LOGINGideon’s jaw tightened. “I looked at the stars every night. Wondering if you were alive. If you were safe. If you ever thought about me.”“I never stopped thinking about you,” I admitted. My voice came out rougher than I would have liked, but it felt good to be honest for once. “Even when I hated yo
Avery’s POVI grabbed my jacket from the chair and followed Gideon down the stairs and out the back door. The night air was cool against my skin, and I took a deep breath, shutting my eyes for a moment as the smell seeped into my lungs.“Smells good, doesn’t it?” Gideon’s voice was low, and when I o
Avery’s POVThe drive to Nightwolf took three hours. Bjorn fell asleep in the back seat halfway through, his head lolling against the window. I watched him in the side mirror, his chest rising and falling in slow, shallow breaths.Gideon didn’t say much. He kept his eyes on the road, hands steady on
“Avery, you hurt me, too,” Gideon cut me off.I snapped my mouth shut.“You kept my son from me for ten years,” he said. “You lied to me, ran from me, and made me believe I’d never have the family I wanted. So trust me when I say the feeling is mutual.”The words stung, but I deserved them. I knew I
Avery’s POVI pushed myself up from the bed as soon as I heard Bjorn’s voice. Gideon moved over to me and offered me his arm. I looked at it for a moment, then up at his face, set firm and yet threaded with a tenderness that I couldn’t ignore. Finally, I took it and let him guide me out of the room.
I looked away. I didn’t answer; I couldn’t. My throat felt too choked up, not just from my injuries, but from all of it.“Why did you keep him from me?” Gideon’s voice was barely above a whisper. “All these years, and my son was right here. Why did you lie to me?”I opened my mouth, then closed it a
He grabbed my hand and placed the eyepatch in my palm. It was still warm from resting on his face. He curled my fingers around it and squeezed tight, so tight it hurt. “Don’t you want to be my queen?”“I’ll never be your rogue queen.”He snorted. “Of course not. I would never expect a Lycan princess
Avery’s POV The ride back to Nightwolf Village was tense in every imaginable sense of the word. We had all come in a single car, and Gideon did not call for another, but he directed Dierdra to sit up front with the driver and he sat in the back with me. “I trust you can survive the trip back wi
“It’s sad when one of our best Alphas succumbs to weakness,” Reynaud feigned tragedy, frowning as he stared at Gideon across the floor, “and I wish I could say that I hadn’t seen this coming, but sadly, the signs have been all too clear.” Now Reynaud spun to address the crowd who had begun to murmu
Avery’s POVThe sun was setting on another day of hard work. I stretched wearily, feeling my shirt draw tight over chafed skin. My shoulders and back ached from bending low over my tasks. I walked over to my water bottle and chugged it, grateful for the cool water.I was eager to collapse into my be






