Chapter 129
Chapter 129
Avery’s POV
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“Apologize?” my voice rose at the end of the question. I couldn’t help it. The very idea of apologizing to Dierdra was insulting. Not when I knew what she really was.
Gideon was watching me over his steepled fingers. His calculating gaze taking in my reaction. There was no mercy in that stare.
Still, I had to try. He had seemed to hold affection for me once, maybe a scrap of that still remained in him, beneath that intimidating Alpha exterior.
“I will swear by any oath you choose,” I begged, falling to my knees in front of his desk, “I swear to you that what I have said is the truth. I will not, cannot, apologize to that bitch for the scenario she has manufactured to trick you p>
Gideon rose from his chair so quickly it turned over and fell behind him with a crash. I quivered as he rounded the desk to grab my upraised hands and twist them painfully.
“You speak to me of oaths?!” he snarled in my ear, “What do you know of promises made and kept p>
“I know what we said to each other!” I sobbed, furious, “When we stood in front of the pack and swore by tooth and claw and wolf to bind ourselves to each other! That meant something, Gideon p>
He released me as though burned and shoved me away, eyes burning coals within his face. He grimaced as though I had struck him.
“Yes,” he spat the words, “I remember p>
I scrambled backwards until my back bumped into the chair behind me, my heels scrabblin on the carpet as I stared up at him defiantly.
“I didn’t promise to stand by and watch as a false mate tries to separate me from my duty to
you and to this pack!” I shouted, frustrated and terrified that I was only digging myself deeper, “You must reject her, Gideon! You must tell the pack that she’s not your mate p>
“You do not make demands of your Alpha!” Gideon rose to his full height, looking down at me at his feet with disdain, “I will not listen any longer to your unreasonable delusions. If you do not apologize to Dierdra this instant, then I will consider our contract null and void and wash my hands of both you and your mother’s fates forever p>
I bowed my head as tears streamed down my face He would not listen to me. Dierdra had hardened his heart against me and turned this man who I had respected into my enemy.
What could I do now?
If he voided our contract, then my mother would forever be in Zara’s clutches, and who knew
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Chapter 129
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what the Rogue King would do with her? He would still be trying to control me, and I would no longer be under Gideon’s protection. 2
I had no choice at all.
In a dead voice, I intoned, “Very well p>
“Good.” Gideon snarled, “The first wise choice you’ve made in a long time, Luna p>
He reached down and grabbed my arm, hauling me to my feet. His jacket fell from my shoulders and I shivered in the cold room, my teeth chattering from adrenaline and chill.
“Upstairs,” he prodded, and dragged me from his office and marched me up the flight of stairs to the bedrooms.
When he shoved open the door to his room and thrust me inside, I stumbled. Only his hard grip on my arm kept me upright.
Dierdra had been resting on the bed, but at our entrance she sat upright with excited interest. Her gaze rested on me with poorly-disguised delight.
“The Luna has come to apologize.” Gideon snarled, shoving me forward.
I could not find words to say. My tongue felt like it was glued to the roof of my mouth.
“Has she?” Dierdra sneered, “Go on, then.” She scooched to the edge of the bed and prodded me with her foot.
I clenched my fists and stared at the floor.
“Apologize!” Gideon commanded in his Alpha voice and I fell to my knees as the compulsion to obey flooded through me.
“Dierdra, I…” My heart was beating double-fast in my chest. I felt like I was going to throw up.
“…yes?” I raised my eyes to find Dierdra staring down her upturned nose at me, eyes cold and victorious, “Did you have something to say to me p>
I needed to focus. I needed to remember what was at stake. My mother.
I needed to not tear Dierdra’s throat out, even though my soul was screaming that this bitch needed to be destroyed.
“Avery,” Gideon’s boot prodded my leg and I heard the threat in his voice.
“I apologize,” I forced the words out as though expelling a poison from my body, then gasped for air, lungs heaving.
“Louder,” Dierdra gloated, “I didn’t hear you p>
I twisted my head to look up and behind at Gideon. Would he truly make me repeat myself?
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“Again,” his eyes were cold.
“I told you I will not forgive you,” I whispered, to him, and to myself, “Remember this p>
His jaw clenched, but his hand shot out to twist in my hair and turn my face back to Dierdra.
“She must sound as though she means it,” Dierdra commanded, “Really, Gideon, she’s been so awful to me. I think you should exile her from the pack p>
Gideon’s hand was a hard weight at the back of my skull. One day, I promised myself, I would be as strong and immovable as he was.
But today was not that day.
“I apologize to you, Dierdra, for any harm I have done to you,” this time I kept my voice steady and spoke clearly so my apology rang in the room.
I brought my feet underneath me, and rose, prying Gideon’s fingers away slowly. He released me, frowning, but did not make me say it again.
You will not break me, I thought, glaring at him.
For a moment, his eyes widened, then he stepped aside and let me proceed towards the door.
“What else are you going to do to her, Gideon?” Dierdra whined, “My leg hurts so badly, and she really has been a terrible Luna p>
I closed the door behind me on the rumble of Gideon’s response.
Nothing he could do to me would be worse than what he had already required.
Numbly, I stumbled into my own room and fell onto the bed. My body was humming with anger and sorrow. I twisted my hands into my pillow and shoved my face into it to scream
The soft down feathers muffled my rage. When I was done, I felt exhausted, but no longer l I was going to explode.
I had done what I had to, for my mother, and for my own survival. I hated that it was the latest in a long string of terrible experiences I had endured, but Dierdra hadn’t beaten me yet.
I sniffled in the darkness and hugged my pillow to me. Here in the shadows, I would let myself feel, let myself cry and feel vulnerable and weak, but tomorrow I would become iron and ice
once more.
At daybreak I would get up and start all over again.
I would be the best Luna Nightwolf pack had ever known.
I would show them all.
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