Reclaimed and Restored

Wrong

Her dad turned his attention to her, but when he took in the baggy shirt she was wearing that did little to cover her legs, he recoiled and pinned a furious glare on Ava’s mate. “This is wrong.”

“Here you go,” Ava’s mom gently said while offering her daughter the sweatpants she’d brought along.

Ava accepted them with a scowl and quickly put them on while everyone averted their eyes. She didn’t think her being less naked would really help the situation, an assumption that was proved correct when her dad continued to glare at Marcus with hate in his eyes.

“I didn’t choose this,” Marcus finally said in defense, and his quiet voice sounded defeated. “I didn’t choose to be Ava’s mate.”

Ava felt like she’d been slapped. His words implied that there was, in fact, something wrong and twisted about them being mates. They implied that what her father was saying was true. Worse, they implied that maybe he would have chosen differently if he’d had the option of choice.

“It doesn’t matter what he thinks,” Ava whispered, hoping there was a chance that Marcus didn’t believe the hateful slurs that her dad had thrown at him.

Marcus closed his eyes and sighed. “Doesn’t it?” he asked before he opened them again and met her gaze. “He’s not wrong. You’re young, Ava. Too young.”

“What are you saying?” Ava asked as a traitorous tear slipped down her cheek. “There’s a reason we’re mates,” she insisted. Werewolves didn’t just throw mate bonds away. It wasn’t how this was supposed to work.

Marcus’s lips parted, but they clamped shut again as if words failed him. His face had returned to the stoic mask that she was familiar with, and if not for the confusion, doubt, and pain churning in his brown eyes, Ava might have thought he didn’t care. But he did care―she could see the truth in his eyes and the tight fists at his side.

Marcus shook his head sadly. “You should go home with your parents,” he told her. “You need to rest.”

Ava longed to argue. She wanted to stay with him instead and talk about, well, everything, but she knew that her father wasn’t going to let that happen. So she had no other choice but to leave with her mom and dad and hope that she could find Marcus later.

“Okay,” she sighed. “But this conversation isn’t over,” she said in a voice low enough that only Marcus could hear her.

He gave an almost imperceptible nod of his head.

Ava’s father didn’t wait another second before he was storming forward, grabbing her arm and dragging her away. His grip didn’t hurt, but he wasn’t exactly being gentle either, and Ava quickly shrugged out of his hold.

“I know how to walk,” she snapped at him.

She probably wasn’t helping her case with the way she stomped through the forest like a child throwing a tantrum on the way to her dad’s car, but she was too angry to help herself. Rage simmered in her chest, hotter and darker than the anger she had felt toward Ben the previous morning.

Her father had attacked her mate, and if he’d ruined Ava’s chances of happiness with Marcus, she would never be able to forgive him.

“I’m just trying to protect you,” he sighed once they were all inside the car.

“I didn’t need your protection,” Ava argued. “What I needed was your acceptance.”

“Your dad loves you, honey, and he just wants what’s best for you,” her mother tried to explain.

“Don’t,” Ava seethed. She’d never had cause to be so furious at her parents, and with how they both shut their mouths and remained silent the entire journey home, they must have known that it was pointless to try to placate her. She loved her parents, but right then, she couldn’t see past her fury.

“I think we can all agree that Thomas and Daniel don’t need to know about this,” her dad said when he pulled into a parking space outside the Council building.

“Why the hell not?” Ava asked.

“They need to focus on their training and any jobs the Council might send them out on,” he replied. “They don’t need to be worrying about you and that mate of yours.”

“Right, we wouldn’t want anything to distract them from their training,” she said bitterly.

“Ava,” her mom sighed.

“Whatever,” she mumbled.

She hated the thought of keeping something so important from her brothers, but in this case, the twins might make things worse. Adding two overprotective brothers into the mix would only make Marcus’s life harder, and Ava didn’t want her mate to go through any more trouble because of her family.

“I’m going to Molly’s,” she told them before getting out of the car. She needed her friend because if there was one person who might understand what she was going through, it was the woman who had never judged her for her infatuation with Marcus.

“Ava,” her father called out as she made her way to the front door of the building.

She spun on her heel and gave him her best glower. “What?”

His shoulders slumped dejectedly. “I’m just trying to look out for you,” he said weakly.

“I don’t want to hear it,” Ava replied with a disappointed shake of her head. “Marcus didn’t deserve what you said to him. He took care of me last night, and instead of thanking him, you hurled accusations and disgusting insults at him.”

“He’s too old for you,” he argued.

“Even if that’s true, that’s not up to you to decide,” Ava hissed. “It’s between Marcus and me.”

“Ava,” he sighed.

“I’ve heard enough,” she said. “I’ll stay with Molly or with Dan and Tom tonight.”

She didn’t wait for his response before she turned and stormed through the front door of the Council building. It was amazing how quickly something perfect had been ruined and turned into a disaster, but Ava hoped that what was between her and Marcus could be salvaged from the wreckage. She wasn’t about to give up, and she prayed that Marcus wouldn’t either.