Chapter 174
Chapter 174
Avery’s POV
“ Alpha? What is your decision? I can call security right away p>
The doctor clearly was siding with Dierdra, turning his back to me frostily and crossing his arms, treating me as though I was beneath his notice. He was as hard and cold as the hospital tiles that ran beneath my feet.
I wondered, if he really had considered me a threat, would he still have turned his back on me? It seemed like his actions didn’t match his words if he was ready to dismiss me so easily.
The silence stretched as Gideon considered what he wanted to do. At first I stared at him, my eyes full of emotion, then I stared down at my feet, feeling ashamed and terrified.
To be dragged away as a feral wolf would be just as deadly as to be subjected to the Culling. No community wanted a wolf that could not control their violence. Such a person would be ostracized, and effectively exiled once they had a reputation for such behavior.
Unfortunately for me, Gideon seemed to be seriously considering the question. Did he truly believe that I was a dangerous wolf who would have pushed Dierdra in an attempt to hurt her pup?
He, more than anyone, would know what the effect of bearing the ‘feral‘ label would have on my authority if I was ever restored to Luna. I would be humiliated, and would have no standing to enforce pack law.
The worst part was that I knew I had screwed up. My panic about my mother had driven me to Gideon’s office, and added an urgency that I should have known Dierdra would exploit. She had a fantastic ability to sense weakness in others and exploit it.
There was a small, cold part of me that was so tired of being downtrodden, of being used and abused by people like her, that gloried in the harm I had done. That terrified me.
I hated her, in my heart, but I equally hated myself for wanting to be like her.
If I was a stronger person, a stronger wolf, then I wouldn’t need to fear the way in which she managed to twist everything and everyone around her. I could just do what I needed to do, the right things I believed
Sadly, doing the correct thing had yet to pay off for me. My every kindness had been turned back on me, and those things which I had built that I had thought were good had been stripped away from me.
Now I stared at Gideon’s tense posture. Shoulders back, fists clenched. Everything about him oozed the threat of violence and repercussions for my actions.
He had seen Dierdra go flying at my shove. He knew that, on some level at least, I was guilty.
Would he ever be able to look at me the same way again?
My entire life rested on the word of this man. He had the ability to break or save me. Which would he
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Chapter 174
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choose?
“Sir? ” The doctor repeated.
“ Gideon! ” Dierdra said sharply as he continued to hesitate, “Would you really let her get away with harming your mate and pup? ” 1
Her words seemed to shake Gideon back to the present from whatever far–off place his mind had inhabited. Slowly, he turned to stare at me, finally meeting my tear–streaked gaze.
“No,” he said slowly, as though he, himself, was uncertain about his decision, “Leave her unchained p>
“What?! ” Dierdra raged as relief coursed through me. I felt dizzy and as though the world were spinning
around me. Had I been holding my breath this whole time?
Now I gasped for air, as though Gideon’s words had granted me a new lease on life.
“You coward!” Dierdra raged, struggling against her bedsheets in her attempt to storm at Gideon.
He held up a hand, and she quieted as he spoke.
“Avery will not be chained, on one condition,” Wide–eyed, I stared at him, while Dierdra crossed her arms and waited.
“She must apologize,” Gideon said solemnly.
“Like I would ever accept her apology?!” Dierdra screeched, “No, this is unacceptable p>
Gideon whirled in her direction and she instantly quieted down.
“Do you presume to question the decision of your Alpha?” he asked, pointedly.
“No…” Dierdra struggled for a way to argue that wouldn’t look directly disobedient.
‘Here come the waterworks‘, I thought to myself.
As I predicted, she quickly began to sniffle and wipe at her eyes.
“I just don’t think the Alpha understands how dangerous being around such a wolf is for our child!” Dierdra wailed, balling up her bedsheets in her fists and slamming them into the mattress. Her hair fell around her shoulders in scraggly tresses and obscured her face as she bowed her head, but I thought I saw a glimpse of her conniving expression staring at me from the shadows.
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