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

of the driver crumpling

the back of my eyelids, making my stomach churn.

class isn’t enough. It was

us. The one who pulled me out of the car…

to compose myself. I’d tried so hard to hide. How did they find

feel Selene’s calming presence wrapping around me like a soothing

never going to make it in time. We’re heading for the airport. That means they’re going to fly me back to

running. They have more people. They have cars. They

raking over me, assessing.

<

57 Ava: Stunned

keeping my expression carefully neutral. “Probably because I’ve been living with other shifters,” I lie. “The girl in the

too.”

tightening into a grim line. “No, it’s different. More than

knows

else does he

you’re talking about,” I say evenly, lying through my teeth. He knows damn well I don’t have a wolf of my own, and they can never prove that Selene exists. I can’t shift.

out a slow, shaky breath and lean back against the couch, cursing everything I can think of in my head.

that damn burner

to be able to go home

And now this.

12:36.

57 Ava: Stunned

I’m being punished for having a few

this whole time?” Phoenix asks, breaking

onto the interstate.

to see if I’ll lie to him, or if he genuinely doesn’t know.

he doesn’t

he doesn’t, that means

sure if he comes back today.

“No!”

can see how tense he is by the prominent veins in his neck, so I

been worried sick about you, Ava.

the Lunar Gala without a

hide my incredulity. That’s complete bullshit–they’ve made it abundantly clear they don’t

12:36

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