Tangled

92 Ava Clearing the Air (1)

92 Ava: Clearing the Air (II)

My stomach churns, and I get through the rest of the words as quickly as I can. “My heat was uncontrollable, and I had sex with the alpha there. He took care of me and Phoenix kidnapped me when I was shopping with his sister. No, we aren’t mated, but we aren’t strangers, either.”

There.

It’s out.

I peek at Lucas to see his reaction, but he’s just sitting there, his eyes unfocused.

It’s obvious that he’s taking some time to process everything.

My eyes drop to our linked hands, and I wonder if I should pull away before he does.

“Huh,” he says, and squeezes my fingers.

Of all the responses I’d been expecting, that one isn’t on my list.

“Lucas?”

13.27 C

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92 Ava: Clearing the Air (II)

He smiles at me, a lopsided little one. “I’m going to need a little time to process all this. I don’t understand how you can go into heat without a wolf, for one. But I’m not angry, Ava.”

I narrow my eyes in suspicion. “That doesn’t seem right.”

to xx

He sighs. “I’m… disappointed. In the situation, in how I put you there. In the way things could have gone but didn’t, because of me. I’m angry at myself, and I have

I don’t want to

that there’s a lot more that you haven’t told me. I

to his voice, his words are

Clearing the

I nod.

finally feeling some of the stress ease

isn’t angry

have to punch Clayton

“I wasn’t–he didn’t-”

joke,

sound like he’s joking,

him in doubt.

fingers again. “Ava. I fucked up, right?”

website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters

you willing to give me a chance?”

I nod, again.

not expecting anything to happen overnight. I know that we’re both pushed together by this bond, but I want more than that. I want you, heart and

37

Clearing the Air (II)

bond between us. I want there to be no

and

of longing straight through my body, and tears to my eyes.

that if I’m going to run around like a feral wolf, snarling about how some other guy touched my mate. I’m the one who lost the right to call you that. I’m the one who pushed you into a situation where you were alone, vulnerable, and in heat. I’m

the

tear escapes, feeling a little like a puppet on a string. I don’t

toward me, toward us, just because I took you out of that place. I want more than obligation toward our

into my cheeks as he presses another kiss against my fingers, before turning my hand over to nuzzle his mouth against my

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Clearing the

but his

that’s far from innocent.

“Lucas-”

sends quivers straight into the very core of me. I shift beneath the

going to push you,” he murmurs against my skin, pressing kiss after kiss into my palm. “But if I want to keep that promise, I’m going to have to walk away from you right now. Fuck.

other hand, gently touching

nips at my wrist, pulling back with a