Tangled

39 Ava: Her Identity

39 Ava: Her Identity

You have the potential, Selene says, her voice a cautious whisper in my mind. The arcane flows through your veins. But…

My breath escapes me in a giddy rush. Magic. Real magic. Human magic. It’s something out of a fairy tale, not something that should exist in my life. Then again, supernaturals exist–and we’re pretty nonstandard,

ourselves.

It’s not that simple, Selene continues, her tone growing more serious. Magic is not a toy, little one. It’s a force of nature, raw and untamed. To wield it requires knowledge, discipline, and control.

I swallow hard, feeling the warning in her words. “But how do I learn? I don’t even know where to start.”

You would need a teacher, Selene explains, her voice tinged with hesitation. Someone well–versed in the arcane arts, who could guide you, show you how to harness and control your power. But magic is a lost art. Magicians were lost to the curse and became shifters.

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39 Ava: Her Identity

Talk about a letdown.

O

“So, I won’t be able to do magic.” Is that how you say it? Do magic? Cast magic? Spell magic? Cast spells? It all feels weird in my mouth.

It is unlikely, Selene says, but she still has that cautious

sound to her voice.

“If I tried, what’s the worst that could happen?”

Death.

A simple word, bluntly given, with all the truth in the world behind it. I shudder at the matter–of–fact tone.

to the recklessness of their magical talent. Until magicians began to teach each other, too many lives were lost

some of the warmth that fled my body as she

course. But–if Selene

Her

volatile.

been bothering me

Of course.

No shifter has a

she explains in that

being cryptic again. All shifters are bonded with ancient magic, and they don’t have any ‘separate‘, only ‘one‘. Why am I

that can’t be helped, Selene sighs, and I can almost

What are you, an English professor now? And what are we, exactly? Are

Ava: Her Identity

Selene says, her voice filled with a quiet pride. I came to be with you of my own choice.

work better.

who is matched?”

more important that you take a cold shower before your heat starts back up. Clayton

alpha sends a shiver down my spine, and I can feel the

frantic state like yesterday. But I can’t let this conversation

with me? And what do you mean, we’re separate and one at the same time? I don’t understand any of

understand yet. But trust me when I say that everything will be revealed in time. For now,

Thᴇ ꜰindNʘvel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest

more later.

demand answers, but the heat is building faster now, and I can feel my skin starting

humiliation is enough.

and tossing it on the ground as I go. Niceties are foregone; I

as I can.

sense the presence of a powerful wolf. I don’t know how far they are, but they’re close enough that I’m

my nose.

them. One’s a little

Ava!

does nothing to help but makes me feel better for at least trying, and

huddled under that freezing

617

Her Identity

to help keep my mind clear

extent.

teeth are chattering, so I talk to Selene through my mind again. Why is heat even a thing? This is ridiculous. I’m losing my mind because I want some dick? Who came up