12. “What was the debt?”

Alaric's POV

I stared blankly at the papers scattered all over my desk but my mind was no where near them, it kept drifting back to what happened in the courtyard.

To Ava, that howl.

What is happening to her? And why now?

“She’s different” my wolf Dax, echoed in my head and I rolled my eyes.

“She’s a servant” I spat back.

“A servant who has kept you up thinking about her” he fired back and I deadpanned.

“I’m not thinking about her, I’m thinking about the changes surrounding her”

“Keep telling yourself that, but you know the truth” he said and I scoffed. “You felt it when you touched her” he added and I instantly remembered how Ava clutched her arm in pain after I touched her that day.

“That was nothing” I shrugged.

“Then why did you care about her when she howled, you know she’s not human,” he paused for a while before he continued again “She might just be…….

A knock on the door snapped me out of my thoughts as I let out a relieved sigh, finally he shut up.

“Come in” I said as I straightened my posture. The door knob turned slightly and Lucian walked in, followed by Kieran and they both stared at me.

“Is there something you want to say?” I asked and Lucian rolled his eyes.

“You know why we are here Alaric, it’s about Ava” he said and I shrugged.

“Something about her is different” Kieran said and Dax stirred at the mention of her name but I ignored him.

“What about her?” I asked and Lucian gave me a questioning look.

“You know about the rumors circulating around her right?” Kieran fired back and I sighed.

“Yes I know about the rumors but it’s not that simple, we don’t know what’s going on with her” I said and they both sat down as they stared at me.

“Actually, I have been investigating about Ava ever since that dinner when she spilled wine on me” Lucian said and I nodded.

“And I have also been investigating about her since I caught her in the archives on the day of the dinner” Kieran said and I inhaled sharply.

“So what’s going on with her?” I asked and Lucian bit on his lower lip before responding.

“I don’t know much about her yet, but her tattoo….” He hesitated for a second as he looked at us.

“Well?” I asked and he smiled.

“I don’t know, it’s very weird but her tattoo isn’t a wolf mark”

“What!” Kieran and I asked almost immediately.

“I know, it sounds crazy but I looked into wolf clans in the whole of Valeria, both old and new and nothing matched her tattoo”

“What does that mean then?” Kieran asked and he shook his head.

“I don’t know, but what ever her tattoo is….. it’s ancient” he said as he locked eyes with me and I gulped.

“Okay, Kieran you said you caught her in the archives?”

“I also did catch her there later on” Lucian added and I nodded.

“Well yeah, the day of the dinner. I noticed the lights in the archives where slightly on so I went to check it out and I saw her there, the room with the portraits. She was shakened up by Alpha’s Theron portrait and clutching her arm, I didn’t read much into it then just assumed she was scared she ripped the painting or something but now…. I think her tattoo reacted to it” He said and I ran my fingers through my hair as I pinched my chin.

“And when I put two and two together, coupled up with the fact that Lucian also saw her there. I think she’s connected to your dad some way” Kieran said.

“He does have a point Alaric. I mean, Ava was brought in here to repay Alpha Damien’s debt, but we don’t even know what the debt was” Lucian added.

“That’s true” I said as I leaned back into my chair. “Why was the repayment of the debt Ava?” I asked blankly as I tried to figure it out.

“Her mother…” Kieran said and we turned to look at him.

“What about her?” Lucian asked.

“What if she wasn’t just a human”

“What do you mean?” I asked with a raised brow.

“Hear me out, Lucian said her tattoo is ancient and not a wolf mark, also her mother is in our archives too. What if the debt wasn’t regarding Alpha Damien but her mother” He said and I crossed my hands on my chest as I threw my head back.

“We have been looking at things from the wrong direction, it does make sense for the debt to be concerning Ava’s mother” I said as I exhaled deeply.

“Then if her mother wasn’t human, what was she?” Lucian asked and Kieran shook his head.

“I don’t know” He said as he pressed hard on his forehead.

“We need to find out what Ava’s mother was” I said as I sat back and they nodded.

“And also why my father put a debt on Alpha Damien regarding her….” I stood up from my seat as I walked towards the window and admired the shining stars in the sky.

“What ever Ava’s mother was…. Is already slowly awakening in Ava.”