“…simple is usually best. Fewer things to go wrong.” He finished anyways, with a serious expression.
There was a strong implication that I was the person who would make things go wrong.
And he wasn’t incorrect. I was the person most likely to sabotage this union.
“I will send you with warriors to retrieve your mother today.” Gideon continued.
“Thank you.” I murmured, sincerely. Knowing that she was safe would go a long way towards making me feel better about staying.
And who knows, perhaps there was yet a chance for me to win Gideon’s heart. If he hadn’t been tempted by Zara, he was a better man than I had assumed. Perhaps there was something we could build between us yet.
The whole car ride to my mother’s place, I thought about that feeling. If I was in Gideon’s shoes, would I do things differently?
I could see how passionate he was for his pack. He took his role as Alpha seriously, and Nightwolf prospered as a result. I could understand that commitment and passion. I had felt it myself in trying to do things that would benefit the pack, like my garden.
And if I knew I had a mate out there… somewhere? Would I wait for them?
In a way… I did.
I touched one hand to my neck where the hidden mark lurked under my skin. I hadn’t asked for this mark. The man who had given it hadn’t bothered to ask for my consent, but in the heat of that moment, I could understand why he had done it.
Perhaps it was similar for Gideon. This mate he had, maybe it just felt right with her. I couldn’t fault him for that. If my rogue mystery mate popped back out of the forest and said “Avery, come with me!” it would be very difficult to resist.
I stepped out of the car into the woods and headed down the path to my mother’s cabin. She might not like being moved suddenly, but I hoped she would understand why we were leaving this way. Once I explained about how Zara had laid that trap for me, I knew she would understand.
I pushed aside the curtain into her living space and called out, “Mom?”
There was only silence. The room was empty.
Not just empty of her. Empty of her things as well.
I stopped in the middle of the room, spinning slowly. She was gone. But where?
“Avery?” A soft voice called from the woods outside. I stepped back into the sunshine and saw Lillian walking towards me from the woods.
She was my only friend remaining in Silvermoon, and the main connection I’d had to my mother in the years that my father had forbidden me to see her.
“Lillian!” I waved at Tegan and the warriors he’d brought to stand down, and rushed to meet her. “Where has she gone?”
She gave me a tight hug.
“We’ve been so worried about you.” She said with feeling into my shoulder as we embraced, “Zara and your step -mother kept bringing her news that you were being abused in Nightwolf. I told her that Zara lies, but she couldn’t get their words out of her head.”
She sniffled and wiped a tear from her eye, “She just kept saying that she had to go see someone to make it right. That she was going to find a way to free you.”
“Oh Lillian.” I stared at her in consternation, “I’m fine in Nightwolf. They don’t treat me badly. Gideon and I are just… still getting to know each other.”
She brightened up at that, “I was hoping that was the case. I know that you’ll put up with pretty much anything for your family though, and your mother… well she still believes in hierarchy. If the Luna told her something, she took it more to heart than she should.”
I could believe that. For all that this pack had done to her, my mother had never truly contemplated leaving before.
But where would she have gone?
I asked Lillian and she pulled out a tattered piece of paper, “She said, if you came looking for her, to give you this’”
I studied the paper, it was a crudely drawn map. I didn’t recognize it.
“Did she say what was there?” I pointed at where a location on the map had been circled, somewhere deep in t forests to the north.
“She said there was someone who had helped her before. Forgive me, Avery, but she said it was someone who had helped her with you. I don’t know what she meant by that.”
I frowned and bit my lip.
“If she comes back, I need you to tell her that we came for her, and send me word immediately. Zara can’t be trusted. She’s tried to harm me and intercepted my letters.”
Lillian nodded, she was all to familiar with the ways Zara had tried to make my life miserable.
“She’s worse than ever, Avery. I thought she would be happier after she married Ryan, but something is wrong between them and she’s furious about it. She takes it out on everyone else.”
That was interesting. Zara had always become more vicious when she felt like she was the victim, but what was Ryan doing that would make her act that way? She must have found out about the ways he’d approached me.
I, myself had been shocked and dismayed by his weakness of character. He was a long ways from the earnest, sweet intentioned boy I had originally fallen in love with as a teenager. Perhaps Zara was also finding that she didn’t appreciate the person she’d tied herself to.
I said my farewell and climbed back into the car. When Tegan started to drive back towards Nightwolf, I instead directed him North. We would find out what was at this mysterious location on my mother’s map.
The location was deep within the woods. As we drove, the trees seemed to close in around us, blocking out the sun. It felt like driving into a cave.
After a time, the car slowed to a crawl.
“Are we there?” I asked?
No response.
“Tegan?” I looked into the front seat where Tegan and another warrior both sat silently. Their faces were still and frozen. The car rolled to a stop.
I opened the door, concerned for the others. Behind me, the second car was also stopped, but no one was moving.
The wind picked up, swirling leaves around me in the air.
“So you’re Avery.” A voice said from behind me.
Avery’s POV
“So you’re Avery.”
I turned to see a wizened old woman watching me from the edge of the woods.
“I am. Who are you?”
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