Tangled in Moonlight: Unshifted (Ava and Lucas)

Chapter 237 Ava: Wrung Dry

By the time we exit the training room, Vanessa and Marcus have to hold me up to walk in a straight line.

It isn't the type of exhaustion where my muscles are sore and stretched and tired after running or doing a thousand squats. It's more like the energy in my body has bled away, leaving me so weak that my muscles can no longer function properly.

When exercising, you can kind of feel good about your exertion. The pain and exhaustion comes with a sense of accomplishment.

This?

It just feels like I'm a wet dish rag wrung out one too many times.

The water's gone, and now I'm going to float away on the next strong breeze.

Ava! Where did you go?

Selene's panic is so explosive in my head that my legs buckle, even with the support of two shifters.

Long story. Training room. Magic place. My body's dead. Training sucks.

Even in my head, I can only speak in short sentences. It feels fuzzy and also like something's slamming into it with a sledgehammer, fueled by the rage of a thousand flying monkeys.

Not sure where the flying monkeys came from, but I'm just going to go with it.

Are you okay? she asks, and the warmth and care from her side of the bond also seems to infuse me with a little bit of extra energy.

Like having a parent who's panicked after they wake up in the middle of the night to see their child gone; someone who cares about me. I need food. And sleep, I

Magister Orion says, peering at my face. "Does it hurt

head jerks up. "What? No. Why do

I'm sorry. You just looked so

looks like that," Vanessa

despite

of experience," I mutter, wishing I had the strength to shove

too comfortable making fun of

with your wolves is unique, indeed. If I had the time, I'd love to pick it apart. Especially you, Ava Grey, to have a wolf outside of your body, like the Lycans of old. And yet she's a mere dog. How

open and look at me under a microscope, Selene

his line of interest, because she interrupts him to ask, "Why do you call her by her full name? You almost always call

Orion ushers us to the dining room as we talk. "It is a bit of a custom among the Fae. We don't have

a frown, as Vanessa and Marcus help settle me into a chair.

meat. I've learned since coming here that Fae food doesn't always have a particular corresponding animal to the ones we are used to in our world; for example, their steaks might be from a giant carnivorous beast that they hunt, or an herbivore similar to a cow. Some of them are even from

and—most importantly—have no magic in them

the possibility when I brought it up, but I haven't told him the entire story of Sister Miriam and the Fae food. I'm still not certain on the allegiances of people in this city, and I'm hesitant to get Sister Miriam in trouble for possibly going outside of some sort of law

food without being asked, and I give her a smile when she catches my eye. Everything on the table is food I've had before and enjoyed;

realizes how exhausted

identity is not defined by your family. Even when one is disowned, they remain true to their own sense of self, do they

a moment. There's no way he's talking about my family dynamics, but I still feel like I've been put on display for a moment, a spotlight aimed right at all my pain

question

to our family," I murmur, feeling my heart clench