Tangled

104 Ava: Training (I)

The best way to deal with all the confusion involving feelings?

Exercise.

Jericho watches in approval as I push myself past my limits, determined to grow stronger. New bruises appear and disappear each day as my supernatural healing kicks in. Lisa, on the other hand, is covered with them, in various stages of healing.

I’m determined to ignore everything about Lucas and Clayton for as long as I can. It’s easier to just… not deal with it all.

Healthy? Probably not.

But hell, I’m just going to settle for making it through each day for now.

An odd, itchy feeling doesn’t stop all day. Lisa smacks at my hands every time I begin scratching at my neck and shoulders. My belly looks as if it’s been clawed by a raccoon, though the marks fade within half an hour each time.

IN Ave Taning (0)

“You have to stop that, Ave. You’re driving yourself insane. The more you scratch, the more you’ll itch. Just take some Benadryl.”

“Fast healing means a fast metabolism. Benadryl won’t even touch it, and I don’t know wolf dosing. I’d have to go to a healer to figure it out.” I’ve explained this to Lisa before, but her exasperation over my scratching overcomes minor details like that.

It doesn’t bother me. I repeat myself as often as I need to. I just worry that other wolves in the pack might

bother her.

So far, Lisa hasn’t gone anywhere without me. Between the guards always nearby and Kellan’s presence every morning before training and every afternoon after, we haven’t done anything outside of our apartment. Even our food gets delivered.

Lisa’s company is amazing, but we’re both going a little stir–crazy.

That might be what’s wrong with me.

“Full moon’s coming up,” Jericho announces out of nowhere, and I almost jump ten feet in the air.

you doing?

Ava Training (0)

picking up the pace. My muscles scream in protest as I push myself to sprint faster around the track. The itching across my skin intensifies with each stride, a maddening sensation that refuses to relent.

in my mind, taunting me with their significance. As a shifter who has never experienced a shift, the

that day in the forest, running almost as fast as wolves, I’ve been desperate to feel that inner

of it since that day.

bend, my breath coming in ragged gasps. Lisa falls into step beside me, her face flushed with exertion. “What do you think he means by that?” she pants, her words punctuated by

breath is too short and my brain too

15:22

Ava: Training (1)

like my body is yearning for

makes no sense at all. Even in full–fledged wolf shifters, the moon is nothing more than an enhancement. An aphrodisiac for some, and a hair trigger on anger for the others. They’re a little more volatile, a little more inclined to drink, a little late to sleep. But otherwise, it doesn’t really do that

in the silver moonlight of a

problem. Where the fuck

complete another lap, Jericho’s voice booms across the track once more. “Faster! You think you can outrun your

teeth, channeling my frustration into each pounding step. The relentless itching beneath my skin keeps me from hitting a decent

She’s so sore that I spend an hour

15:22

Training

would know; I lived in

changes of late are not what I

yearn for the moon so fiercely worries

I finish my fifth mile, Jericho’s right there in front of

cracks like a whip, making me flinch. “Lisa,

do lunges too?” Lisa protests, her face flushed from exertion.

isn’t fair. Get over it. This

on my hips, ready to argue, but

my lunges, feeling the burn in my thighs almost immediately. Each step

Ava: Training

up with another wide

burn.

Breathe

this than it was to keep my mind from wandering unpleasantly during

critical eye assessing my form.