Page 23 of Ava: Part Three

"I'm Fae."

"Fairy? Like Tinkerbell?" he asked again.

Mr Patrick didn't seem amused.

"The Fae's abilities made us the only threat to the Council when they were just starting. We have the vampires' speed, wolves' strength, and the witches' control of the elements, among other things," he continued. "The Council wouldn't try to use me as a weapon; they would destroy me straight away.”

The teacher walked forward and stopped right in front of him.

"I can help your mate here," he said again. "But you will be on your own out there. Think about that before you do anything drastic."

"I will do whatever I need to," he said.

He turned to walk away, and before he'd even got to the ridge, he could sense the two men were already gone.

Mr Patrick could assume he could protect Ava all he wanted, but none of them knew what was coming. All they knew was that they were trapped here with Claire.

But he would do what he said. He would do what needed to be done.

He shifted and went for a run to calm himself down before Ava came for her things. The forest was quieter than it usually was when Shadow ran through it. Even the animals could sense the doom that was coming.

He was heading back home hours later when Myles linked him.

'There's an Omega here to collect Ava's things.'

'What? Where's Ava?'

'She's not coming, Zeke. She went to her dorm straight after detention.'

Shadow stopped in his tracks and then forced a shift. He was left gasping for breath on his knees, trying to handle both his beast's and his own pain.

If that wasn't proof of her rejection then he didn't know what was.

Chapter 13

Avalookedoutofthe window in her dorm room. The sun was still out, and she couldn't see anything besides the woods. But she could feel Zeke there.

Her door opened, making her turn quickly, but it was just Emily returning with her bags.

Training had been strange. Claire and her friends hadn't made a single move. Besides the initial snarl when she walked in, the session had gone without incident. Her new coach, Coach Henderson, hadn't targeted her like Coach Baxter, so she had stayed in the background the whole time. She'd sparred with the vampire Max, so even that had been stress-free.

But all it had done was make her a little anxious about when Claire would attack. Would it be another ambush?

"Shall I pack this away for you?" Emily asked.

"No!"

What was wrong with this wolf to make her so eager to be someone's maid?

"Thank you for collecting my things, but we need to talk now," she said as she finally walked away from the window and sat on her bed.

The room was still empty. It had been renovated since Claire vandalised it, but it didn't look like anyone had slept in there since.

Emily sat on the edge of the bed across from hers and lowered her gaze.

"Stop doing that!" she said with irritation and then lowered her voice. If anyone wanted to listen in, there was nothing to stop them. She didn't have the benefit of Mr Patrick's magic or Zeke's basement. "Can you just tell me what happened?"

"After Claire attacked you, I started to walk away. But when I saw how hard she was hitting you, I stopped. I didn't want her to kill you, I swear, but I couldn't intervene," Emily whispered.

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