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.

are really,

step heavy with dread. Selene presses close to my

turns, I realize that nothing

the same as the last, and yet it feels as

they move her?" I ask, confusion lacing my

at me, a strange smile playing on her lips. "They had to make some adjustments for her

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

machines filling the silence. Vanessa makes her way to the bed where my

the bed, my eyes drawn to the frail figure beneath the sheets. The sight of her steals my

long

her voice tinged with something I can't quite place. Pity,

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

me into the afterlife," she rasps, her

me like a physical blow, but I

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

for you." My honesty cuts through the air between us, and she

sound is vile, coming out of

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

you're here,

a syringe and an impossibly tiny vial

agitated if you would remove that filth from

flinch at the words she throws my way,

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

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

them back.

the syringe, Selene's voice whispers through my mind, She'll be

hollow comfort, but I'll

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

her smile could light up a room, and her laughter was infectious. She'd pull me into her lap, tickling me until I was breathless with giggles, and whisper promises of a

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