Page 34 of Ava: Part One

Claire walked out without another word, and he closed the door with a breath of relief. Shadow was not killing anyone today. Crisis averted.

That display in the morning had been hard to endure with Ava in the same room, but it had been necessary to prove a point to her. He had seen the devastated look in Ava’s eyes, so he had succeeded. It didn’t matter how his body responded to her; she was nothing to him. He could fuck anyone he wanted to satisfy his needs.

‘Try it,’ Shadow said.

He ignored the wolf’s threat as he pushed himself off the door to head to his room. He stopped when he saw Derek standing in the doorway to the lounge.

“Not that I’m not happy you’re finally pushing that vapid wolf out of your life, but what the fuck is going on, Zeke? That’s two days in a row you’ve turned her away.”

He shook his head and walked past his Beta.

“You know there’s a lot going on. We haven’t made contact with Gideon yet, and my father expects a report on Saturday.”

“That’s the first thing we should have done. The vampires could retaliate any moment, but you seem intent on disappearing and forgetting your duties.”

He snarled and came back to Derek, sticking his face in his and daring him to repeat that sentence. Derek stepped back and looked down in submission, but he wasn’t satisfied with that. After everything he had done, everything he had given up, how dare Derek accuse him of forgetting about his duties!

“I have never in my life forgotten about my duties,” he snarled. “My whole life is a duty that you and Myles will never have to bear the weight of. Do not say that shit to me again.”

“Yes, Alpha. I’m sorry.”

His anger cooled down quickly, and he came to his senses as he stepped back from his friend. Derek was right; his head was not on his duties right now, so he shouldn’t have reacted like that.

“I’ll speak to the vampire prince tomorrow morning,” he said. “It’s not a good idea to let Shadow near them tonight.”

Derek nodded, his eyes still downwards.

“I’m sorry,” he said to Derek. “You’re right. I think I just need to sleep.”

He was going to be Derek’s Alpha, but he didn’t intend to be an asshole Alpha like his father. People feared him enough as it was.

Derek finally looked up and nodded again.

“Goodnight,” he said, starting up the stairs again.

“You’re not going to eat? They’ve been cooking a feast or something in there even though I told them not to bother.”

“Myles will eat it. If they insist on wasting their time, let them,” he shrugged.

Like last night and the night before, he didn’t sleep as he had intended to. He paced his bedroom, wondering when things would blow up in his face. Because they would if Ava didn’t get more serious about leaving. He couldn’t help her with that because it would make people ask questions.

‘You will never take her from me.’

Shadow’s confident statement left him feeling hopeless. He had found nothing about true mates in the library except mentions in passing and hadn’t wanted to ask the librarian. There had to be a way he could break or reject this bond.

He walked out to his balcony and looked in the direction of Ava’s dorm. Even across the distance, with woods and other buildings between them, she was calling to him. And all he would have to do to get to her was break a flimsy window. If she were to leave, would he still feel like this? Would distance stop it?

‘She’s mine,’ was all Shadow said.

It made him think there was an even worse scenario. That Shadow would follow her wherever she went. He had her scent now; he could hunt her. Ava would never be able to hide from him.

Chapter 25

Screams. Blood. The crunching sounds.

Screams. Blood. The crunching sounds.

That same scene repeated over and over again until Ava jolted awake.

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