Tangled in Moonlight: Unshifted (Ava and Lucas)

Chapter 192 Ava: Mom's Legacy (V)

The hospital is eerily quiet, our steps echoing through the halls. Visiting hours are long over, and night shift reigns.

Vanessa is unfazed by the creepy quality of the place at a late hour, but I jump when the elevator dings, signalling its arrival in front of us.

"You okay?" she asks, concern knitting her brows.

Selene—who's finally out from beneath my bed, though she refuses to talk about why she avoided me for the rest of the day—leans against my leg in silent comfort. "It's just so quiet. I'm not used to hospitals without people bustling around."

There's a giant machine coming down the hall in our direction, cleaning the floor with whatever algorithm powers its movement.

I always wondered how hospitals kept their floors so clean. I guess everything's automated these days.

Vanessa nudges me onto the elevator, pressing the button for my mom's floor before we've all even made it in.

Four bodyguards flank us. Massive overkill, considering that there isn't much we're expecting to happen on this visit.

Still, Lucas—and Jericho—are taking no chances on my safety.

Marcus, at least, is getting a break, and a new guy seems to be the one to shadow me for the night. He's a little short, but his eyes are black and intense, and I wouldn't want to be found in an alley with him in the dark.

He smells like death, Selene says. To me, such words are atrocious, like I should avoid the person. To her? She speaks as though she admires him.

And that's a good thing?

Selene's ears flick toward me, and I can feel her side-eye even without her eyes moving. He is a capable guard. This is a good thing.

Right. I guess that's true.

"You seem on edge," Vanessa murmurs, looking straight forward as the elevator numbers change from floor to floor.

"Just a little." I've been avoiding thinking about my mom, or her wolf. Avoidance has always been my specialty.

habits are really, really

my mother's room feels longer than it should, each step heavy with dread. Selene presses close to my side, her warmth a small comfort

a few turns, I

the same as the last, and yet it feels as though we're going in the

I ask,

at me, a strange smile playing on her lips. "They

we enter the room. Two of our guards take up positions outside, while the other

the steady beep of machines filling the silence. Vanessa makes her way to the bed where my mother lies, seemingly asleep. She checks the IV

the sheets. The sight of her steals my breath. It's only been a few days, and yet she looks so much smaller, her cheeks hollow and

long for this

taking its toll," Vanessa murmurs, her voice tinged with

if sensing our presence, my mother's eyes flutter open. They're dull, lacking the fire I've always associated with her. But when they land on me, they sharpen, a glare that

curse me into the afterlife," she

physical blow,

you be here?" She struggles to sit up, her arms trembling with the effort, before finally giving up. The vitriol in her eyes never fades, though.

My honesty cuts through the air between

is vile, coming

can someone despise their daughter so much that even the sound of her cough is filled

yet you're here, aren't

finishes checking her medicine as a nurse steps in, holding a syringe and an impossibly tiny

you would remove that

I'm trying not to flinch at the words she throws

my hand keeps me grounded. Don't let her bait you,

around the room like a cornered animal. She scurries out, leaving an unsettling silence in her wake, broken only by the beeping machines and my mother's

tongue, but I swallow them back.

clear liquid into the syringe, Selene's voice whispers through

comfort, but I'll

focus on my mother's face, trying to block out the vitriol spilling from her lips. Her features, once soft and warm, are now sharp and twisted with loathing. It's hard to reconcile this

pull me into her

to be the happiest little girl in the world, Ava," she'd say, tucking a strand of