Not about how his strong hands gripped my thigh so firmly.
Finally, he finished.
I flinched as his hands tore the fabric of my clothing to create bandage strips. Deftly, he wrapped my leg and hauled me to my feet.
“Tha-… Thank you.” I hissed as my leg flared with pain. It was better than it had been but still hurt to put weight on it.
In a fluid, powerful motion, Gideon pulled me into his arms and lifted me.
“Do not run off again.” He growled as he carried me out of the forest.
I slept exhaustedly on the ride back to Nightwolf. My body ached from my night in the forest and the poison’s effects.
I woke up to Gideon opening the door to the sedan and lifting me out into an early morning sunrise. Tegan and others moved in to help but he growled at them and they backed away until he’d set me on my feet in the courtyard.
Despite Gideon’s usual dour expression, there was some applause and cheering as I stepped out. I looked around at their smiling faces, recognizing Gideon’s family, the pack cook, Anna, and Melody, my friend from gardening.
They were all looking at me with genuine affection. Anna stepped forward and handed me a small cake she’d baked.
“Welcome back!” she said, while Melody touched my arm in greeting.
This is so weird, I thought, it’s exactly like my dream I had when those rogues drugged me…
I didn’t know what to say, but the strange feeling of deja vu persisted until I left the courtyard and limped towards the house. I had never felt that feeling this strongly before.
Could it be that I had some sort of prophetic vision? And if so, what could have caused it?
The rogues had hit me quite hard on the head, and they had also drugged me in some way. Could that have somehow induced clairvoyance?
I had never heard of that happening to anyone I knew, and if I mentioned it, these people would probably think I was crazy.
I swallowed the thoughts swirling in my mind, and allowed Gideon to lead me firmly to a seat at the dining table.
“I have questions.” Gideon seated himself across from me as other pack members filed into the room. “The rogues who took you have perpetrated other kidnappings. What do you remember?”
Haltingly, I told him what I knew. About the blow on the path, the strange taste in my mouth. I skipped over the part where my mark had repelled my kidnappers, but I did tell him about how they’d tied me up and released the bug that attacked me.
“Did you see any girls your age?” Gideon demanded. His eyes were fierce and his tone imperative.
“No, I didn’t see anyone. It was dark, and I couldn’t see the rogues’ faces at all.”
Gideon slumped back in his chair, disappointed.
“Alpha, the prisoners are ready for interrogation,” Tegan said after a moment of silence while Gideon was thinking.
“I am on my way”
Gideon rose from the table and walked out the door without a backward glance, leaving me sitting awkwardly alone in front of the assembled group of pack members who began to talk to each other excitedly.
Jessica slid into the seat across the table from me, her beautiful face wrenched into its usual arrogant expression.
She leaned across the table and said, “Do you know why Gideon cares so much about this?”
I ignored her, turning my head away, but I admit, my ears were perked for her following words.
“Because,” she said sweetly, “He already has a Fate Mate, but the rogues captured her. Gideon loves her very much, and you’re just a nuisance to him.”
I had known that he’d had a marked mate already, but I hadn’t known she’d been kidnapped. I had assumed he’d done something awful to her, but the truth was much sadder than that.
No wonder he didn’t care about me.
I wanted to dismiss what Jessica was saying, but there was the ring of truth to it. My heart sank and I felt a pang of bitterness.
If Gideon truly cared about his fated mate, then we truly were never going to work out.
If we married, I would always be the other woman, trying to fill a missing woman’s shoes.
And if she turned up…
Why would Gideon even think twice about keeping me around if his true fated mate could be his Luna? I was just a temporary fill -in-someone to honor the treaty so that he could avoid war with Silvermoon Pack
It would be better for everyone if I were to disappear. I could try to rescue my mother and go, but first, I needed to call off this ill-
fated engagement.
It would be better to have Gideon hate me now for calling it off than for me to continue to stay here, where I would never be wanted.
My mother and I would just have to find another place to stay, someplace far from here, where no one knew us, perhaps. Maybe my mark would protect us if we struck out on our own.
“Avery,” Camila appeared at my side, then she turned to Jessica, “Don’t you have somewhere else to be?” She gave her a hard look.
Sinuous as an eel, Jessica rose from the chair and headed towards the doorway. Before she left, she leaned over my chair and said,
“You’re never going to be wanted here. Remember that,” and then she sashayed away.
“Oh, that viper.” Camila sighed, watching Jessica go. “Don’t listen to anything she says. She’s just mad that Gideon chose you instead of her.”
“But if he has a Fate Mate, why would he choose either of us?” I asked miserably.
“Oh, that rumored fated mate? Gideon only met her once and doesn’t even know if she’s still alive! No one else has ever even seen her. I wouldn’t worry about her.” Camila’s tone was kind as she helped me up the stairs to my bedroom.
“Gideon likes you as much as he likes anyone,” she tried to reassure me as she helped me into my bed to rest and then pulled the curtains and left.
I knew she was trying to comfort me, but it was hard to feel reassured hearing about this mysterious mate who may or may not truly exist.
I stared at the wall, thinking about my predicament, until it blurred into the darkness behind my eyelids.
There was a man in my bed behind me. I should have felt frightened, but something about him felt right. His strong arms pulled me towards him, gripping my hip with one hand while the other moved the hair away from the side of my neck and placed a tender kiss there.
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