“Oh mama,” I couldn’t let her worry, so I embellished a bit. “It’s not like that at all. Nightwolf pack has been very good to me, and once Gideon and I marry, I will be his Luma and I’ll bring you over to live with us.”
“But is he good to you?” My mother brushed aside my plans for her relocation, “That’s the only thing that truly matters, my daughter. Don’t make the mistakes I made.”
“He’s a good Alpha. His pack adores him and he leads them well.” I said, honestly. I couldn’t tell her how he and I were getting on, it was too confusing even for me to summarize.
What would I say? He and I have ridiculous chemistry but I think he hates the idea of marrying me and mostly finds me irritating?
My mother gave me a knowing look, “It sounds like a better place for you than here. If you think he’s the wolf for you, then you should marry right away. Imagine! My daughter as Luna of a pack!”
She hummed happily and began making me a cup of tea.
“Don’t worry, mama.” I laughed, “I’m doing everything in my power to marry Gideon as soon as possible.” I didn’t want her to worry.
Besides, it’s technically true. I just don’t have much power…
We sat and sipped tea for a little while after that, catching up. Finally I said my goodbyes and promised to see her again soon.
I stepped outside her cabin and nearly bumped my nose into Gideon’s chest. He frowned down at me, looking furious.
“Here you are.” he grumbled.
Gideon’s POV
“I’m doing everything in my power to marry Gideon as soon as possible.”
I had just finished tracking my fianc? to this cabin in the middle of nowhere after she scurried away, when I heard Avery’s words carry easily outside the door.
Wary anger flushed over me. I hadn’t gotten the impression Avery had genuinely wanted to marry me, and now this felt like confirmation that it was all a plan to manipulate me.
Earlier I had been talking to Tegan when I’d felt a strange rush that I’d only felt once before. The feeling of my mystery mate drawing on my power in a time of need.
It had shocked and thrilled me. It meant she was close! I had rushed down the path as the power surged, and saw a woman standing there, using the power to quell a group that was confronting her.
Adrenaline and joy had overcome me. I found her!
But when I got closer, the power had stopped, and it was just Avery standing there. There was no mark, and I no longer felt the pull of my mate. I had looked doubly close at her neck, but… nothing.
Disappointment had slammed into me, and the fact that Avery had snuck away immediately afterward had been even more irritation.
Now I had overheard her agenda. Just like every other person in my life, it seemed she had a plan for her personal advancement using me.
And to think I’d hoped for a second that she was the one I’d been searching for!
Now she walked beside me, looking innocent as usual. It was terrifying how she could switch her masks so easily.
Who is this person who I’ve agreed to marry?
I had always been able to trust my intuition in the past when it came to relationships and people. I didn’t trust easily.
My judgment when it came to Avery had been that she was sweet, cute, willful, and naive. She learned quickly and she acted with her heart.
That didn’t match with this Avery who was angling to become my wife for unknown reasons.
I hated that somehow she’d influenced me to be on her side. It made me doubt my own judgment and senses.
There’s just too much about her that I don’t know or understand.
We entered the ceremony hall filled with high-society members from several packs in the area. Events like this were often where wolves fine-tuned their status in their individual hierarchies. There were always those who would use any method possible to climb the social ladder.
I moved through the crowd as I usually did, which is to say, in the direction of the bar. The fawning of sycophants wore me out, and I wasn’t in the mood for a dalliance. There were several on offer, if the gossip by the wealthy wives was anything to go by.
Snide questions about when Avery and I would be married were aimed my way repeatedly as I made my way across the floor. I grew irritated by the repetition and started just answering with, “It happens when it happens.”
I guess that was the wrong response. I thought with disgust, as the wolves’ faces lit up with delight and I saw them eyeing Avery with disdain. Bold of them to assume that it had anything to do with them. Now they thought I didn’t want the match.
Well, I don’t, do I? I frowned, Why is everything relating to Avery so confusing?
“Oh, arranged marriages are always so difficult,” one woman crooned with mock sympathy, laying her hand on my arm while pointedly looking at Avery.
My temper flared and I opened my mouth to tell her she should keep her inferences, and her hands, to herself, but Avery spoke before I did.
“Really?” She said calmly, and with convincing sincerity. “I find a relationship based on respect for each other’s strengths and role is refreshingly simple.”
The woman blinked in surprise that Avery hadn’t responded to her insinuations the way she expected.
“Oh, but surely some amount of attraction is required!” another woman tittered.
“Why? Will I do my job as Luna better if I have men falling over me? My feelings don’t factor into it.” Avery laughed disdainfully,
She finished with a significant glance at the other gossipers, “If Gideon likes me or not, that is his business. I know how to mind mine.”
Avery’s POV
Gideon’s dangerous gaze was fixated on me as I spoke. He seemed like he was trying to see through me, to tell if I was telling the truth. His intense scrutiny made my blood turn to ice in my veins.
Ok, so maybe what I said was a bit optimistic. I don’t know that I can make this ‘relationship’ work if we remain strangers to each other. But, he didn’t need to throw me to these sharks so publicly!
His indifference might have just been his own facade, but he was the one being naive if he didn’t think these women would find any excuse to get rid of me and insert themselves in my place.
Their mockery doesn’t bother me, I’m used to that. They just want to see me embarrassed so they can leave the imprints of their heels in my back as they climb over my body.
I felt the deep irony of knowing they would be even more incredulous if they knew that I hadn’t chosen any of this. Everyone thought they wanted to be with the heartless Alpha, until they were the one actually on the wedding podium.
I could understand what they thought. Gideon had this horrible reputation outside of Nightwolf, but his power and good looks were evident to anyone who met him. A desperate wolf would see only the opportunities, and hope they could survive the rest.
Like me. I’m just doing my best to survive.
I stared placidly back into Gideon’s stormy eyes.
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