Page 93 of Ava: Part Two

“I don’t know what’s happening here, Zeke, but we have more important things to worry about. The Head of the Council is coming after us. We need to get out of here.”

Zeke cocked his head to the side as he considered what she had said.

“How do you know?” he asked.

Mr Patrick had told her to keep his secret, but was the information about the Head of the Council part of it? The professor had already brought Zeke into it when he’d told her dad an Alpha had claimed her, and his warning about the Council was for both of them.

“Mr Patrick told me when we went for our meeting.”

Zeke frowned for a moment and then nodded as if he had come to a realisation.

“We can deal with that together. What’s important right now is for you to be honest with yourself,” Zeke said. “Do you want me? Do you want me to be yours forever, no matter what comes our way? Because I already made that decision, Ava, and my answer is yes.”

He took another step towards her. All the pain she had felt, all the worries she had, melted instantly the moment he had touched her. She didn’t know what linked them together, maybe the darkness in the forest, but she knew he was telling the truth.

They were already bonding.

And her answer was yes, she wanted to be with him.

But she would have all the Claires in the world to deal with. All those wolves who would want to take her place. The dean would hate that, as would the coach. There would always be whispers about her, and Zeke's pack would hate her, especially his father, the Alpha.

And what would her father say?

And that was assuming they actually survived whatever was coming.

“Don't think about anyone else right now, Ava. It's just you and me. Say yes," Zeke whispered, closing the gap between them.

She was lost instantly and gave up the fight. What was the point when everything in her had been pushing her to Zeke from the moment she saw him? And if the Council got their hands on them and she didn’t survive that, she would have missed this chance forever.

She was his. She had already accepted that.

"Yes," she whispered.

Zeke lowered his head to hers, and there was no more thinking. With his lips still on hers, Zeke wrapped his muscular arms around her and picked her up. She didn’t know what he was doing, but she surrendered completely.

When he put her down on her feet again, he released her lips and stepped back. And then he proceeded to take his clothes off, slowly, one article of clothing at a time. First, her mouth ran dry, and then she drooled. Ezekiel Michelson stood naked in front of her in broad daylight, about to give her everything she had ever fantasised about.

“Now you,” he ordered.

She felt a moment of insecurity. She was human; she didn’t have the perfect features that all the other students had. She was too short, too round, too flawed.

“Maybe... Maybe we should wait?”

Until it was dark, at least. He would still be able to see her, but at least she could pretend her flaws were hidden.

“We’ve waited long enough, my beautiful mate.”

His mate. She felt her heart settle at his words and started to remove her uniform. Just as slowly as he had.

But Zeke didn’t even wait for her to remove the last of her clothes. He growled and then took her in his arms again.

Kissing him had never felt like this. There was something in the air, something completely magical, as Zeke stole all her thoughts. When he picked her up again, he lowered them onto the picnic blanket.

She had no idea being with a man could be like this, but she suspected it wouldn’t have been the same with anyone else. Zeke knew instinctively what she needed, when she needed reassurance or when she needed him to slow down or hurry up.

And when that magical moment came again, it was a million times better than what he had teased her with in her bed the morning he had woken up next to her.

“Zeke...”

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