Tangled in Moonlight: Unshifted (Ava and Lucas)

Chapter 44 Lucas: Shocking Return

LUCAS

The highway flies by in a blur of white lines and endless pine forests as I grip the steering wheel tightly with one hand, the other holding a cigarette I shouldn't be having. I quit smoking a long time ago, but the past forty-eight hours have been hell.

I didn't get to see Ava for a couple days after flying out when I got the news that our scout was murdered, his body hanging between the Blackwood and Westwood territories. I don't even know what Ava thought of my note taped to her dining table, explaining that I'd be back as soon as I could.

Is she grateful I'm not there? Or is she missing me?

My cell phone is pressed between my ear and shoulder while I shout into it in between puffs of the cancer-causing burn stick I've been craving for the past twenty miles.

"I don't give a flying fuck, Kellan," I growl, cutting off his protest. "I'm not leaving Washington for the next three days, so don't even fucking think about calling me back there."

"Lucas, come on. The Blackwoods—"

"Aren't going to do anything first." My jaw clenches as I take a sharp turn, tires screeching. "You know they're trying to bait us into the first move. We have no proof the Blackwoods killed him. Until we do, we can't do shit. And since we can't do shit, I need to see Ava."

"You're playing a dangerous game, Alpha." Kellan's sigh crackles through the speaker. "If Blackwood finds out you're sniffing around Grey's daughter..."

"He'll what? Start a war?" I let out a harsh laugh. "He won't alienate his allies. He's hoping they'll help him when the war comes. He won't take the first step."

"It changes everything and you know it."

I can practically hear Kellan's disapproved frown. He's been frustrated, saying my obsession with Ava keeps me too far from the pack and the issues going on there.

He's not wrong, but nothing is more important than my mate.

home. Once I do that, everything

blue eyes that so easily sucker-punch me with so

she doesn't want you

refuse to consider the possibility. Ava and I are meant

will," I say firmly. "I'll make

asshole," but I choose to ignore it. He doesn't have a fated mate connection. He doesn't understand the pull between us, the raw, primal

just the thought of seeing her again has me half-hard in my jeans. I shift uncomfortably, trying to adjust myself without taking my hands off the wheel. It's been months since I last touched her, since

body. I want to bury myself inside her tight heat and

on my bed, her blonde hair fanned across the pillow as I hover over her. I'd take my time with her, worshipping every curve and valley until she's trembling with

gas pedal, urging the car to go faster. I need to get to Ava now, before I combust from the

go," I grunt into the phone, not waiting for Kellan's response before I end the call and toss it onto the

sign flashes by in my peripheral vision, and I feel a sense of anticipation building in my gut. I'm so close now, just a few more miles until I'm at Ava's doorstep, ready to grovel at

potential war with Blackwood or the dead scout or any of the other bullshit waiting for me back home. All that matters is Ava and

a wolfish grin to my

interior for any sign of Ava. The scent of coffee and old books usually brings a sense of comfort, but today it only fuels my anxiety. She's

Fuck. Where is she?

her usual table, waving me over with a grim expression. I make my

me, her voice strained. "Have

as I perch on the edge of the chair. "What's going on? Where's

front of her. "That's what I was hoping you could tell me. She hasn't shown up for work in the past couple of days. No call, no explanation. Her dog is

heart clenches painfully in my chest. Ava's missing. I leave on pack business and now she's

leave

is it something more

assholes have been looking for her, like they finally realized what