Chapter 253
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Chapter 253
Feeling betrayed, I turned and headed back up the path towards the pack house, tears gathering in my
eyes.
While the rest of the pack congregated on the edges of the woods and waited for night to fall, I was busy packing my few belongings. Technically I was supposed to be down there with the married women, who would still participate to act as guides and mentors should the younger wolves get too unruly. Emotions could run high during mating competitions, and no one wanted a bloody incident when suitors came to
blows.
‘You should go to him,’ my wolf said sourly, ‘You don’t know where you’re going. Here we’re safe. Here your pup will be raised with their own kind p>
‘Are we really safe, though?’ I snapped back at her, ‘Don’t let your desire for Gideon’s wolf override the fact that he might not keep us around once he’s gotten what he wants, an heir p>
‘My mate would not allow that,’ my wolf sneered.
‘Mine might,’ I said ruefully, feeling a sense of injustice that my wolf was so sure, while I was not, ‘He’s
let me be abandoned before p>
‘You are unable to see his growth,’ my wolf said patiently, ‘but a pup changes everything p>
‘Does a pup change it for the better?’ I couldn’t help but question, ‘Gideon thinks I’m just like every other woman who’s thrown herself at him. He’s not going to change his ways just because I am pregnant. If anything, he’ll probably lock me up and try to control me more p>
1 hauled my bag down the stairs, stopping to rest when I felt light-headed. Was it normal to feel this tired?
I found a pack vehicle with a full tank of gas and stowed my stuff in the back. Then I gave myself an hour to wander the village.
No one would know that I was doing anything other than my Luna duties, but I was saying goodbye. I stopped in my garden one last time and put my hands on my abdomen.
“I know we don’t know each other yet,” I whispered to the child growing within me, “but I hope one day you will understand more about why I made this choice for you.” 1
Then I went to my room one last time and wrote a letter for Gideon.
“Dear Gideon,” I wrote, “Today you kissed me for the last time. There is a part of me that will always belong to you, you hold the other half of my soul. Maybe one day you could even say the words you couldn’t say today, but I can’t wait around to find out. I don’t have the time to wait. One day we’d have a child, and that child cannot be raised here. I can’t have him or her grow up unhappy, the way you did, or neglected the way I was.
“You need to forget about me. Find a new wife and Luna, it will be easy for you. You will always have part
of me, but it’s not meant to be.
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Chapter 253
“xoxo Avery” 1
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Sniffling, I wiped my eyes and folded the paper. Then I snuck across the hallway and entered Gideon’s room. The masculine space smelled of him, and I inhaled deeply as I leaned over his bed and tucked the note under his pillow.
Then I turned and left.
I hadn’t expected this to hurt so much. After all, I had tried to leave less than two weeks ago, and while that decision had hurt, this hurt more.
Perhaps it was because Gideon had showed me he was capable of changing, and that he was willing to do so for his mate. That was part of the problem though, I couldn’t stay Gideon’s mate. We needed to be severed so that we could each pursue our own lives.
As I unlocked the pack vehicle I pictured a world in which even the incomplete bond between Gideon and I was nonexistent. That was the world into which I must step now.
There was a great pain in my heart as I visualized that reality, and I felt pain throb along the bond between us.
Off in the forest, I heard a lonesome howl.
Was that him? Was that Gideon, sensing the severing of our bond?
I didn’t dare wait around to find out. I shrugged my shoulders into my jacket and climbed into the car.
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