The night passes quickly, and Avery is awoken by knocking on her door, rudely ripping her out of her steamy dream about a not-so-anonymous Alpha.

"Shit," she mutters, stumbling to the door with her eyes half-closed and one of her hands feeling along the walls for direction. The other is tugging her sleep shirt down to make sure it covers her ass.

Unlocking the door, she pulls the door open, yawning widely as she does.

She is greeted by the sight of what could basically be described as a god, who has a wide smirk on his face.

"Morning, Wilcott. You can close your mouth; I wouldn't want you to catch any flies," Roman teases, and Avery shoots him a half-hearted glare.

"Why are you here so early?" She mumbles, rubbing her hand down her face in an attempt to wake herself up a little more.

"To make sure you're ready for our day out," he smiles, "and because the beach cook-out starts in forty minutes, and I thought you might like some warning."

Avery stares at him in surprise, nodding after a moment of silence.

"Yes, thank you. I'll probably be ready in half an hour, how far away is the beach?" She asks, her brain not working.

"It's on the other side of the house. I'll meet you back here in thirty-five minutes," he laughs, "maybe sleep for those extra five minutes."

"Haha, great idea, see you then," she fake laughs, closing the door when she's done.

The joke is on him; she can get ready in ten minutes, she's going to sleep for twenty.

She sets her phone alarm, and then dives back into bed, shoving her head under her duvet too.

Her alarm goes off in what feels like seconds, and Avery drags herself out of bed, staring at her desk.

She laid out exactly what she had to put on before she went to sleep, which was a great idea in hindsight.

Quickly hopping into her bikini, she puts on a sundress over it after her sunscreen dries.

While the sunscreen on her face dries, she fills in her brows and adds some lip gloss, before taking her hair out of the french braid she stuffed it into the night before.

Examining herself in the mirror while she brushes her teeth, she deems herself acceptable, using the bathroom quickly before she hears the knocks on her door.

She washes her hands vigorously, before swinging open the door, and grabbing her beach bag and phone.

"Let's go," she announces, walking out of her room with her sunglasses on.

Roman stares at her in amusement, paying particular attention to her mostly exposed legs.

Avery can feel his eyes on her and merely smirks at the attention, continuing on her trek down the stairs with her phone in her hand as she scrolls through her messages from her friends.

One makes her momentarily stop in her tracks, and turn to Roman with a raised brow.

"The Radcliffe pack was attacked last night?" She asks curiously, looking back at her phone to read the rest of the text sent to her.

"Yes, by rogues and maybe by hunters. Six deaths and seventy casualties. They were lucky they got wind of it early enough to hide the children and non-fighters," he grimly responds, opening the main door for her.

She walks out of it with a quiet 'thanks', her mood changed from flirty to nervous.

"That's beside where we were ambushed," she furrows her brows and Roman nods.

"I think there must be a rogue pack there because it's around where the coven of vampires was before they were banished. It would have been set up for living in," he sighs, and Avery nibbles her lip in thought.

"I'll see if I can get my brother to send some of our trackers to investigate," she murmurs, texting York as she says that out loud.

"He said he already had," Roman quickly interjects, and leads her around the side of the house.

"No mention of pack business from here for today. We don't talk about it on Thursdays," he warns, and she feels the sun hit her skin as they emerge from the shaded side of the house.

The sight stuns her - at least half of the pack has to be here, even at the early time of 7am.

"The children and teenagers come for breakfast before school, and come back after school," Roman explains, seeing her shock at the bustling beach.

"A lot of the pack elders, including my mother, refuse to partake in these activities, as my father didn't set them up in his time. I let them do what they want because change can unsettle a lot of them," he states, shrugging.

Avery nods silently, letting herself be led along the beach to an empty space, where Roman lays down a large beach towel.

"Sit down," he indicates, staring at her in confusion when she just looks around.

She plonks herself down, getting settled in her spot, and placing her beach towel over her legs. It's a little chilly because the sun isn't fully up yet, but she's hoping it'll get a little warmer and brighter so that she can work on her nonexistent tan.

"Breakfast," somebody calls, and everyone gets up excitedly, walking in a pretty orderly procession towards where the men operating the fire are stood.

Everybody gets a plate of food, with meat, beans, and eggs in different styles decorating the plates.

Avery picks one up that has scrambled eggs, not much caring about the rest of the plate, before wandering over to where the drinks are, and collecting a glass of orange juice, waiting on Roman before they walk back to their towel.

"You don't have to wait on me to come back to the towel," Roman laughs as they stroll, and Avery raises a brow.

"I couldn't remember where we were sitting, so don't flatter yourself too much," she snorts, shaking her head as they reach their towel.

They eat in comfortable silence, occasionally chatting as they watch the pack walk by.

The kids go to school pretty soon after breakfast, and it starts to heat up.

Avery produces a sun hat from her bag, and rests it on her face, laying back and relaxing.