Page 81 of Ava: Part One

The forest made no exceptions. It had been ready to take her. Even though he had dragged her out of there, there was no guarantee that she would ever be the same. No one had ever lived to tell the tale of what was in there, but the very few that had done it before the forest had become this strong had become so messed up that the Council had to put them down. That was why they would take them both in straight away, to make sure the forest had not infected them.

‘She’ll heal. She always heals,’ Shadow said.

But would she? He saw no sign of it now when she’d seemed to heal instantly after Claire’s bite on Friday night. Maybe she did need medical attention.

‘That’s a death sentence. You know that,’ Shadow growled.

“Zeke... Sit down; I’ll get you a wet cloth,” Derek said.

He hadn’t noticed that his packmates had followed him into his room. Myles’ jaw had dropped open, his eyes glued to his body. He knew he was a mess. He had already been bleeding from the silver chains before the forest got him just as good as it got Ava. His wounds matched Ava’s.

With what seemed like the last of his strength, he pulled a chair over to the bed and dropped himself into it. When Derek returned with a bowl of warm water and a washcloth, he stoppedhis Beta from using them on him. He took the cloth and reached over with his shaky hand to gently wipe Ava’s face. The cuts kept bleeding. She wasn’t healing.

‘She will heal,’ Shadow repeated.

Maybe this was pointless. The guards had been close; perhaps they had already seen him running into the forest and back out. They would have reported him immediately. If that was the case, the dean was already on his way to deal with him.

He wiped Ava’s face again, and once again, the cuts carried on bleeding.

“She’s not waking up,” Myles whispered.

“Zeke... You have to consider what will happen if she doesn’t wake up and they find out we didn’t take her to the infirmary,” Derek said.

The thought of her dying broke something in him. His body had been taken over by emotions he didn’t want to feel since the moment he saw her, but this... He didn’t want to feel this. He could feel his heart being hacked into several pieces as he sank into a darkness he had never felt before, even when his mother had been taken from him. It felt like he was dying, too.

“I need to take her...” he whispered.

‘No! They will kill her,’ Shadow growled. ‘And they will kill you. Think, Ezekiel!’

It was ironic that it was his wolf thinking rationally. He wiped her face again and then held his breath as he watched the cuts. The bleeding had stopped.

He released his breath as all the tension left his body. She was healing, just not as fast as before. The forest had taken too much from them. They both just needed to rest.

He threw the washcloth back into the bowl and then climbed onto the bed beside her, disregarding all the blood and the open wounds. She wouldn’t like it when she woke, but he needed tohold her. He did not have the energy or the will to fight this bond, not now.

When Ava was settled in his arms, he buried his head in her neck and took a deep breath. Her scent washed over him, soothing him from the inside.

‘Mine,’ Shadow said.

“Mine,” he whispered.

Chapter 58

When Zeke opened his eyes, the first thing he did was look at the little human who was somehow wrapped around him.

Someone had covered both of them. When he carefully pushed the bedding off, he saw no bruises on her arms, and a sniff of the air told him there was no fresh blood or infection. They were both caked with dried blood but healing. He was still weak from the silver but could feel he was over the worst.

He gently pushed Ava’s hair out of her face and saw that her colouring was normal and the cuts were gone. Was thehealing potion the doctors pushed into her body at the infirmary the cause of this? Maybe they worked differently on humans. Whatever the reason was, he was grateful.

It was clear to him that their bond had strengthened, for whatever reason. Things had got fucked up too quickly. He had a lot to think about now so he could decide the best thing to do for Ava and himself. Revenge was still number one on his list, but it would never come with this bond in place.

“Are you hungry?”

He looked over at Derek, who seemed to have settled in the chair on the closest side to him. The clock said it was Monday afternoon. Fuck. He had some explaining to do to the dean.

“I’ll eat when she wakes up.”

He watched the way Derek looked at Ava and saw the questions in his eyes. But he wasn’t ready to answer any of them.

---