Page 108 of Ava: Part Two

She was sobbing when she finally tied her hair back into a ponytail and found her old trainers. The best place for her was Isolation until the Head of the Council came. The dean had been right to want to put her in there, after all.

She was ready to leave when the bedroom door burst open, and her father rushed in.

"Ava," he said as he pulled her into his arms.

"I'm sorry, Dad," she sobbed. "I didn't mean to. I can't even remember any of it."

"Shh. It will be okay, little one," her dad said as she pulled her away from him and looked into her eyes. "I've always told you you have a wolf. How else could you have kept up with the rest of the pack without one?"

She didn't think she'd kept up at all. She'd had to work three times as hard as anyone else just to barely catch up. She had no idea why her father had always believed in her when there was absolutely no evidence to show she had a wolf.

"We will talk about that later. Right now, we have some company," he said as he pulled her to the window.

It was completely dark as she looked out, but she could sense something there. Someone there.

"About ten wolves just beyond the trees," he confirmed.

See? How could she even start to reconcile the fact that she had a wolf if she couldn't even see what her father saw? Maybe there was a mistake.

But she looked down at her hand and saw them covered in blood again.

"Do they want me?" she asked quietly.

"Yes."

Alpha Roland never sugar-coated anything. He told her things as they were so she could learn to deal with the hard lessons in life. But this lesson she could have done without.

"I'll go hand myself in. I've thought about it, and it's the right thing to do."

"Except you have a mate now who would probably kill the whole school to protect you," her dad said, still looking outside. "You sure know how to pick them, kid. Why couldn't you bring home an accountant or a doctor?"

She frowned as she looked up at her dad. He had a slight smile even though his attention was still outside.

"Are you happy about this?!" she asked, shocked he could even accept the bond with Zeke when she was still struggling.

"I'm not doing a jig or anything," her dad said, "but he'll protect you with his life."

"I don't want that! I've done something wrong and should face the consequences," she said as she looked outside again.

This time, she saw shadows crossing the yard slowly. Wolves. Wolves who had been told to hunt her.

Was it Dexter's dad? The dean? It didn't matter.

The wolves were almost by the pool when they stopped moving. She heard their whimpers, and then they ran back into the woods. Something had spooked them.

The smile on her father's face grew.

"Now that's impressive," Alpha Roland said. "Let's go speak to your mate; he's very anxious to tell us what you should do."

She shook her head. Of course, he wanted to tell her what to do. This was Zeke they were talking about.

"Do you know he has a sex dungeon downstairs?" her dad asked as he led her out of the room.

"It's not a sex dungeon, Dad," she sighed.

"Just checking."

They walked past her bedroom, the door still off the hinges. Her dad stopped to sniff the air, probably realising that it was her room, and then frowned at her.

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