too, and I’ve got a big fat nothing.” Which meant Ava was still in danger. “What about
Ava?”
“What about her?”
“You guys are going to send her somewhere safe, right?”
Val was silent for a moment. “She’s refused a safe house.”
Liam froze. “Excuse me?”
“She didn’t take the news that her sister wouldn’t be allowed to go with her very well. She was adamant
that if her sister couldn’t go, she wouldn’t go.”
“You couldn’t make an exception, Val?”
“Of course I could. However, the High Council doesn’t. You know as well as I do how strict they are
about SPAC following the laws. Britton didn’t and he’s now serving a twenty year sentence. I might not
have a beast, but I like the perks of being a half-shifter. I don’t have plans to do something to lose that.”
Liam blew out a breath. “I don’t like it, but I understand.”
“We’re going to keep a detail on her, though. You won’t have to worry.”
“I know I won’t, because I’m going to be with her, too. Whether she likes it or not.”
…
As the SPAC officer turned the car into her subdivision, Ava inhaled a shaky breath. A part of her was
ready to get home and away from the madness, while the other dreaded walking into that house again and
reliving the night she was taken.
The last twelve hours had been a whirlwind of crazy. After her EKG and MRI came back normal, Dr
Bradley had surmised the drugs wouldn’t have any long-term effect on her heart. To be on the safe side,
she was scheduled for follow-up tests in a couple of months, and if she started having any shortness of
breath or heart palpitations she was to immediately come back to the center. With those instructions, Dr.
Bradley had given her a sedative to help her rest before they’d transported her to Carnal Ridge Hospital. She
didn’t know what she’d been expecting when they “moved” her, but the elaborate lengths to which they’d
gone to cover their tracks would have been laughable if it hadn’t meant she had to put her bloody, tattered
clothes back on. They caked her nails and body with dirt, and re-gnarled the hair Liam had so gently
brushed out, in order to make her story believable. When she looked in the mirror, her stomach had
twisted.
A lady friend of one of the SPAC officers drove her to the hospital with the lie that she was the one
who’d “found” Ava barely conscious on one of the trails. Ava figured the use of a woman was a calculated
move on the detective’s part to keep any suspicion off the person who brought her to the hospital. A
woman was less likely to have inflicted the bruises.
Once her identity was known, the chaos had started. She’d been rushed back to the ER where she had
to pretend to be barely lucid. After a round of more x-rays and blood tests, the ER doctor had been
befuddled on how she wasn’t dehydrated, but said she’d been lucky to escape without any major injury.
He’d wrapped her ankle and said they would keep her overnight for observation, to be on the safe side.
After all that, she’d finally been allowed to shower. And God had she. Just having shampoo and
conditioner and fresh clothes had done wonders for her spirit.
Then the two police officers had arrived. They’d fired one question after another at her, their eyes
locked on the bruises around her neck. She knew they didn’t believe a word she said, had even used the
“he could hurt someone else” tactic, to try and force her to tell them the truth. She stuck to the detective’s
story, though, and eventually they’d left.
Liam had been a no-show over the last twelve hours. Every time the door opened to her hospital room,
her heart had jumped into her throat—part of her desperate to see him, while the other part dreaded
inflicting more pain on him. In the end, it had always been someone else who entered the room.
When the SPAC officer turned onto her road, Ava’s lungs constricted, making it difficult
Ava?”
“What about her?”
“You guys are going to send her somewhere safe, right?”
Val was silent for a moment. “She’s refused a safe house.”
Liam froze. “Excuse me?”
“She didn’t take the news that her sister wouldn’t be allowed to go with her very well. She was adamant
that if her sister couldn’t go, she wouldn’t go.”
“You couldn’t make an exception, Val?”
“Of course I could. However, the High Council doesn’t. You know as well as I do how strict they are
about SPAC following the laws. Britton didn’t and he’s now serving a twenty year sentence. I might not
have a beast, but I like the perks of being a half-shifter. I don’t have plans to do something to lose that.”
Liam blew out a breath. “I don’t like it, but I understand.”
“We’re going to keep a detail on her, though. You won’t have to worry.”
“I know I won’t, because I’m going to be with her, too. Whether she likes it or not.”
…
As the SPAC officer turned the car into her subdivision, Ava inhaled a shaky breath. A part of her was
ready to get home and away from the madness, while the other dreaded walking into that house again and
reliving the night she was taken.
The last twelve hours had been a whirlwind of crazy. After her EKG and MRI came back normal, Dr
Bradley had surmised the drugs wouldn’t have any long-term effect on her heart. To be on the safe side,
she was scheduled for follow-up tests in a couple of months, and if she started having any shortness of
breath or heart palpitations she was to immediately come back to the center. With those instructions, Dr.
Bradley had given her a sedative to help her rest before they’d transported her to Carnal Ridge Hospital. She
didn’t know what she’d been expecting when they “moved” her, but the elaborate lengths to which they’d
gone to cover their tracks would have been laughable if it hadn’t meant she had to put her bloody, tattered
clothes back on. They caked her nails and body with dirt, and re-gnarled the hair Liam had so gently
brushed out, in order to make her story believable. When she looked in the mirror, her stomach had
twisted.
A lady friend of one of the SPAC officers drove her to the hospital with the lie that she was the one
who’d “found” Ava barely conscious on one of the trails. Ava figured the use of a woman was a calculated
move on the detective’s part to keep any suspicion off the person who brought her to the hospital. A
woman was less likely to have inflicted the bruises.
Once her identity was known, the chaos had started. She’d been rushed back to the ER where she had
to pretend to be barely lucid. After a round of more x-rays and blood tests, the ER doctor had been
befuddled on how she wasn’t dehydrated, but said she’d been lucky to escape without any major injury.
He’d wrapped her ankle and said they would keep her overnight for observation, to be on the safe side.
After all that, she’d finally been allowed to shower. And God had she. Just having shampoo and
conditioner and fresh clothes had done wonders for her spirit.
Then the two police officers had arrived. They’d fired one question after another at her, their eyes
locked on the bruises around her neck. She knew they didn’t believe a word she said, had even used the
“he could hurt someone else” tactic, to try and force her to tell them the truth. She stuck to the detective’s
story, though, and eventually they’d left.
Liam had been a no-show over the last twelve hours. Every time the door opened to her hospital room,
her heart had jumped into her throat—part of her desperate to see him, while the other part dreaded
inflicting more pain on him. In the end, it had always been someone else who entered the room.
When the SPAC officer turned onto her road, Ava’s lungs constricted, making it difficult
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