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.

But habits are really, really hard

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 in the

turns, I realize that nothing seems

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

move her?" I ask,

playing on her lips. "They had to

we enter the room. Two of our guards take up positions outside, while the other two follow us in, their

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

The sight of her steals my breath. It's only been a few days, and yet she

not long

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

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 pins me

curse me into the afterlife,"

physical

before finally giving up. The vitriol in her eyes never fades, though. "To gloat?

you." My honesty cuts through the air between

vile, coming out of

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

you're here,

holding a syringe and an impossibly tiny vial filled with clear liquid. "We're about to give you

would remove that filth from my

flinch at the words she throws my way,

nudge against my hand keeps me grounded. Don't let her bait you, she whispers

accepts the vial and syringe from the nurse, 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

swallow them back. Now's not the time to

the syringe, Selene's voice whispers through my

comfort, but I'll take what I

are now sharp and twisted with loathing. It's hard to reconcile this bitter shell of a woman with the mother I remember from my

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

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