Tangled

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158 Ava: From the Past

"Ava, is that you?"

The familiar rasp has me frozen, my heart lurching into my throat. Slowly, I turn around, coming face-to-face with a ghost from my

past.

Our neighbor. Margot Mitchell.

Her once vibrant auburn hair is streaked with silver, her face a

roadmap of wrinkles and scars. It's her eyes that haunt me. Piercing green eyes that see everything and do nothing.

"Margot," I greet, my voice tight with caution. "What are you doing

here?"

She limps

toward me, her gait uneven from some injury she incurred long before I was born. I remember asking about it once, and my mother slapped the back of my head, admonishing me for my rudeness. "Oh, Ava. I'm

I tense as she reaches out, half-expecting her to grab me, to drag me back to the hellscape I escaped. But she merely places a hand on my arm, her touch feather-light.

"I'm sorry," she whispers, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. "I'm so sorry for everything. For not intervening when..." She trails off, her gaze flickering to the ground.

The shame she tries to portray leaves me feeling dirty. Unclean from her mere presence.

Memories flash through my mind, unbidden. Margot's face in the

$2.00

150 As from the Pant

window, watching as I was taunted and beaten, even by her own son. Listening at the front door as my parents berated me, their voices carrying through the window. Her figure rushing inside. when I tried beggi I was thirteen.

He broke my wrist.

day. Hours. Until my parents, tired of my whining,

watching. Never

me, hot and bitter, fueling my words. "Why are you even saying

help you. Please." She grabs at my arm again. "We need you to understand us. To speak

Ah. She needs something.

No wonder she's here.

miniscule, that was hopeful her apology was genuine. It's dead now, like so

"I am hired to clean the lodge. I

From the

So many of us are separated now. Taken from our mates. Forced to cut ties with the alpha. Westwood is tearing us apart. They sh

repeat. "I have no intention of helping you or anyone else. from that pack.

contorts, her features twisting into an ugly mask

her off. Selene stalks into the room, her hackles. raised, teeth

think she might actually shift and attack.

instantly. She

her tone clipped. "We can talk when you've settled in." With that, she turns and flees the room, brushing past

turns to me, curiosity

trying to steady my racing heart. "An old neighbor," I manage, my

316

From

something, but I don't hear her. I'm already sinking to my knees, burying my face in Selene's thick

whines softly, nuzzling against me as I tremble, overwhelmed by the

emotional. The sinking realization that no one, not even our neighbors, would help me Breathe, Ava, Selene murmurs in my

of emotions. Fear, anger, betrayal-they swirl inside me, a maelstrom threatening

voice breaks through the chaos. "Are you

beats of my heart, slowing down. Meeting her concerned gaze, I give

ashamed of. If you're interested, just talk to me. Everything will be kept be Gratitude wells

my attention back to Selene, running my fingers through her soft fur. Her presence is

From the

edges of my

face that, she says, her voice a gentle caress

"Strength? I'm shaking like a

Ava. It's facing it head-on, even when it terrifies you. And that's exactly what