By the time they begin the drive to the airport, Avery feels like she's been dragged through a bush backwards.

Once she finished training the teenagers, who were all rather upset and anxious about their Alpha being hurt, she had to go and pack a bag for Roman, as Ryan informed her he hadn't yet packed.

Carolyn laughed at her the whole walk to Roman's room.

While she packed a bag for him, Roman had been semi-conscious and found everything hilarious, including her looking horrified after finding some lacy unmentionables in his bedside table.

As she slumped in the backseat of the seven-seater SUV, Avery is exhausted and can't wait to go to sleep that night.

"Silly donkey," Roman mutters, his head rolling to the other side as the car goes over a speedbump.

Avery stares at him, as do all of the guards in the vehicle, who look like they're questioning their choices right about now.

"What the fuck?" She murmurs, before going back to her phone and continuing to text her brother, who's filling her in on the latest pack gossip excitedly.

"Holy shit," she exclaims aloud as she gets to the end of her brother's text before she turns to one of the guards.

"Okay, so, apparently the Split Sunrise transfer is pregnant! With the warriors baby, even though they're not mates," she whispers, and the guard raises his eyebrows in surprise.

"I know, that's what I thought. Apparently, we're getting a new Gamma, too, so there's a spoiler for later," Avery chuckles, and the guard shakes his head.

"Her future mate will have a lot to take on," the guard sighs, his face in a frown.

"We can't help our pasts," Avery shrugs, sitting back in her seat and continuing to text her brother rapidly.

"Why don't you both just mindlink?" The guard asks curiously, and Avery glances at him.

"It's quicker like this, we both have very enthusiastic wolves, and it usually ends up that they talk over us and we can't communicate," Avery responds quietly with a smile, and the guard nods.

She's very relieved to have somebody to speak to for this car and plane journey because she thinks she may have cried if she had to stay silent for the entire time.

Tired or not, she can't sit in silence for twelve hours total.

Avery decides that a quick nap might be best, and she pops in her earphones to block out any noise, turning on some bouncy pop.

While she naps, Sonya has a field day talking to her brother, spilling all of the details about Roman to his wolf.

They kiss. Constantly, with no regard for me at all, Sonya complains, and York's wolf laughs in amusement.

Tired of not being the priority?, Ezra asks, and Sonya sends a growl through their link.

I'm shocked he hasn't thrown her down on a bed or something, but they have this weird no-room rule, Sonya rolls her eyes mentally, and she can feel Ezra cringe.

Brother here, I don't want every single detail there is, he whines, cutting off their link as quickly as possible.

A little while later, Avery is woken up by her friendly guard, who ushers her into the aeroplane waiting for them on the tarmac.

She flings herself into a seat, half asleep and slightly disgruntled at her sudden awakening.

What makes her wakening worth it, though, is the image of Roman being carried by three guards, who look like they're struggling to lift him.

He is dumped unceremoniously into a seat after Avery takes a picture of the scene, snickering to herself in the corner of the aeroplane.

He briefly wakes up, before his eyes flutter closed.

The guards get in after the luggage handlers load the cases onto the plane, and Avery watches everything go by with half-closed eyes.

The plane lands with a lot of sudden force, and everybody on it is awake suddenly, looking extremely startled and slightly scared.

"What the fuck," Roman mutters, "If this guy is the best, I'd hate to be flown by the worst."

Avery lets out a weak laugh at that, her hand over her racing heart as she sits forward a little bit to breathe easier.

Roman flexes his arm, wincing a little as he rotates his wrist slowly.

"Sorry about that," Avery mumbles, cringing as she watches his pained movements.

"It's training; I should have been alert. They're only kids, they don't always know what they're doing," he shrugs, slowly standing up and getting his footing as he goes into the bathroom.

Avery uses this time to turn on her phone and quickly respond to the texts from her brother and father, raising a brow when she sees a message notification from her sister.

She responds to Louisa's request for a video call that day with a 'sure', and some emoticons - her sister rarely texted her, and she wasn't going to rebuff her attempt at regular contact.

Telling York that their sister texted her, he responds with the fact that she texted him too, both of them exchanging question marks and confused selfies.

Roman comes back a moment later, grabbing his briefcase and stretching like a cat.

"Time to go," he announces, and the security officers are standing in seconds.

It takes Avery a moment extra to pull herself up, and she looks a bit like she'd rather die than walk anywhere.

Stepping off the plane, a shiver runs through her as it's notably colder than the Lancaster pack.

"Alpha Lancaster! Brilliant to have you with us, is this your Luna?" A short, fat man beams, clapping the much taller man on the shoulder.

"No, this is Deputy Alpha Wilcott of the Rapid Rock pack," Roman responds calmly, and the man flinches a little bit, his face paling.

"Hello, Deputy Alpha, it's lovely to meet you at last. I've heard so much about you," he whispers faintly, and Avery cringes.

"What's your name?" She asks quietly, and he wipes sweat off his brow, while Roman watches the scene in front of him in confusion and amusement.

"Alpha Connors," he mumbles, and Avery grits her teeth briefly.

"So you heard?" She asks, and he nods quickly, looking at her nervously.

"Thank you," she nods, stepping back to beside Roman, who doesn't say a word, just leads her to the car that their guards are standing by.

Shit, Sonya howls, who else coming today knows?

I don't know, but we better tell York, Avery responds, texting York as rapidly as possible.

She sends him a paragraph explaining the situation, and he simply responds with 'oh shit'.

"What was that about?" Roman asks casually, and Avery glances at him, distracted by replying to her brother.

"Uh, nothing much," she responds, before returning to her phone with a notable amount of intensity, stabbing her screen as she types.

"It didn't look like nothing much - it looked like that man was about to crap himself right there and then when he found out who you were. Tell me, or I'll ask around," he warns, and Avery sends him a glare.

"Just because we kiss sometimes doesn't give you an automatic right to know everything about my life. You can ask anybody you want, but nobody is going to tell you," she responds through gritted teeth, keeping a hold of her temper as her eyes flash.

Roman goes silent after that, and Avery almost regrets snapping at him, as the half-hour drive is undertaken in total silence.