Chapter 320
Chapter 320
Gideon’s POV
The forest was empty again.
I shifted back to human form and stopped to look around me. My breath came out in little white puffs, and the ground was hard with frost beneath my feet.
It was early spring, but the air was still cold this far north. Probably too cold to be spending all day out here, and the chances of finding my quarry in this region were slim, but I didn’t care. I had been tracking Deirdre’s scent for three days, following a lead from a rogue who claimed to have seen her near the border.
But the trail had gone cold. Again.
It shouldn’t have bothered me by now, but I couldn’t help it. Each time the trail went cold, each time I went on one of these hunts and came back without so much as a scrap of evidence, my heart felt crushed anew.
I stood there for a moment, staring at the trees. Ten years. I had been hunting Deirdre for ten years, and I had nothing to show for it. No answers. No closure.
And most of all… no Avery.
We never even found a body. It was as if she just disappeared, leaving behind nothing but a severed pinky finger, confusion, and a whole lot of grief.
Finally, I turned and began the long walk back to the estate. By the time I reached the gates, the sun was setting. The guards nodded at me as I passed. They didn’t ask
where I had been all day. They already knew
Everyone knew.
I went straight to my office and collapsed into the chair behind my desk. My body ached. I wasn’t as young as I used to be, and these hunts were starting to take their toll. Not to mention the pile of paperwork sitting on my desk, waiting for me to look through. I’d been shirking my real duties yet again.
I hadn’t been sitting there for long when there was a knock on the door. Tegan stepped inside a moment later without me answering. He looked older now, too. His hair was graying at the temples, and there were lines around his eyes that hadn’t been there ten years ago,
“You’re back,” he said curtly. He’d grown more matter-of-fact over the
years, too.
“Yep p>
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“Find anything p>
“Nope p>
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“Figured.” Tegan sighed and sat down across from me. “Gideon, you need to let this go p>
“Not doing that p>
“The pack is losing faith in you. They thought you were chasing a ghost at first, but now they think you’re becoming one p>
“Maybe I am.” I rubbed my face with callused hands. “But I have to know, Tegan. I have to know if she’s out there p>
My Beta stared at me.
“Don’t give me that look,” I muttered.
Tegan just pursed his lips and kept giving me the look. The look that said a whole lot of words without speaking out loud.
He wanted me to move on. A lot of people did. They thought I should just accept that Avery was dead, that she’d drowned and her body got washed away by the current, or she’d been eaten by a mountain lion.
But that was the thing. No body was ever found. I practically dredged the river myself with my bare hands. Scoured every inch of the banks. I searched through every known mountain lion den in the territories for her bones. I patrolled the forest every fucking day for ten years.
And there was never a sign of her.
Therefore, I refused to accept it entirely p>
And I still hadn’t remarried. I never would, either, despite the fact that the pack thought I should. An Alpha was stronger with his mate by his side, they said.
I didn’t care. I was not going to find another wife. Not even a contract wife like Avery had once been,
Tegan cleared his throat, “Alpha, there’s something we should discuss p>
“What is it p>
He hesitated, then said carefully, “An Alpha from another pack showed up today. He said he was going to challenge you. That you’re weak and delusional, and you can’t lead your pack p>
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My jaw clenched. “It’s that fucker from Evergreen again, isn’t it p>
Tegan nodded slowly, and I huffed hotly, raking my fingers through his hair. Alpha Sebastian of Evergreen Pack was an up and coming Alpha. He was hot-headed and young, and had inherited his pack a few years ago from his father.
Evergreen was small and poor before he took over, and now it was quickly becoming one of the largest packs in the territories, with a booming economy. He’d challenged two other Alphas in the past three years and had expanded his borders considerably.
Nightwolf was close to Evergreen, so I supposed he thought I would be a good next
target.
He thought he could come after Nightwolf. Take me down because I was some old, miserable Alpha who wouldn’t put up a fight.
“I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again,” I said, opening a folder on my desk filled with various reports I needed to look over, “I’m not intimidated by that little prick, and I’m not going to let anyone bully me out of my mission p>
Tegan didn’t speak, but I could tell it was only because he was trying not to say something he would really regret.
Truthfully, I really hadn’t been the great Alpha I once was in a long time. The pack was unstable. And it was my fault.
Over the past ten years, I had changed. I had become obsessed with finding Avery. With hunting Deirdre in the hopes that she’d have answers. And in the process, I had neglected my responsibilities as Alpha.
But I’d never abandoned the pack entirely. I still made decisions. Still protected them. Still did everything I could to keep them safe.
Because that was what Avery would have wanted.
“I’ll handle Sebastian and any other Alpha who dares challenge me,” I said firmly.’ Don’t worry about it, Tegan p>
My Beta didn’t look convinced, but he went on, “There might be another way to strengthen the pack. Something that doesn’t require you to take a Luna or fight off challengers p>
“What is it?
He pulled out a folder and set it on the desk. “There’s a businesswoman in the human lands. She runs a supplement company called Lycan Botanicals. They
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produce a plant-based supplement that accelerates healing. It’s been making waves in the human medical community p>
I frowned. “What does that have to do with us p>
“Well, rumor has it that Sebastian is trying to get a head start on business by partnering with the company. If we could partner first, it would not only boost the pack’s economy, but also give us a head start before the company hits the packs at large p>
I took the folder and opened it, then whistled under my breath. The numbers were impressive, to say the least.
“Who is this woman?” I asked, looking up at my Beta.
He shrugged. “No one knows much about her. She goes by Ms. Rivers, and apparently she’s very private. Doesn’t do interviews or attend public events despite her business being one of the fastest-growing companies in the country. But… There is one issue p>
“Such as p>
“She has publicly stated that she will never work with werewolves p>
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