Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
TEN YEAR OLD AVA
The Harper estate was the biggest house I'd ever seen.
I pressed my face against the car window, watching it grow larger as we drove up the winding driveway.
It looked like something out of a fairy tale—all gray stone and tall windows and ivy climbing up the walls.
There was a fountain in the front, water sparkling in the afternoon sun, and gardens that seemed to stretch on forever.
"Ava, stop smudging the glass." Mom's voice was gentle but tired. She'd been tired a lot lately. Ever since Dad left. "Remember what I told you. Best behavior."
"I know, Mom." I sat back in my seat, smoothing down the blue dress she'd made me wear. It was itchy and too fancy and I hated it, but Mom said we had to make a good impression. Mr. Harper was important. He was going to help us.
I didn't really understand what that meant. I just knew that we'd lost our house and moved into a tiny apartment, and Mom cried at night when she thought I was asleep, and now we were here, at this castle of a house, because Mr. Harper was an old friend of Mom's and he wanted to help.
The car stopped in front of the massive front doors. A man in a suit opened Mom's door, then mine, and I scrambled out onto the gravel driveway, craning my neck to look up at the house.
"It's so big," I breathed.
Mom took my hand, squeezing tight. "Stay close to me, okay? And remember—"
"Best behavior. I know.” The front doors opened before we reached them, and a man stepped out. He was tall and broad, with salt and pepper hair and sharp eyes that crinkled at the corners when he smiled. He looked strong, distinguished, the kind of man other men listened to.
"Elena." He pulled my mother into a hug, and I saw her shoulders shake just a little. "It's been too long."
"David." Mom's voice was thick. "Thank you. For everything."
"Nonsense. You're family." He pulled back and looked down at me, and his smile got even wider. "And this must be Avalon."
"Ava," I corrected automatically, then remembered my manners. "I mean—yes, sir. It's nice to meet you."
He laughed, a warm sound that made me feel less nervous.
"Ava it is. Welcome to Harper Manor, little one.
I think you're going to like it here." He led us inside, and I forgot all about best behavior.
The foyer was bigger than our whole apartment, with a sweeping staircase and a chandelier that looked like frozen waterfalls and paintings on the walls that seemed to watch us as we walked past.
"The boys are around somewhere," Mr. Harper was saying to Mom. "I'll have them come say hello at dinner. Give you two a chance to settle in first." Boys. I perked up at that. I didn't have any siblings, and the kids at my new school didn't like me much. Maybe Mr. Harper's boys would want to play.
"How many?" I asked, tugging on Mr. Harper's sleeve. Mom gave me a look, but he just smiled.
"Four. Well, three are mine by blood—Caleb, Ethan, and Leo. Mason is... family in every way that matters." Something flickered across his face, there and gone. "They're a bit older than you, but I'm sure they'll be happy to show you around."
A bit older turned out to be an understatement.
I met them at dinner that night, seated at a table so long I could barely see the other end.
Mom was next to Mr. Harper, talking in low voices about grown-up things I didn't understand.
I was at the other end, surrounded by empty chairs, swinging my legs because my feet didn't reach the floor.
Then they walked in. Four of them, just like Mr. Harper said. But he hadn't mentioned that they were practically grown-ups themselves.
The first one through the door was golden. That was the only word for him—golden hair, golden skin, warm brown eyes that seemed to glow in the candlelight. He was tall and broad-shouldered and moved like he owned the room, like the air itself made way for him.
He stopped when he saw me. Just... stopped. In the middle of the doorway, blocking the others behind him. His nostrils flared. Once. Twice. Something shifted in his expression—something I was too young to understand.
"Dad," he said slowly, not taking his eyes off me. "You didn't tell us Elena's daughter was..."
He trailed off. Didn't finish. But something passed between him and Mr. Harper, some silent communication I couldn't read.
"She's young yet," Mr. Harper said from the other end of the table. His voice was careful. "Nothing's certain."
"It's certain." The golden boy's voice was quiet. Absolute. "You know it is." I squirmed in my seat, confused. They were talking about me like I wasn't there, like I was something to be discussed rather than a person sitting right in front of them. I didn't like it.
"Hi," I said loudly, because Mom always said the best way to deal with being ignored was to make yourself impossible to ignore. "I'm Ava."
The golden boy, Mason, I'd learn later, finally moved, walking toward me with slow, deliberate steps. Behind him, the others filed in, and I felt their eyes on me like physical weight.
"Hi," Mason said, stopping beside my chair. He crouched down so we were eye level, and up close, I could see that his eyes weren't just brown. They had flecks of gold in them, like honey in sunlight. "I'm Mason. It's nice to meet you, Ava."
"Thanks." I didn't know what else to say. He was looking at me so intensely, like I was the most interesting thing he'd ever seen, and it made something flutter in my stomach that I didn't understand.
"I'm Caleb." A shadow fell over me, and I looked up to find the biggest person I'd ever seen looming beside Mason.
He was huge, taller than my dad had been, with shoulders like a mountain and eyes so pale blue they almost looked silver.
His face was hard, all sharp angles and a jaw that looked like it was carved from stone.
He should have scared me. Everything about him screamed danger. When he looked at me, something in those icy eyes softened. Just a little. Just enough.
"Hi," I whispered. He didn't smile. Didn't speak again. Just stared at me like he was trying to see inside my head, then gave a short nod and moved to take a seat across the table. His eyes never left me.
"Don't mind Caleb. He's not much of a talker.
" This voice was lighter, teasing, and I turned to find a boy with dark hair and green eyes sliding into the chair next to mine.
He was leaner than the other two, with sharp features and a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "I'm Ethan. I hear you like books."
"How do you know that?" I asked, surprised.
"I know lots of things." He tilted his head, studying me. "What's your favorite?"
"Um..." I thought about it. "Alice in Wonderland. The one where she falls down the rabbit hole and everything is weird and backwards."
Something flickered across his face. "Interesting choice. A girl lost in a strange world, surrounded by creatures who want to possess her." His smile sharpened. "Do you ever feel like Alice, Ava?"
I didn't know how to answer that. Didn't know why the question made me shiver.
"Ethan, stop being creepy." The last boy dropped into the chair on my other side, and when I turned to look at him, he grinned, a bright, mischievous expression that made him look younger than the others even though he was probably the same age.
His hair was dark and messy, his eyes gray like storm clouds, and there was a dimple in his cheek when he smiled.
"I'm Leo. Ignore everything these idiots say. They have no social skills."
"I have excellent social skills," Ethan said mildly.
"You just compared a ten-year-old to a girl getting chased by monsters." He counted back, a smirk on his lips.
"The creatures in Wonderland aren't monsters. They're manifestations of—" He shot back, frown on his face.
"See what I mean?" Leo rolled his eyes at me conspiratorially. "No social skills. You'll have to stick with me if you want normal conversation."
I giggled. I couldn't help it. Leo's smile got even wider.
"There we go. She laughs. That's a good sign." He leaned closer, dropping his voice to a stage whisper. "Between you and me, this place can get pretty boring. But now that you're here, I think things are going to get a lot more interesting."
Dinner was strange after that. The food was fancy, things I couldn't pronounce and wasn't sure I liked—but I barely tasted any of it.
I was too aware of the four boys around me.
Of the way Mason watched me from across the table with those warm, intense eyes.
Of Caleb's silent presence, a mountain of barely contained something I couldn't name.
Of Ethan's occasional questions, probing and precise, like he was taking notes on everything I said.
Of Leo's easy jokes and bright laughter that never quite hid the sharpness underneath.
They were all watching me. All of them. Even when they talked to each other or to Mr. Harper or to my mom, their attention kept drifting back to me like I was a magnet and they were iron filings.
It should have scared me. It didn't. After dinner, Leo offered to show me the library. Mom said it was okay as long as I didn't stay up too late, and before I knew it, I was following him through hallways that seemed to go on forever.
"The library's the best room in the house," Leo said, pushing open a heavy wooden door. "Even Ethan admits it, and he's impossible to impress."
I stepped inside and gasped. Books. Thousands of them. Maybe millions. They lined every wall from floor to ceiling, with rolling ladders to reach the high shelves and cozy chairs tucked into corners and a fireplace big enough to stand in.
"It's like Beauty and the Beast," I breathed.
"Yeah?" Leo grinned. "Does that make me the Beast?"
I looked at him—at his easy smile and dancing eyes and the dimple in his cheek—and shook my head. "No. You're too pretty to be the Beast."
He laughed, surprised and delighted. "Pretty, huh? I'll take it." I wandered through the stacks, trailing my fingers along the spines, reading titles I didn't understand. Leo followed, pointing out his favorites, telling me stories about the books and the house and his brothers.
"Mason's the oldest," he said. "Well, technically he's not related to us by blood, but Dad adopted him when he was twelve. His real parents..." He trailed off, shrugging. "Anyway. He's the leader. Always has been. What Mason says goes."
"What about Caleb?" I asked, curiosity filled my voice.
"Caleb's... intense." Leo's smile flickered. "He feels things really deeply, but he doesn't know how to show it. So he just kind of... looms. But he's got a good heart under all that scary."
"And Ethan?"
"Ethan's the smart one. Scary smart. He notices everything, remembers everything. It's annoying, actually." Leo pulled a face. "But he's loyal. Once you're his, you're his forever." Once you're his. The words stuck in my head, though I didn't know why.
"What about you?" I asked.
Leo's grin came back, bright and sharp. "Me? I'm the fun one. The one who makes sure everyone doesn't take themselves too seriously." He winked. "Stick with me, little bird. I'll make sure you never get bored."
Little bird. Mr. Harper had called me that too.
We stayed in the library for hours, Leo showing me secret passages and hidden compartments and a window seat that looked out over the moonlit gardens.
By the time Mom came to find me, I was half asleep in one of the big armchairs, a book of fairy tales open in my lap.
"Time for bed, sweetheart," she said, scooping me up. I was too tired to walk, so she carried me, and as we left the library, I looked back over her shoulder. All four of them were standing in the doorway.
Mason. Caleb. Ethan. Leo.
Watching me leave.
Their eyes caught the light from the hallway, and for just a moment—just a flicker of a second—they didn't look like boys at all.
They looked like wolves. I was ten years old and half asleep, so I told myself I imagined it.
I closed my eyes and let Mom carry me to bed, and I dreamed of books and castles and four pairs of eyes that followed me wherever I went.
I didn't know then what I was to them.
Didn't know that they'd looked at me and sensed something, some Alpha instinct that told them what I would become before I had any idea myself.
That Mason had watched me eat dinner and thought mine, even though I was just a child, even though it would be years before I presented.
That Caleb had memorized my face and started building walls around a heart he was already preparing to give me.
That Ethan had filed away every word I said, every expression I made, every tiny detail that would help him understand me.
That Leo had decided, in that very first moment, that he would do anything to make me laugh.
They knew. Even then. They knew what I would be, and they started waiting. I didn't know that I'd walked into a trap. That I'd never really walked out.
I was ten years old. I thought I'd found a fairy tale. I didn't realize until much later that I was the princess, and they were the dragons, and the castle wasn't a home.
It was a cage I just couldn't see yet.