Tangled

Unshift 226

Unshift 226

226 Ava: War is Here (1)

Magister Orion personally escorts us up the mysterious spiral staircase to two adjoining rooms, promising to begin my training in the morning. O

The moment the door closes behind him, I pull out my phone, unsurprised to see no new texts or phone calls. Sister Miriam did say only the occasional ones text would come through.

So I call Lucas.

He answers on the first ring.

"Are you okay?"

His question is more of a shouted demand for an answer, and I hold the phone several inches away from my ear, blinking at the force of his volume. "Yes. I'm fine. Did you get Kellan's messages?"

"Do you need help? When can you come home? Why won't our phone calls connect? Is everyone treating you okay? Are you in danger? Have you eaten?"

"No. Soon. I don't know. Yes. No. Not yet." My lips curve at the way his questions barrage my ear. "I miss you."

"I miss you too, Ave. So much." Lucas's voice softens, the rough edges smoothing into something tender that wraps around my heart. "I understand why you're there. I do. But I don't like it."

As if sensing the shift in conversation, Vanessa catches my eye, tilting her head toward the adjoining room. Marcus follows, the door clicking shut behind them, leaving me alone with Lucas's

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220 Ava. War is Here (1)

voice in my ear.

Questions pepper through the phone, rapid-fire, all with the same ultimate theme: Is the city safe? Can Alpha Renard or my family

find me?

Ward is different from the rest of the city somehow. Only accessible by portal, I think. They don't have access here, Lucas. Sister Miriam promised. Even Sister Miriam can't come here." I settle onto the edge of the bed, the plush comforter

suspicion in his words is both legitimate and something that makes little giggles bubble in the back of

"No, Actually-"

Hold that thought, Ave." His voice quality changes as he pulls away from the phone to tell someone to enter. I try to listen in, but it's impossible to clarify the words coming out of

the hospital and wounded, which has ice forming into an anxious ball in the pit of

Exhaustion roughens his tone, grim and heavy. The ball of ice transforms into a lead weight that drops my

stretches, broken only by the static crackle of

separated from the Council. He's

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our bounds, abused our authority by allowing the

concerted efforts, timed perfectly. We lost a

to jelly. Sliding onto the bed, I whisper,

war

steals my breath, leaves me reeling. "What do

safer there than here, now. Blackwood is under our control, but only because they haven't attacked there yet. Our forces are too scattered, spread over too wide an area. We're working

fierce and unyielding. "Westwood is my pack too, Lucas. I want to

wants to say. "It might be a blessing in disguise that

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a moment longer, before groaning. "Ava, you can't. You aren't strong enough. You've worked hard, but you'd be a liability to any of my teams. I can't

more than I thought it would. Biting my

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War is

public opinion isn't on your side there,

mouth snaps shut. That's right. Several wounded shifters have been recuperating there, and a few of them even died under the care of the nurses. I'm sure they would be

heavy on my shoulders. Too weak. Too self-centered. Too many bad decisions. And now my mate is fighting the real war brought to his door, and I'm being asked

keep whining

concerns than dealing with

way. But Lucas,

voice cracks a little.