The Silver Wolf (Diana and Talon) novel Chapter 165

Chapter One Hundred Sixty Five

Months passed.

Long, bitter months filled with sleepless nights, empty trails, and promises of violence whispered into the darkness. Gideon had been searching for seven months. Seven months since Agatha had disappeared from the coven. Seven months since she had left behind the letter that destroyed everything he believed his life would become. Seven months since she had chosen a wolf over him.

At first, Gideon believed he would find her quickly. Agatha had never traveled far beyond their coven before. She knew little about the surrounding territories, and even less about the lands belonging to wolves. Gideon convinced himself that she would soon realize her mistake. She would become frightened. She would miss her family. She would remember him. Perhaps she would return willingly before he even found her.

But the days passed. Then the weeks. And still, there was no sign of her. Gideon searched the forests surrounding their territory first.

He followed every trail. Examined every footprint. Questioned every traveler who passed near the village.

He searched abandoned cottages, caves, temples, and old hunting shelters. He crossed rivers and climbed mountains, convinced that Agatha and the wolf could not have gone far. Yet every path eventually disappeared. Every scent faded. Every clue led to nothing.

Agatha had always been gifted with herbs and potions. She knew how to hide tracks, mask scents, and conceal magical traces. If she wished to disappear, few witches possessed the knowledge to find her.

But Gideon refused to give up. He began visiting other covens. Some welcomed him because of his family’s reputation. Others treated him cautiously, unsettled by the darkness that seemed to follow wherever he went.

At each coven, he asked the same questions. Had they recently accepted a new white witch? Had anyone arrived seeking shelter?

Had a healer with dark hair and gentle eyes passed through their territory? Had anyone heard of a woman named Agatha?

Most denied knowing anything. Some permitted him to search. Others refused. Those who refused soon learned how little patience Gideon had left.

He invaded their memories. He tore through protective wards. He threatened leaders and frightened children. He used shadows to follow witches who attempted to hide information from him.

Every time he discovered that they truly knew nothing, his rage only deepened. Agatha could have entered any coven without suspicion. She could have hidden the wolf’s scent with a potion. She could have claimed to be traveling alone. She could have offered her healing skills in exchange for shelter, and no one would have questioned her. Agatha had always been trusted easily. Her gentle face and compassionate nature made others feel safe.

The thought filled Gideon with bitterness. They would welcome her. They would protect her. They might even help her remain hidden from him. And the wolf could be living nearby, visiting her under the cover of darkness while Gideon searched uselessly from one coven to another.

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Still, he continued. He pushed through the pain. The betrayal. The humiliation. Whenever exhaustion Threatened to stop him, he remembered the words in her letter.

I found my mate.

My magic accepted him.

And his wolf accepted me.

But I love him.

Those words became a wound that never closed. Each time Gideon repeated them, the wound opened wider. He had loved Agatha for his entire life, yet she had abandoned him after only a few secret meetings with a wolf. Everyone knew what had happened. The entire coven whispered about it. They had expected Gideon and Agatha’s binding to unite two powerful families. They had spoken about their future children and the extraordinary magic their union might produce.

Now, whenever Gideon returned from another failed search, he could feel people watching him. Some pitied him. Others feared him. A few quietly mocked him when they believed he could not hear. The great Gideon had been rejected. The most powerful dark witch of his generation had lost his promised bride to a savage wolf. The humiliation burned almost as fiercely as the betrayal. He needed to bring Agatha home. He needed everyone to see that she still belonged beside him. She was his. No one had the right to take what belonged to him. Not a wolf. Not fate. Not even Agatha herself.

His family tried to reason with him. The coven elders ordered him to end the search. Agatha’s father eventually stopped asking for updates, his grief hardening into silence. Even those who had once supported Gideon began telling him the same thing.

Accept her decision. Forget her. Choose another woman. Move on.

But Gideon could not. His heart would not accept it. His magic would not accept it. The darkness within him refused to release her.

Agatha was his love. His promised one. His heart. His future. He had shaped every dream around her.

Without her, he possessed power but no purpose. Strength but no peace. A future that felt empty and meaningless.

And as the months passed, something inside Gideon began to change. At first, the darkness had merely responded to his emotions.

When his anger rose, shadows gathered around him. When his grief became unbearable, the earth trembled beneath his feet. But eventually, the darkness no longer waited for his command. It followed him constantly. It whispered while he slept. It spoke whenever he was alone.

Sometimes the voice sounded like his own. Other times, it sounded ancient. Hollow. Hungry.

She betrayed you.

The voice would whisper from the corners of his room.

She made you weak.

The wolf stole her.

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Chapter Operandied Sixty Five

Bring her back.

Make him suffer.

Claim

Gideon knew no one else could hear it. He once asked another witch whether they had heard someone speaking in the forest beside them. The witch stared at him with confusion and fear. After that, Gideon stopped asking. He told himself the voices were only his thoughts. They were the result of exhaustion. Grief. Rage. Nothing more. Yet with each passing day, they grew louder.

Sometimes he would awaken with dirt beneath his nails and no memory of leaving his bed. Sometimes he would find strange markings carved into the walls of his chamber. Other times he would discover that objects had moved without his command.

The darkness inside him was growing. And some part of Gideon knew he was losing control. But he no longer cared. If the darkness helped him find Agatha, he would embrace it. If it gave him the strength to destroy the wolf, he would feed it everything it demanded. His soul. His sanity. His remaining humanity.

Nothing mattered more than bringing Agatha back.

One cold morning, Gideon prepared to leave the coven again. He had received word of a small settlement several days north where strangers were sometimes permitted to stay without revealing their family names. He intended to search every house and question every witch. He carried a leather bag containing potions, herbs, weapons, and several enchanted objects he had created during his search. As he walked toward the coven boundary, someone called his name.

“Gideon.”

He stopped. Agatha’s mother stood outside her home. She had changed greatly during the past seven

months.

Grief had hollowed her cheeks. Silver strands had begun appearing in her hair. Her once-bright eyes now looked tired and distant.

Gideon had avoided her whenever possible. She reminded him too much of Agatha. The shape of her face. The gentleness of her voice. The way she held her hands together when worried.

“What do you want?” Gideon asked.

She flinched at the coldness in his tone but forced herself to step closer.

“You need to stop.”

His expression hardened.

“Stop what?”

“Searching.”

The air around Gideon immediately grew colder. Agatha’s mother swallowed nervously.

“It has been seven months.”

“I am aware.”

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“You have searched every coven within weeks of travel. You have questioned merchants, healers, hunters, and wanderers You have crossed into territories where you were not welcome.”

“And I will continue.”

She shook her head.

“Gideon, you are destroying yourself.”

He stared at her without emotion.

“She is still out there.”

“Yes.”

“Then I will find her.”

“People who do not want to be found hide well,” she said softly.

The sentence struck him like an insult. The shadows beneath his feet shifted. Agatha’s mother saw the movement and took an instinctive step backward. Gideon noticed. For the first time since he had been a child, he saw fear in her eyes when she looked at him. Not concern. Not sadness. Fear. Once, she had treated him like a son. She had welcomed him into her home, fed him, praised him, and laughed whenever he and Agatha argued over something foolish. Now she looked at him as though he were a creature she no longer recognized. Perhaps he should have felt ashamed. Instead, he felt angry.

“Move on?” he asked quietly. “Is that what you came here to tell me?”

Her lips trembled.

“You must accept what happened.”

“Accept it?”

His voice rose. The wind began circling them, lifting dead leaves from the ground.

“Do you understand what you are saying, woman?”

She stiffened at the disrespect, but Gideon no longer cared.

“Your daughter abandoned her family. She abandoned her duties. She abandoned the future promised to her”

“She chose another life.”

“She was deceived”

“You do not know that”

“I know Agatha”

His eyes darkened until they appeared almost black.

“I know she would never willingly betray me.”

Chapter Open Sirty Five

Agatha’s mother stared at him with sorrow.

“She did not belong to you, Gideon.”

The shadows around him surged. Severat-nearby branches snapped.

“She was promised to me.”

“A promise made by our families when you were children.”

“She accepted it.”

“Perhaps she believed she had no other choice.”

Gideon stepped toward her. She immediately stepped back.

“She is mine.”

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