Chapter 114

Chapter 114

Gideon’s POV

I sipped my coffee in the pack hall late that night and waited for Tegan’s report on my missing Luna. Even this late, there were always wolves coming and going on pack business. I was surrounded by bustle and yet it couldn’t match the turmoil I felt inside.

Avery and Dierdra both had departed my company in their own bitter ways, and perhaps an earlier version of me would have welcomed the lack of distraction, but I had gotten accustomed to their company, and now I felt strangely bereft.

Avery’s words kept ringing in my ears. She had flung them at me as effectively as a bucket of ice water, and they washed over me repeatedly in the hours since, chilling me to the bone.

“I never wanted to be your Luna p>

She confused me, baffled me utterly. Here she had been handed the world, and it still wasn’t good enough. I couldn’t fathom what more she wanted from me, from our relationship. For someone who had seemed so simple, she was proving devastatingly complicated.

And Dierdra, she was sharp as a whipcrack and just as painful when she lashed out. She accused me of wanting to use her, keep her hidden, and nothing could be further from the truth. The only thing I felt for her was obligation, and pity.

I couldn’t let my true mate know that I was having trouble feeling connected to her. Tomorrow I would need to go make my apology, request that she move herself back to the pack house where she belonged. It wouldn’t do for the Alpha’s mate to be seen living separately in the village.

Dierdra’s presence was akin to nails on a chalkboard. She felt intrusive and abrasive. I could only blame that I took too long to find her.

The girl I had mated with in the forest had been nothing like the mate who had appeared, and I mourned that my inability to find her sooner had caused that change. The rogue who had taken her captive must have broken something in her.

I tried to talk to my wolf about Dierdra, but only felt an echo of my own perplexed thoughts. He had no insight, no certainty. He had resonated more with Avery on our wedding night than he did when Dierdra was in my arms, and that frustrated me.

Yet she carried my mark. My bite.

I admit, I lashed out at him for dragging me into his mess. If he hadn’t succumbed to the mating heat, we wouldn’t be in this mess at all.

Then I felt remorse.

The worst times in our lives had happened when my wolf and I had each acted without conscious thought. This felt too similar to that, and I couldn’t hate him for it. We needed each

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Chapter 114

+25 Bonus

other.

Once Avery was found, we could rest. She had requested our wedding night be spent together, and I intended to honor that request, whether she wanted my company or not. She should have thought before she chose such a cheeky wedding present.

Visions of punishing Avery for her insolence were strangely comforting, and I felt my lips twitching upwards in a sneer.

“Gideon!” My sister approached, her voice cutting through the din of the mess hall and my own messy thoughts.

“Camila.” I acknowledged, placing my coffee cup back on the table, mostly full. I guess I really had been pre-occupied.

“How can I help you?” I said, coolly. At one point our relationship had been closer, but with my family, it was best to keep it strictly to business.

“Tegan asked me to search Avery’s room.” She said flatly, eyelid half lowered as she caught my distant tone. “Her belongings are missing p>

I rose from the table. All my carefully-gathered calm dropping away.

“I promised you I would stay for the wedding. I have kept my promise, but I cannot stay any longer.” Avery had said, but I thought she’d meant the wedding night. Not that she would be so foolish as to leave Nightwolf proper. Foolish, stupid Luna.

“Talk to the staff, see if anyone knows anything. Report to Tegan.” I ordered my sister. She was well-used to my terse moods, and I could see the resentment in her face, but she obeyed. She didn’t want to cross me and end up like our exiled brother.

D

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