Tangled

63 Ava: Homecoming (V)

The next few days are agonizing.

1

There are shifters outside my house every hour of the

day.

Mom and Dad have disappeared, doing… Honestly, I don’t know what they’re doing.

Phoenix was never around much to begin with, so I’m not surprised that I don’t see him.

It occurs to me that I haven’t seen Jessa even once

since I’ve been home, but, again, not really surprised. It

isn’t like we were ever close.

So I pace in my childhood home, trapped, with no idea what’s coming next, building nightmare after

nightmare of assumptions in my mind. Sometimes I catch Selene’s show on TV and watch that. Other times I watch the news, a habit I’ve gotten used to since working at The Novel Grind. Mrs. Elkins often had it on in the background.

It’s amazing how sheltered I was from the human world, even when living in it. I see why Dad never let

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<63 Ava: Homecoming (V)

me watch the news; it’s enlightening to see how things. are outside of the views of your pack.

I always knew they were a little outdated. After being in the Aspen territory, I’ve learned that my family pack is barely out of the Dark Ages. Now that my eyes have been opened, there are so many details I can pick out that are just wrong.

The fact that I had a phone at all was a miracle–of course, I bought it with my own money.

Jessa begged Dad for one when she was twenty–one, and he relented. But so many women in the pack don’t have a cell phone at all. My dad is sometimes

considered a little too lenient on his women.

for me, of course.

go out much, and don’t have jobs. They’re stuck at the mercy of their mates, if their mate has any at all.

see a man alone with his child. At The Novel Grind, I would often see a father come in with his child, looking for a book or having

home.

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Ava: Homecoming

I don’t think I ever really noticed

what a few months of freedom will do for

you.

think of Mrs. Elkins, and Carlos, and

thinking about me. If they’re worried. How long they’ll stay worried for, and when

get me wrong…

going to

just don’t know how quickly I

brain, I don’t know how to get anywhere without money.

suppose I could just run on foot, but I can’t shift. They’d catch me within hours. The

a boat, if we

country.

on the door interrupts my pacing, and

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Ava: Homecoming (V)

for a response. Alpha Renard strides in, smiling sweetly, but the look is

smarmy, his voice like poison to the little happiness

my arm. I fight the urge to recoil. “I trust you’re settling

me, and I resist the instinct to cover myself, even though I’m fully dressed. There’s something predatory in the way he looks at me that makes my skin crawl.

to discuss a few things with you, now that you’ve had some time

myself for whatever twisted scheme he has in

discuss?”

widens, and he guides me toward the couch, his grip/firm enough that I can’t

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Ava: Homecoming (V)

scene. “Please, have a

edge of

#25

trembling. Renard settles beside me, entirely too close for my liking, but I force myself to remain still.

direction, no purpose. These are all things you need to get your mind off your

dalliances.”

giving him no reaction to latch onto. Renard studies me for a moment, then continues.

their females run wild–it’s no wonder you were drawn to them, in your confused state. And yet look at the lies