Tangled in Moonlight: Unshifted (Ava and Lucas)

Chapter 419: Ava: Trauma Lingers

Our strange captive never does wake, and we drag them on a makeshift sled. Kellan and the others make do with some long, willowy branches and armfuls of pine.

Practical skills like this are so much more impressive to me than conjuring fire out of nothing.

Really thought we'd run into the intruders out here. It's strange there's nothing.

Selene's musings almost have me tripping over my feet, and Kellan glances over his shoulder in concern.

I wave him off with a weak smile.

You mean this person isn't the reason they went off?

Selene and Grimoire are quiet.

When they're intentionally silent like this, their lack of noise has a heavier weight in my head.

My silver husky looks up from my side, and I swear her pale blue eyes are digging their disappointment straight into my stupid brain. You thought this one was responsible for the alarms?

Grimoire adds, The wards are quite a distance from camp. For all of them to go off at once, do you really think a single being could do it?

Okay. Okay, look. Maybe it was the epitome of stupidity to think that—

It was, the book confirms without hesitation.

But seriously, two epic situations at the same time? Who expects that?

Literally every wolf surrounding us at the moment, mine says. I thought you were waiting to hear from the scouts. I didn't realize you left your brain back at the hospital.

Of course. Damn it. All that hyping myself up about being a responsible and capable Luna—

She's spiraling again, Grimoire observes. Should I tell her this is an inappropriate time?

can hear you

groan this time isn't over their interaction. It's

these kind of emergency situations, Selene offers, her attempt at understanding ringing inauthentic.

we lie to her now? Is that

self-flagellating. Focus, focus, focus. My inexperience isn't an excuse when

possibly related but right now separate issues. I need to figure them out

hope no one else has noticed my incredible lack of

back

Kellan's voice maintains that crisp, professional tone that cuts worse than any angry outburst. It's not quite similar to my mother's cold distance, but it makes me feel just as small. "All of Wolf's Landing remains on high alert.

they haven't struck, Grimoire muses.

to find someone, even in a mile's radius. A single mile can be impossibly large when someone is hiding from detection. Selene breaks off from my side, trotting further ahead. There is a

but his mental

perimeter alarms has a reason for doing so. Wouldn't they be on

your mind open, Ava. The scouts haven't found their trails yet. Not

to grab my arm,

was

toward Selene. "Just be

rebuke. Not that he would do more than that over such a minor stumble, but

flashing back to my life at home, feeling tiny

Selene's words are simple enough, but there's another whisper inside my head, telling me she's

to my side and hits my thigh hard with her nose. Get out of your wallowing. Why

he talks. She's struggling. Why does she keep thinking of

Fuck.

sound ringing out and causing several of the guards

"Luna? Are you okay?"

will always be my trigger, I guess. That, and people I care about

sounds normal again, right in my head, clear

a deep breath, I focus on each step. This isn't the time to sink into bad habits or

I was getting better,

Wallowing, Selene says.