Tangled

15 Ava: Settling In (I)

Waking up with a dog is both better and worse than waking to an alarm.

Selene starts with a cute little nose bumping against my hand. Then a head burrowing beneath it. Then her entire body on mine, as her dog breath–which smelled particularly fishy–assaults my nose.

She finishes it off with a low, mournful howl, and I

open my eyes with a groan. “I’m up. I’m up. Come on, Selene. You couldn’t let me sleep for fifteen more

minutes?”

Her huff sounds a lot like you slept for six hours, you’ll

be fine to me, but I rub her ears and roll out of bed anyway, only to screech a few seconds later when something sharp tries to murder my foot.

“Shit! Ow, ow, ow. Fuck. Oh, my God. I’m dying. Holy shit.” I fall back onto the bed and check the bottom of

my foot. Only a little bleeding where something sharp broke the skin, and a nice big scratch. I grab my glasses and peered at the floor, shocked to see a purple crystal there.

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15 Ava Settling in (1)

Selene must have gotten into something overnight, because that was not there last night.

I shoot her a dark look. “This is the thanks I get for giving you a home?”

My sweet little husky just tilts her head, staring at me like I’m stupid, and I sigh, tossing the crystal onto my night stand. For a second, I feel a tingle on my

fingertips, but when I grab it again and hold it in my palm, there’s nothing.

Weird.

as if there’s

but Dad always said it

not.

is meant to hang off a chain. I spin the crystal around, lifting it to the light to admire its colors. “Pretty. Think I should get a chain for this?” I ask, as if

neck.

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Settling

a place to potty as I get dressed in record time. She’s at my door again by the time I dash outside, finishing the messy bun I’d corralled my hair into. I’ve been pondering cutting and dyeing it to help hide my identity, but I figure if someone finds me, it’s probably

sign on the door has my

the door.

you are hereby banned from the premises for the next 48 hours. This is to facilitate bonding with your new dog and to rest from your

past few days that I can’t stop

raised with wolf shifters. They do have their human emotions when shifted into their wolf form, and

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Ava: Settling

disconnect from that.

hand to stop my torrent of mild outrage. “Don’t even think about it, Ava. Martha agrees. You’re banned. Go home, relax, get to know your new roommate. You haven’t had a day off since she hired you.”

look like a fish as my mouth opens and closes as all my arguments dissipate in the face of his loony smile and reasonable

with her ears back and her eyes twice as large as normal.

I sigh.

I’m going to hate every second

rest.”

figured. Martha said it’s paid time off, for–um,

then close it again.

face. “Oh. that’s…”

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Settling in (1)

fur babies are still babies, so get out.” He winks

soft close, because banging doors doesn’t fit a bookstore cafe’s ambience. It’s just the

melody pulls me out of my daze and I look at Selene, then the door again. “I guess we can just… go home?” Because what else am I going to do? I could go hiking, but I don’t know the area. With my luck, I’d get lost in the middle

occurs to me in that moment that I have