On the Outskirts of Manhattan

Ava Wilkinson looked like your average human girl, give or take a few beautiful features. She had wild dark hair that she tamed regularly. Her stunning blue eyes were piercing, and her long, thin body was to die for. But there was something “off” about her. There was nothing in particular that you could point out that screamed weird or unusual. In fact, the only way to describe that feeling you got, was exactly “that feeling”. Most women chalked it up to jealousy, most men chalked it up to beauty, but for those who knew, they chalked it up to Alpha Female. And it was exactly that Alpha Female side of her that absolutely loathed the fact that an elite group of men held the power to summon her at any time.

She didn't belong to a wolf pack, she was perfectly fine acting in the human world as she was. Sure, there was that excruciating feeling of loneliness, and always that cautious feeling that washed over her. She couldn't move too quickly, or let her anger get the best of her. She couldn't have a human lover for fear of ripping his body to shreds when she lost control and she didn't want a werewolf as a lover; wolves were the life she had gotten away from. She couldn't have a best friend to complain to about the loneliness or lack of a lover. It was just her, her work, loneliness and her three-year-old son, Nolan.

She had to keep her ear out for new rules, had to leave a public building quickly once she smelt someone of her own kind, and had to constantly check in with the Werewolf Council concerning rules and werewolf packs moving into her area.

The Council, they understood Ava's need to be alone, away from the pack life. They understood, but that didn't mean they knew how she could do it.

Most werewolves needed to be in a pack to survive. That was what the Council found out from the intensive brain scans and emotional checking of the rogue wolves that had gone crazy and had been disposed of on the spot. It was a biological need for their werewolf bodies to come into the presence of others of their kind. Without this interaction, wolves would go crazy and attack. Only a select few wolves, all males, had been able to keep away from the pack for longer than a year, and even then, they always came back once they had accomplished their task. Ava was the only exception, being a female and away from any form of pack for over four years.

However, from what Ava understood, the Council had been allowing werewolf families out into the human world over the past year; intrigued with Ava's ability to stay away. These families held the same conditions that Ava had away from a pack: check in yearly for changes in rules and regulations, no transforming in public, no exposing themselves to the public and most of all, no eating the public.

Ava had been away from a pack for just over four years. She left the only one she had belonged to after the death of her son's father, and ultimately after her revenge on the man who killed him. That pack held nothing for Ava except excruciating pain and unbearable sadness. They'd expected her to stay. To be happy. To have the baby. To get another mate. What Ava wanted was a normal life, and that was what she was going to give her son. She was not having a mate. She was not staying in a world that she had murdered someone in. She was not staying there without him. And so, the day she stopped helping the Council was the day she left. And she left for good.

At least that's what she thought until her phone rang. “Ava Wilkinson?” the voice spoke before she even had the chance to say a word. “The Council requires your presence immediately. If you do not show up within the hour, immediate action will take place for your disposal.” The phone clicked as the man on the other side hung up. That was it. Ava was summoned, and that Alpha Female part of her hated that.

***

She had the little boy bundled up in a spring jacket with his rubber boots and a bag filled with toys before she knew it. She didn't live far away from the Council's main Chambers which was why, she assumed, that they had only given her an hour to get there.

“Mommy, I'm tired,” the little boy complained as she rushed them out the door. Unable to keep up with her, she finally just plucked the boy off the ground effortlessly and hurried down the stairs of their New York City apartment building. That's where she had decided to move after leaving the Grey Wolf Mountain wolf pack. New York City was a busy place, always up to date, never behind in the times, and everything she could imagine for her little boy was there. That was the place where she felt safe from the confines of a wolf pack; in a place so crowded with everything human.

“Am I heavy Mommy?” the little boy giggled as she shifted him to her left arm and opened the backseat of her car.

“No baby, you're light as a feather,” she grinned at him as she buckled him into his booster seat, checking and rechecking that he was safely in there. She hadn't lied to him either; it wasn't that the boy was too skinny for his age, it was that she seemed to have grown stronger since her pregnancy. She expected it to have been caused by her hormones during the months that she was pregnant, but even after his birth she found the strength that empowered her remained. It wasn't exactly that the boy was light as a feather, it was that she was strong as a monster truck. She had to constantly check and make sure she didn't slam a cupboard too hard, or open a door too quickly. She didn't want to squeeze the boy's hand too hard or pull his shirt over his head with so much strength that it ripped on his fragile little body. She didn't want to scare him, but he knew her strength, he knew her weaknesses, he knew her love and he knew that she was a werewolf. He knew absolutely everything that he could about his mother, since she wouldn't dare keep a secret from him.

“Feathers are light!” the little boy babbled in his little boy's voice as soon as his mother got in the driver's seat. He liked to talk, that was for sure. It was something he got from his mother. She was constantly comparing the little boy to herself, or his father. The little things that he did to remind her of Greyson were both a blessing and torture to her heart.

“Yeah Nolan,” she paused, “feathers are light.”

***

She held the little boy in her arms once again as her heels clicked across the empty waiting room. She would have preferred to have left him with a neighbour like she usually did when she had to meet with Riley, but with such short notice, she knew that there was no choice but to bring him and his black stuffed wolf along with him.

He had, of course, fallen back asleep during the walk from the car to the building. His head rested against Ava's left shoulder, stuffed wolf dangling from his hand and soft snores coming from his mouth. Ava had a small patch of drool on her left shoulder; Nolan's bag filled with toys hung from her right hand. She was heading toward the perky secretary when a large man suddenly barged out of a small hallway and almost ran right into her. She dropped Nolan's bag and clutched him to her as she spun to keep the little boy out of harm's way. Of course, Nolan didn't so much as twitch in his sleep. He knew he was protected with his mother around.

The large man caught her elbow and steadied her. By the time she got her surroundings, the man in front of her was smiling at her. The grin that spread across his face was genuine, as if he genuinely enjoyed seeing her. Looking up at his tall, built body, Ava suddenly recognized the buzzed head, the sparkling green eyes and the tough-guy stance that could only belong to Dawson Kennedy, and even though she hadn't seen him in years, her heart skipped a beat.

The two had met on several occasions, but had gotten to know each other better during the time that she had spent hunting down Logan. Logan was the man who had killed the only man Ava had loved and taken his place, by killing rights, as Alpha Male of the Grey Wolf Mountain werewolf pack. Dawson had been her guard at that time since she had been under the unofficial protection of the Council while she hunted Logan. Logan was someone that the Council had located at her request; the only condition was that she had to agree to take some mental and physical tests that the Council threw her way before, during and after her attack on the strong, new Alpha.

Dawson had taken his job seriously; he had protected every fibre of her being with every ounce of knowledge and strength he held. But no matter how hard he tried, at the end of her battle with Logan, she had bruises and scrapes and scratches and a broken arm, and as a sort of punishment, the Council sent him away from her during the last few days of her recovery, and refused to let him come along when Riley went to visit the woman in the future. Before he knew it, Dawson was back to work guarding the Councilmen, and Ava was running away to New York City; away from any other werewolves, even fierce, protective ones. And he had no idea if he would ever see the driven, wonderful woman again. And there was something about that that no one except Dawson knew—being away from her broke his heart.

“DAWSON!” she grinned and then winced as Nolan mumbled in his sleep, snuggling his face closer into her neck and letting out soft, sleepy complaints. “How are you?” she whispered that time, but added a smile at the end. Her smile hadn't changed, he noted. It was the same loving, caring smile he had always seen. But there was something different, something big that had changed in her. Something he couldn't quite figure out.

“Good, how have you been? I haven't seen you for three years? Riley always had me on assignment when he went to meet you.” Seeing the woman now was both exciting and scary to Dawson. He hadn't seen her in over three years, probably closer to four now that he thought about it. The woman in front of him had changed. She was both more beautiful and more worn down, although the latter was only told by the small bags beneath her eyes. Along with those two changes, she also seemed so much more powerful than she ever had before. Being worn down and tired wouldn't stop her from snapping anyone in half, even, Dawson thought fleetingly, himself. Her hair had always attracted him, and he stopped himself from reaching out and touching the strands that seemed to fall freely down her back and frame her face. The little boy in her arms was even snuggling his face into it. “Who's this?” Dawson questioned. He knew she had been pregnant when she left, of course he knew. When he had been granted permission to protect her throughout the hunt and battle against Logan, he found that suddenly he was protecting her stomach as well.

“Nolan, his name's Nolan.” Speaking about the little boy in her arms, her whole face lit up. It made her seem even more beautiful to him. If anything, Dawson could see that she loved her son.

Dawson knew he was dwelling on her beauty too much and he didn't run into her for that purpose. In fact, Riley had sent him out to see if she had gotten there yet simply because he knew that Dawson was a man who would be able to keep his distance from the woman sexually. Many of the men that occupied the Council room would do anything to get Ava close to them; many of the guards even. And so, it was because Dawson had known and spent time with her in the past that his punishment was alleviated—his punishment for getting Riley's favourite werewolf Ava hurt while under his protection—and Dawson was finally allowed to see her again. Her whole presence had thrown him off though. He hadn't expected to see such an obvious change in the woman. Sure, he could still feel the power that radiated off of her, but she seemed to centre it around protecting the small boy in her arms. When he had been her guardian, she had been a fierce, broken woman. Now, the woman seemed to have healed herself, raised someone else to give her heart to. And her heart was so much bigger because of it.

She turned toward the front desk, shifting the boy a bit as she bent to pick up the bag she had dropped. “I was summoned. I didn't have anyone who could take him last minute. I hate having him here, I hate having Riley gawk at him because he's Greyson's son,” Ava pouted. Greyson had been an exceptionally powerful wolf that had run the Grey Wolf Mountain werewolf pack for centuries. Most werewolf packs changed Alpha's constantly, but with the power and determination that took over Greyson, he singlehandedly ran the pack that had the longest standing Alpha in the world.

Dawson grinned at the pouting woman, she hadn't changed much. She was still animated and not afraid to complain to him. Dawson reached out his hand to gently touch her cheek, a comforting gesture, but he was still surprised when she leaned into it with a soft smile.

His warmth powered through her body at his touch. Ava wasn't so surprised by the physical contact. Had it been anyone else, she might have felt that surprise, but there was something about Dawson that had her moving closer. She was able to open up to him about anything. She had told him her greatest fears and biggest weaknesses while hunting Logan. He knew everything, and because he knew everything, he had the power to comfort and protect her like no one else did.

“I could take him while you head on in? I'll be right out here...” Dawson offered as they reached the front desk. Ava put Nolan's bag down on top and turned to Dawson.

“Really?” she grinned. “That would be amazing! I don't want to scare him, but I have to be crazy mean with Riley if I want to get my way.” She shifted the sleeping child until he landed in Dawson's arms. Once the boy was out of her arms, Dawson watched her whole demeanour change. She was back to the fierce woman he had known while he was protecting her. She shot a fleeting look at the blonde lady at the front desk, and strode purposefully toward the chamber doors, boots clicking on the tiled floor with a single purpose in mind—getting her way.

“AVA! You're not expected in there yet!” Carly, the receptionist, stood up and moved to run after Ava, but the doors were already open, and that fierce woman Dawson first met was striding through the chamber doors. She was breaking the rules in front of the Council; something only Ava managed to get away with.