Filed to story: Tangled in Moonlight Unshifted Novel by Lenaleia
He’s silent for a long time. “Ivy’s doing well. She’s healing, but slowly. She doesn’t heal much faster than humans.”
I know that pain.
My serious wounds have healed, but my daily soreness from exercise remains stubborn, not disappearing with any haste. I’m not sure what it means or why my body’s acting this way.
“You… wanted to talk to me?” he says, hesitant.
I switch the phone to my other ear as Lisa watches, her eyes sparkling. She loves a good romantic drama, and my current love life is her biggest fascination.
“I haven’t talked with you since everything happened. I figured you would be worried.”
“I am, Ava. I’m still worried. I want to know how you’re doing. If you’re okay, if you’re healthy, if you’re healing.”
“I’m doing really well.” I sound lame. “My best friend is here, so I’m not alone. I’m sure you know everything that happened by now, so I won’t rehash it. I’m glad I’m not with my parents anymore.”
Clayton’s silence is unnerving. The cacophony in the background has disappeared since he answered the phone, and I wonder what he was doing before I called.
“I miss you, Ava.”
His admission is so startling that I almost drop the phone. “I miss you, too.” How else am I supposed to answer? I don’t miss him? I don’t think of him very much?
Now I’m starting to feel awful about myself.
I haven’t even thought about Lucas very much. Well, not a lot… but a lot more than I ever think about
Clayton.
“Do you?” The hope in his voice breaks my heart.
I do miss him. He’s a nice person. Responsible. Steadfast. He took care of me, even though I’m a stranger.
Of course, he’d also kept me locked away for my own safety, but it isn’t like Lucas has done much better.
“Yeah.” My mind flashes to other things, like the sound of his voice in my ear, the way his gentlemanly demeanor changes when my heat has him consumed.
Heat floods my cheeks, and I shake my head at Lisa as her eyes widen. She can’t hear him on the other end, so she has no idea what’s happening.
“So, you haven’t chosen Lucas?”
“No?” I frown at his odd question. “About Lucas… I’m w I didn’t tell von about him. Us It seems like the Aund of thing I should apologize for. He knows about it now, though don’t care. Ava is words are like a caress, and I feel like we’re on slightly different wavelengths. It sounds like I’ve said something that’s soothed him in some way. T’ll never hold that against you.”
“I know”
I can almost hear his happiness at my response, and that niggling feeling inside of me grows. I’m not sure what it is.
“Anyway, I was just calling to check on Ivy. I guess I’ll let you go. I’m sure you’re busy.”
“Phone number Clayton blurts out. “Give me your number, so I can call you.”
“My number?” Lisa’s nodding enthusiastically, mouthing, YES, YES, YES! at me. “It’s the same one I’m calling from
“Can I call you tonight?”
“Um. Yes?” I wasn’t planning on talking to him again today, but how can I say no when he asks me that in such a vulnerable way? The low rumble of his voice sends little shivers through me, reminding me of our time spent together.
It makes me feel guilty, but I remember what Selene said.
Lucas isn’t my mate. He’s my fated, who rejected me. We’re working past it now, but that doesn’t mean I’ve been claimed.
But I still feel horrible that I can feel little shivers over the sound of another man’s voice.
“I’ll talk to you tonight, Ava.”
His words are smooth. Sexy. Loving.
When I hang up the phone, I hold it in my hand, staring at it in confusion. What just happened?
I’d called to ask about Ivy, all because I was explaining to Lisa about my time in the Aspen pack again. Remembering her had made me realize I should reach out to the people who’d taken care of me and make sure they’re all doing okayconsidering they got hurt because of me.
And now, I’m hot and bothered by the sound of someone else’s voice.
“Oh, my,” Lisa sighs from across the table, and I throw a piece of lettuce at her.
“Shut up. God. What the fuck.”
“I couldn’t hear most of it, but the man sounds like pure sex. No wonder you fucked him like an animal. Does he talk like that in bed?”
“Yes. No. Wait.” I squint my eyes closed, rubbing against them with one finger. “Why the fuck do I feel like I just had phone sex and cheated on Lucas?”
“Because his voice is sexy. It’s sexier than Lucas’, I think. How was it, anyway? The sex?”
“Lisa,” I warn her, feeling guilty again.
“Okay, okay. We’ll talk about that when bodyguards aren’t on the other side of the door.”
LUCAS
She’s going to talk to Clayton tonight.
She won’t let me call her, but she’ll talk to him.
Fuck. I’m going crazy.
My wolf gives me the silent treatment, a palpable wall of disapproval and resentment radiating from him. I know he blames me for this mess.
“I’m trying,” I mutter, pacing the length of my office. “I’m doing everything I can to fix this.”
There would be nothing to fix if you hadn’t rejected our mate in the first place, he snaps, his voice dripping with accusation.
Rubbing my hands over my face, I struggle not to groan in frustration. He’s right and I fucking hate it. If I hadn’t been so goddamn stupid, Ava would have been with me long ago, Safe. Marked. Mine.
But I can’t change the past. I can only try to salvage the future.
Go to her, my wolf demands. Claim her before he does.
I shake my head. “She needs space. I have to respect that.”
Space is the last thing she needs. She needs her mate. She needs us.
The temptation to give in, to storm over there and drag her back to my bed, is almost overwhelming. But I can’t. I won’t be that kind of alpha. That kind of man. I won’t be enslaved to the urges of the fate bond inside of me.
I need to clear my head. Get out of this suffocating office and just… run.
Without a word to anyone, I strip off my clothes and shift, letting my wolf take over. He surges forward, all coiled power and barely leashed aggression, and we race out into the woods.
The cold night air whips past us as we run, the scents of summer filling my lungs. Out here, with nothing but the wind and the trees, things seem simpler. Clearer.
I know what I have to do. I have to fight for her. Show her that I’m the one she belongs with, the only one who can riva har avaruthing cho nooda.
But I have to do it the right way. Earn back her trust, her affection. Prove that I’m worthy of her.
My wolf growls, impatient and unsatisfied, but I push on. One step at a time. One day at a time.
The steady rhythm of our paws against the forest floor drowns out the chaos in my head. With each stride, the turmoil fades, replaced by the simple joy of the run. My wolf revels in the freedom, the wildness of it all.
This is what we need, he rumbles, content for the first time in days.
can’t help but agree. Out here, the complications of pack politics and the tangled web of my love life seem far away. There’s only the wind in my fur and the earth beneath my feet.
We run for miles, losing ourselves in the primal pleasure of the hunt, even if we’re chasing nothing but our own shadows. The worries melt away, leaving only the purity of the moment.
And then, a scent on the breeze. Something that doesn’t belong.