The Silver Wolf (Diana and Talon) novel Chapter 164

Chapter One Hundred Sixty Four

“A wolf?”

His voice was barely audible.

Clam

“She met him weeks ago,” her father sand bitterly. “She had been leaving the village in secret. Meeting him beyond the boundary.”

“No.”

The answer left Gideon’s mouth immediately. Agatha’s father turned toward him.

“She admitted everything in the letter.”

“No.”

Gideon shook his head harder.

“Agatha would never do that.”

“She did.”

“No.”

His magic shifted again. A dark mist crawled along the floor near his boots.

“She would not leave her family.”

His voice cracked.

“She would not leave me.”

Agatha’s father picked up a folded piece of paper from the table and threw it toward him. It struck Gideon’s chest before falling to the floor.

“Read it yourself.”

Gideon looked down at the letter. For several seconds, he could not move. His hands had begun to shake. His mind refused to accept what he was hearing.

Left. With a wolf. Agatha. His Agatha. The girl who had grown beside him. The woman who had promised to stand with him. They had been pledged to one another since childhood. Their families had planned their binding for years. She knew he loved her. She knew he would give her everything. She knew there was nothing in this world he would not do for her.

Why would she leave?

Why would she leave without saying goodbye?

Why would she choose a creature raised to hate their kind?

Slowly, Gideon bent down and picked up the letter. The paper felt heavy in his hand. He recognized Agatha’s writing immediately. The elegant curve of every letter. The careful way she formed each word.

< Chapter Opermiked Sixty Four

There was no mistaking it. It was hers. His vision blurred, and he had to blink several times before he Could focus. He began to read.

I found my mate.

Gideon’s breath stopped.

My magic accepted him.

And his wolf accepted me.

I am sorry for doing this.

But I love him.

For a moment, there was no sound. No sobbing. No wind. No beating heart. The entire world seemed to disappear around Gideon. He read the words again. Then again. As though repeating them might somehow change their meaning.

I found my mate.

My magic accepted him.

But I love him.

Love him.

Agatha loved someone else. A wolf. A stranger. Someone who had known her only for weeks had taken what Gideon had cherished for his entire life. His chest tightened so violently that he could barely breathe. What about him? What about everything they had shared? What about every promise? Every dream? Every future they had planned? Gideon had loved Agatha before he understood what love was. He had given her his loyalty. His protection. His patience. His entire heart. He had never looked at another woman.

Never imagined another future. To him, there had never been anyone else. And still, it had not been enough. The letter slipped from his fingers. Darkness spread through the room. It began at his feet and crawled up the walls like living shadows.

The wooden floor trembled. Agatha’s mother gasped and clung to her husband. The windows rattled in their frames. A vase fell from the table and shattered.

“Gideon,” Agatha’s father warned.

But Gideon could no longer hear him clearly. His magic roared inside him, feeding on every wound opening in his heart. Love. Betrayal. Humiliation. Loss. She had not merely left. She had chosen someone else. She had chosen an enemy. A wolf. One of the savage creatures responsible for the deaths of their people. One of the beasts that crossed their lands with blood on their claws. A mutt. A barbaric thing that knew nothing of loyalty or honor.

And Agatha claimed to love him. Gideon’s hands curled into fists. The ground beneath the house shook harder. Cracks appeared in the floorboards. Black smoke coiled around his arms. His eyes darkened until little of their natural color remained.

Agatha’s mother called his name, but he ignored her. Images flashed through his mind. Agatha smiling at another man. Agatha allowing another man to touch her. Agatha whispering words of love to him. Agatha

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Chapter Ounderd Seaty Four

ehoosing him. A violent pressure built behind Gideon’s ribs.

Claim

He had spent years believing the absence of a magical response between him and Agatha did not matter. He had believed love was stronger. He had believed devotion could replace destiny. But now her magic had answered someone else’s. A wolf’s. Rage swallowed the last of his restraint.

“Who is he?” Gideon asked.

Agatha’s father did not answer. Gideon lifted his head. The darkness surrounding him thickened.

“Who is the wolf?”

“We do not know his true name,” her father said. “Only that he came from the western forest.”

“Where did they go?”

“We don’t know.”

The windows burst outward. Glass scattered across the ground outside. Agatha’s mother screamed. Gideon stood completely still in the center of the destruction. But inside, something had broken. Something that would never fully mend. He looked toward the open doorway. She could not have gone far. She had left during the night. There would be tracks. A magical trace. A scent. Something.

He would find them. He would follow them across every forest and mountain if necessary. He would bring Agatha back. He would make her understand that this was a mistake. That whatever bond she believed existed between her and the wolf was false.

A trick. A corruption. The wolf had taken advantage of her kindness. He had filled her mind with lies. He had stolen her from her family. From Gideon. And for that, he would pay. Gideon bent down and picked up the letter once more. His fingers crushed the paper.

“He took her,” Gideon whispered.

Agatha’s father watched him cautiously.

“Gideon-”

“He took what was mine.”

His voice no longer sounded like his own. It was deeper. Colder. Filled with the darkness now consuming

him.

“He poisoned her heart against me.”

Agatha’s mother shook her head through her tears.

“Agatha chose to leave.”

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