Tangled

61 Ava: Homecoming (III)

Alpha Renard is someone I have had few encounters with. He’s come by the house many times through my life, but my parents always sent me to my room, not wanting to parade their shame in front of him.

Today is different.

Today, he sits across from me at the dinner table as my mother serves him, apologizing for the dinner- something Phoenix had brought home from a

restaurant in town. Everyone’s gaze seems to center

on me.

I can tell Phoenix and Dad are furious with me, but

there’s little point in looking in their direction. There’s no point ruining what tiny appetite I have.

Alpha Renard is an imposing figure, towering well over six feet with a muscular build that speaks of years of combat training. His brown hair is neatly trimmed and his face shaved; I don’t think I’ve ever seen him in a state of disarray. He likes to show off the deep scars.

clawed across his face.

Shifters don’t scar easily, but it isn’t impossible.

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61 Ava: Homecoming (III)

Like all alphas, he has an intimidating presence and a confident air that demands respect. But his eyes hold a cruel glint that has me cringing from eye contact.

He won’t stop staring at me, even as he talks with the

others.

I keep my gaze fixed on the plate in front of me. Alpha Renard’s intense stare burns into my face, making my skin prickle with unease. His eyes linger on the split in my lip, the abnormal color across my cheeks. They still throb.

tense silence. “What

father clears his throat,

“She has become willful in her time

It requires discipline to

at his words. I risk a glance, finding a sinister look come over Alpha Renard’s features. “I

gaze shifts back to me, his eyes boring into mine with an intensity that makes me want to shrink

Ava Homecoming (

laced with a dark edge. “Why

throat feels tight, the words

sense the challenge

the Aspen pack had me. But how

they know everything, and I lie,

they don’t, and I tell them everything–wouldn’t

that be worse?

So I lie.

and got injured. They took care of my wounds after that as an apology.” Mostly truth,

off a scent of deception?

and I stab at a piece of buttery roasted potato, shoving it into

Homecoming (III)

from gagging, chewing in a

he won’t bother

But he does.

into a mating. We will fight back so you can regain your freedom. We are all family here. You

squeezing the air from my lungs. He’d wanted to breed me before I ever left the pack. If they decide I’m a true omega, like Clayton

his giant fist on the

the force. I flinch, shrinking back

seat.

to me, girl,” he snarls, his eyes flashing with barely contained rage. “We know all about your heat. How you threw

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Homecoming

father’s voice cuts through the tension, dripping with disgust. “You’re an

Blackwood Pack, Ava.”

applications of the truth are not unfamiliar to me. Anger surges through

my efforts to keep it steady. “You’re saying I threw myself at him, but you also just

your tone, girl,” he snaps, his voice low