Tangled in Moonlight: Unshifted (Ava and Lucas)

Chapter 102 Lucas: Jealousy

LUCAS

She's going to talk to Clayton tonight.

She won't let me call her, but she'll talk to him.

Fuck. I'm going crazy.

My wolf gives me the silent treatment, a palpable wall of disapproval and resentment radiating from him. I know he blames me for this mess.

"I'm trying," I mutter, pacing the length of my office. "I'm doing everything I can to fix this."

There would be nothing to fix if you hadn't rejected our mate in the first place, he snaps, his voice dripping with accusation.

Rubbing my hands over my face, I struggle not to groan in frustration. He's right and I fucking hate it. If I hadn't been so goddamn stupid, Ava would have been with me long ago. Safe. Marked. Mine.

But I can't change the past. I can only try to salvage the future.

Go to her, my wolf demands. Claim her before he does.

I shake my head. "She needs space. I have to respect that."

Space is the last thing she needs. She needs her mate. She needs us.

storm over there and drag her back to my bed, is almost overwhelming. But I can't. I won't be that kind of alpha. That kind of man. I won't be enslaved to the

my head. Get out of this suffocating office and

shift, letting my wolf take over. He surges forward,

night air whips past us as we run, the scents of summer filling my lungs. Out here, with nothing but the wind and the trees,

know what I have to do. I have to fight for her. Show her that I'm the one she belongs with, the only one

the right way. Earn back her trust, her

I push on. One step at a time. One day at

forest floor drowns out the chaos in my head. With each stride, the turmoil fades, replaced by the simple joy of the run. My wolf revels

is what we need, he rumbles,

the complications of pack politics and the tangled web of my love life seem far away. There's only the wind in my fur and the earth beneath

in the primal pleasure of the hunt, even if we're chasing nothing but our own shadows.

on the breeze. Something

wolf snorts, his nose twitching as

at my memory. I can't quite place

the trail deeper into the woods. The scent grows stronger with each bound, urging

see it. A husky, its fur matted and dull, ribs showing through its skinny frame. It looks up at

I'm not just a wolf. And

Selene.

name whispers through my mind, a half-remembered fragment from days of watching Ava

doing out here, alone and bedraggled? And why do I

intently from behind my eyes. Selene stands her ground, her

intelligence there, a depth that no ordinary dog should possess. As if

he's groveling on his belly like a pup begging for attention. I can only watch in stunned disbelief as he army-crawls his way over to Selene, his tail