Tangled in Moonlight: Unshifted (Ava and Lucas)

Chapter 415: Ava: So Strange

He'll get over it, Selene assures me. He was just worried.

Yeah, well, he can join the club. I study our captive's face again. The pointed ears suggest Fae heritage, but I've never seen one with skin like this. The fabric of their clothing is equally puzzling—it looks like silk but moves like water, absorbing light rather than reflecting it. Very strange.

"The area is secured, Beta," one of the guards reports.

Of course it is. No one else is here. But, I get it. Better safe than sorry.

Kellan nods. "Maintain the perimeter. No one approaches without direct authorization from myself or the Luna."

"Yes, Beta."

I want to apologize, of course. I want to beg forgiveness. But there's some things I can't do.

Pack dynamics are delicate enough without their Luna apologizing to the beta. I have to show that I'm confident in the decisions I've made.

Correct, Selene murmurs.

It might sound like an alpha should never apologize when they do terrible things, and that's not true, either. I'll speak with Kellan in private, knowing how he feels, and he can talk to me then. But right now the pack needs a confident leader, not a question of whose orders take precedence in this emergency.

"Should we take them back to Wolf's Landing?" I ask Kellan, mentally kicking myself for not phrasing things a little more assertively.

But he doesn't blink. "I would suggest that we wait until we're certain the binding holds, Luna."

That title again. Each utterance feels like a tiny knife of guilt.

The runes along the rope pulse steadily with my magic.

found

"No, Luna."

the urge to fidget under Kellan's rigid professionalism. The guards pretend not to notice the tension, but their careful attention to their tasks speaks

familiar with. I wish they were, even though I

not ready to ask if they're

I'll check, Selene offers.

my head, I reply, No. If it's bad news,

again. I just can't get a read on

point in dwelling on pack politics when we have this mystery to solve. My magic pulses through the runes I've carved into the rope, steady and strong, but something feels off about our

senses. Nothing. Not even a whisper of energy or life force. If I closed my eyes, I wouldn't know anyone

right. No magic, no life force, no...

they're dead,

shake my head. "Heart's beating.

realize I'm talking to people inside my head again. I should probably

you don't know

manner of creature this was, don't you think I would have told

at my bag, where Grimoire is safely nestled. She bristles. Watch

for. I'm frustrated by my own ignorance in this matter. In

idea that there's an entire person who can leave Grimoire so puzzled is

think they're dead, Selene mutters.

comes out sharper than intended as Selene starts pawing at and tossing different body parts with her muzzle. Each one falls with a limp

says,

Their head flops and falls to the ground like a stone, with a meaty

my people. But there's still something weird about seeing their head hit the ground over and over, and my husky-wolf playing with their body like