“News about what?” He persisted.
“About you. About us.” I gestured with my free hand. “I didn’t know what to believe.”
Gideon clenched his jaw.
“Ask me.”
“What?”
“Ask me about whatever distressed you.”
“It’s not important.” I turned my face away, but he caught my chin and turned me back to face him.
“Your actions say otherwise.” He ground out. “It was serious enough that you chose to run instead of talking to me. So what was it that scared you?”
I stared, frozen, into his face. He looked so sincere when he said it, I almost wanted to believe him. He hadn’t lied to me, not yet.
But I didn’t want him to start either.
If I asked what I wanted to know, then I would have to accept his answer, or accept that I didn’t trust him.
I sighed.
“Did… did you… sleep with my sister?” I stammered, staring at the ground.
There was a long period of silence. It stretched.
Finally I raised my eyes to look back at Gideon. He was staring at me with a calm expression. His finger tra the tip of my chin.
“No.” He said, firmly. “Nor would I.”
“Oh.” Somehow, the truth sounded like truth when he said it.
He ducked his head to look at me with a pointed look, “She did offer.”
“Oh…” That did sting, and I found myself withdrawing into myself. I pulled my sleeves down over my hands and tucked my arms around my body.
“She’s not what I want.” He said, then winced.
“Gideon!” I looked at his shoulder and saw the thick blood starting to drip down his wound. “Oh fuck.”
“Your bedside manner…” He ground out through gritted teeth, “needs some work.”
I barked a laugh but inside I was panicking. I scrambled over through my bag and started going through what I had brought. The medicinal supplies I had all seemed horribly inadequate for this sort of injury.
Around us, a thick mist was starting to roll through the trees, making the world hazy and indistinct. In this sort of condition, we could easily get lost trying to leave the woods. And it would make it difficult for any rescuers that Tegan brought to find us.
“Please Goddess,” I muttered, “Please help.” It was more of an indistinct prayer than a dedicated request, but Gideon’s head shot up.
“What did you say?”
“Just… Please, Goddess.” I repeated, and as I said her name, a beam of moonlight fell through the trees and brushed over Gideon’s wound.
We both gaped at the silver light as it illuminated the silver flecks embedded in his blood as it flowed forth.
“Say it again.” Gideon breathed softly. Then, “Avery, your hands.”
I looked down at my hands and saw that the same silver moonlight was glowing from my palms. I’d never seen anything like it. I met Gideon’s gaze incredulously.
The light felt warm, and soft. It was hard to explain, but the light felt tangible, like something I could bend and move.
On instinct, I moved closer to Gideon and pressed my hands over his wound. Instantly, the light intensified and where the moonbeam landed on my skin and his, magic swirled like light reflected off a pool of water.
“That feels…” Gideon sighed, “Whatever you’re doing is helping.”
I bit my lip and tried to concentrate. The light was like silk, slippery but strong. I tried to channel it into his wounds, trying not to think too hard about how weird all of this was.
I was using moonlight to heal him.
And it was working.
Gideon’s POV
The pain was incredible.
Wounds were a familiar part of my life. You don’t get to be werewolf Alpha without many battles. This wasn’t even the worst wound I’d received. I had scars all over my body from injuries that were more mortal than this.
This was one of the few times that I had been injured with silver, however, and the way it set every part of me on fire was heart-stopping.
I could feel the poison advancing through my system, creeping towards my heart. I hoped that my magical healing could stop it before it killed me, but there was a terrifying doubt in the back of my mind that there would be enough time.
Of course, I couldn’t say any of this in front of Avery. I didn’t want to scare her. She was terrified enough.
The way her eyes had looked at me when she was working up the courage to ask her question… She had looked haunted. Like she was steeling herself for more bad news.
It was clear that she had thought that I had slept with Zara. Certainly, her vampish half-sister had tried to tease me into shifting my loyalty. Unfortunately for Zara, I wasn’t easily shifted.
The increased pressure from Silvermoon was unprecedented. For generations they had been one of our strongest allies. When they had given Avery to me for my bride, they hadn’t seemed to care much about giving her up. It had been downright insulting the way they had acted like she was trash they were foisting onto me.
But clearly, Ryan, the Silvermoon Alpha, had some lingering feelings. He kept trying to lure Avery back. In the face of his inconstancy, Zara had felt her own position threatened, and she had thought to seduce me to secure a better position in Nightwolf.
I couldn’t understand that way of thinking, but I could see the path that had led them to their choices.
Avery was who I didn’t understand.
In some ways, knowing that she had tried to run away from me was a relief. She had acted in a manner that was predictable. I had left her few outlets for escape, so I suppose I wasn’t that surprised when she’d finally taken one. It was why I had asked Tegan to follow her.
Where was my Beta, anyway? I hadn’t seen any sign of him in the struggle. I had come when I’d heard a how but it was possible he had fled back to Nightwolf to try and find me.
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