Page 63 of Ava: Part One

A little voice asked her when she had ever needed anyone to rescue her, but she shoved it away. It was different here. None of these people knew or feared her father; they wouldn’t hold back.

“I don’t know how you keep getting back up to your feet every time I take you down, but mark my words. I will end you. I will make sure you never get up again,” Claire said in a whisper, so close to her ear that a shiver flashed down her spine.

Her vision started to fade. She blinked the darkness back as much as she could because passing out now was not an option. She had to scream so someone could hear her. She opened her mouth to try that, but her voice stuck in her throat. The more she struggled to draw air into her lungs, the worse her visionbecame. Pressure built up in her head, making it hard for her to think straight.

Something started burning through her body, something she had never felt before. It felt like her veins were on fire, and combined with her burning lungs and almost exploding head, her panic got worse.

“I will never understand why they brought something like you here. Look at you,” Claire chuckled. “I haven’t even done anything yet.”

The other girls in the room laughed and called her pathetic. Their laughter echoed in her head as if they were speaking from a distance or in a tunnel.

And she was pathetic. She had been a little fish in her small pack, and now she was less than plankton in this vast ocean. She didn’t stand a chance.

She felt something start to bubble up her throat, and her whole body started to tremble. Only the wall behind her held her up. She was going to die here; she knew it.

The burning in her veins spread to her limbs. The pressure was too much in her head and her body. She had never had a panic attack this bad before; she knew instantly that this one would end her.

Then, the air shifted.

A subtle change that made her tense more.

A low, menacing growl sounded clearly above the chaos in her head. It was a familiar growl, and she had never been more thankful for that arrogant Alpha than she was at that moment. Though some relief washed through her body, she still struggled to breathe.

“Zeke... We were just talking,” Claire’s voice echoed.

There was another growl, and this one made the hair on the back of her neck rise even though she knew it was not directed at her. It sounded deadly. It sounded so dangerous. It promised alot of pain, and something told her Ezekiel would deliver on that promise. He had too much darkness in him.

Claire backed away from her immediately, and she heard the clicking of their low heels on the floor as the girls rushed to leave the room.

And then those huge arms surrounded her, drawing her into their safety.

“Breathe,” he whispered.

She did. She drew in such a huge lungful as if she had only needed Ezekiel’s command for her body to work. She went limp in his arms, but he had no trouble holding her up. Her body felt like it was still shutting down even as the burning stopped and the pressure reduced.

“Breathe, Ava,” he repeated.

She didn’t know how long he stood there with her, leaning against the wall with his nose in the crook of her neck, just as he had done the day before. She didn’t know why his huge hand slowly rubbing her back soothed her. And she didn’t know how he had found her in there or knew she was in danger, but she was grateful. Claire would never have stopped. Even if she hadn’t said the words out loud, Claire’s intention to kill her was undeniable.

“I have to get you out of here,” Ezekiel whispered. “Before they fucking kill you.”

Chapter 45

Ava made so many mistakes in training that she was surprised she had only come out of it with a few cuts and bruises. Claire managed to ruin the one thing she felt confident about in this academy. Not letting emotions take her over while fighting was her thing. But the whole afternoon, she’d been too nervous and distracted, and her paranoia was back in full force.

Her classmates were looking at her differently. And the coach... She didn’t think he had even paid attention to anyone else; he had been too intent on giving her sparring partner aftersparring partner like he was testing her limits. She’d had to rely on muscle memory to get through, but if her partners had been any good, she would have been in the infirmary again. It seemed to have pissed the coach off that she had lasted the whole training session without being knocked out.

The moment her panic attack had abated, Ezekiel had rushed out of the bathroom. He hadn’t turned up for training, and she’d felt disappointed. But that was a good thing. She didn’t want to rely on anyone here, least of all Ezekiel. There was something different about him.

She didn’t like him but still felt these confusing emotions. His warnings from the first day had been on her mind all day because that seemed true now more than ever. They would carry her out of the academy in a body bag. She would have to make a run for it through the forest. There had to be a way back to the little airport where the small plane dumped them.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

She looked from the window to look Mr Patrick in the eyes.

“Would it do any good when you don’t answer any of my questions?” she asked.

Mr Patrick raised his brow but didn’t dispute what she said as he continued marking his work.

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