Tangled in Moonlight: Unshifted (Ava and Lucas)

Chapter 167 Ava: Mom's Stronger?

"Mom?" I ask in disbelief.

It can't be. How can Mom be stronger than the pack beta?

In another pack, your mother would have been a strong Luna candidate.

Wow.

I'd always known Mom had a strong presence, but I would have never guessed—never, in a million years, ever—that her wolf is stronger than Dad's.

I wonder how that worked out. Did Mom force her wolf to submit?

It is likely that the alpha did.

"Alpha Renard?"

Correct. An alpha's bond can force submission in any wolf, and change dynamics as he wishes.

I'd heard about things like that, of course. I knew we all had to submit, and I knew he had the power to force submission—but I don't think I've ever heard of him forcing wolves to submit to other wolves.

It happens.

"Wow." Despite my visit with Mom yesterday, I feel a little sorry for her.

A woman like her? With a strong wolf? She must have felt so stifled in this pack.

Your mother is strong in wolf, but weak in human, she explains. Not all souls are well matched.

"You said she would be a strong Luna candidate. Why can't strong female wolves be alphas?"

They can be. They used to be. Selene sounds frustrated. But today's wolves don't recognize it. An alpha today would have been King in my era.

My mind jiggles. A Lycan King.

Wait a second.

"Sister Miriam called you—"

was Queen, in

at Selene, my mouth hanging open. "Wait, you were a queen? Like, an

sitting straight with her

it was because you're so..." Trailing off before I can finish the sentence,

head, those ice-blue eyes staring deep into my soul. In her dog form, it's

"Um. You know. Finicky?"

she curls her lip over her teeth in a silent snarl. I am not finicky. Vampires are

That's what I meant." I try to keep a straight face,

her

reprieve, I scratch at her neck in silent apology

a

That's crazy talk.

idea forms in

my half-packed suitcase, I start folding clothes and tucking

Selene says, her mental voice cutting through my

trying to keep you a secret." The more

are different, and I have no interest in spreading that

to be shared. It's shackling us. We have

"I don't know, Selene. What if it ruins our

would be terrible. One of my few allies in Westwood; someone who doesn't look

accept you, Ava. Just like Lisa does. Just like Lucas does, now that he

really seeing them, I pick it all apart in my head. Tell her. Don't tell her. Keep secrets. But why? If I like her, I should want to tell

I'm always so

a

being a shifter or for my past. And

She deserves to know the truth, and we could use her

slowly, my decision made. "Okay. We'll

she agrees with me. The caveat being that she needs to agree with me, of course. And she holds significant

This should help.

movements are more purposeful when I resume packing as my idea roots into my brain with insistence. "We'll talk to her when we get back from the

startled.