Chapter 151
Chapter 151
Gideon’s POV
“Was it you p>
Avery’s question rang in my ears even as I strode down the hall after Dierdra.
The way she had said it… Unsure, tentative. She acted like she hadn’t known.
Yes. It was me.
The fact that she didn’t know that for certain got under my skin like an itch.
Who had she thought it was, if not me?
I found myself replaying every instant of our interaction, re-analyzing. She had been so enthusiastic, so enticing, and her joy at seeing me had overwhelmed my usual reticence.
But now I wasn’t sure what exactly had occurred.
Last night I had been walking down the hallway when I had heard her and Reynaud coming up the stairs. Avery was swaying and remarking on how tired she was to the other Alpha, and at first I had thought it was an act, that she was playing coy to attract his attention.
I had approached the curtained alcove where they’d taken respite and heard her telling Reynaud about his dead eyes.
‘Yes, why was that, Reynaud?’ I had thought to myself with gleeful vengeance, ‘could it be because your legacy is written in blood and bone, and your path to glory paved over the bodies of those who trusted you to protect them p>
I felt pride that Avery had somehow seen beyond the other Alpha’s smiling, congenial mask. Sometimes she could be surprisingly discerning for someone who had limited life experience outside her own pack.
I heard Reynaud beat a hasty retreat, backing out of the curtains.
Right into me.
He spun to face me, eyes wide.
I clenched my hand in his lapels, steadying him. Slowly, I drew my finger across his throat.
Nothing needed to be said. Reynaud got the message. He dove towards the stairwell and disappeared quickly.
I pulled back the curtains and entered the alcove to find Avery stretching her arms towards me with a
smile.
“You’re back!” she greeted happily, “I thought you were leaving me for good p>
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“I would never do that.” I said.
She seemed a bit tired, a bit disoriented, so I picked her up off of the sofa and carried her to her rooms.
I meant to leave her to her rest, but Avery seemed to not want me to leave.
“Please don’t leave me here alone. I’m so tired of being alone.”And then she said something about a night in the woods. What was she talking about?
For a moment my heart skipped a beat, was she talking about that night… the night I had met that girl in the forest on the night of the Full Mating Moon? Could it have been…? I mind raced, trying to connect the girl in front of me with the girl from back then, but she didn’t bear my mark…
Still, when she threw her arms around me, something in it felt familiar. Like home.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” Avery’s voice was sweet and she pressed herself against me,. “Every night I
wait for you p>
And then I felt the rush, that momentous heat that started low in my body and flared along each limb
until I felt incandescent.
My heat!
I hadn’t felt this rush since…
…since the night in the woods!
All thoughts fled my mind then, there was only her. Her skin, her lips, her body. I wanted it all. My WOLF
wanted it all.
I lost myself in it, in her sighs and her pulse beneath my lips on her skin, and the soft whimpers she made as I tasted her. The crescendo as we had climaxed together again and again. It had been a symphony of passion and movement that I had only felt once before…
Now, as I stalked after my ‘true mate’, I found myself second-guessing those memories. The memories of last night, her scent across my mind, all felt masked by the overpowering instincts of the wolf. Had they happened as I remembered?
If Avery wasn’t my mate, why had last night felt so impassioned? So incredibly arousing? It didn’t make
sense.
I hated myself for finding so much enjoyment in it. Even know the memory of Avery’s hips as I clenched them with my hands and pulled her back into me, as I slid myself between her thighs and penetrated her body…
Shame fled through me at the power those memories held. I hadn’t held back, and now I regretted it. I should have left, I should never have done it.
Those were the sorts of memories I should have been making with Dierdra. I wished so badly that I felt the same heat and rush when I was with her. She was my mate, my love and sexual arousal should have
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belonged to her.
Now, having seen me emerge from Avery’s shower, she knew I had betrayed her. I would have to atone
for that.
Even worse, others had seen the evidence of my betrayal, and they would hold it against me… and against my Luna.
“Dierdra, wait!” I caught her arm at the foot of the grand staircase, and saw heads around us swivel to
observe.
Dierdra whirled on me, her face a mess of tears and running mascara.
“I have nothing to say to you!” she sobbed, marching towards the far side of the ballroom.
I went after her, of course, what choice did I have?
Her tears were damning testimony to the pain I had caused. Every line of Dierdra’s body was drawn in the black ink of her anguish. I watched her bend beneath the weight of her distress, and forced myself to be with her in that agony, as penance for what I had done.
I pulled her into my arms, and she fought me at first, then sagged against me and sobbed. Finally, her tears trickled to a stop and she shoved me away.
“I hate you, Gideon Nightwolf,” she hissed, eyes narrow and venomous, “I am your MATE, and yet you betray me with HER p>
“I didn’t….” I swallowed and turned my head. What could I say? I knew what I had done, and yet… the truth would destroy Dierdra. That wasn’t fair to her, that I had brought this on her.
She stood there, watching me struggle to find my words. Finally I lifted my head and held out my hand to
her.
“Nothing happened between us,” I lied, “You misunderstood p>
Dierdra’s eyes flickered, and she looked taken aback. Then she moved forward and jabbed her pointer finger into my chest.
“Promise me,” she growled, “in front of these witnesses,” her hand swept to indicate the wolves who were scattered around the ballroom, but who were all watching the situation unfold with varying degrees of interest, “Denounce your feelings for Avery and prove that you are committed to me and me alone p>
I growled, feeling a tearing feeling in my chest at her words.
My feelings for Avery had long been stronger than even I wanted to admit. The unlikely Luna had won her place in my life with her courage and her ingenuity and her inherent power.
Even when I hadn’t wanted to be drawn to her, still she had sucked me in.
How could I tell Dierdra that I hadn’t ever wanted this? That my connection to Avery went deeper than conscious choice? That it always had?
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Instead, I swallowed and lifted my head to stare at her evenly.
“I have no feelings for Avery p>
I hated myself as I said it.
P
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