Her possessive alpha

　　Failed birthday surprise

　　The wondering feeling she had last night about whatever surprise Ray and the other pack members were planning for her flew right through the window and was replaced by the intense desire she had for Lucas,….. t-the desire the mate bond made her have for Lucas. All because of what happened, she had missed her own birthday party surprise. In all her 18 years of being in her pack, of growing up as a moonlighter, she had never for once missed her special day with them until yesterday. Even though she didn’t like Ray’s surprises, spending her special day with her pack members was something Ava always looked forward to every year, even when the trio moved out of the pack house, she still celebrated her birthdays with the moonlighters every year; it was like Christmas to her, and she was looking forward to it yesterday before she met Lucas in that blasted restaurant, and now she missed it all; she had forgotten her own birthday, and it was all thanks to her mate. And now she's still standing here in the kitchen, naked and covered in mud in front of her betrothed and her best friend, with no possible explanation to give as to why she disappeared last night, the both of them must probably think she has run mad now.

　　“We’re waiting,” Ethan said in response to her silence, he didn’t seem to be pleased seeing the state she was in.

　　“Now, now Ethan,” Ray chided. “Can’t you see that she’s all tired and dirty? She must have had a pretty rough night; I don’t think its nice to be putting so much pressure on her. I’m sure she has a pretty good explanation for her to have missed last night’s party.”

　　Of course, Ray would never see the wrong side of any situation, Ethan hissed and returned to the dishes behind him.

　　Ray walked over to her. “Now dear, go and freshen up and then you can come downstairs and tell us where you’ve been.”

　　“Thank you,” she felt guilty that Ray had spared her yet another one of Ethan’s interrogation sessions, but she couldn’t help herself.

　　As she walked out of the kitchen, she could feel Ethan glaring holes into her back. She went upstairs and did as her betrothed had said, getting in the shower and washing off all the dirt from her body. About thirty minutes later, she was back in fresh clothes and entered the kitchen to see Ray and Ethan sitting at the table waiting for her, her untouched birthday cake had been disposed off including the decorations.

Ethan’s face, he was still angry but not as before, she focused her gaze back on the two men. They were waiting for her to start speaking and she heaved a sigh, not knowing the next set of

　***THREE

　　"Here."

　Ava woke up from her daydream to find Ray standing near her in their bedroom where she sat thinking. He was handing her a wrapped present, probably to make

of the tremendous guilt

　"I don't deserve it,

everyone deserves

up with for being

　　"I'm sorry, you and the others worked so hard to surprise me yesterday and look

sat on the bed beside her, taking

Besides, I know how much you love your birthdays, and I understand that for whatever reason

to her, he'd rejected his mate without batting an eye, he wanted her so bad but he had to do the right thing, all for Ava and the pack, but when it became her turn to do the same, she did the exact opposite of that; she let Lucas take her, she let him take what she'd been keeping her whole life for Ray. When she said she didn't deserve it; she

to her, she just sighed and stared at it in her hand. To be honest, she wasn't in the mood to open any present but she didn't want