Chapter 221

Chapter 221

Avery’s POV

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I was up hours before the Pack Meeting was due to congregate. The name was something of a misnomer, it wasn’t actually everyone in the pack. A meeting of the entire pack would take days to gather, and we would need to hold it in the Ceremony Hall or Training Grounds to accommodate those who could come

Those sorts of meetings were usually reserved for the seasonal celebrations that marked the turning of the year in most Wolf Packs; Full Mating Moons, Formal Mating Ceremonies, the Elevation of a new Alpha or Luna for the first time, Weddings, etc.

Instead, this meeting consisted of those Pack members who represented the heads of important industries, warrior groups, family matriarchs, and other important positions that helped enforce the hierarchy of daily life. However, anyone who wanted to attend, was welcome into the viewing gallery, so there was a sizable throng of both village elders and bystanders that flowed into the Pack House throughout the day.

There was a single large meeting room that would hold pack meetings like this. It ran along the back of the pack house and one entire wall was windows that looked out into the forest behind the building. There was a second floor gallery where the unseated bystanders could observe.

Therefore I had been up very early to ensure that the pack kitchens were prepared for the potential influx of hungry wolves who would be sent home after the meeting with a hot meal. I had been wearing the mantle of Luna for less than a few day, but already I was hip-deep in responsibility, ensuring that the arriving elders and pack leaders were greeted with due respect and given a place to rest before the meeting began.

They were all very respectful in return, of course, but more than a few tried to ask me what was going to happen at the meeting, and I had to tell them honestly that even as the full, true Luna, I had no idea.

Gideon hadn’t clued me into his plans. We hadn’t talked since my mortifying comments in his office the night before. Frankly, I had been trying to avoid him most of the morning and afternoon for precisely that

reason.

I had been successful, in that regard, but it also left me woefully out of the loop if Gideon had been looking for me to give me a hint as to what was about to occur when the meeting adjourned.

Still, I didn’t need to have seen an agenda to know that he must be planning on laying out Dierdra’s crimes and submitting her to some sort of cursory judgement.

And, knowing Dierdra, she probably had some scheme in the works to try to get out of the consequences she had to know were coming.

She had been held in separate rooms since yesterday, with warriors placed outside her door. Their grim expressions were as much of a deterrent as the weapons they carried, and I had no interest in tangling

with either.

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Chapter 221

+25 Bonus

My wolf sensed my agitation, and I was surprised and moved when I felt her sending me encouragement through our bond. I hadn’t been seeking out our connection much since she had declared that Gideon was our mate.

I didn’t know how to handle that information, honestly. What had she meant by it? That she saw him as a potential mate? That his wolf appealed to hers?

The simple statement hadn’t sounded like the stories I’d heard about how other wolves found their true mates. Usually it was during heat, under a Full Mating Moon, where there was no doubt as to what happened next.

Not during a conversation in the middle of a garden. Even if it did almost end in a kiss.

And yet, when I tried to delve deeper into my wolf’s opaque meaning, I found myself plunging into a depth of emotion that was unexpected and heady. Her strength flowed into me along with her certainty, and it was overpowering to my senses. I quickly felt myself overwhelmed and withdrew from the connection.

Instead of trying to understand her, I chose to merely accept her support as a steadying force during what was sure to be a trying day.

The Pack Meeting finally started, and Gideon entered the room, then Dierdra, escorted between her guards. At her appearance, a muttering began among the pack members. It was obvious most of them had not yet heard about her treachery.

As she was led to her place in the middle of the Pack Meeting Hall, I saw that she was very pale. trembled visibly as Gideon began laying out her crimes in a dread voice that rang throughout the p room.

Consorting with the enemy. Betraying secrets of the pack. Knowingly aiding and abetting rogue warriors. Lying to an Alpha.

Gideon’s harsh reading of the accusations against her slowed as he came to the end of his list.

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