Chapter 195 Ava: A Familiar Face

I never expected to add my former boss being held up by a flock of bodyguards, a solid thousand miles from Cedarwood, to my list of fucked up shit that happened today.

So it takes a minute for me to process what I'm hearing.

"Mrs. Elkins?"

Selene flattens against the ground, her ears going back as she belly-crawls her way to my bench.

Her bizarre demeanor doesn't even register in my head, because—well, frankly, she's been weird as hell for the past several hours.

"Ava! My dear girl."

Those familiar rheumy eyes and her welcoming smile have me so intensely, terribly homesick for Cedarwood that I have to blink like a maniac to keep the tears at bay. "Mrs. Elkins, how did you get here? And on pack lands?"

Vanessa follows behind as I push my way through the bodyguards, who refuse to let me get too close.

"Calm down, boys. She's a friend of our Luna."

Vanessa's at least forty years younger than any of these men, but they respond to her words anyway, letting me through their human barricade.

I've got to figure out how to wield whatever flimsy authority I have. Even Vanessa gets people to listen to her. Granted, she's a healer—no one wants to get on a healer's bad side. Not even the alpha.

Reaching the old woman, I can see that she's carrying a huge parcel, hugging it to her chest.

"Ava, my dear. Are you all right?"

Her hand shakes as she reaches for my face, as though reassuring herself I'm really alive.

"I'm fine."

and fragile, her paper-thin skin soft against my palm. My mind is still working at wrapping itself around her being

you get here, Mrs. Elkins? I mean, not that I'm not happy to see

sighs, the sound weary and drawn out. "Oh, Ava, it's a story for the ages. But that can wait." Her eyes, sharp despite their age, sweep over me with a critical gleam.

head, a rueful smile tugging at my lips. "Actually, I've gained weight. Even though I look skinnier. Must be all the muscle I've

in concern. "And you're here of your own will? These

quickly. "None of these people are the

unwavering under her scrutiny. Vanessa mutters something about bull-headed men before turning to Mrs. Elkins with a polite smile. "Why don't we head inside? I'm sure you've had a long

narrow, and she takes a moment, her gaze unfocused.

Elkins, her tone apologetic. "But I'm afraid we

reaches into her pocket, pulling out a small ziplock bag. "Here, Ava. I brought you

Homemade, of course."

a smile. "Thank you, Mrs. Elkins. You have no

the bag, it's

whirl on the bodyguard in question. "What the

expression. "I'm sorry, Luna, but we'll have

"Mrs. Elkins would never hurt me. She saved me in Cedarwood. She's a

how you entered pack lands without

and I see Vanessa tense from the corner of my eye. Mrs. Elkins looks around at the hostile faces, bewilderment

you in

all on alert and intent on saving me even from a little old woman, I

are imminently reasonable, and I'm wondering the same things. Not to mention—Selene's hiding under the bench is

I'm about

this situation, for an old woman to have accidentally stumbled onto me here, a thousand miles away,

something more going

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