Page 117 of Ava: Part Two

"I'll be fine."

The door cracked some more, pushing her into action.

She rushed towards the basement door with Jared and opened it, letting him go first.

"You think you can hide from me? I will kill all of you, and then I will make Ezekiel pay," Alpha Michelson snarled.

Those words made her stop.

And that inferno of anger spilt over into every part of her body. Her muscles tensed, and her heartbeat started to calm down. And that thing inside her that always got her into trouble reared its ugly head.

"Come on, Ava," Jared urged.

She looked at him, at how anxious and scared he was, and stepped back out into the hallway. Jared’s life was in danger, too.

"Lock the door," she told him, then closed the door on his protests.

The kitchen was her first stop.

Then she stood opposite the door, feet apart and arms to her sides, with a knife in each hand, waiting for the door to fall.

And when it did, the Alpha stood on the other side. His eyes were glowing, his breathing laboured, and he had half-shifted. This wolf was a danger to the man she had given herself to.

And that just wouldn't do.

She charged before he could move and launched herself at him. Caught by surprise, the Alpha staggered back and tripped down the front steps. She didn't give him a chance to get back up as she followed and landed a few good punches with the hilt of a knife before he shoved her off.

He wasn't a warrior. She could tell by his movements as he got to his feet with blood flowing down his face. And his anger had intensified.

She let her emotions drain out of her as she took her stance again. Emotions led to mistakes, and she didn't intend to make any.

There was movement behind her, but the Alpha growled, "Leave her. I'll end this myself."

It was a command. And perhaps he was right to be confident. He was the Alpha of the biggest pack in the country and could snap her neck just like that.

With all his raging emotions—hatred, anger—and his lack of skill, he charged. It felt like fighting a stronger version of Douche Dexter. Mr Patrick said he had taken something to strengthen himself, and she felt that when his punches caught her.

Though the force of his fists sent her flying across the driveway several times, there was no pain.

Only this need to make him bleed.

To make him fall to his knees.

Alpha Michelson was prematurely celebrating when she got up and attacked him again. She had already lost the knives, and whatever damage they had done to Alpha Michelson had healed.

The Alpha laughed.

"I can see why he wanted you. You don't break so easily, do you? But don't worry. Zeke's new mate will take care of him a lot better."

An angry haze filled her vision. Something snapped. Zeke was her mate. Hers! As long as she was still breathing, she would kill anyone who tried to take him from her.

She lowered into a fighting stance and attacked. But the next thing she knew, she was on top of him, and he was unconscious.

"He is mine!" she shouted at the unconscious face.

She was breathing hard when she came back to her senses and stopped.

And the wolves who had all been ordered to leave her stood around them with their mouths hanging open.

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