Ch.14 Daddy's Little Girl

Anything you can do, I can do better.

Even when she's soaked through, I could make her wetter.

Stop try'na make me look bad, so you can be taken seriously,

What makes you think I give a fuck what people think of me?

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Ava stood behind the red curtains in the auditorium, hands clammy as she waited for her name to be called. Her blonde curls were pulled into a neat bun, and she was dressed in her new red dress and white tights. Nibbling on her lower lip, she flattened out the non existent wrinkles on her dress.

She tried remembering the lines of her poem, mumbling them silently and hoping she didn't mess up. She didn't want to embarrass herself in front of her whole school. Tonight was the valentine talent show and she had worked on her poem for two long weeks.

" Up next is Ava Rose Monroe with her family poem." The schools principle announced Ava through the speaker, followed by loud claps and shouts.

Ava nervously made her way onto the small stage, the bright lights shining as she took her place in the center. Gripping the microphone in her hands, Ava stared at the large crowd, searching for the faces of her family. She spotted her mother's face first, who gave her a big smile and a thumbs up, making Ava relax just a ounce.

Ava closed her eyes, took a deep breath before letting a happy smile slip onto her face.

"So there's this boy, he makes me blush.

He makes me smile and he's my crush.

We like to share secrets, whispers at night.

But we never tell my brother Roman, because he's uptight.

The boy, my crush; he doesn't talk much and that's okay,

because words aren't needed anyway.

He has choppy brown hair and hazel eyes,

once we kissed under night skies.

Mommy says we're cute as she brushes my curls,

but to never tell daddy because I'm his little girl.

The boy and I, we're still young with long lifelines,

so until then,  Daddy be my valentine.

Daddy if you hear me, come up on stage,

and remember I'll be your little girl until our old age."

The crowd began to clap and whistle, as Remy stalked down the isle and hopped on stage to pull Ava into his arms, kissing her forehead.

"I love you daddy, so much." Ava grinned, wrapping her small arms around her father's neck.

Remy stared at his daughter, and kissed her nose, smiling he hugged her tighter. "I love you too, baby girl."

..

It had been nearly a week, and everybody seemed to be growing even more anxious. They had the right to. The dagger remained lodged deep in Ava's chest, her hair had faded into a cotton white and her skin was sickly pale. Each day they had been waiting for the results to come back from the lab, so they could identify the poison, and today was that day.

Remy held Genevieve in his arms, as they stood before Ava's bed, anxious expressions on their face. Maddox had taken the spot closest to Ava, his fingers lightly brushing across hers with just the slightest movement from him.

Normally Maddox would have resisted to be so close to Ava, but Sebastian wasn't there anymore. He had gone back home to his grandfather's funeral the day before.

Maddox was worried about the results Levi would be bringing back from the lab. What if they couldn't find a cure? What type of poison was so strong that it could nearly kill one of Remy's children? But a sense of hope remained in Maddox. Levi was a smart doctor. He had saved Genevieve and Ava when they were facing death once, so why wouldn't he be able to do it again.

Remy was worried himself, but not for the same reasons. They still didn't know who had attacked Ava. Sebastian wasn't an option, because Remy had rifled through his thoughts and memories and found nothing. The only thing that would have pointed to Sebastian was the fight they had before Ava left Bakersfield. But with no memories of Sebastian stalking Ava back to the pack house, then Sebastian was ruled out.

At what point Remy had even thought about a possible random attack. Ava had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. But that theory was also smashed when Levi walked in with Ava's lab results in hand.

"It's not good." Levi began, ushering Gen and Remy to take a seat, an almost guilty expression on his face. "The poison in Ava's body is killing her. Medically seen it's attacking everything in her body. The poison was matched up with her blood."

"What are you saying?" Genevieve asked, squeezing Remy's hand as he held her in a comforting embrace.

"There is no medical cure. The poison was made specifically for her blood. Whoever shot those arrows knew exactly who they were targeting and they knew exactly what to use."

"There has to be something we can try." Remy whispered, a fierce glare on his face.

"Right now I suggest we keep her in this condition. I'll contact a few from back home and see what they know about deadly spells and poisons." Levi remained professional and tried to not let Remy's glare intimidate him.

"It has to be somebody in the pack." Maddox nearly growled out, sometime after Levi left the room. "We can't trust anyone at this point."

Remy began to pace the small room, considering Maddox's theory. Someone out of their pack dared to hurt Ava. They'd be foolish, but Remy had no other suspects and he wasn't going to let anyone get away with hurting his baby girl.

"I'll hold a pack meeting. If I sense any hint of guilt or anything suspicious from anybody, they'll be pulled out of the crowd and I'll deal with the them. Nobody new is to enter this room. Family only."

Maddox and Genevieve nodded, before Remy whispered something into his wife's ear before leaving the room to go and hold the pack meeting.

Genevieve and Maddox took the seats on the couch, both sighing quietly in frustration. A silence surrounded the room and blanketed the two adults with anxiousness. Now they just needed to wait till Remy came back with hopefully good news.

"When did you tell Ava?" Genevieve asked, glancing at Maddox with a small smile on her face.

Maddox didn't really want to talk about anything to anyone, but he'd never disrespect Genevieve by ignoring her. "She found out the night after you and Remy left for that weekend."

Genevieve nodded softly, playing with her wedding ring. "You weren't going to ... reject her, right?"

Maddox's eyes flew to his precious Ava. He'd never think about rejecting her. He didn't tell her about their mate bond at first, but now he wanted nothing more than to be officially mated to her. They had always been mates, from the time Gen was still carrying Ava in her womb.

Maddox had always loved Ava and Ava had always loved him. Even when Maddox had gone away, his love for her never decreased. Their childhood was the definition of true love. Ava was everything he wanted in life.

"I'd never reject her." Maddox swallowed, the lump in his throat getting bigger with the onslaught of emotions.

Maddox jumped to his feet, his heart beating wildly and his eyes burning with tears. "I'll be back in a minute."

Hurrying out of the room, Maddox made his way to the closest bathroom. The door was locked, Roman already occupying the small guest bathroom, most likely talking to someone on the phone.

Maddox grunted, moving to the wall across from the door, he pushed the palms of his hands to his eyes. He hadn't cried in years and now was not the time either.

Suddenly Roman swung the bathroom door open, eyes burning with anger, before they landed on Maddox. "Fuck, you look terrible. You look like you haven't slept in days."

Maddox raised an eyebrow, and followed Roman into the empty kitchen. He hadn't slept in days, but nobody needed to know that.

"Levi got Ava's lab results back today, right. How'd that go?" Roman asked, lazily dropping onto one of the bar stools.

"Who were you talking to back there?" Maddox asked, ignoring Roman's question.

"Best friend back at school. I asked him to watch my mate, but he won't because he doesn't want to be that "stalker dude". I never said for him to be obvious about it." Roman groaned, rubbing his temples.

"Why do you want him to watch her?" Maddox looked bored, but he tried continuing the conversation.

"She's already marked, and the guy that marked her is planning to mate her soon and I don't want that to happen."

A spark of hope went through Maddox at the mentioning of marking. That could possibly work in Ava's case but he needed to talk to Remy first.

Standing up, Maddox walked over to Roman's side. "Here's the solution to your problem ..."

...

"No." Remy had his arms crossed, a stern look on his face. "You will not mark her."

Marking was supposed to be done with consent from both parties. Marking someone without consent, was a huge violation and Remy wasn't letting anyone violate his daughter.

Maddox glared at Remy, fangs bared. "Nobody spoke up at the meeting. Levi can't find a cure and me marking my mate won't hurt her in anyway."

"You don't know that." Remy's muscles were flexing, ready to attack.

"I'm the one thing Ava's attacker isn't expecting. Nobody outside of your family knows I'm her mate. If I mark her, it could make our bond stronger. It could awaken her wolf side and that could heal her. Let me try."

"It could work, Remy. It's a long shot, but it could work." Levi spoke up.

Marking a injured mate was not a common medical treatment. Blood transfusions were the popular method, but that had failed in Ava's case.

Remy was scared to pull out the dagger. It was like pulling the plug on a human. Once they pulled the dagger from Ava's heart they'd have to have a definite cure or she'd die. There was no trying again. It either worked or it didn't and that scared Remy the most.

"If it doesn't work Maddox Sullivan Steel I will kill you myself. If it works, but you hurt her -I'll kill you. Pray to the goddess it works and everything goes good or I'll kill you."

Maddox nodded, watching as they left the room, leaving him alone with Ava. Walking closer to her bed, Maddox slowly got onto the bed. He lifted Ava's upper body gently, before sliding behind her.

After holding her against his chest for a few minutes, Maddox bared his fangs. He gently pulled the dagger out from her chest and pressed the gauze to it, before leaning into her neck and sinking his teeth into her delicate skin.

His heart was beating wild and his vision became blurry. His fingertips were burning as he held Ava to his chest. He managed to pull his fangs from her skin, before he fell unconscious with Ava in his arms.

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Who did it? Maybe it was still Sebastian but Remy didn't pick it up.

Will the marking work?

I made up Ava's poem so it's kind of shitty XD

Give me some feedback please :)

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That comments have been lacking in the previous chapters so please comment. Votes: 250 & Comments: 100

I'm going into the hospital tomorrow for minor surgery so if I don't update don't worry!