Page 100 of Ava: Part Two

“I used a cream my friend gave me. I used to get black and blue when I first started training. That cream helped me heal.”

“What sort of cream works on broken bones?” Mr Patrick asked.

Her father tensed beside her. She put her hand over his to calm him.

“I don’t know. I didn’t think to ask what the ingredients were,” Ava answered sarcastically. “I get what you’re saying. All these unfortunate things brought me on their radar, so how do we get out of it?

“Did the cream also protect you in Isolation? Did it help you survive the forest? Most people get consumed by it within seconds, but here you are. They own that forest, Ava. They know what it was supposed to do to you.”

“I don’t know how any of that happened,” she said in exasperation.

The time after was still a bit hazy, but she knew it was somehow tied to Zeke. The moment he had come home and kissed her, all of that darkness and pain had melted away.

“So it’s Mr Michelson who was the catalyst?”

“Stop going into my head!” she snapped.

“I have to, Ava, because this isn’t a game, but you insist on secrets. We can’t discuss getting you out of here because there is nowhere to hide. The same magic that found you in a remote pack to give you your invite to this school is the same magic that will find you wherever you go,” Mr Patrick shouted.

Though he was always annoyed with her, she had never seen him this agitated. She didn’t say anything else as Mr Patrick took a moment to compose himself.

“I know she’s your child, Roland, but you need to listen to me. She is safer here, even if they own this place. I can help her here.”

“She’s not ready,” her dad said.

“You need to trust me,” Mr Patrick sighed. “And she’s been marked by an Alpha. I think she’ll be okay.”

Though her cheeks coloured when they spoke so casually about her mark, she unconsciously raised her hand to touch it. There had been no pain even though he had drawn blood, and it felt like it had healed already. She could only feel the bumps left by his teeth, which was a little strange. Claire’s bite mark had healed entirely by the time she had regained consciousness.

“So shall we start from the beginning?” he continued. “Tell me what happened the day the students disappeared.”

She sighed and put her hand down. They would not get anywhere until Mr Patrick laid out all her dirty laundry.

“Emily said she wanted to make it up to me for being a bitch to me by taking me shopping. I supposed that was my fault for trusting her. She led me into an ambush. Claire had her friends block the exits, and then she...”

She’d thought she was dying that day.

She felt both Zeke and her father tense as she spoke, but it was Zeke’s anger she felt the most. He had seen the state she’d been in.

“I passed out, and the next thing I know, I woke up covered in blood, and they were gone.”

Her father let out a sound that had her looking up at him.

“What?”

She couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

“Have you... Have you been having nightmares about that day?”

Why would he ask that in front of other people? She’d been plagued with nightmares and panic attacks all her life, but she didn’t want to discuss that in public. Though she supposed that if Zeke was serious about being there forever, she would have to talk about them with him. He’d already been in her bed for a few of those.

“Yes,” she answered.

“And in your gut, what do you think happened to those students?” Alpha Roland asked.

She looked away from his probing gaze. She’d already made that confession mentally, but now she had to say it out loud. It was the only way they could finally put this incident behind them.

“They’re dead,” she answered. “Zeke came to save me, as he always does.”

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