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.

in my head, because- well, frankly, she's been weird as hell for the past several

"Ava! My dear girl."

rheumy eyes and her welcoming smile have me so intensely, terribly homesick for Cedarwood that I have to blink like a maniac to keep the tears at bay. "Mrs. Elkins, how did you get here? And o Vanessa follows behind

a friend of our

than any of these men, but they respond to her words anyway, letting me

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

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A Familiar

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

dear. Are you all

my face, as though

"I'm fine."

and fragile, her paper-thin skin soft against my palm. My mind is still working at wrapping itself around her being here, in the flesh, a thousand miles from home. "How did you get here, Mrs. Elkins? I mean, not that I'm not happy to see

the ages. But that can wait." Her eyes, sharp despite their age, sweep over me with a critical gleam. "You've lost

"Actually, I've gained weight. Even

"And you're here of your own

assure her quickly. "None of these people are the ones who took

at the bodyguards, their impassive

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A Familiar

about bull-headed men before turning to Mrs. Elkins with a polite smile. "Why don't we head inside? I'm sure you've had 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 shortly," she explains to Mrs. Elkins, her tone apologetic.

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

bag with a smile. "Thank you, Mrs.

the bag,

you w

the bodyguard in question. "What the hell? Give that

meets my glare with a stoic expression. "I'm sorry, Luna, but we'll have to

I echo, disbelief coloring my tone. "Mrs. Elkins would never hurt me. She saved me in Cedarwood. She's a genuinely good person."

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Ava. A

addresses Mrs. Elkins't

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