Page 95 of Ava: Part Three

Dexter was waiting at the entrance as she approached her first class.

“When you didn’t come back to the library, I put all your stuff in your bag and took it with me,” he said as he held out her school bag.

His eyes shot to the bag she had on her back that was weighing heavily on her conscience.

“I guess you got yourself another one. Do you want me to help you carry—”

“I’m fine,” she said quickly, taking the bag from him. “Thank you.”

If he thought she was acting oddly, he didn’t comment. And neither did any of the teachers when they saw her pay no attention to them. The morning flew by too fast for her liking, and before she was ready, she was going to meet Zeke for lunch.

It was almost go-time.

Which way would the dice fall?

Chapter 55

Zekestudiedhismatesitting across from him on the grass in the quad.

He’d heard trickles of her thoughts the whole morning because she was like a pup who still needed to learn to control her strengths. It would take a while for her to get the hang of her new capabilities and to figure out why Derek and Myles could hear her, too.

He hoped to the Goddess that she wasn’t somehow linked to his father because that would suck. He didn’t want anything to do with that asshole after he’d tried to kill Ava. When all this shit was done, he was going home and reclaiming his rightful place one way or another.

If they got out of this alive.

He’d felt Ava’s pain along with her thoughts, and it was fucking killing him. Should they drop the whole thing?

He was no stranger to doing bad things for the good of the pack. He’d been trained to do that before he even shifted. After Shadow arrived, the decisions had been life or death ones. If they chose to trust the councillors and lived to die another day, he could pick the five students for them. He could carry that burden himself to spare Ava.

But how could they trust the councillors when the Council guards had surrounded them since they’d gone home after that fiasco yesterday? Even now, they were all around the Quad. It was like they knew something was up. Somebody had told them something.

Or it could be because they realised how quickly things could go wrong and had doubled their security. He had no idea how many of them he had killed, but it happened quickly. Faster than the last time he’d been that enraged. It felt different, but he didn’t know what that meant for them.

Could Andrei have been right? Was it because of the bond? Would they have a better chance if they took the time to learn about their bond?

He pushed that thought away because it was ridiculous. Andrei, Iulia and Diego had been on the Council for decades. If they wanted to defeat Mr Hansson, they would have made a move by now. The three of them were very strong individually, but as a team, he imagined they were unstoppable, especially if they had secret abilities like Andrei being able to eat solid food. They just loved this shit; there wasn’t an ounce of compassion in their bodies. The stories he had heard about them were worse than anything Shadow had ever done.

‘Zeke?’

Ava’s gentle voice in his head made him meet her uncertain gaze.

‘How are you so confident that we can do this? How are you not freaking out?’

He was freaking out; he just knew how to channel his emotions better. Another thing he wished he had time to teach her.

‘Because I know my monster, and he will wipe everyone out first before he lets them harm me or you. I trust him with our lives.’

He did. But he also knew he was just one wolf against an army. They wouldn’t win unless Mr Patrick came through for them.

He moved to sit behind Ava and put his arms around her.

‘We will let Fate decide this one, Ava. Whatever is meant to be will be. Mr Patrick was right about your dad; there is nowhere else he’d rather be than fighting at your side. He had already made his choice. He’s the strongest wolf here besides us, and he taught you everything you know. Have faith in him, too.’

‘I know. I just keep thinking about what Mr Hansson said. Our bond threatens him so much that he had to do that yesterday to rule it out. He said our bond enhances us. Maybe that’s why I feel inclined to believe the councillors. If we learn more about that, who knows what we can do in the future.’

He thought of the rage he’d felt before he’d slaughtered the guards. Of the bite on Andrei's shoulder that hadn’t healed and had been the one to confirm to them what he and Ava had been hiding. Jared, after the mock evaluations, had been down for days. And there was the fact that he and Ava had that mental link that had saved him in Isolation. Maybe that was what had strengthened enough to shield their minds from Mr Patrick after Nyx had claimed him. Something was different; he couldn’t deny that.

But he couldn’t trust the Council, especially when they’d taken Ava to ‘just hang out’.

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