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.

No. But habits are really, really hard

step heavy with dread. Selene presses

few turns, I realize that

is the same as the last, and yet it

her?" I ask, confusion lacing

smile playing on her lips. "They had to make some adjustments

of our guards take up positions outside, while the other two follow

her way to the bed where my mother lies, seemingly asleep. She checks the IV bags hanging beside the bed, her

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

not long for this

toll," Vanessa murmurs, her voice tinged with

eyes flutter open. They're dull, lacking the fire I've always associated with

to curse me into the afterlife," she rasps,

a physical blow,

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

honesty cuts through the air between us, and she

vile, coming out of

even the sound of her cough is

yet you're here,

her medicine as a nurse steps in, holding a syringe and

you would remove that

much as I'm trying not to flinch at the words

keeps me grounded. Don't

whose eyes dart around the room like a cornered animal. She scurries out, leaving an unsettling silence in her wake, broken only by the beeping machines

burn on my tongue, but I swallow them back. Now's not the time

Vanessa carefully draws the clear liquid into the syringe, Selene's voice whispers through my mind, She'll be quiet

hollow comfort, but I'll take what I can

features, once soft and warm, are now sharp and twisted with loathing. It's hard to reconcile this bitter shell of a woman with the mother

me into her lap, tickling me until I was breathless with giggles, and whisper promises of

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