like a new and fresh day.

  He ran down the beach to the rocks and back again until he calmed down enough to sit on the sand and watch the waves crash to the shore. He had Sunday off, so he was going to go out, maybe find a woman he could get to know better, and get laid. Ahh, he thought, I must be really in need of a good fuck, because I still couldn’t get Ava off my mind. He looked down at the bulge in his shorts. His raging boner hadn’t gone away since he’d seen her. Logan could still feel her body against his. Shit, he’d almost taken her against the wall in the compound.

  Groaning, he jumped up and ran into the cold ocean water, dunking his head and staying under as long as he could, fighting the currents and waves. Okay, so he really needed to have sex with a woman. He wondered what time they would finish hunting tonight. Early he hoped, so he could go out and fix his problem. He tried to remember one of the women he had been visiting the last couple of months, but stuff it if he could think of one, the only woman who came to mind was the werewolf.

  Dunking his head again, he berated himself, promising to not even think of going there. He would find someone else. Logan strolled out of the water. God, maybe it would be better if his sister did come on the hunt tonight. If she did, it would end early, and then he could go and relieve all his tension. He didn’t care what his body wanted, it was not getting the werewolf.

  * * * *

  It was Ava’s turn to go see her brother Arden. She would do it all the time if they let her, but Kane, Rane, and her parents said he needed to learn how to be social with people, and not just fight, kill, and occasionally eat. Her brother never used to be like this. Sure, he fought demons and was a lead enforcer, but until a week and a half ago, he’d socialized, laughed, and left his house to do things other than fight. This was that human Remy’s fault. She’d been sick, and Arden had healed her by mate marking her, which helped Remy get back to one hundred percent. But as soon as Remy was well she’d run, and now Arden was paying the price as his wolf was going feral without its mate.

  Not bothering to knock, Ava opened the door to her brother’s house, knowing it would be open as nobody bothered to lock their houses in this town. What thief would get away with stealing from a werewolf?

  All the windows were covered and the house was eerily quiet. She shivered, hoping she wouldn’t come upon the same sight she had the other day. Sure enough, she found Arden sitting in his lounge room staring at nothing. He hadn’t shaved or showered since the last time Ava had been there about two days ago. For some reason she seemed to be the only one who could get Arden to shower and eat.

  Ava almost jumped out of her skin when Arden came alive growling, “Why the fuck won’t you all leave me alone?” He threw a bottle of beer at the wall.

  She glared at him. “That really wasn’t necessary. You have made it perfectly clear you don’t want our hel—”

  Arden roared. “When Faith left Kane you all left him alone. Why the hell am I different?”

  Sick of the same argument, she waited until she was sure he had finished. “Are you done with your tantrum now? Can I talk without you interrupting me?”

  He snarled at her and she took that as a yes.

  “For one, Kane didn’t go out every night fighting demons, trying to get killed. Two, when Faith left Kane it was only for a week, and we all knew where she was bar Kane. Thirdly, I like you the best, so get your ass off the lounge and shower and shave, because you stink. Once you get out, I’m going to watch you eat the pasta I’m about to make.”

  He glared at her. His brown eyes flashed and she could see him and his wolf battling. He growled, lunging for her.

  Sighing, she sidestepped and kicked him hard in his bottom. “I’m not in the mood to kick your arse today in order to get you to do what I want you to do.”

  Arden let out a pain filled moan, got up, and walked to the shower. She waited until she heard the shower running before she went off to make dinner.

  * * * *

  Logan sat in the bar looking around at the women again and tried not to think of his sister’s odd behavior tonight. When they weren’t fighting demons and minions, she kept sneaking funny glances at him, and when they’d called it a night she’d given him a hug telling him, “I knew you would come around.” What the hell did she mean she knew he’d come around? Women, they were so confusing.

  A sexy blonde strolled over to him, fawning over him to introduce herself. “Hi, I’m Britney.”

  His gaze traveled over the hot woman with long blonde hair, brown eyes, and breasts that looked like they were about to fall out of her dress. He mentally rubbed his hands together as he stared at her pouting lips. She was just his type.

  Holding out his hand, he smiled as she took it, shaking it slowly. “I’m Logan. Can I buy you a drink?”

  She nodded and her hand left his and trailed up his arm. “What do you do, Logan? You look and feel very muscular.”

  He tried not to roll his eyes as what she did and said felt like the same old thing. She plastered herself against him.

  Concentrating on the feel of her against him, he groaned when little Logan and the rest of his body stayed flat and unaffected. “You have got to be kidding me. I have been hard all afternoon, even when I was fighting, and now that I have a gorgeous woman against me you go soft?” Realizing he’d said his thoughts out loud, he clenched his fists and bit his tongue.

  Britney raised her eyebrows muttering, “Is something wrong? How about we go back to my place and I’ll fix all your problems.”

  Groaning when his body didn’t even react to her blatant words, he apologized to the woman and excused himself.

  Crap, what the hell was wrong with him? Walking outside to his car, he thought about his day, and as soon as his thoughts came to Ava he became hard as a rock again, his little Logan a big guy once again.

  Not willing to give up, he drove to another bar.

  * * * *

  Logan drove into the barracks as dawn came over the horizon. The werewolf had cursed him. He’d been to three more clubs and each time found a woman, only for his body not to respond. At the last pub he had deliberately chosen a dark-haired, tall woman, and tried to imagine it was Ava, but as soon as the woman touched him his erection went south.

  Punching his dashboard, he told himself he was even more determined not to have Ava, as the werewolf must have put some sort of spell or curse on him. Logan wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of letting her win. He was going to find a human woman whom he could have sex with even if it took him forever.

  Chapter 2

  Lying in the bath, Ava tried to relax after the longest two weeks of her life. Logan a
voided her, so much so that if he saw her coming down the hall he would turn and walk in the opposite direction. Although, she’d done the same to him. It was fine for the first few days, but now…tension was high and she had no way to release it.

  Kirby’s wedding had been an uncomfortable affair. Rane ended up kicking Logan out after the ceremony finished. Logan’s drunken snide comments were ruining the celebration. Ava felt so sorry for Kirby’s parents who seemed to spend the rest of the event apologizing for Logan’s behavior.

  Everything that was happing was making her very reluctant to go anywhere near Logan, true mate or not.

  Ava visited her friend Harry, who usually helped her with any physical needs, and had been her fuck buddy when she’d been in heat. The problem now was that she felt no attraction to him. Ava’s wolf hadn’t even let Harry hug her in greeting. Ava tried the werewolf bar, but none of the men turned her on or did anything for her.

  The most frustrating thing was her wolf wouldn’t shut up. It howled in her head, Mate. I want our mate. Go find him now. Let’s go get our mate and show him why werewolves are the best. And so on, repeated in her head twenty-four-seven.

  Ava desperately needed to let off some built up tension. But she had a big complication as she still lived with her werewolf parents who had super hearing, plus the house was full of kids. It was hard because ever since she’d meet Logan her wolf had turned into a bloody hussy. If she sent her any more erotic images of what she and Logan could be like and what she should do to him— grab him, take him to one of the cabins, tie him down, and… She panted, shaking the images out before she had the chance to voice them out loud.

  She groaned as her pussy clenched. The smell of her arousal was so strong she got out of the tub and sprayed the room with perfume to mask the scent from the other wolves in the house. Getting back into the tub, she laid her head back on the bath pillow. She really needed to get a house of her own. Sighing, she thought of all the empty houses around town and which would be best for her.

  Ava really didn’t know what to do. She’d dreamed since she was a little girl that she’d find a werewolf mate by the time she was in her fifties-sixties. Ava didn’t want to mate too young. She wanted to enjoy herself before she spent two hundred or so years with a man. One thing she’d always been sure about was that she didn’t want a human mate.

  Banging her head against the pillow, she wanted to scream at the universe, “I’m not even twenty-one yet.” Well, in a few weeks Eve and her would be, but being mated this young and to a human didn’t fit in with her plans. “Argh. Fuck you, fate. I bet you’re laughing your ass off about this. This is not what I wanted. I had a plan, damn you.”

  Ava sank down into the water as her mother Della knocked on the door. “Honey, is everything okay in there? Who are you talking to?”

  She came up out of the water on a groan. “No one, Mum, just singing. Um, sorry, I’ll be quieter.”

  Listening to her mother’s footsteps walk away, Ava wondered what she should do. She’d planned on living with her parents for a while, helping her Mum out while enjoying all the chaos. She loved the feeling of knowing she was needed, and she enjoyed helping raise children, cooking, and organizing. Ava was good at all that traditional housework stuff, and she loved children.

  When she’d been younger, all the other children, including her twin sister, loved to train, and go for runs in wolf form. Ava would beg to get out of doing any of the physical stuff. She stayed back to help with the younger children, cooking, or doing anything else so she didn’t have to practice fighting.

  Ava never dreamed of being a doctor, having a military career, being a fashion designer, becoming a scientist, or anything else. She just wanted to be a wife-mate, mother, and all-round help. But now that she’d started working at the military base she loved it, and didn’t want to give it up. Banging her fists on the bathtub, she decided no matter what the future held she wasn’t going to give up her new job.

  A smile grew as a positive side about having a human mate came to her—he wouldn’t care if she worked. Her grin got bigger as she thought of all the things a human mate wouldn’t expect her to give up.

  If she was really lucky, her mate wouldn’t even claim her, or he would fight it for a couple of years. Ava laughed, feeling happier than she’d felt in a while.

  She got out of the bath, grabbed the phone, and called Faith who answered with, “I’m so in. Let’s do Splash first. I have fond memories of there. It’s my good luck club. Then we’ll all go to Danny’s, it’s a good wind down.”

  Ava laughed at her sister-in-law. “Faith, you’re getting freakin good with your powers.”

  Faith sighed loudly. “I need cheering up, well, really your brother does. But anytime I look at Arden I get so many different futures it’s starting to really piss me off. And don’t even say Remy’s name in his presence.” Faith groaned. “When I get my hands on her…”

  Ava wiped a tear from her eye. Her poor brother Arden had come home from leading an away team to meet and help his mate. But as soon as he arrived, Remy ran, and even Faith couldn’t find her at the moment. If it wasn’t for the two minute phone calls she gave them every couple of days—

  Faith interrupted her musing. “I stuffed up. And now poor Arden is paying for my mistake. I shouldn’t have rushed the mating. But I wanted her safe and one of the many perks of mating a werewolf is that you become almost…well, unbreakable.”

  Ava laughed. “Yeah, well, I suppose you could say that. Faith, you need to stop beating yourself up. You can’t be perfect and right all the time. Give yourself a break. You’re right ninety-eight percent of the time.”

  Faith sighed. “Okay, just this once, but has anyone seen Arden today? I saw him yesterday and…” Faith paused.

  Ava knew Faith was talking about her brother’s condition. She’d taken breakfast to his house this morning, and she shuddered remembering how he looked like shit with a capital S. He was definitely giving all the movie werewolves a run for their money.

  Ava thought about her mate and hoped she could take it if Logan rejected her and ran. She really didn’t know if she could live like her brother.

  “No, Ava,” said Faith. “Fate showed me your mating.”

  Ava let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding.

  “Call Kirby, Sara, and Sandra, and I’ll call Erin, Amie, Lexie, and Stacy, and we’ll all go out and have some fun. Lexie and Stacy are dying to go out. A girls’ night out, with no boys allowed.”

  Ava smiled in anticipation. “Yeah, we all need this. See you tonight.” Ava hung up, shaking her head. She would get dressed and go see Arden, see if she could get him to do something. First though she called Kirby, Sara, and Sandra.

  * * * *

  Grinning, Logan strapped the ice knife belt to his leathers. He loved his new uniform. He got it the other day after being promoted for his part in saving people and killing the demons and minions in the underground raid.

  All the military men had learned the hard way that demon blood fucking hurt. The demons’ sticky, acid blood ate through everything, bar the specially made leather pants, singlets, and jackets he now wore. It was surprisingly easy to maneuver around in them, and he admitted reluctantly that the werewolf women looked hot in theirs. His brother’s new wife… Logan shook his head, not wanting to go down that avenue.

  Thinking of his brother, he looked around for him, surprised to find him without his tall, hot blonde new wife shadowing him. Logan debated whether to go over to him. Hayden hadn’t spoken to him since the disastrous day at his sister’s new house, when his parents meet Rane and Sandra, Hayden’s new wife.

  Logan walked over to his brother, ignoring how quiet the room became. Everyone knew about the fight they were having, over half the men there had been their friends-associates for years.

  “Hayden, where’s your shadow?”

  Hayden didn’t answer just continued to get ready.

  “It’s like that, is it?”
Logan knew he should leave it alone and walk away, but he’d had enough of everything. He was tense, angry, lonely, exhausted, and most of bloody all horny as hell. He was ready to give into one very sexy werewolf if he saw her.

  Hayden’s head came up and if looks could kill, he’d be dead. His brother hadn’t spoken to him in over two weeks, and that’s the longest they’d ever gone.

  Logan spoke without thinking but he’d had a shit day. “You’re acting like a fucking girl. Not even our sister has stopped talking to me. She can also go out without her dog following her everywhere so he can wipe her arse for her. But I think this is the first time I have seen you without your bitch.” Logan didn’t even see his brother move, just felt the impact as Hayden punched him in the face and kneed him in the chest.

  “You’re a fucking asshole, Logan. Because you’re my brother I won’t kill you this time, but if you ever talk about Sandra like that again, to anyone, I will kill you. And just so you know, I love that ‘shadow’ as you refer to Sandra.” Hayden shook his head. “Sandra’s gone out tonight with Kirby and Ava.”

  Logan groaned at Ava’s name, going instantly hard. Shit. He’d only just got his boner to stand down.

  Hayden looked him up and down, laughing at his state. “It’s priceless. I didn’t believe it when I was told. You and Ava…this is going to be so funny to watch.”

  Logan heard a few werewolves growling behind him, and one said, “Oh, this is going to be great. I wonder how long he will hold out.”

  Logan frowned, straightening up and turning to see Kane, Rane, Griffin, and Jamie. He thought it was Jamie who’d made the comment, but what the hell was he going on about?