Page 62 of Ava: Part One

“So we won't have to bring the chains out again to stop you from hurting anyone? You’ve only just healed from that, Zeke. That was a lot of silver,” Myles said with worry in his eyes.

“I won’t ask you to do that to me again.”

“Shit, Zeke, if you ever need us to do it, we will. That’s not what we mean. But can we at least have a conversation aboutthis?” Derek asked, rubbing his face with a tired sigh. “Are you screwing her or not? That’s the only reason Claire would even think of ruining her perceived chances with you. Just give us anything so we can make sense of this.”

The closer he looked at his friends, the more he noticed how tired they looked. Had they been staying up, too? Had he scared them so much that they were worried what he would do if they fell asleep? The way he was worried about what Shadow would do if he slept?

“Can you just trust me on this one? I need a little more time, and then I’ll tell you everything.”

“I don’t know if we have time. Your father is calling on Saturday, but we haven’t even met the vampires yet.”

“Arrange that. We’ll have something to tell the Alpha before he calls,” he said as he stood up.

The quicker he said those words, the better it would be for everybody.

He left his pack and walked straight up the stairs, ignoring the Omegas standing with their heads down just outside the lounge. Why they did that was beyond him, but he had grown tired of telling all their assigned Omegas that he didn’t need them. They would realise it themselves before long.

And then he started pacing his room as he had done all the other nights. It was even more important that he stayed up now because Shadow didn’t like what he had planned, and he didn’t trust that ugly beast any more than he trusted Jared.

Tomorrow. He would reject Ava in the morning and would finally be free. Nothing would stop him.

Chapter 44

It had been a strange morning.

Ava had seen people whispering about her every time she had passed them, and no one had shoved or pushed her yet. It felt a lot like just before Claire knocked her out the first time. They would whisper and then look at her or go still as if they were mind-linking each other. Then, they would get a certain excited look that made her worry. What were they planning now? The fact that she had yet to see Claire was worrying in itself, but now she was being paranoid about everything.

Instead of being angry as usual, she was jumpy. She had more needle pricks on her fingers than usual because she couldn’t concentrate on anything in Needlework, and she probably had to refold the table napkins a hundred times in Housekeeping. And for a change, she didn’t get any detentions at all.

By lunchtime, she was a wreck. She couldn’t handle going to the dining hall to face the crowds even though she was starving, so she hid in one of the bathrooms.

She was being a coward. Yesterday, she’d finished the day on such a high that she’d felt invincible. Now, she was jumping at every little sound when nothing had happened to make her feel like this.

Ava splashed some water on her face and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She looked paler than usual, so her freckles were more prominent. Her eyes were too wide and bright, like she was on something, and she could hear her heart pounding in her chest constantly. She couldn’t calm down.

She decided to go to the Training Centre early instead of hiding the rest of the lunch break. At least after that, she would be safe in detention, and then Jared would pick her up.

She was drying her hands when the bathroom door opened, and the last person she wanted to see walked in.

“Did you really think you could hide from me, human?” Claire sneered as she strolled in. “I can smell you from miles away.”

Her minions came in after her, but one remained by the door, blocking the only exit and probably also stopping anyone else from coming in.

Ava stepped back as Claire approached. Her heart started hammering louder. This was different from being pummeled in a class in front of witnesses. At least in class, they had to stop Claire at some point and take her to the infirmary. There would be no one to stop her here.

Her courage deserted her completely as she kept her gaze on the floor. She wasn’t going to intimidate her now, not when she had nothing to defend herself with.

“You think you’re special just because you’re stringing one Alpha along by his balls and another Alpha falling all over himself to keep you in his house?” Claire continued.

Ava hit the back wall, and the panic started to rise in her throat.

“I didn’t ask anybody to help me,” she whispered.

“And yet here we are,” Claire snarled. “Zeke is mine! He would never be with a filthy human like you, even if his pack allowed it. So what did you do? Cast a spell? Promise him a taste?”

“I’ve done nothing!” she said in a panic.

Claire was just inches away from her now. She could see the wolf’s spotless, expensive pumps as she stepped closer. Her breathing became laboured as the panic attack started to take hold of her. She felt lightheaded as she struggled for breath. The last time she’d had an attack, she had imagined Ezekiel had come onto her bed and soothed her. There would be no such rescue today.

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