I’d already seen it all.
She was… perfect suitable.
“I will be moving up the date for our wedding.” I informed her, watching her tighten her robe’s belt around her waist.
She should be happy at that. She was the one who had been pushing for our wedding when she’d first come from Silvermoon. Looking back now, I wondered if it was because she wanted to flaunt her marriage in front of Ryan.
Well, it didn’t matter what her reasons were. The pack was what mattered most.
“No thank you.” Avery said abruptly.
Silence stretched between us.
What did she mean, ‘no thank you’?
My temper snapped. I didn’t have time for these stupid games.
I was not a wolf who reacted well to ‘playing hard to catch’.
I leaned low over the bed and placed my hand on the back of her neck, tilting her face to mine.
“You will honor our agreement.” I informed her. “There is no other option.”
Avery’s eyes squeezed shut. It looked like there were tears at the corners.
Silly girl. What was there to cry about?
She knew this day was coming. She had asked for it.
I didn’t understand her, but it didn’t matter.
She would get over that stupid other wolf and realize her place was here.
With me.
Her voice was soft, but firm, as she repeated.
“No.”
Avery’s POV
“No.” I refused once more.
Gideon frowned at me, his hand warm and heavy on the back of my neck.
There were so many emotions warring in those stormy eyes. Disapproval. Irritation. Desire?
The last one confused me even further and I shut my eyes. Just looking at him made me want to abandon my resolve.
I fought the impulse to stay. To go through with this sham of a marriage.
It wasn’t fair to him, or his true mate, to need to deal with me as surrogate Luna. I was just a placeholder until the true Luna showed up.
I tried to put myself in the shoes of that mystery woman. His fated mate.
If she truly was in danger somewhere, she would be wondering if anyone was coming to rescue her. She would want to know that there wasn’t some other woman taking her place.
I wondered why Gideon wasn’t hunting her down using their bond. Maybe he had too much else on his mind?
Gideon needed to be able to focus.
Anything I did that distracted him was taking resources from that other Luna who needed it more. I was keeping her true mate from getting to her.
It was a horrible crime, and I couldn’t stand being that person.
I had already decided not to interfere with their bond. It was why I had been planning on calling off the engagement to begin with.
But with Gideon’s face only inches from mine, my willpower was flagging. There was a part of me that wanted to see where this could go.
“Avery.” Gideon’s tone was deadly serious, “You know I can’t tolerate another wolf staking a claim on my territory.”
I did know that. But why on earth was he mentioning it now?
“You need to purge all thoughts of Ryan from your mind.” He commanded.
I flinched away from him at the implication. Is that what he thought was going on? That I was still upset about Ryan?
Granted, Ryan’s sudden and awful proposal had been the last thing Gideon had walked in on during the Silvermoon Alpha ceremony before I was captured.
I opened my mouth to say that this wasn’t about Ryan, but then shut it again when I realized I couldn’t tell Gideon why I was really avoiding him.
I couldn’t say ‘Well actually, I am avoiding you because you make me hot and bothered, and also I don’t want you to know that I’m hiding a secret mark that you would probably kill me if you knew about it…’
So I kept my mouth shut.
Gideon gave me a long, hard stare.
“Nothing to say? That’s not like you.” he said wryly.
I thought for a moment, then opened my mouth.
He leaned forward.
“I need to take a bath.” I said, matter-of-factly.
“You do.” he agreed after a minute, and I felt embarrassed that my body still was covered in dirt and scratches.
“And I’m going to make sure you survive the experience this time.”
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