Chapter 429

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“Gideon, I came as soon as I could,” I would say. “I saw Avery collecting aphrodisiac plants in the forest. I should have told you sooner – ”

“Avery. I love you.”

I froze.

Silence fell inside the room. My hand, which had been reaching for the doorknob, hovered midair.

“You don’t mean that,” Avery whispered.

“I do.” Gideon’s voice sounded more certain now. “I love you, Avery. I always have. And I’m sorry that I didn’t make it clear enough before. I’m sorry that I pushed you away because I was too much of a coward to say it out loud.”

My heart cracked. My hand fell back to my side, and I took a step back, shaking my head. Avery and Gideon’s voices faded, or maybe that was just the blood rushing through my ears and blocking it out.

He loved her. And the way he said it…

He meant it.

In an instant, everything I’d planned in the last ten minutes turned to dust. I thought about Avery and Gideon together, locked in an embrace, their mate bond-the bond that had never gone away, not after ten years of pain and separation-bolstered by the light of the full moon like so many others in this place.

I thought about how, not once, had it ever occurred to me that maybe I had a mate out there somewhere. That maybe, just maybe, I could be like one of the guests at this banquet, dancing and laughing and hearing those words spoken to me instead of

another. 1

I love you.

Eighteen years. I was eighteen years old with the whole world ahead of me, the typical age that most people found their mates and marked each other for life. For a woman like me, it should have been simple. A happily ever after to last the ages.

But ever since I was a child, I’d been told by my father that the most important thing, far more important than love or a mate, was marrying the right person. That my one and only duty in life was to ensure the future of our line by marrying an Alpha with prestige, money, and resources.

Nothing else mattered. Not humiliating another woman. Not humiliating myself. Even the guilt of luring a ten year old child into a hostile terrain before a storm paled in comparison to my duty.

But… did it?

I bit down on my tongue, forcing back the tears that had begun to prick at the backs of my eyes.

Deirdre was a well-known criminal in the packs. As if it wasn’t bad enough I had nearly gotten a little boy killed, I was now associated with her. Scheming to drug a man all for the sake of my father’s ambitions.

Goddess, what had I done?

Meanwhile, no matter what dirty tactics I had resorted to, Gideon would always love Avery. That much was clear She didn’t need the aphrodisiac he would have taken her as his wife any day, regardless of anything else

And I was a fool for thinking it could be any other way

I didn’t realize I had begun walking. At some point, though, I had turned away from the room and left them there, no longer rushing through the corridors but staring at the tiles beneath my feet as all of these thoughts raced through my mind, ultimately coming to the same conclusion.

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I didn’t want to do this anymore. The scheming, the plotting, hurting others and myself, and for what? For a man twenty years my senior who never wanted me to begin with?

I could have spent tonight seeking my mate. I could have been dancing and drinking and laughing like all of the other women

my age.

Tonight could have been extraordinary.

But it wasn’t.

I wasn’t sure what I was going to do next. I knew that, ultimately, coming home to my father and telling him I wasn’t goign to do this anymore wouldn’t end well. For now, I just knew I needed to leave this party.

I didn’t make it that far.

“There you are.” Colt’s familiar voice stopped me in my tracks, and I looked up to see him approaching me. He wasn’t alone. Two Evergreen pack guards were flanking him, their eyes hard and unrelenting.

I looked over my shoulder. There, at the other end of the hall, I saw Tegan closing in on me as well, blocking my escape.

My heart pounded, but I pulled my shoulders back, waiting for the inevitable. There was nowhere to run. Not anymore.

“Fiona,” Colt said as the guards closed in on me, handcuffs rattling, “you are under arrest.”

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