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.

my parents, tired of my whining,

watching.

arm away, taking a step back. "You're sorry?" Anger surges through me, hot and bitter, fueling my

Please." She grabs at my arm again. "We need you to understand

Ah. She needs something.

No wonder she's here.

even as my stomach churns. There's a tiny part of me, almost miniscule, that was hopeful her apology was genuine. It's dead now, like so many other little parts of "How did you know I was here?" I step

am hired to clean the lodge.

Ava From the

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

"I have no intention of helping you or anyone else.

an ugly mask

cuts her off. Selene stalks into the room, her hackles.

For a moment, I think she might actually shift and

walks in, and Margot's demeanor changes instantly. She straightens, smoothing her

she says, her tone clipped. "We can talk when you've settled in." With that,

turns to me, curiosity etched on her face. "Who was

my racing heart. "An old neighbor," I manage, my voice

316

From

eyes, followed by sympathy. She starts to say something, but I don't hear her. I'm

I tremble, overwhelmed by the unexpected confrontation with my

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

but it doesn't stop the flood of emotions. Fear, anger, betrayal-they swirl inside me, a

gentle voice breaks through the

few beats of my heart, slowing down.

something to be ashamed of. If you're interested, just talk to me. Everything will be kept be Gratitude wells up inside me, and I manage

my attention back to Selene, running my

Ava: From

of my

says, her voice a gentle caress in my mind. But you handled it with

bitter laugh escapes me. "Strength? I'm shaking like a

absence of fear, Ava. It's facing it head-on,