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
“Who told you that the angelica flowers were traditional?” Gideon asked, voice flat. I hesitated. I knew who it had been, but I didn’t want to implicate her. It had been Madelyn who had given me the info and allayed my suspicions when I’d found the unusual flowers. From our conversation the ot
Avery’s POVI awoke slowly, like swimming up through deep water.There was a strange, metallic taste in my mouth, and my head pounded. I was laying on a hard surface. Dirt, perhaps? My limbs felt far-away and heavy. They didn’t respond to my attempts to move.All I could do was lay here.Weariness
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 wi
I closed the door on her stunned, heartbroken face.It felt good.I went back to my desk.A minute later, the door opened again. I couldn’t believe Jessica’s tenacity, and was about to snap her head off when I saw it was Tegan, my Beta. He came over and handed me a large creamy envelope.“An invitat







