“I miss you.” He said plaintively. “Our last chat was, uh, interrupted.”
Yeah. Interrupted by Gideon’s boot.
“Speaking of which, don’t you need to get back to your mate?” I asked pointedly.
“Zara is…” Ryan frowned, “not who I want to see.”
“She’s your mate!” I felt like I was the crazy person for needing to point that out. “You thought she was important enough to fuck on the Mating Moon…”
Ryan winced, “I know. She just… I don’t like her as much as I liked you.”
“Oh come off it.” I scoffed, “You just always think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence.”
“Just give me another chance!” Ryan pleaded. He reached out and touched my cheek with one finger, and I turned my face away.
“Don’t you have someone else to torment?” I accused.
“Oh, like who? Your mother?” Ryan’s voice turned nasty. “You don’t want to know all the things Zara has been making her do.”
“What?!” My voice was ice cold.
“Come be with me instead. You can make her life better.” Ryan weaseled.
“You are a terrible Alpha!” I swore, “You should be trying to make life better for everyone in your pack! But all you can think about is what you don’t have, and who you want to stick your dick into!”
“I want to be with you, Avery.” Ryan groaned. He reached out and grabbed my hand, and pushed it against the front of his pants. “You make me so hard. I need you.”
Ew!
I yanked my hand away like I’d been burned. He wasn’t lying though, the man was hard as a rock.
“Ryan!” I protested. “I don’t want this. I don’t want you! Go find your wife! Go get her to touch your dick!”
“Please, Avery…” Ryan crowded closer, trying to catch my hands again. I slapped at him futilely as he backed me into a tree, “You smell so good. I want to fuck you. I want to have children with you.”
“What the fuck are you doing?” My back was scratched by rough tree bark, and he was pressing into me now.
“Just… let me…” Ryan grabbed my face in both hands and pressed his lips to mine. I put my hands on his chest and shoved, but he was much bigger than I was and barely moved.
“Get away from me!” I twisted my head to the side.
With a groan, Ryan pushed himself away reluctantly. I was glad to see that he wasn’t going to take things further, because he was starting to frighten me.
“You never let me have you, Avery.” He whined. “Always playing hard to get.”
He backed away, eyes burning.
“You can pretend not to want me all you like, but I remember how you used to want to give yourself to me. You wanted me once, Avery. You will want me again.”
He turned to go, but gave one last parting shot.
“I’ll always remember the taste of you.”
Avery’s POV
I could feel the thunderstorm approaching at my back as I watched Ryan disappear down the path. I didn’t even need to turn around to know that Gideon was standing behind me, with his icy stare and his cold disapproval.
“I told you to stay away from him.” His growl made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
“Is that why you’re here?” I whirled to face him. “To police me? Aren’t you only here to hunt down your missing mate?”
The words flew out of my mouth before I could reel them back in.
I watched Gideon’s expression go flat, his mouth compressing into a thin line.
Admittedly, this probably was going to set back our trust-building exercises somewhat, but I was tired of tip- toeing around his inconvenient truths.
“I don’t understand you, Gideon.” I said, “You want me as Luna, but not as your mate. I’m supposed to be your secretary, and I hope, at least your friend. What happens to me when you find your real mate? Do I just get ushered out the door to live my life as a rogue? Packless?”
I marched closer to him, staring up at him and letting my tongue loose.
“You want us to learn how to trust each other, but my future is forever uncertain with you! I don’t see how I can marry someone who doesn’t see me as their mate. It’s all of me, or nothing!”
I crossed my arms and stared into his stormy eyes, “I want a real commitment, not a bunch of Alpha-jealousy bullshit! What security do you really offer me?”
He let my tirade continue until it slowed.
“Is security and commitment what you think Ryan will offer you?” His voice was glacial. “If so, you are more a fool than I thought possible.”
He didn’t answer any of my accusations, but he did step closer, looking down his nose at me. I could feel his powerful aura, like always, and smell the scent of him. Cedar and the ozone and smoke of a lightning strike.
Ryan definitely didn’t activate all my senses the way Gideon did.
I didn’t want Ryan.
With a sinking but triumphant realization, I knew in my heart that I only wanted Gideon. I wanted this infuriating, terrifying, frustrating man who made my blood boil and my body sing.
The last few days had highlighted how much just being in his presence made me feel happy and alive, even j doing mundane office paperwork.
I wanted him to notice me, to care about me.
But before any of that could happen, I just wanted Gideon to give me a straight answer about what we could be to each other. He owed me that, at least, if he expected me to stay.
Finally he spoke, but not to say what I needed to hear.
“I have one last thing to wrap up here. Meet me at the car.”
Then he turned and walked up the path.
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