Page 47 of Ava: Part One

“You’re very eager today, Miss Morgan,” Coach Baxter sneered.

She didn’t respond, but she didn’t lower her eyes again. That was the greatest insult to the Alpha wolves. The coach’s eyes turned so cold, and he was snarling so much he was practically frothing.

“Dexter. Claire. Take your positions,” Coach barked.

She smirked as she finally looked away from him to face her opponents. Ezekiel’s girlfriend and the douchebag alpha who shoved her every time he walked past her.

‘I am Ava Morgan, daughter of Alpha Roland Morgan, and I don’t take shit from anyone.’

She repeated the affirmations in her head as she took a fighting stance and waited for the whistle. Today was the day she would meet her birth father, after all.

“Are we doing this, or what? I don’t have all day to wait for this shit,” she snarled.

Chapter 33

Zeke sat perfectly still on a sofa in his lounge, staring at the wall. His head was in turmoil.

For the first time in his academic career, he lied to the dean and said he had an emergency call with his father. As future leaders, this was the only valid reason to miss out on their education. Pack business was serious business and could affect even the relationships and allies in the academy, and the academy valued its principles too much to allow that to happen.

He had almost killed her today. Claire. He’d seen her leaving the dining hall and partially shifted to go after her, but Ava’s scent from the dining hall had pulled him out of it. It was only Shadow’s fixation with his mate that had saved his ex-girlfriend.

Even though it hadn’t happened, he could see clearly in Shadow’s mind how that scene would have looked. Blood. Limbs. Screams. Because Shadow kept playing those images in his head. Claire was at death’s door, and she didn’t even know it.

And then he had gone to see Ava, only to see her sitting so close to that...

Breathe. He needed to breathe.

Clearing his mind again, he focused on the wall. He ignored Shadow and the images he kept filling his mind about how he would kill that one—the one he would not name.

He focused on the intricate designs on the wallpaper, following every line, cataloguing every colour, and counting the differences.

When he heard the car driving up his driveway, his concentration slipped a little. Instead of the lines on the designs, he saw Claire's head. Instead of the colours, he saw Jared’s blood. A growl left his lips, and he clenched his fists, drawing blood with his claws as he shoved Shadow back to the recesses of his mind. Then he started all over again.

“I didn’t know we had an urgent Pack meeting,” Myles said as he entered the lounge.

Derek snorted as he entered behind him. They hadn’t spoken to him since he almost snapped Derek’s neck.

Zeke concentrated on counting. He had known they would be excused, too, and he had known there would be questions.

“Why are we here, Zeke?” Derek asked.

He looked away from the wall in front of him to look at his packmates. He could tell by the way they stepped back that they were looking into Shadow's eyes. Blood red, murderous eyes.

“Because Shadow wants to kill everyone,” he whispered, “and I don’t know how to stop him.”

The worry on their faces turned to fear. It took him back to the first time he had lost control of his wolf.

“Shall we go home?” Myles asked.

As if he would want to be stuck in a car and then a plane with an uncontrollable wolf.

“You know they won’t let us,” Derek said.

“But this is an emergency! The last thing the Academy wants is bloodshed on their soil,” Myles argued.

“It doesn’t matter. Even if they let me go, Shadow’s not leaving this place.”

Not without Ava. Thinking of her brought the scene from the morning back to his mind, and then the scene from the weekend when Jared had had his filthy hands all over her. He looked back at the wall and desperately tried to push those thoughts back.

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