Chapter 44


    The meeting hadsted for the next 30 minutes, but true to her word, Ava had left 10 minutes in and


    wandered off. It wasn''t until she stepped out of the office that she recognised the walls of the


    packhouse. The whole ce didn''t seem as haunting as thest time she had been there and she was


    d she didn''t flinch when she walked past numerous teenagers, greeting her from left and right. Her


    feet had taken her to her attic and that was where Cole found her minutester.


    When they entered, she didn''t turn back and only gazed outside at the window, observing the


    whiteness of the trees and the snow that fell little by little.


    "Enjoying the view?" he asked, moving and standing next to her


    "Yes. I like snow, always have." Ava replied, "It''s just odd to get it at this time of the year."


    "It''s the end of October. November is only a few skips away."


    "Still strange, don''t you think?"


    "Seasons can change when they want to. What will really tick me off is if winter continues till March."


    She nced at him from the corner of her eye, finding a sour expression on his face


    "Hate the cold that much? I don''t."


    "Last I checked, I wasn''t a walking human atomic bomb like you. I''m normal."


    "So am I." He snorted at her and turned to give her a disbelieving look


    "Did you see the hole in that man''s chest? Normal is very very far from what you are."


    "How did you know that was me?"


    "Simple." she turned, waiting for him to give an exnation and he gave her a boyish grin "There were


    no weapons on the scene, number one. Two, it looked more like lightning had been shot through him,


    rather than an actual weapon and three, hello, it''s you. I''ve seen you do enough crazy shit these past


    two weeks for you to not be the obvious culprit."


    Instead of arguing with him, she shrugged her shoulders and turned back to watch the snow. "Do you


    remember anything of how I came here?"


    "How you came here?"


    "Yes. How I got into the Blue Moon Pack and started living here."


    "If anyone is going to be able to answer that, it''ll probably be my dad or Xander''s. I was too young and


    even if I tried, I doubt I''d be urate in any information I''m giving."


    It was true. He was young and so was she. Maybe she had totally forgotten what her brother had


    looked like and although she had a lot of memories of his behaviour, his gestures and their time


    together, there was no actual way to be sure of how he looked anymore. There was a chance she


    would see him and not be able to remember him. It was a high probability, but she had seen that man


    and had called out the name of the brother she had known and he had responded kindly, despite the


    pain he was going through.


    Was it really him? The thought of him being alive was too far fetched, but there were many things


    happening in her life that were so outrageous that if they told her she was the next queen of Ennd,


    she wouldn''t bat an eyelid.


    "Where is he?" she asked Cole


    "Dealing with Sterling and Violet. He felt like he had to clear things up with Violet once and for all." Cole


    answered "Do you mind it? Violet being attracted to him?"


    She thought hard before she answered. Frankly, she didn''t really care who was attracted to Xander.


    She only cared if it affected everything around her. What was the point of letting your attraction to


    someone be so toxic it defied allmon sense?


    "Not really." she answered, truthful


    Cole smiled at her sheepishly, cocking his head to the side "Will you ever feel anything towards him?"


    "I do feel something, but it''s not love, not jealousy and certainly not-" she paused as she sensed


    Xander and turned. He walked through the open door, a nk expression on his face


    "Ready?" he asked


    "Ready? Ready for what?" Ava asked him, stepping closer to him


    "You still have an exnation to give and if I''m not mistaken, you were concerned about this man that


    had the audacity toe into mynd unannounced." His eyes were dark as he looked down at her,


    dark and brooding "Let''s go find answers. Together."


    The finality in hisst word made her heart thud sharply against her rib cage and her eyes widened in


    mild surprise before she nodded her head in understanding. He didn''t ask her before he made a move


    to grab her hand and swiftly turned the other way when protests began to dance on her lips. As soon


    as he moved, so did she and she tried as much as possible to ignore the sweet warmth that emitted


    from Xander''s palm.


    "Is this really necessary?" She asked him, watching his back. He turned slightly to look at her, an


    incredulous look on his features like he couldn''t believe she would even bother asking


    "Yes." He answered simply, turning back.


    Ava didn''t have the strength to argue with him, neither did she feel the need to. Although she was


    heavily against how he made her feel, she wouldn''t deny herself the little moments and give in to her


    stubbornness all the time. Even that, took a great deal of strength out of her. As she looked up at him,


    she wondered if it would be more difficult to resist him as time passed. She didn''t want to not


    have control over what happened between them, no matter how much pull they felt towards each other.


    Still, she had gotten so used to the little sparks of electricity that showed out every time he touched her.


    Together with Cole and Xander, they made their way on foot to the pack hospital. The same hospital


    that she was alwaysing back to. It seemed like no matter how much she tried, she would always


    find a way here. They didn''t have to stop at the reception desk and she noticed how hefty warriors were


    stationed all over. Logically, Xander and Cole probably already knew where the man was and if their


    deliberate steps didn''t speak of that fact enough, then the manner in which Xander squeezed her hand


    tighter was proof enough.


    When they stopped in front of a door on an isted floor, only littered with guards, the thump of her


    heart got louder in her ears. The door was pushed in front of her but she hesitated as Xander walked


    through the door. His eyes met hers and she shivered at how empty they were. At her pause, her


    motionless body was pulled forward. Looking away, she turned her head to the bed, seeing that the


    man was not asleep and was looking at her with a warm smile.


    Before she could speak, the warmth in her hand was gone and within the blink of an eye, hisrge


    hand was wrapped around the man''s neck. Her eyes widened, watching as his body was lifted off the


    hospital bed.


    "Stop!" she eximed, her body moving to stop him "Alexander put him down!"


    He didn''t even turn to look at her. His eyes were narrowed on the person that was turning blue in his


    grasp. She couldn''t get the image of her brother struggling to breathe out of her head and tugged


    aggressively on Xander''s arm. Desperately, she looked around for Cole and realised he hadn''t walked


    into the room with them. Her abdomen began to tingle, her pulse quickening. There was no way to


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    know what would happen if she let out her powers. She didn''t want to hurt this mystery man by


    ident and cursed Xander''s barbaric nature to the deepest points of hell.


    "Tell me why I shouldn''t snap your neck into two." That gruff tone of voice was devoid of anything but


    hostility,pletely ignoring Ava''s attempts at pulling his arm away. It was easier to against other men.


    Xander was the only one she had never been able to use brute strength on and it would probably not


    get her anywhere


    Opening her mouth to berate him, her attention suddenly drew to the man in Xander''s grasp. Ava


    couldn''t decide if it was her imagination or her emotions were getting the better of her, but he seemed


    to be shrinking. Xander too, stopped his attack and together they stood back as a small frame dropped


    to the ground. The man looked up and grinned at them, his face ringing bells of recognition in Ava''s


    memories.


    He had shrunk from a full-grown man to a child that looked no more than 8 years old.


    "I see you two still don''t see eye to eye." he said, his voice now child-like


    Horrified? Baffled? She didn''t know what exact emotion she could pick but as he grinned up at her, his


    voice yed back in her head and she knew she couldn''t deny it anymore. It was him. The brother she


    had lost. The brother that had left her to grow up alone. Now, he was back and was not only acting like


    everything was okay, but was also shrinking down in size.


    The universe really didn''t want to cut her some ck. At this point, everything was aimed at full-on


    throwing her sanity off the cliff it clung to for dear life.


    The question was; just how much more of this could she take?