Tangled in Moonlight: Unshifted (Ava and Lucas)

Chapter 152 Lucas: A Lesson in Patience

LUCAS

My mate has the guiltiest look on her face, looking everywhere but at me.

On the one hand: It's good to know that she's a terrible liar, once caught.

But it takes every ounce of control within me to not rage at the danger she somehow placed herself in.

I don't understand any of this, but I'm determined I will before I leave the apartment.

Keeping my mouth shut is a lesson in patience, but it works. Ava slowly drips more information my way. It's a struggle to keep the smile on my face even as my molars grind together in frustration. And I remind myself in an endless litany that I have no right to be furious with her for holding secrets.

Even when her life is on the line, and every molecule in my body is screaming to protect her.

The words come at an agonizing trickle from Ava's lips, spilling secrets I struggle to comprehend. The vampire attack. Sister Miriam's concern. Fae food—not that we understand much about it—that compels honesty. Bizarre magic that spirited her out of this room and into another place, from right beneath my nose.

Each revelation twists my gut, stoking the embers of my barely restrained fury.

"Why would a vampire help a wolf?" The question escapes before I can temper it, my voice rough with the effort of control.

Ava blinks, confusion clouding her features as she evades my gaze once again. "I don't know."

"You didn't think to ask?" I press, the wolf within me prowling, eager to break free and demand answers.

She fidgets, twisting her hands in her lap. "I'm pretty sure I did? But Sister Miriam was evasive. She didn't give me a straight answer."

Of course she didn't. Why pin down the vampire for concrete information when you can just waltz into danger blindly? My molars grind together, my jaw clenched so tight it aches.

My wolf snarls in the recesses of my mind, seething at the risks Ava took. Risks that could have stolen her from me forever.

fear. I force a smile. Encourage her to continue. Because as much as I want to roar my frustration, I know it will only push

listen, even as every instinct screams to spirit her away

slowly drains from her shoulders as she speaks, her body relaxing inch by painstaking inch when I don't

Every ounce of discipline honed over years of leadership. But I maintain the facade of calm, the

beneath the terror, lies something far

Love.

her meeting

not going to ruin

for so

my veins, fierce and unrelenting. It tempers my fury, softens my edges. It whispers in my ears, telling me that this incredible, infuriating female is mine to cherish, to

her own reckless

meet her tentative gaze with a steadiness I don't feel, offering silent support as she bares her secrets. And with each word, each halting confession, I fall a little harder.

when she admits to

Selene isn't just a dog,

Mine. My wolf whispers in my head, and I finally understand his obsession with that damned

heard of a wolf outside of our body. We

is extraordinary in every way,

to grab her hands, never once berating her for her silence—for her fears—she seems to finally, finally, let her

so I give her a break

hand into mine, and my

Lucas. It's a mess, isn't

Yeah, it fucking is.

I squeeze her hand gently. "We'll

to dump it

sweetheart. Here." I pour her a glass of water, and she hovers beside me, anxiety once

now that

through my teeth without batting a single