LOGINAVA’S POV. The night was quiet and dark, the only source of light being the illuminating moon. I brought my car to a stop exactly where Brian had instructed. The road was lonely, and the only sound accompanying me was the chirping of crickets. I checked my phone to see if there was another instruction from Brian telling me what to do next.I wondered why Brian had insisted that I bring the money to this abandoned area; it was too much effort and a waste of unnecessary time driving down here. I felt like I was some kind of criminal waiting to deliver drugs to his client. My phone beeped, and it wasn’t Brian but Dante. Dante had insisted on coming with me, but I told him I was fine on my own—after all, I was only going to drop off the money and drive back home. That would be the end of my relationship with Brian.I guess I must have taken too long to answer his text message because my phone started ringing.“Where are you?” Dante asked. “Shouldn’t you be home by now? I can’t find your
AVA’S POV.The bell rang, signalling the start of our next lecture. Surprisingly, Dante sat next to me, a stark contrast to last time when he wanted to stay as far from me as possible.Mrs. Danny entered the class, and as usual, everything went relatively smoothly until she asked us to submit our project assignments.My eyes widened in shock, I had completely forgotten about the project. I was so preoccupied with everything happening in my life that it had slipped my damn mind.“Ava and Dante, you are the only ones left. What are you waiting for?” Mrs. Danny said, looking at us both over her eyeglasses.I shifted in my chair, uncomfortable. It felt like the temperature in the room had risen by an additional seventy five degrees Celsius because I started sweating, even though the weather outside was cool.“I don’t have all day,” she said calmly.Dante turned to look at me with furrowed brows. “Where is the assignment, Ava? I thought you said you were going to handle it on your own,” he
AVA’S POV. The man was tall and exuded an aura of power, the kind that made it clear he was not someone to be messed with. Suddenly, I became afraid. Maybe this was a bad idea. This place was no environment for Lisa and me.He took a seat on the bar stool next to Piper and ordered a couple of shots for them both. They continued drinking and conversing about something. I could not make out what they were saying because the noise in the place was overwhelming; I could barely hear myself think.The man pulled a brown envelope from his jacket, which I assumed contained money. They shook hands and…Suddenly, a large, hefty man appeared in front of us. His arms, neck, and even a portion of his face were heavily tattooed. His long, blond beard and hair were wild and untamed, with parts braided. I wondered if he neglected his hair on purpose or kept it that way to appear intimidating.“What do fine ladies want?” he asked in broken English. His voice was as gruff as his appearance, and I imm
AVA’S POV. Lisa had stopped crying, and we both sat quietly in the stuffy janitor’s room, saying nothing more. She had just revealed that Jessica ousted her from their friend group, harshly branding her as useless and a loser. “I’m so sorry for being a coward, Ava,” Lisa sniffed. “All my life, I have been unable to stand up for myself, always feeling like a loser and worthless.” “You should not talk about yourself like that,” I said gently, stroking her hair. Even though Lisa had treated me poorly in the past, I felt sorry for her. “You have been a good friend to me, and I betrayed you. I know I should not ask for your forgiveness, but I’m sorry,” Lisa said, holding my hands. I didn’t say anything, only stared at her in silence. “I miss how things were before high school, before all of this,” Lisa said softly. “Me too,” I nodded slowly. “Things were so much easier then.” Lisa nodded. Maybe it was because I still missed our friendship, or maybe I was just feeling lonely, but
AVA’S POV. I hurriedly made my way to class and saw that Dante was not in class yet. I have been paranoid since I found out that Piper has been following me around. Early this morning, I kept looking out of my window to check if she was stalking me, but I never saw her. I barely had any good sleep; I was so paranoid that I had a nightmare. I flinched in fear when I felt a touch on my shoulder. I quickly turned around to see it was my classmate, who gave me a weird look before asking if she could borrow my eraser. “Sure,” I murmured, handing it to her. Mrs. Danny entered the class and began writing on the whiteboard. I glanced at the clock; it was already ten past eight, and Dante was nowhere to be found. I wanted to apologise for running off like that when he asked me to be his girlfriend. I was so scared and didn’t know how to react. I guess my reaction must have hurt him a lot because he has been offline throughout the weekend. Thirty minutes into the class, Dante finally ope
AVA’S POV. I walked along the lonely road barefoot, feeling as though my heart was being ripped out of my chest. Maybe I shouldn’t have run away, but everything had happened so fast, and I didn’t know how to react when he asked me to be his girlfriend. I love Dante. I have liked him for a while. But it just seemed like everything was happening too fast and far too perfectly that I was sure I was going to mess it up. My life was a mess. It had always been a mess, and even though most of my debt had reduced, I still owed Josh, and I did not want to exploit my mate’s love for me to pay him back. It just felt too cruel. If I said yes to him, I didn’t want him to think it was because of the money. Plus, part of me worried that he might not be able to handle me being human once the whole pack knew we were together. I had met his father, and I knew what he was like. I heard a car honking at me, and I moved to the side of the road to let whoever was driving pass. But the honking continue
AVA’S POV.I arrived at school the next day, and people began whispering and giggling as I walked past, but I tried to ignore it. I noticed they were slowly following me, and when I stopped at my locker, the whispering intensified, and they started recording on their phones. I knew something was up
THIRD PERSON POV.Dante’s fists slammed repeatedly against the punching bag, his rage increasing with each strike. He could not get over the audacity of that new girl questioning his authority and humiliating him in front of the entire school, something that had never happened in his entire life. W
AVA’S POV. “She will do no such thing,” I yelled, redirecting his attention to me. “Why are you being so unreasonable? Do you honestly think she would want to waste good food on you?” “You again,” he scoffed. “When will you learn to respect your place, you filthy human?” “I would not stand by a
AVA’S POV.“Hey, over here,” my best friend yelled while waving her hands excitedly. I smiled and happily made my way to her, giving her a long warm hug.“I’m so glad we get to spend our senior year together,” she squeaked, hugging me again.“I can’t believe it,” I said happily, looking around the







