Tangled

57 Ava: Stunned

I scream, my voice raw with terror as the door beside me is wrenched open. Before I even look, I throw a punch in their direction.

But it’s not one of the armed assailants–it’s Phoenix.

My brother’s face is set in grim lines, his mouth a tight slash of determination. My fist is held by his hand as though I’m a child throwing a tantrum–with the ease of someone far more powerful than me.

He lets go and cuts my seatbelt with a knife before grabbing me in an almost painful grip.

Ivy is still slumped in the backseat beside me, a trickle of blood oozing from the gash on her forehead. She’s completely still, her head lolling at an unnatural angle.

My stomach roils violently, and I have to swallow back a surge of nausea. Is she…?

“She’s alive,” Phoenix says gruffly, as if reading my mind. “For now.”

“Come on, we have to move,” he growls, already tugging me out of the wrecked sedan.

12:36

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57 Ava: Stunned

I stumble after him in a daze, my mind whirling. Phoenix? Here? How-?

What’s happening, Ava? Selene’s voice, taut with concern, rings in my head.

I shake my head mutely, too shaken to articulate a response. Phoenix is already hustling me towards one of the blue sedans idling in front of Ivy’s car. The driver, a tall, powerfully–built shifter I don’t recognize, jumps out and rushes to open the rear door.

“Get in,” Phoenix barks at me, giving me a firm shove towards the open door.

I scramble inside without protest, my entire body quivering with a bone–deep chill. The rear door slams shut, and Phoenix is already circling around to the passenger side. “Airport,” he snaps at the driver as he clambers inside. “And step on it.”

We peel away from the curb with a violent squeal of tires, the force slamming me back against the seat.

Ava, talk to me, Selene urges, her mental voice tinged with a rare edge of panic. What’s going on? Who are those men?

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12:36

57 Ava: Stunned

The image of the driver crumpling

into the back of my eyelids,

class isn’t enough. It was

don’t know. They were following us. The one who pulled me out of

I’d tried so hard

like a soothing

throat feeling tight. Selene, you’re never going to make it in time. We’re heading for the airport. That means they’re going to

more people. They have cars. They

face me, his gaze raking over me, assessing. “Why do you smell

<

57 Ava: Stunned

carefully neutral. “Probably because I’ve been living with other shifters,” I

too.”

line. “No, it’s different. More than just proximity to the

He knows about Clayton.

else does he

say evenly, lying through my teeth. He knows damn well I don’t have

further, turning back around to face the front. I let out a slow, shaky breath and lean back against the couch, cursing

got that damn burner phone.

comfortable, expecting to be able to

And now this.

12:36.

57 Ava: Stunned

for having a few

this whole time?” Phoenix asks, breaking the silence

onto the interstate.

to see if I’ll lie to him, or if he genuinely

he doesn’t

that means Cedarwood is

sure

“No!”

tense he is by the prominent veins in his neck,

again. “We’ve been worried sick about you, Ava. You disappeared right

Lunar Gala without

hide my incredulity. That’s complete bullshit–they’ve made it abundantly

12:36

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