Tangled in Moonlight: Unshifted (Ava and Lucas)

Chapter 39 Ava: Her Identity

You have the potential, Selene says, her voice a cautious whisper in my mind. The arcane flows through your veins. But…

My breath escapes me in a giddy rush. Magic. Real magic. Human magic. It's something out of a fairy tale, not something that should exist in my life. Then again, supernaturals exist—and we're pretty nonstandard, ourselves.

It's not that simple, Selene continues, her tone growing more serious. Magic is not a toy, little one. It's a force of nature, raw and untamed. To wield it requires knowledge, discipline, and control.

I swallow hard, feeling the warning in her words. "But how do I learn? I don't even know where to start."

You would need a teacher, Selene explains, her voice tinged with hesitation. Someone well-versed in the arcane arts, who could guide you, show you how to harness and control your power. But magic is a lost art. Magicians were lost to the curse and became shifters.

Talk about a letdown.

"So, I won't be able to do magic." Is that how you say it? Do magic? Cast magic? Spell magic? Cast spells? It all feels weird in my mouth.

It is unlikely, Selene says, but she still has that cautious sound to her voice.

"If I tried, what's the worst that could happen?"

Death.

A simple word, bluntly given, with all the truth in the world behind it. I shudder at the matter-of-fact tone.

lost to the recklessness of their magical talent. Until magicians began to teach each other, too many lives were lost in the pursuit of the power within them. Do not open that

trying to regain some of

odd sense of loss. Magic would have been amazing to learn, of course. But—if Selene says it's

focus on a question that's been bothering me from the

Of course.

you separate from me? No shifter has a wolf with

bonded with the ancient magic, she explains in that non-explaining way, where nothing is really

All shifters are bonded with ancient magic, and they don't have

something that can't be helped, Selene sighs, and I can almost picture her shaking her head.

are you, an English professor now? And what are we, exactly? Are you

voice filled with a quiet pride.

somehow makes my brain work better. "How is that possible? Doesn't the curse decide

story for another time, Selene says, her tone turning brisk. For now, it's more important that you

down my spine, and I can feel the first tendrils of heat starting to uncurl in

don't want to be in a frantic state like yesterday. But I can't let this conversation

you just choose to be with me? And what do you mean, we're separate and one

understand yet. But trust me when I say that everything will be revealed in time.

faster now, and I can feel my skin starting to prickle with sweat. I need

One humiliation is enough.

and tossing it on the ground as I go. Niceties are foregone; I just want to get control of my body as soon as

they're close enough that