On the Outskirts of Manhattan

The dark cells were packed full of werewolves, some in their human forms, some refusing to change out of their wolf forms, but one lone cell held a howling Ryder Davidson. His bones were broken in more places than Caroline could count, his flesh was ripped to shreds and his muscles were completely detached from his bones in some places. She had never seen someone so completely mangled. The man was a brink from death, ready to give up, but it was the woman who sat at his side, smoothing out his hair and insisting that he would be okay that kept him alive.

“It's okay Ryder,” Ava told him. “Everything is going to be okay. You'll get help. You will be completely fine.”

Ava felt completely and utterly responsible for Ryder's state. Not only his mangled body, but the reason he had gotten there in the first place. She had left him, in the worst possible way. She had longed for him, encouraged his advances and let him kiss her repeatedly and then suddenly, without an explanation, she shut him out. She was probably the first person to have ever rejected his love, and that left an impact on him. He wanted her, he needed her, and she had left him. He turned to Lucian for comfort, attaching himself to any explanation just to be able to deal with the fact that Ava didn't need him. He rationalized that Ava did need him, desperately. But she couldn't come to him. All a warped fantasy in his head encouraged by Lucian.

“Ava,” Jane whispered, watching the pair as Ava stroked the man's matted hair, interrupted with gashes and blood. “Please don't give him false hope. There's only so much we can do with him. There's only so much Riley will let us do with him.”

Ava shot a glare the woman's way and smiled down at Ryder who grit his teeth through the intense cleaning of his body. Whatever it was, either his werewolf gene or his human strength, he was holding on.

“He should be dead,” Caroline whispered to Jane, her nurse, as she stitched at top speed, fixed broken bones and hoped to hell that his healing would go just as well as his living was.

The doctor glanced down at his mangled stomach and turned to Jane. “Knock him out. He's not going to live through the pain if he's not out cold.”

“Ava,” Riley stood in the doorway to the cell. He looked just as intimidating and in control as he always did. “You need to get your own wounds treated.”

Ava ignored him, as usual.

“Nolan is asking for you.” That got her attention. As Jane administered a drug to the enemy wolf, Ava let her hand fall away from his mangled face, wondering how she had managed to mangle every part of his body. Ava walked away from him, and she knew she would never see him again.

***

All of the Councilmen were in Dawson's personal quarters. He had been sent there by Caroline with a sling on his left arm, a few stitches and a bruise that covered half of his cheekbone. Besides that, Dawson knew he was in fairly good shape, especially for the part of the battle he had chosen to jump into. Wolves had converged around him everywhere. Nothing was out of bounds and no one was too good to attack.

“I can't stay here,” Dawson finally spoke up. He glanced at Riley who was staring out the window. “I'm in love with her.”

“I know,” Riley said. His voice was neither angry or upset. He simply spoke. “I counted on you to not fall in love with her, but you did it anyways.”

There was silence around the room. The accusation in Riley's voice was evident. He no longer trusted Dawson as a friend, as an employee or even as a fellow Council member.

“It's not really something you can help,” Dawson pointed out. “You did it. The only difference between you and I is that she loves me back.”

Riley let out a growl. He did love the woman. She had sparked his interest from the very beginning. Fiery and never one to take no for an answer; she intrigued him. Her personality, and always, that feeling that floated off of her whenever she was around that simply attracted you to her. Riley wasn't immune to it, no, in fact, it seemed to hit him more powerfully than any other wolf around him. The constant need to protect her, the constant need for her happiness and her acceptance of him. He countered it, fought it with all that he had so much that he knew if she held a dislike for anyone, it was him because he had forced it upon her. He had force himself to expect more out of her, to demand more out of her, and every time he saw her, that same feeling came back and he hated himself for it. And he took it out on her.

“What exactly are you looking for, Dawson?” Gabriel spoke up. “Yours is a position that is not easily given up. One cannot simply cease to be a Councilman.”

“That's what I thought,” Dawson muttered. “I would like to have full leave of all duties and permission to have rogue status within the human community.”

Riley moved from his spot, pacing quickly in front of the window and gritting his teeth. Dawson wanted to live with his woman, to love his woman and not come back. Riley did not have that option. Dawson wasn't supposed to fall in love with her. He had promised that he wouldn't. With full confidence in himself, he had told Riley he wouldn't fall in love with her.

“I'm sorry Dawson,” Luther spoke up. “But that is simply not possible.”

“What are we prepared to give me?” Dawson asked.

“You are a valuable asset. Without your training expertise, we would not have faired so well in this unfortunate battle. I'm prepared to give you leave of duties as head bodyguard and to hire someone to help alleviate your duties in the training area. Your position as Top Secret Councilman stands and your position as Head Training Officer stands,” Gregory told him.

“All in agreement?” Felix asked.

Four hands shot up. Riley and Dawson stared at each other, slowly assessing the other's lowered hands. Together, they raised their hands. None of them were completely happy with the situation, but none of them were completely dissatisfied either.

“Position change in effect as soon as we hire replacements. Now, lets get to Ava. We have some goodbyes to say,” Felix noted.

All the men stood, somber moods set over the room as they left to make their way to the Hearing Room, ready to hear Ava say she wasn't coming back.

***

“And then Felix rescued me and I saw you on TV and there were lots of people fighting and Dawson was on the roof watching you through a gun and Uncle Riley was punching this really big wolf in the face!” Nolan chatted away to his mother. Ava almost groaned. He called him “Uncle Riley”. The one man that she couldn't stand had her son calling him “Uncle”.

Ava sat with Nolan in her lap in one of the large chairs in what she referred to as the “Throne Room” in the Council's Chambers. It was a large room, ready to fit hundreds of people as the Council listened to werewolf problems. A set of stairs led up to a platform that held five beautifully decorated chairs and Ava was situated in the one that sat in the very middle.

It was weird being in the situation she was in. She had used her changes to her advantage and knew she was going to get something no other werewolf would be allowed: freedom into the human community. It might have been because she had been altered by the Council or maybe it had always been in her, but she was the only known werewolf who could survive outside a pack without any mental degradation. And so, there Ava was, sitting in one of the most important chairs in the entire world, waiting for the Council to come see her, not the other way around.

The door to her left opened and she turned her head to see Dawson walk in. He had a bandage on his head and a sling around his left arm, but besides that, he looked perfectly healthy and fine. Jane followed him and smiled at Nolan in his mother's lap.

“Caroline told me I could find you here,” Dawson spoke up, walking towards her and falling into the chair to her right.

“The Councilmen should be here soon,” Jane explained. “Do you want to come play with me in the courtyard, Nolan?” she asked.

“Can I go, Mommy?” Nolan asked, glancing at his mother.

“Yeah, of course. I'll come get you soon.” Grinning, the little boy leapt from her lap and ran over to the young nurse, grabbing her hand and leading her out of the room, chattering away excitedly. Now that he knew his mother was safe and sound, he felt good as new.

“How are you doing?” Dawson asked as the two left the room. He looked at her, concern shining in his eyes.

“I'm fine,” she said.

“Alright, and the real answer is...?”

She sighed, turning to look at him as the tears brimmed along her eyes. He spread his arms and she pushed off of the chair and moved to sit directly in his lap, her head falling on his shoulder.

“I almost killed Ryder. I killed a lot of people,” she whispered out. “This is what I wanted to get away from; all of this fighting and danger and cruelty. This is why I want to get away. I don't want Nolan to grow up in this world of cruelty and hate. I don't want him to grow up in this world. You understand, don't you? I become a bad person in this world. I kill people. I kill people on purpose. I can't even use being a werewolf as an excuse because I have complete control. This world, this werewolf world, it takes away my humanity. I can't be here.”

“I know,” Dawson rocked her back and forth, running his hand through her hair and smoothing it out as he whispered softly to her.

“He's almost dead,” she said, referring to Ryder.

“Almost. You stopped yourself,” Dawson reminded her.

“Barely.”

“You always stop yourself. Don't sell yourself short.”

Ava nodded into his chest, leaning in and letting him comfort her.

“Listen,” he told her. “I brought up leaving to the boys.”

Ava's eyebrows raised. She wasn't sure he was going to go through with that. He was an important member to the Council's team; a valuable asset.

“We knew it was a long shot,” Dawson told her. “I can't leave.”

Ava frowned, biting down on her lip. She didn't expect him to be able to leave, but it still hurt her. A part of her hoped they would simply say yes and let them live happily ever after. But that never happened for Ava; happily ever afters didn't exist for her.

“They did alleviate some of my duties,” Dawson continued. “Which means I'll have more free time. Which means I'll be able to be with you. Just, not all of the time,” he told her.

“I guess that's about all we could hope for,” Ava stuck her face in his neck, inhaling his comforting scent and being reminded that the Council always took away the people she loved. She needed to get away from them. She had to.

The door Dawson had walked through only minutes before opened once more and all five Councilmen walked in. Ava stood from Dawson's lap, ready to be shooed from the seats they were in and feeling ridiculous for showing affection to the Council's main bodyguard, especially in front of the most important men in the werewolf community.

“Ava, how nice to see you,” Gabriel beamed at her. “I understand you're the reason that Ryder Davidson is howling in agony down in our, what did you say she called them?” Gabriel turned to Riley. “Our dungeons?”

“Gabriel,” Dawson sent the other man a sharp look.

“What are you doing here Dawson?” Luther asked, moving to sit in his chair at the end of the platform.

“I'm going to be leaving,” Ava interrupted.

“Pardon?” Felix glanced at her. They were all sitting in their chairs and looking intimidating as best as they could. They knew how to stand their ground and they knew how to evoke the appropriate response from anyone.

“You said that if I took down Ryder, I could take Nolan and leave,” Ava clarified.

“We did say that,” Gregory nodded, glancing toward Riley. Ava was, after all, Riley's personal project.

“And we are going to stick to that decision,” Riley told her. “As long as you undergo a complete psychiatric evaluation once a year with your check-ins.”

“Done,” Ava said.

“And once Nolan undergoes his first transformation when he hits puberty, you come back,” he added.

“No,” Ava told him. “We're not coming back.”

“Then you're not leaving,” Riley told her confidently.

“Do not underestimate me Riley,” she growled out. All five Councilmen turned to face Ava, settling their gazes upon her in a silent reminder that there were five of them and only one of her. Holding her ground, Ava only stood straighter, taking a step closer to the men before her.

“Ava,” Riley spoke up. “You have to understand that while you are capable of living outside a community of werewolves, once Nolan reaches maturity, he will need that constant contact with more than one werewolf. He will feel isolated and alone; a freak in his own skin because all he will have known is you. His other friends will not be going through this change, his other friends will be every day, average teenagers. And while you can mentally survive outside of a pack, we do not know Nolan's capabilities. He may very well need a pack to be able to survive.”

Ava bit her lip, turning to pace as she took in the very rational explanation Riley had given her.

“How about a compromise?” she asked.

“What do you suggest?” Riley asked her, smiling softly at her.

“Weekends. Once Nolan hits puberty and has his first transformation, we will spend weekends within a pack, but during the week, we will stay in our home.”

The Councilmen glanced at each other, nodding just the slightest bit or shaking their head with only a fraction of movement, but it was Riley who had the ultimate decision.

Riley turned towards her. “That seems reasonable. Nolan will undergo intense training during this period, and if he feels that he needs to be in a pack more often than just weekends to improve his training, we will listen to his requests with or without your permission.”

Ava set her jaw, but nodded. “Fine.”

“Excellent. You have been granted leave of the werewolf community with yearly evaluations and check-ins. See you next year.” Ava almost expected Riley to produce a gavel and bang it down on his chair in finality.

She smiled at the men before her and walked out of the room in search of Nolan. They would start their lives together again in peace and safety. “See you next year,” she mumbled.

THE END.