Tangled in Moonlight: Unshifted (Ava and Lucas)

Chapter 158 Ava: From the Past

"Ava, is that you?"

The familiar rasp has me frozen, my heart lurching into my throat. Slowly, I turn around, coming face-to-face with a ghost from my past.

Our neighbor. Margot Mitchell.

Her once vibrant auburn hair is streaked with silver, her face a roadmap of wrinkles and scars. It's her eyes that haunt me. Piercing green eyes that see everything and do nothing.

"Margot," I greet, my voice tight with caution. "What are you doing here?"

She limps toward me, her gait uneven from some injury she incurred long before I was born. I remember asking about it once, and my mother slapped the back of my head, admonishing me for my rudeness. "Oh, Ava. I'm so happy to see you again."

I tense as she reaches out, half-expecting her to grab me, to drag me back to the hellscape I escaped. But she merely places a hand on my arm, her touch feather-light.

"I'm sorry," she whispers, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. "I'm so sorry for everything. For not intervening when…" She trails off, her gaze flickering to the ground.

The shame she tries to portray leaves me feeling dirty. Unclean from her mere presence.

Memories flash through my mind, unbidden. Margot's face in the window, watching as I was taunted and beaten, even by her own son. Listening at the front door as my parents berated me, their voices carrying through the window. Her figure rushing inside when I tried begging her for help during one particularly brutal group assault led by Todd Mason.

I was thirteen.

He broke my wrist.

I cried for hours that day. Hours. Until my parents, tired of my whining, finally dragged me to the healers.

Margot, always watching. Never helping.

I yank my arm away, taking a step back. "You're sorry?" Anger surges through me, hot and bitter, fueling my words. "Why are you even saying that? What does that do for me now?"

You have to understand, none of us could help you. Please." She grabs at

Ah. She needs something.

No wonder she's here.

continues to boil in my veins, even as my stomach churns. There's a tiny part of me, almost miniscule, that was

was here?" I step

clean the lodge. I didn't know until I saw you." Her eyes fill with tears. "Please, Ava. Think of your pack.

with the alpha. Westwood is tearing us apart. They should

is cold as I take another step

intention of helping you or

into an ugly mask of

room, her hackles raised, teeth bared. She positions

she might actually shift and attack. My heart pounds against my

Margot's demeanor changes instantly. She

her tone clipped. "We can talk when you've settled in." With that, she turns and flees the room, brushing past

to me, curiosity etched on her face. "Who

"An old neighbor," I manage, my voice shaking

followed by sympathy. She starts to say something, but I don't hear

nuzzling against me as I tremble, overwhelmed by the unexpected confrontation with

me, vivid and visceral. The jeers and taunts of my packmates. The pain of their blows, both physical

in my mind. You're

the flood of emotions. Fear, anger, betrayal—they swirl inside me, a maelstrom threatening to pull me

breaks through the chaos. "Are you

shuddering breath. A few beats of my heart, slowing down. Meeting her concerned gaze, I

me." She pauses, then adds, "Therapy isn't

up inside me, and I manage a shaky

turn my attention back to Selene, running my fingers through her soft fur. Her presence

to face that, she says, her voice a gentle caress in my mind. But you handled