Chapter 17

Zeke paced the basement with Shadow in control. Trusting Shadow to be the one to keep things under control would have been something he would have laughed at not too long ago.

But here they were.

After a few more hours of this, Ava wouldn’t feel all of that anger. They would be free.

“Are you sure she’s not in trouble? I can go and check her dorm,” Derek said.

“She’s fine.”

Just angry. And horny.

She was like a siren, calling him to do his mately duties through their bond. He hadn’t been able to concentrate all day. Ironing out the details of their escape became more difficult as he sensed his mate’s needs.

The door to the basement opened, so he stopped pacing to watch Myles walk down the stairs.

“I’ve got it,” Myles said, holding a small case towards him. “Two vials. They said you’ll get two days at the most, but aim to be as far away as possible in a day and a half.”

“Are we sure we can trust those witches?” Derek asked. “If you’re caught, we will all go down for it. They’re willing to risk it?”

“I trust them,” he said as he put the bag in his packed backpack.

It had been their coven that had put the protection over his basement. Like Gideon and his father, they had always known who the true Alpha of his pack was.

“Okay,” Derek sighed before he looked around the room. “I guess we’ll have to pack up this room tonight, too. They’ll tear this place down looking for answers when you escape.”

If they escaped. He had told Ava it would be easy, but the risk of getting caught was greater than he wanted.

“The coven will come and remove all traces of their spells,” he told them, pacing again, focusing on his mate.

Ava had been kicked out of training. He’d known it was only a matter of time until she gave in to the emotions that had ravaged her. After all, the Moon Goddess had given Ava a demon mate for a reason. She was the perfect half of him, and if he didn’t protect her by getting her away from this prison, he would never forgive himself.

Would she go to detention in this state? If Mr Patrick was there, he would know what she was struggling with. It would make the delusional professor more eager to carry out his stupid plan of standing up against the Council.

“The Omegas are here for their duties,” Myles said.

“I told them not to come tonight.”

There was no telling what could go wrong. He didn’t want more people in the crossfire.

“Yeah, I don’t think they listen to you anymore,” Myles snorted.

And he was right. They were Ava’s Omegas now.

“Will we ever see you again?” Derek asked.

“Of course. I'll be in touch when I feel like Ava is safe enough.”

He paused as something intense hit him out of the blue, something that made his body react instantly. He clenched his fist tightly as he fought to calm himself. Shit.

“What’s happening? We can’t all be in here; one of us should be watching her,” Myles said as he started to move to the stairs. “If she’s being attacked—”

“Stay the fuck away from my mate,” he growled.

Myles stopped and tensed. He didn’t mean to scare his friends, but he would kill them if they went to his mate right now.

“She’s fine,” he growled again.

He continued his pacing and looked up at the clock on the wall. The time hadn’t moved much since he had last looked at it.

“We’re going to have to go now,” he told his friends.

“What do you mean? It’s too early. All the regular patrols are out. There are several of them in this street alone,” Myles said.

“If I wait any longer, we’ll be stuck here.”

He picked up his bag. He could tell his friends were wary of approaching him, so he regained control over the beast and pulled them both into a hug.

“I don’t know what will happen from here, but I need you guys to take care of yourselves,” he told them.

And then he looked at Myles.

“And I promise you, I will still get Jared. The moment he steps out of this academy, he’s mine,” he told him.

“Please just wait until midnight,” Derek said.

“Ava is... I can’t,” he answered as he felt the pull again.

He left his friends in the basement and headed out the back way, well aware that that could be the last time he would see them. As he sensed his surroundings, he realised Myles had been right about the patrols. There was more at the front today than any other day. Were they already anticipating trouble?

He felt the pull again, stronger than before, as he turned his senses towards his mate’s dorm. Shadow took control, but he knew even the beast wouldn’t resist for long. It had been easier for them to handle her anger.

Without wasting more time, he jogged into the woods and headed to his mate. He waited until a team of guards passed her dorm before he sped up and came out of the forest just in front of her window.

But Ava’s scent...

It messed with his head straight away.

By the time he pushed open the useless window and climbed into her room, he knew that, once again, his plans were in jeopardy.

Ava lay on her bed, sweating and writhing, and so irresistible as the beginning of her heat washed through her body. Her scent filled him—vanilla, a hint of orange and no trace of human. None at all.

“Zeke,” she moaned.

He clenched his fists and closed his eyes. They had to at least try to escape, or they would be stuck in this room for days.

“We’re going to go now, Ava,” he said hoarsely. “Get dressed quickly and meet me in the woods.”

“Right now?” Ava asked.

“You have two minutes until the guards come back around. Pack a small bag. Hurry.”

It took all the control he had in his body to turn away from his mate in her time of need. He had to remind himself that this was a matter of life and death. But when Ava finally joined him with her backpack on and tendrils of her hair sticking to her sweaty face, he knew they would not get very far.

He pulled the vials from his bag and gave her one of them.

“Protective spell. It will mask us for a few hours,” he told her. “Drink it all.”

Even breathing through his nose was not helping. Ava’s need was all around him, inside him.

Once they’d consumed the potions, he felt the slight burn that told him it was working. The guards wouldn’t catch their scents, but it didn’t mask his mate’s scent from him.

He started running towards the weakest link of the patrols, a spot in a restricted area where they had the guest houses. But as he had known, the guards were still there. They wouldn’t swap over for a few more hours.

He looked down at the woman beside him just as another wave of her desire rocked her body. And it went through him the same.

Shit.

He had only one thought as he pulled her out of the woods too close to the guards for his liking, but he was beyond thinking straight. All he wanted to do now was ease his mate. Plant his seed.

The first house he got to was empty and smelled like somebody had cleaned it recently. He didn’t even wait for the door to close before he picked Ava up and wrapped her legs around his waist.