Tangled in Moonlight: Unshifted (Ava and Lucas)

Chapter 112 Ava: Waking Up

Darkness.

Light.

So cold.

It burns.

My lungs ache.

Something's holding me down.

There are whispers. Prayers, I think.

Chaos reigns in this hazy world. Something beeps incessantly.

I'm sweating. My hands are too warm.

… up.

What's that?

… Ava, you…

Who's that?

… can you hear me?

I struggle to reach the voice that calls me, but something sucks me away again.

Frustration simmers, but I'm too tired to fight it.

Ava, you have to wake up.

There it is again.

I know you can hear me, because I can finally hear you.

Hear me? Hear me what? Am I talking?

Yes.

No, I don't think I'm talking. I'm too tired. My body is crushed beneath the earth. Fire ate every last bit of me. I drowned. The air was sucked away.

You're alive. You're asleep in the hospital. You're just fine. You just need to wake up.

No, no.

No, no, no.

Waking is pain.

I remember the pain.

be no pain, Ava. Just wake up. Come back to

No way.

in

This is

place for me? But I'm here, in this serenity of darkness. I feel pain, but it doesn't kill me. It isn't

die,

Alive.

Alive means death—

that's enough. Wake up. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. You never

* * *

open. They feel like sandpaper scraping against my lids. Everything is blurry, shapes indistinct. White. Harsh

Ava.

warm honey in my mind, comforting. Grounding. I try to speak but my throat is parched, voice a ragged whisper.

my palm. The slight weight of her head resting on my hand. I turn my head slowly, painfully. She's there, silver

Relief colors her

tongue heavy and thick. "What happened?" The words scrape

nuzzles into my arm. I want to protest but

my name, but I'm

* * *

monitor. The chemical scent of disinfectant. Starched sheets rough against my skin. An IV pinches the back of my

ceiling swims into focus—white tiles, fluorescent lights. A hospital. Selene is curled

Her relief washes

one

long was I out?" I rasp,

weeks, Selene whines softly. We were

you okay?" Lucas asks, way too

pipes up, from

up, my muscles weak and uncooperative. Selene helps, bracing her body against mine, and both Lisa and Lucas rest

entire process

stiff, atrophied. A needle pinches my hand, connected to an IV pole with a few bags hanging off it. One of the bags looks like milk, and that one's connected to yet another IV line in the

a hospital gown, blankets pooled around my waist. My hair is lank and greasy against my

I waver, dizzy. You've

piece together how I ended up here. Training

black hole in my

"What happened to me?"

my face, his fingers hesitant and gentle against my skin. Warmth flows between us, a feeling of comfort, and the urge to press my

wolf is

long, I yearned to shift, to run beneath the moon. To be whole. But now, with all the strangeness surrounding my heritage, the idea fills me with trepidation. I flick a glance toward my wolf, disguised as a husky for a reason she has yet to explain, and her ears flick as she licks my face, settling into

She's way

Selene soothes, sensing my unease. This is natural