Tangled

62 Ava: Homecoming (IV)

This is insane.

This can’t be happening.

My feet carry me from one end of my room to the other as I pace, nibbling ferociously on a nail as I think.

Alpha Renard’s sons have all died. I’m not sure on the circumstances of the first two, but the third one died a few years ago in a skirmish with rogue wolves. He’s had no success in bearing a new child, with no pregnancy making it to the end–so Phoenix was brought in as the alpha heir, due to his alpha level of strength.

But, from what I’ve heard, the alpha still has multiple lovers. Dad and Phoenix have talked about how

Phoenix cannot walk with arrogance in the pack,

because Alpha Renard is still seeking to create a new

heir.

It’s an open secret within the pack, but I’ve never spent time thinking about it before.

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62 Ava: Homecoming (IV)

Now, I am, and the implications make me want to

vomit.

He knows I’m an omega by birth. If that’s so, isn’t my ability to carry a baby to term much better than that of other she–wolves? Wouldn’t it be easier for me to get pregnant? The omega designation is not given to the weakest in our pack–though they are–but to the ones mated off for the purposes of bearing pups.

He’d already planned for me to mate with more than one of our warriors. Now, is he on that list with them?

Or has he taken over the list?

It doesn’t matter; neither option makes it okay.

hands off me. Alpha Renard’s intentions

Fuck.

thought that my own

about these rumors.

stomping through the hall has me twirling, facing the door in a defensive

just Phoenix.

217

Ava: Homecoming (IV)

slight curl of his lip, as though my attempt at self–defense is laughable, before twirling me around and throwing me onto

into the wall and my knee into my bedframe. Shit. That

on my leg and pins me down with a

twisted with a mix of anger and something else I can’t quite place. The weight of his body pins me in place, and for a terrifying moment, I think he might actually hurt me.

hell, Phoenix?”

his throat, a rumbling sound that sends a shiver down my spine. “Calm down, Ava. I’m not going to hurt

everything, I believe him.

tension radiating from his body. He’s not here to hurt me, but

wrong. My body goes limp against the mattress as

12:42

3/7

Ava: Homecoming (IV)

a long moment, his eyes searching mine. “You have a wolf, don’t you?”

before admitting

how did you go into heat?”

know. They assumed I had a wolf, but I

think I’d be here if I didn’t? I would have Sᴇaʀ*ᴄh the FɪndNøvel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access

shifted and run.”

up. I thrash my leg

and tell me the truth. Are you really an omega?” he asks,

me. Phoenix is worried about losing his status as the alpha heir. If Renard manages to get me pregnant, any child I bear would take precedence

why did he bring me

There’s no way he’s going to

hope ignites deep in my heart. Can

Phoenix sees

12:42

Homecoming