Tangled in Moonlight: Unshifted (Ava and Lucas)

Chapter 9 Lucas: Gala (V)

LUCAS

Ava's slight form disappears into the twisted shadows of the trees, still bursting to life from the return of spring. The full moon above seems to mock me, mock this.

Ava Grey. Beta Grey's youngest daughter. Someone who's been hidden from all of us until tonight.

A growl rips from my throat and my fist slams into the trunk of the tree beside me, pain radiating up my arm. Blood drips from cuts sustained from the tough bark, and I welcome the burn of torn skin.

Yanking my phone out of my back pocket, I redial Kellan, trying not to blame him for the rage I feel. If he had texted me back, if he had called me, if he had done anything to let me know Ava Grey was a tiny, blonde little thing in a black dress and glasses, I wouldn't have gone so far tonight. Wouldn't have fallen for the bait.

"Ava Grey is taken care of. She's gone," I spit out, each word hard and clipped. "Keep an eye on the rest of them, in case they try to pull anything else."

I end the call before he can respond and shove the phone back into my pocket, my jaw clenched so tight it aches. The Blackwood Pack has gone too far this time. I don't know what they did to Ava, but whatever it was, it caused me to react to her on the most primal level. My wolf paces in my mind, a caged animal, furious that I let her leave.

She's not our fated. You don't scent that on her, I snap at him, but he just howls, refusing to communicate with me. It's the first time we have been so divided, and I blame her. That sexy little distraction in her oversized, thick black frames. Wolves don't need glasses; the few who wear them are for fashion. I can only assume that she tried to go for a defenseless appeal.

And it had worked, damn it.

I drag my hand through my hair and take a deep breath, trying to clear my head. I need to find out what they did to cause Ava's pheromones to affect me with such intensity. I need to understand why my wolf reacts to her as if she is my mate. And then I'm going to make the Blackwood Pack pay for what they've done tonight.

through the garden and find that I can't help following Ava's scent to the front of the building, where it disappears. The lingering aroma of her unique fragrance clings to my skin, a maddening reminder of our encounter. I can still smell her all over me, and electricity hums beneath my skin as desire rises through the anger. A snarl rips from my throat and I turn away, stalking to my

can remain at the gala with the smell of her all over me, not

the door, flexing my hands around the steering wheel. That enticing mix of orange, honey, and vanilla lingers in the enclosed space, and I draw in a lungful of it,

take the edge off the frenetic energy warring between us. I need to get away from here,

I speed down the dark highway, my mind races with questions, but one keeps repeating—how do I make sure

of my grip, and my molars grind as I fight off a growl. I won't let them get away with this. Whatever game they're playing, I'll find out. And when I

* * *

caged wolf, my skin crawling with a restless energy I can't seem to dispel. Every nerve is alight, hyper-aware

Ava.

growl in my mind, one that has my wolf stirring with an unquenchable hunger. I can still taste her on my tongue, can still feel the warmth of her body pressed against mine, soft curves molding to hard planes.

the floor in a satisfying shatter of glass and ceramic. It's not enough to ease the tumult raging inside me. I turn on the chair next, upending it with

the Blackwood Pack use to make me react to Ava like a mate? I've never felt anything like it before, an all-consuming need to claim and possess, to mark her as mine in the most

whimpering with want. It had taken every ounce of willpower not

control like this. But that girl...that tiny slip of a thing with her wide blue eyes and those goddamn glasses...she had awoken something in me

of rage on whoever dares disturb me, only to find Kellan standing there. He takes one look at

"Everything okay, man?"

you think?" I growl, stepping back to let him

you the Blackwoods brought two daughters.