Page 45 of Ava: Part One

“It’s not funny, Jared. She’s going to kill me.”

Her eyes widened because everyone else would have heard that, too.

“I mean, Alpha Jared,” she amended quickly.

“Aw, shit. They got you, too,” Jared laughed. “I command you to call me Jared. Save the Alpha for the egomaniacs.”

She didn’t know what made her look up at the door again, but it was Ezekiel standing there this time. He had the same cold, murderous look he’d had the first few times she had seen him. Why was he always so angry?

“What is it about you, Red, that’s making everyone forget themselves like this?” Jared mused.

She peeled her eyes away from Ezekiel to look at Jared and found he was looking at the doorway, too.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

Jared looked at her and smiled.

“Nothing. Eat your breakfast; I think you’ll need the fuel today.”

At that reminder, she picked at her breakfast. What horrors lay in store for her today? Would she be a broken mess again? Or would today be the day she ended up in a body bag?

The people in the dining room resumed their talking, and when she looked at Emily again, the Omega had an uncharacteristic glint of anger in her eyes. It disappeared quickly, but she was sure that was what it was. Was Emily angry because she had ignored her warning and sat with Jared anyway? Why was she supposed to ignore someone who had been nothing but kind to her?

She sighed and looked back down at her food. She would never understand this place.

“Thanks again for that cream. I think it saved my life yesterday,” she said. “I didn’t think it worked on broken bones.”

Jared went still. And then he smiled at her before picking up his coffee and draining it.

“Find me after your detention,” he said as he stood.

He paused and seemed to hesitate for a second before saying, “Be careful.”

And then he walked out with the rest of the wolves that had been at the table.

That was odd. Was the cream a secret? Did he not want anyone to know he used it to aid his healing? Was it something else that was against the rules, and she had just exposed him? She should have talked to him in private.

Ava felt stupid as she picked up her tray and threw her half-eaten breakfast in the trash so she could keep her regular appointment with the dean. The last thing she wanted was to get Jared into trouble. Especially since it looked like she would need a whole bottle of his magic cream soon. Her stomach was already in knots as she thought about training.

Chapter 32

Waiting for the shoe to drop was excruciating. No one had shoved or insulted Ava all day, but she heard them whispering. This was one of those times she wished she was a wolf so she could hear what they were saying about her.

In Housekeeping, they were being taught to fold napkins, and even that failed to get her usual angry reaction. Her stomach got tighter with every second that passed as her fear of what was coming increased. She did everything she was told like a robot,and it was possibly the first Housekeeping lesson that hadn’t ended with a detention.

At lunchtime, she made her way to sit in the quad. The thought of eating anything was making her feel sick.

The dean had taken one look at her and told her to get out of his office. Since she had no cuts or bruises, she had nothing to argue about how severely she had been hurt in the last training and was warned to stop taking up his valuable time. Penelope had cancelled all her pre-booked appointments.

Her only hope of leaving had been crushed. There would be no one to save her from what was coming.

“Mind if I sit?”

She looked up and saw the vampire who’d had his arm broken in the first training session. He looked a lot different with his uniform on and no blood on his face.

“Um... sure.”

The vampire smiled at her as he sat next to her on the bench and offered his hand.

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