Page 41 of Ava: Part Three

“Come. I’ll walk with you,” Alpha Diego said. “After all, you and I will be working very closely while I’m here.”

He frowned at the councillor.

“Well, how else will we assess the academy without the star student of the campus? Youngest trainer in history and the future Alpha—sorry. Former future Alpha—of the biggest pack in the country,” the Alpha grinned as he turned and started walking towards the Fourth-Year block.

What game were they playing? He had expected to start fighting the moment they arrived, but they weren’t revealing their hand. Was this a recruitment visit, or were they just lining their ducks in a row before they executed them? He would fight both options but needed to know what he was fighting.

“Your mate is quite impressive, isn’t she,” the Alpha continued. “How did you hide her from us, Mr Michelson? It’s something I’ve pondered since we found her little stash of body parts in the forest. Both of you played us for fools.”

And the last thing any Alpha liked was having their ego bruised. It made men like his father start wars with others, like how he had tried to start a war with the Vampire king. What did it do for psychotic Council members?

“I have to get to class,” he repeated as they came up to the entrance of the building.

“Of course,” Alpha Diego said with a nod. “Check your tablet today for changes in your schedule. I will see you and your mate later.”

Zeke walked into the building without looking back but felt the prickling at the back of his head as he walked towards his first lesson. Would they watch his every move? He had that meeting at lunch that he couldn’t miss because the professor had been claiming all this time that he could help.

But how did someone fight a Council that was all-seeing and all-knowing? Didn’t that mean they had already lost?

‘Doesn’t matter. They want Ava. We’ll try to stop them.”

‘They want you, too,’ he reminded his wolf.

Because he and Ava were the same.

Chapter 24

AvawalkedintoMrPatrick’s lecture room straight after her last class. It had been a surreal morning. They hadn’t learned much because whatever Mr Hansson had done to the student Omegas, he had also done to the teachers and instructors.

If a spell had been cast on them because of her, the least the Council could have done was release them. But instead, she’d seen wolves jump at shadows and any sudden movement of noise. All the Omegas were a mess. It wasn’t right.

She closed the door and looked at the man who could appear and disappear at will, the man who had insisted from the beginning that he could help. He’d said he had seen the Head of the Council before, so he had to know what they were dealing with. How could he be so sure that this was a battle they could win?

“Winning? I don’t know,” he said as he walked over to the door and then touched it. “The Council is spread all over the world; we would never win against their full force. But we have the chance to cut off their head and maybe inspire others to take a stand, too. People have remained quiet for far too long.”

“Because they know they can’t win,” she mumbled as she walked to the first row to sit down. “Where’s my father?”

“One moment,” Mr Patrick said.

When she turned to him, she was already alone. Gripping the fabric of her bag tightly in reaction, she looked around the room. Mr Parick was not a witch; that much was certain. The female Council member was a witch, but she was sure that Iulia could not do what Mr Patrick did.

And a moment was all it took because when she looked back to the front of the room, the professor was standing there with her father.

She dropped her bag on the desk and rushed to him. She had been so angry when she had seen he was still there, she still was, but it felt good to have his arms around her again.

“You should have gone home,” she said against his chest.

“You knew I wouldn’t.”

That was why she had asked Zeke to command him to go. But now she had to accept that her dad was stuck there like the rest of them, and the Council would use him to get what they wanted.

“How could you do this to the boys?”

“They knew what could happen when I left them to come here. Caleb has stepped up as Alpha. They will be okay.”

She sighed as she let go of him. Nobody would be okay.

“Why can’t you just do that thing you’ve just done and take us out of here,” she asked Mr Patrick.

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