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,

room feels longer than it should, each step heavy with dread. Selene presses close

few turns, I realize that

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

did they move her?" I

a strange smile playing on her lips. "They

our guards take up positions outside, while the other

room is dim, 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 bags hanging beside

the foot of the bed, my eyes drawn to 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

not long for

wolfsbane is taking its toll," Vanessa murmurs, her voice tinged with something I

dull, lacking the fire I've always associated with her. But when they land on me, they sharpen,

come to curse me into the afterlife," she

a physical blow,

arms trembling with the effort, before finally giving up. The

honesty cuts through the air between us, and

sound is vile, coming

daughter so much that even the sound of her

yet you're here, aren't

medicine as a nurse steps in, holding a syringe and an impossibly tiny vial filled

agitated if you would remove that filth from my

I'm trying not to flinch at the words she

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

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

I swallow them back. Now's not the time to

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

but I'll

now sharp and twisted with loathing. It's hard to

room, and her laughter was infectious. She'd pull me into her lap, tickling me until I was breathless with giggles,

she'd say, tucking