Chapter One Hundred Seventy
“How could you do this?”
His voice seemed to come from everywhere.
The darkness around him rose like a storm.
“How could you allow that disgusting wolf to touch you?”
Agatha stumbled backward.
“Gideon, stop!”
“To mark you?”
The floorboards cracked beneath his feet.
“To impregnate you?”
He pointed toward her stomach, his hand trembling with fury.
“You were supposed to be mine!”
The walls groaned under the pressure of his magic.
“That child should have been ours!”
His face twisted with agony.
“Mine!”
Agatha’s entire body shook.
“You are mine, Agatha!”
“No.”
“Mine and mine alone!”
Clam
His scream was so loud she had to cover her ears. The baby shifted inside her, reacting to the violent magic surrounding them. Pain tightened through her stomach. Agatha gasped and immediately placed both hands over her belly.
“My pup.”
She bent forward, trying to shield the child with her body.
“Please stop.”
Gideon stared at her.
“My body cannot withstand this kind of pressure,” she pleaded. “The pup cannot withstand it. You must rein in your magic.”
Chapter Seventy
For the smallest moment, something flickered in Gideon’s expression. The old Gideon might have rushed To her side. He would have apologized. He would have tried to ease her pain. But whatever humanity remained inside him was immediately swallowed by his rage.
“I do not care about that revolting thing you call a pup.”
Agatha froze. The words hurt more than the destruction around her. Gideon stepped closer.
“I will take you back to the coven.”
His voice became disturbingly calm.
“We will complete our binding as it was always meant to happen.”
Agatha stared at him in horror.
“No.”
“You are confused now, but you will understand once you are home.”
“I am not confused.”
“The wolf has poisoned your mind.”
“No, Gideon.”
He continued speaking as though she had said nothing.
“You will remember who you are. You will remember everything we shared.”
His gaze moved toward her stomach again.
“But that thing…” Dark magic gathered around his fingers.
“…I will take care of it.”
Agatha immediately straightened despite the discomfort in her body.
“No.”
She placed herself protectively between Gideon and her unborn child, though there was nowhere for her to run. Her voice trembled, but she did not look away.
“No, Gideon. I will not let you hurt my pup.”
“You cannot stop me.”
“I will.”
“You have never been strong enough to stand against me.”
Agatha’s eyes filled with tears.
“I would rather die than allow you to harm my child.”
The words struck him. A shadow of pain crossed his face.
Chapter One+fimdied Seventy
“You would die for his child?”
“My child,” Agatha corrected “Our child. Mine and Lucian’s.”
Gideon’s magic pulsed again. Agatha forced herself not to retreat.
“I have my mate now,” she continued. “You have to let me go.”
“Never.”
“You have to accept that we were not meant for each other.”
“We were promised to each other.”
“That does not make us mates.”
“It made you mine.”
“No.”
Her tears slipped down her cheeks.
Clam
“I cared for you, Gideon. I loved you in the way someone loves a person who has always been part of her life.”
His expression crumbled.
“But what I feel for Lucian is different.”
“Stop.”
“My soul chose him.”
“Stop speaking.”
“My magic chose him.”
“I said stop!”
“And I chose him.”
A wave of dark energy slammed into the wall behind Agatha, splitting the wood. She cried out but refused
to take back the words. Gideon stared at her with madness shining in his blackened eyes.
“Do not test me, Agatha.”
His voice dropped into a deadly whisper.
“I have spent seven months suffering because of you.”
Agatha’s breath caught.
“And I will not return to the coven alone. I will never go with you.”
“You will.”
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Chapter Optike! Seventy
“No.”
He took another step forward.
“If you force me to prove that-1 am serious, I will kill everyone you love.”
Agatha’s face paled. Gideon smiled coldly when he saw her fear.
“I will kill the wolf you call your mate.”
“No.”
“I will find your parents.”
Her breath trembled.
“They had nothing to do with this.”
“I will kill them one by one.”
“Gideon, please.”
“And I will make you watch.”
Tears streamed freely down Agatha’s face.
“You would never do that.”
“You no longer know what I am capable of.”
The truth of that statement frightened her more than the threat itself. Gideon leaned closer.
“You will come with me.”
His voice was soft now, making every word more terrifying.
Cham
“You will stand beside me before our families. We will complete our binding. We will have the life that was stolen from me.”
Agatha shook her head repeatedly.
“And if you disobey me…”
His gaze lowered toward her stomach.
“…I will begin by pulling that disgusting creature from your body.”
Agatha covered her stomach with both arms.
“No.”
Her knees weakened. She stared at him through her tears, searching his face for some trace of the boy she had once known. The boy who brought her herbs when she was sick. The boy who stood outside her window after storms because he knew thunder frightened her. The young man who had once promised to use his power only to protect her.
Chapter Operkend Seventy
Gideon,” she whispered. “What happened to you?”
Clam
The question made him flinch. Agatha took a careful step toward him, despite every instinct warning her
not to.
“What happened to the man knew?”
Her voice broke.
“You would never threaten a child. You would never threaten my parents. You would never look at me this
way.”
Gideon’s face twisted.
“What happened to me?”
He laughed bitterly.
“You happened.”
Agatha stopped.
“You left me.”
His eyes filled with pain.
“That is what happened to me.”
“I never wanted to destroy you.”
“But you did.”
Darkness gathered around his hand.
“You chose betrayal.”
Before Agatha could move, Gideon released his magic. The force struck her chest. She gasped as a cold, crushing pressure wrapped around her body. Her legs gave way beneath her. Agatha collapsed to the floor, one arm catching her weight while the other remained wrapped around her stomach.
Her vision blurred. The room spun around her. She tried to call upon her own magic, but Gideon’s darkness smothered it before it could rise. Her healing power flickered weakly beneath her skin. It immediately turned inward, protecting the child.
“My pup,” Agatha whispered.
Gideon stood above her.
“Please.”
She lifted her head with great difficulty.
“Do not hurt my pup.”
Her voice was weak. Barely audible. Gideon looked down at her without sympathy.
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<Chapter Opered Seventy
7 will allow you to give birth to that thing.”
Agatha stared at him. Hope briefly flickered in her chest. Then he continued.
“And after it is born, we will throw it to the wolves.”
The hope died. Gideon smiled cruelly.
“Let us see whether either kind will accept it.”
Agatha tried to move.
“No…”
Her hand dragged across the, floor as she attempted to reach the doorway.
“Lucian…”
The pressure around her body became heavier. She could no longer lift her head.
“Please,” she whispered. “He will come back.”
“Good.”
Gideon crouched beside her.
Claim
“Then he will see exactly what it feels like to return home and discover that everything he loves has been taken from him.”
Agatha fought to remain conscious. She needed to warn Lucian. She needed to protect their child. She tried to reach through the magical bond she shared with her mate, but Gideon’s spell wrapped around her
mind.
The cottage faded into darkness. The final thing she felt was the flutter of her child beneath her palm. Then Agatha lost consciousness.
For several moments, Gideon remained crouched beside her. He stared at the face he had loved for as long as he could remember.
Even now, after everything she had done, she was beautiful to him. Her dark hair had fallen across her cheek. Tears still clung to her lashes. One hand remained protectively curved over her stomach, as though she believed she could shield the child even while unconscious.
Gideon’s gaze hardened. He rose and looked around the cottage. The room was in ruins. Broken glass covered the floor. The table had split against the wall. Her herbs lay scattered among pieces of pottery and wood. Yet even through the destruction, Gideon could see what the cottage had once been.
A home.
Agatha had made a home with the wolf. A basket of freshly gathered herbs sat near the window. Two cups rested beside the washbasin. A man’s coat hung near the doorway beside Agatha’s shawl. A wooden cradle stood unfinished in one corner.
Gideon moved toward it slowly. His hand brushed across the smooth wood. The wolf had built it. For their child. His chest tightened.
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<Chapter Opened Seventy
Clam
This should have been his home. Agatha should have been waiting for him. The cradle should have been intended for his child.
The laughter, the warmth, and the quiet life hidden inside this cottage should have belonged to him. His home. His Agatha. His baby,
His future. The wolf had stolen everything. The darkness inside Gideon whispered eagerly.
Take it back.
He turned toward Agatha. She lay motionless among the remnants of the life she had created. Gideon walked to her, lifted her into his arms, and held her against his chest. For a moment, his expression
softened.
“I told you I would find you,” he whispered.
His gaze dropped toward her stomach. Then the softness disappeared. Dark magic spread from his feet and crept up one of the cottage walls. The shadows twisted together, burning themselves into the wood.
Letters slowly appeared. Black. Deep. Impossible to remove.
I AM TAKING BACK WHAT IS MINE.
Gideon stared at the message.
When the wolf returned, he would see it. He would walk into the ruins of his home and find Agatha gone. He would feel the same emptiness Gideon had felt when he read her letter. He would understand the agony of searching for the person he loved while imagining what another man was doing to her. Perhaps then the wolf would understand the price of taking something that had never belonged to him. Gideon carried Agatha toward the doorway. Before leaving, he looked back at the cradle one final time. A dark smile crossed his face.
“Come and find us, wolf.”
Then he stepped outside with Agatha unconscious in his arms, leaving behind the ruined cottage and the promise carved into its wall.
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