AllFreeNovel
Share Us
We went round and round for a while, but soon the fighting got more intense. “So, are you seeing Nolan?” she asked, heaving for air. The hairs on the back of my neck rose, and I knew nice time was over. I sighed loudly. Couldn’t females just be nice to each other and try to be friends? Why all of this damned competition. Especially among shifters. Either a male was your mate or not. There should be no fighting over something fated.
“No. I’m not.”
“Are you sure? Wolf, Lex, and Nolan never sit with anyone at meal times. Believe me, I’ve tried.”
I shrugged and stopped moving, wanting to end the sparring and the conversation. “I’m sure. I’m done with this.” I’d turned to ask to leave early or simply walk out of the group when I felt a burning line down my hand.
Ms. Nice At First had cut me.
“Really?” I snarled. “I said I was done, and you attacked me anyway.”
I strained to see the wound. Bigger than a simple cut, to the bone. It was already beginning to heal, of course. A power I had that my parents instructed me to keep to myself. Other shifters didn’t heal as fast as I did. It would bring me unwanted attention.
Others would ask questions and, for some reason, I took others asking questions to be a negative thing.
I reached for my bag and ran toward the stairs. No time to wait for an elevator. No one could see this part of me.
Didn’t know why but I wasn’t risking it.
Chapter Seven
I had run down several flights of stairs when I heard the door at the top slam. I hoped Seraphine hadn’t followed me, wanting to continue her aggressiveness over Nolan. I thought this was college, not high school, but then again, some people never changed, no matter how old they got.
I wasn’t sure if anyone saw me get hurt, but no one could see that my hand was already healed. No one.
My parents had me tested as a young shifter. I was eight the first time my wolf emerged. Early for a female, but not unheard of. That day, while celebrating my first shift, I’d fallen in the middle of a victory dance in human form and hit my head. Why my parents let me dance on the counter, I’d never know, but before they could even assess the wound, it was healed. No more bleeding. The knot at my hairline receded before their eyes.
They took me to a healer to find out what was going on.
My father stayed in the waiting room while my mother accompanied me to the back. The healer examined my head and proclaimed it must’ve been shifter healing. Simple. Easy. That was, until my mother explained how fast it had occurred.
That was when she pulled the blade out.
I remembered being terrified. What if my healing was a one-time thing. Why not leave it alone? I was so little and afraid and yet, my mom let them slice the knife across my palm and watched it heal in the blink of an eye.
My mom and the healer backed away from me with wide eyes and mouths open. All I wanted was for my mom to wrap her arms around me and tell me everything was going to be okay.
That healing yourself quickly was a gift.
I soon learned to treat my healing as a curse. Hide it from others. Not tell anyone. Keep it secret.
I fucking hated secrets but I kept this one out of pure fear.
“Ava!” Wolfe’s voice tore me from my blips of the past. All the fear and stress lingered in the back, but even hearing his voice soothed some of it out of me. Why was I reacting this way to them? And so fast? The only thing it made me think of was…
No way. Me? Three mates?
Couldn’t be.
“I’m here,” I said as he barreled down the stairs toward me. I’d made it nearly five flights before he caught up.
“Are you okay? Seraphine said she accidentally cut you, but I saw her. That was no accident.”
He stopped in front of me but didn’t seem out of breath at all. “Ava?” he repeated after I didn’t answer. Wolfe had such a presence. A power and a command in every part of him. I wondered what it would feel like to have his arms wrapped around me. Letting go of this constant need to decide everything and to be everyone to myself and let him have all the control.
“I, um…” Words, Ava. Words. “She cut me and no, I don’t think it was an accident. It was strange though because at first, she acted nice and we were getting along.”
He took my hand without permission and like a light switch, all my worries were turned off.
