Tangled

195

195

195 Ava: A Familiar Face

. "Ma'am, can you explain how you entered pack lands without detection? And how you made it all the way to the alpha lodge?"

There's suspicion thick in his voice, and I see Vanessa tense from the corner of my eye. Mrs. Elkins looks around at the hostile faces, bewilderment plain on her features. "Ava, dear, are you in some sort of trouble?"

Glancing at my guards, all on alert and intent on saving me even from a little old woman, I sigh.

Their questions are imminently reasonable, and I'm wondering the

same things. Not to mention-Selene's hiding under the bench is beyond suspicious.

I can't shake the feeling that I'm about to hear answers I'll regret having heard.

No matter how I look at this situation, for an old woman to have

accidentally stumbled onto me here, a thousand miles away, without knowing my true identity...

There's something more going on.

Straightening my shoulders, I take a deep breath, ready to side with my bodyguards against the sweetest woman in the world.

"No, Mrs. Elkins. But we are going to need some answers."

She hugs her parcel a

little closer to her chest, looking over each of my bodyguards in turn, before nodding to herself. Her faded eyes crinkle at the corners as she offers them a placating smile. "I didn't walk through your pack lands,

I never expected to add my former boss being held up by a flock of bodyguards, a solid thousand miles from Cedarwood, to my list of fucked up shit that happened today. O

So it takes a minute for me to process what I'm hearing.

"Mrs. Elkins?"

Selene flattens against the ground, her ears going back as she belly-crawls her way to my bench.

demeanor doesn't even register in my head, because- well, frankly, she's been weird

"Ava! My dear girl."

blink like a maniac to keep the tears at bay. "Mrs. Elkins, how did

boys. She's a

of these men, but they respond to her

authority I have. Even Vanessa gets people to listen to her.

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Ava, A

that she's carrying a huge parcel, hugging it to her

dear. Are

my face, as though reassuring herself I'm

"I'm fine."

skin soft against my palm. My mind is still working at wrapping itself around her being here, in the flesh, a thousand miles from

But that can wait." Her

my head, a rueful smile tugging at my lips. "Actually, I've gained weight. Even though I look skinnier. Must be all the muscle I've put on during

you're here of your own will? These people..."

her quickly. "None of these people are

the bodyguards, their impassive

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a long journey." The bodyguards tense, their postures shifting subtly to block the path. Vanessa's eyes narrow, and she takes a moment, her gaze unfocused. Mind-linking, I realize. Probably with Jericho. "Jericho will be here

into her pocket, pulling out a small ziplock bag. "Here,

swells at the gesture, and I reach for the bag with a smile. "Thank

fingers can close around the bag,

you w

in question. "What the hell? Give that

"I'm sorry, Luna, but we'll have to check these for safety before

hurt me. She saved me in Cedarwood. She's a genuinely good person." Another guard steps forward, professional and blank-faced as

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addresses Mrs. Elkins't

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