Werewolf Dreams (25 page)

The five men immediately turned into wolf form and chased Titus’s fleeing figure out of the park.
Ava stood up and threw her arms around her father’s waist not caring about the blood and sweat.

“Dad, Cyrus is so hurt.
What can we do?” she begged, pulling him back to her mate. Harry knelt down and looked at the wound.

“In order for him to survive this, he’ll have to stay in wolf form.
Don’t worry Ava, we’re the best healers. I’m sure Cyrus will be fine. He won’t die,” he said worriedly and then motioned for Kurt and Big Red to lift the massive wolf in their arms.

The crowd cheered as the entourage of their new leader and the wolf that had saved his life walked up the hill to their home. But it was a somber group of people who surrounded Cyrus as he was placed on quilts covering the family room floor.

Ava and Tobias stood silently by as Harry and Patricia worked to clean the wound and stitch it up.
An hour later, after washing his hands, Harry walked toward his daughter and friend.

“I can’t see that any organs were pierced.
Your son either has the toughest hide I’ve ever seen or my father is getting old,” he said with a pained smiled.

Tobias shook his head and then burst into tears as he hugged his friend.
Harry hugged his friend back and glanced at his daughter. Ava turned away to hide her tears though. She hurried to Cyrus’s side and knelt down by the large wolf, running her hands over his fur. He opened an eye and looked at her tiredly as he whined softly.

Patricia walked up behind her as she dried her hands on a paper towel.
“He’ll need rest and food for the next couple days.
And you
. Mate’s always need each other when they’re injured. They heal twice as fast that way.”

Ava
lay on the ground next to Cyrus, her hand covering his paw and studied his beautiful animal face. He had sacrificed himself for her father. He was such a good man. The best
.
She would love him forever.

As if he had sensed her thoughts, Cyrus opened his eyes and stared deeply back at her as if he were trying to tell her something.
She smiled and put her arm around his neck. “Sleep Cyrus. If you take a good nap, I’ll make sure you get a huge steak when you wake up,” she promised.

Cyrus blinked at her a few times and shut his eyes.
Someone placed a quilt over her and they both fell into a deep healing sleep.

The next couple
days passed by slowly but on the fourth day, everyone stood in the back yard and watched as Cyrus turned back into his human form. It wasn’t a graceful flowing but more of slow changing this time. But when it was Cyrus standing before her, pale and weak but very alive, Ava laughed in relief and went to his side, wrapping her arms around him.

“You’re finally back,” she said, lifting her face
automatically for his kiss.

Cyrus grinned down at her and ran his hand over her hair.
“I’m kind of hard to get rid of,” he said and then smiled at their family. First his mom and dad embraced him and then her father walked to him, reaching out a hand to shake his.

“I owe you my life Cyrus. But I’ll give you something far more precious in return.
My daughter’s hand in marriage. You’ve proven over and over again that you’re a good, strong and trustworthy man. I’d be honored to call you my son,” he said and then embraced Cyrus, thumping him on the back and pulling back to look into Cyrus’s face.

Cyrus
’s smile was so bright and happy, she laughed, although she’d have to have a talk with her dad about jumping the gun on the whole marriage thing.
Really
.

“Well, if I’d known all I had to do to get your blessing was to get stabbed by a machete, I would have done that the first day I met her,” he said, while Tobias laughed and Patricia shook her head.

Harry grinned and slapped him on the back again. “Well, you look great after everything you’ve been through. I give you another week and I bet you’ll feel like your old self. Which is good. I want you and your father to be my advisors. I’ve decided to stay Cyrus. I want to lead, but I won’t do it alone. I need men
and women
to help me. There’s so much to do and so many changes to make. But I can’t do it on my own,” he said, holding his hand out to Cyrus.

Cyrus grinned and nodded his head.
“I gladly accept. I was willing to challenge Titus just because no one else would and I knew if I didn’t more people would suffer. But I have to admit, that I’m glad you showed up when you did. I’d be happy to take on the role of advisor. Especially now that I’ll be starting my own family,” he said looking shyly at Ava.

Everyone turned and looked at Ava as she stood there, silently blushing,
her eyes wide with surprise. “
Family?”
she whispered.

Cyrus laughed and dropped Harry’s hand as he walked to her side.
“Relax. First things first. Don’t forget about all the courting I promised you,” he said, grinning as she immediately relaxed.

Everyone smiled and laughed and talked as they walked back in the house to eat dinner.
It was nice being able to sit at an actual table and eat with Cyrus. Watching him devour large chunks of steak on the floor had gotten a little old after a while.

They spent the rest of the day together watching movies and talking to people who came by the house to visit with Cyrus and meet with her father.
It almost seemed as if the whole town came by. One of the last visitors was Zoe. She came with her mom, who looked like a smaller and shyer version of her daughter.

Zoe smiled at her awkwardly but took a deep breath as if she were grabbing up all of her courage.
“Ava, I just want to say again, how sorry I am that I attacked you that day. I was jealous and angry and I just wasn’t thinking. If you hadn’t helped me to escape I know I’d be dead. So, um, I just want you to know, that whether you want me or not, you’ve got yourself a friend for life,” she said, blushing and looking horribly embarrassed.

Ava glanced at Cyrus, who smiled at her encouragingly.
She stood up and walked to the tall woman and reached up and hugged her tightly. “I can always use another good friend Zoe. Thank you for offering me your friendship. I hope you’ll accept my friendship in return,” she said with a happy smile.

Zoe was shocked by the hug but nodded her head eagerly.
Patricia came in and ushered Zoe and her mother out of the room as she invited them to come into the kitchen and have some cake.

Ava sighed contentedly
and drew her legs up underneath her as she leaned her head against Cyrus’s shoulder. “Who would have ever thought that Zoe, the girl who ripped my hair out the very first day I met her, would want to be my friend now?”

Cyrus took her hand in his and kissed her knuckles.
“You do have a way with people,” he said wryly.

Ava glanced up suspiciously and grinned at his innocent expression.
“And what does that mean?”

Cyrus laughed and shook his head. “Well, people just seem to have instant and passionate responses to you when they meet you.
They either hate you or love you,” he said looking down at her mouth. “Which reminds me, there was something I wanted to talk to you about,” he said softly, pushing her hair out of her eyes.

Ava s
tared up into his crystal blue eyes and smiled. “
Hmmm?
”

Cyrus leaned down and kissed her temple.
“It seems to me, that after I was brought home that day I was stabbed, you leaned down and whispered that you loved me,” he said, staring at her warmly as he rubbed her wrist with his thumb.

Ava’s eyebrows went straight up.
She was caught. “But you were in wolf form. You understood
everything
I said?” she said looking away.

Cyrus nodded.
“
Everything
. So, was that true? Do you? Or did you just say that because you thought I was going to die and you were feeling guilty?” he asked, before leaning down to kiss her softly on her neck.

“Hmm,” Ava said, as she forgo
t what to say for a moment. “Well, you’re right. I did say that. And no, it wasn’t out of guilt. I said it because I meant it,” she said as he leaned back to look down into her eyes.

Cyrus tilted her face up.
“Really?”

Ava grinned and nodded.
“Really. I love you Cyrus,” she said and then tilted her head up and kissed him. Before she knew it though, he had completely taken over the kiss and it was only the sound of someone clearing their throat that had Cyrus lifting his head and looking at the intruder in irritation.

It was her father.
Cyrus’s expression immediately smoothed out as he sat up straight and tried to look innocent.

“Patricia wanted me to invite you two in for dessert before it’s all gone,” he said in a serious voice.
Ava blushed bright red, but grinned when she saw the twinkle in her father’s eyes. She sighed and shook her head. “Does it get any worse than that?”

Cyrus shook
his head as he stood up and held his hand out to her to help her to her feet. “Yeah, this courtship better be fast,” he muttered under his breath as he put his hand on the small of her back.

Ava came to a stop and looked up.
“You know, I remember saying something very important and beautiful to you just a few minutes ago. But I don’t recall you saying anything in return,” she said looking theatrically puzzled.

Cyrus grinned at her and shook his head.
“You are just a little feisty, aren’t you? Well, I’d rather tell you with moonlight on your face and surrounded by flowers, but this will do I suppose. I love you Ava. I loved you the first time I saw you flip your body around in the air. I loved you even more when you told me to back off and give you some space. But I loved you even more than that when I ate your chicken enchiladas,” he said closing his eyes at the memory.

Ava frowned and punched him the arm.
He opened his eyes and laughed a little as he picked her up in his arms and nuzzled her neck before looking deeply in her eyes. “But I loved you the most when saw you stomped up to me at the challenge and told me off. You were made just for me by a very kind and generous God who knew that no one else could make me as happy as you could.”

Ava sighed all the way down to her toes as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his face down to hers.
“That’s better,” she said with a quick smile before kissing him soundly.

“Cyrus! Hurry up!” Tobias yelled from the hallway.

Cyrus pulled back and set her on the ground, glaring at the doorway and everyone waiting for them. “You know, this is why people go on honeymoons. It’s to get away from all the people who won’t give you even five minutes to tell the woman you love, that you love her,” he said in frustration as they walked down the hallway and into the kitchen.

More people had come and the kitchen was
now full of her new friends and family. She made a bee line for her cousin Yvonne and Big Red. She spent the rest of the evening talking and laughing and enjoying herself in a way that she never had before. She looked over at her father a few times during the night and she had to admit that she’d never seen him so happy and relaxed either. They were both home.

That night after everyone had left and the kitchen was cleaned up and it was just her,
Cyrus , his parents and her father they all sat at the table, drinking mugs of hot chocolate and talking about their ideas and goals for the town. But then everyone turned and looked at her as if they had something planned.

Ava looked at all the faces looking at her expectantly and frowned as she lowered her mug.
“What is this? An intervention or something?” she said, starting to feel nervous.

Harry laughed and shook his head. “Ava, it’s time honey.
We’ve put it off long enough.”

Ava laughed and shook her head.
“What do you mean? Put what . . .,” she said and then paused as her eyes widened and she felt a wave of nervousness wash over her.

Cyrus reached over and took her cold hand in his.
“I’ll be right with you. We all will. You’ll be safe. There will be no one else here to see you change. No pressure,” he promised, looking at her with excitement in his eyes.

Ava swallowed and looked around the table.
Holy crap
. It was time she changed into a wolf. Yikes. She nodded her head and tried to look confident as her legs felt shaky. She pushed away from the table and stood up, following Cyrus outside and down the stairs into the beautiful lush back yard.

Everyone circled around her with her father standing directly in front of her.
“Now Ava, you know perfectly well how to control the need to change into a wolf. So what I want you to do now, is let all the walls down. I want you to let go of all the restraints and all the control that you’ve worked so hard to build. I want you to close your eyes and in your mind, picture the most beautiful wolf you’ve ever seen. She’s sleek and pale golden brown. She has the most beautiful warm brown eyes and she wants to run free. Ava, that wolf is you. Let yourself flow into your new form and become the wolf,” he said soothingly and calmly.