Page 71 of Ava: Part Two

At least she didn’t say she wasn’t ever coming back, but her words still hurt. He looked over her to the wolf still looking at him from the bed. He liked to think he did fight anyone who couldn’t fight back because he was a man of honour, but the truth was he preferred the rush of the hunt when his prey gave a good fight. Not when they were already on their deathbed. Killing Jared now would be like squashing a useless bug. That bastard needed to heal so he could kill him properly.

But there were other people who could take care of Jared. He had a pack, and he had Omegas assigned to him. It wouldn’t be his mate who would nurse his enemy back to health.

“Shift and heal,” he told Jared.

“I can’t. My wolf is gone.”

He frowned. Was it his bite that had done that to him? He was supposed to mark Ava tonight. Would she end up the same way?

He’d had a tight grip on Shadow for years, but the few times he attacked didn’t end well for his opponents. The vampires during the summer break, for example, and the few rogues that had dared to stray over the boundaries of his pack lands. Then there was Claire, who he’d left in Jared’s backyard, and Jared’s Beta in the woods. He’d left those two alive, but he hadn’t seen them since. Did his bite do the same to them? Or was Jared just really messed up beforehand?

Shadow pushed forward and repeated the command.

“Shift and heal.”

He was not and would never be Jared’s Alpha, but he could command anyone.

“No,” Jared groaned, but his body didn’t listen to him.

“What are you doing?” Ava screamed as she rushed over to the bed.

But before she could get to him, Jared’s grey wolf filled the bed. His whimpers were full of pain as he put his head down and closed his eyes. The wounds looked a lot worse in this form. Shit. He’d been intent on killing Jared in that ring, but he hadn’t realised he had done that much damage.

“He will heal quicker like this,” he stated.

At least, he hoped that was true. There was still no sign of that happening. As an Alpha, even such a weak one, Jared was supposed to heal quicker than other wolves.

“Now, let’s go home.”

“I can’t leave him like this,” Ava protested, and then she gently put her hand on Jared’s head, petting him as if to comfort him.

He growled. He felt Shadow unfurl inside him, ready to put a stop to this bullshit.

But before his beast could make that decision for both of them, he strode forward and picked Ava up.

“What the hell are you doing?!” she screamed.

He slung her over his shoulder, ignoring her struggles as he walked down the stairs. There was no way in hell his mate would stay here. It was time the two of them had this talk.

Chapter 47

Avastoppedstrugglingwhenshe realised it was useless. And she also realised that no matter how scared or angry she was with him, her body still reacted to the contact as if he was her source of life. She craved him with every fibre of her being.

It was terrifying.

It was exhilarating.

As Zeke marched up the stairs in his house, she saw Derek and Myles come out of the living room to watch. She could almost tell what they were thinking when they looked at each other and then back at the door Zeke had left open when he had walked in. They hadn’t even realised she had gone.

She hid her face behind her curtain of hair that was dangling down, and of course, it was then Zeke’s very muscular butt she was directly looking at. Probably the most perfect glutes on the face of the earth.

She bit her lip, but she didn’t close her eyes.

Maybe there was something wrong with her. Perhaps something inside her was broken—damaged beyond repair—to make her want Zeke so much when she knew what he was. When she knew how this would end. She had been raised right and had self-respect, but that seemed to be gone now. She wanted this deranged, dangerous wolf to have his way with her.

What would that be like? To be possessed by such a powerful Alpha and have all her needs satisfied?

Before she could think about that any further, she found herself being dumped onto the bed. The broken contact cleared her head a little. Only a little. She could still feel the heat raging through her body.

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