Page 107 of Ava: Part Three

She looked back and saw that, yes, the road was completely clear now. She could get to her father. Without waiting to be told, she started running up the road, forgetting all about the mangy beasts as her anxiousness for her father returned. Shadow came to one side and Diego to the other. Surely they could win now with Iulia down and the beasts on their side?

Nyx opened up her senses and pinpointed precisely where that vile man was. It didn’t take long to reach the Administration building, where he was sitting on the edge of the fountain, and her father was suspended high over the spherical sculpture in the middle.

He was sitting so casually as if the sight of three demon wolves hurtling towards him didn’t phase him at all. Diego was the first to stop; she had to force herself to stop, too. She didn’t know why Hansson was still so confident when he had lost all his people.

Hansson’s brow rose when he looked at Diego.

“Et tu, Diego?” he asked with a sigh as he stood up and put his hands in his pockets.

Diego shifted.

“You didn’t have to do that to Andrei,” he growled.

“You know the rules, Diego. If you want him back, along with everyone else, just do your job,” Hansson said. “I’m willing to overlook this lapse of judgment if you take your place beside me.”

Ava shifted her focus to her father. She didn’t care what issues Diego had with Hansson; she just wanted to kill the bastard.

Alpha Roland was conscious, but she didn’t know for how long. He looked like he was struggling to breathe. The last time Hansson had tightly bound her, she’d broken a couple of ribs. If Iulia was still down with grief, how was Hansson still doing that?

Nyx moved quickly and went for Hansson’s neck, but he swatted the air and sent her flying across the driveway. Hansson seemed to have gotten stronger somewhere between snatching her dad off the stage and hanging him over the giant spherical sculpture on the fountain. That was impossible.

Shadow attacked him next and was sent to the opposite side while Hansson continued to speak to Diego. She didn’t understand. Their bond supposedly made them a significant threat to Hansson, but he wasn’t even breaking a sweat.

“I’m going to kill these two because they’re of no use to me now. When I’ve done that, it will be up to you to decide your fate,” Hansson said to Diego.

He turned from Diego to grin at her and then looked up at her father.

“I can make the impact the same as if he’s falling from a great height,” Hansson said. “I would have kept him alive, you know, but now I feel like I need to eradicate anyone you’ve ever loved. When I’m done here, I’m going to kill your brothers. Then I’ll kill your whole pack.”

She looked up at her father and met his gaze.

“I love you,” Alpha Roland whispered.

“Aww,” Hansson said as he sat back on the fountain edge and casually played with the water.

And then she remembered.

She’d sensed the dark magic in that fountain. She’d seen the darkness swirling in its depths the day Dexter’s father had hit his head on it.

That was it. That was what was strengthening him. That was what fed the forest and made it stronger.

‘The fountain,’ she screamed in her head. ‘We need to destroy the fountain!’

Seconds later, she heard the thundering sounds. She felt the vibrations beneath her paws and then saw the army of creatures with glowing purple eyes approaching them.

“What the hell have you done?” Hansson shouted as he stood from the fountain.

He started to chant and wave his hands, sending the creatures flying to the sides, but he only had two hands, and there were so many of the beasts. When Hansson saw he couldn’t stop him, he teleported away from the fountain to keep himself safe.

But he wasn’t the target.

She watched as the beasts launched themselves at the fountain one by one. The silver on the markings burnt them, but they didn’t stop until the sculpture toppled.

“No!” Hansson screamed.

And that was when she felt his fear.

Chapter 63

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