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.

pain in my chest seems subdued, almost as if there’s some sort of barrier between it

magical properties, but Dad always said it was human

not.

it to the light to admire its colors. “Pretty. Think I should get a chain for this?” I ask, as if a husky would care if I carry something

neck.

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Settling In

She’s at my door again by the time I dash outside,

the stairs on the side of The Novel Grind’s building, and a sign on the door has my pace slowing,

the door.

This is to facilitate bonding with your new dog and to rest from your workaholic tendencies. Don’t worry, we’ve got everything covered. HAVE FUN! -Mrs. Elkins

she sounds amused. I’ve learned in these past few days that I can’t stop

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

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Ava: Settling

disconnect from that.

a 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.

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

back

I sigh.

But I’m going to hate every second of my forced

rest.”

it’s paid time off, for–um, I think she called it maternity

mouth, then close it again. Yup, I’m for sure

face. “Oh. that’s…”

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Settling

are still babies, so get out.” He winks before slamming the

of course. It has a built–in soft close, because banging doors doesn’t

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

occurs to me in that moment that I have