A Jealous Alpha's Pursuit

Gideon's POV

The sickening crack of Nora slapping Maeve’s pale face right before my eyes ignited an explosive roar of untamed fury from my inner wolf, Vance. I had convinced myself over the past few months that I was over Maeve. I truly believed the only emotion left burning in my chest for her was a cold, calculating hatred. But seeing the angry red handprint blooming across her delicate cheek made my own heart ache with unexplainable intensity.

When Nora had the audacity to raise her arm high into the air for a second vicious strike, my reflexes took over before my brain could process the action. I shot forward. My hand closed around her wrist in an iron-clad, crushing grip, stopping her dead in her tracks.

"Alpha Gideon?" Nora gasped, eyes wide with shock.

Suppressing Vance’s bloodthirsty anger that demanded I tear the woman apart, I forcefully reminded Nora in a calm, lethal tone, "Maeve is still officially the Luna of the Iron Fang Pack. How dare you assault her right in front of her Alpha?"

Sensing the dangerous shift in the room’s atmosphere, Sadie reached out and grabbed my tense arm. She attempted to play her usual charm on me, her voice dripping with fake conciliation. "Oh, c'mon, Gideon. Don't be so serious. Nora was merely punishing her for disrespecting me. Besides, you are about to officially reject her anyway, so her title shouldn't matter."

I shifted my heavy gaze down to Sadie, shaking off her touch. My voice was devoid of any warmth as I flatly stated, "As long as the formal rejection ceremony is not completed, Maeve remains my Luna."

I purposefully used the very word Maeve had thrown at her moments ago. "Because you are a filthy rogue, you naturally can't comprehend the immense weight of that pack status. Let me lay out the brutal truth of our world for you. Blatantly insulting or striking a reigning Luna is equivalent to declaring an open, bloody war on the entire pack."

Flushed a deep, ugly red and embarrassed by my deliberate use of the rogue label in front of her future stepmother, Sadie desperately lashed out. She ordered Nora, "Apologize to Alpha Gideon immediately!"

Inside my mind, Vance raged. *The pathetic bitch owes our true mate the apology, not us!* he snarled.

Yet, despite my aggressive defense of her honor, Maeve stood still. She watched the chaotic scene unfold with a deadpan, lifeless expression, oblivious or uncaring that I was defending her against her own mother.

Suddenly, the sharp cry of a baby shattered the heavy air of the foyer. Our argument had woken him. The piercing sound echoed off the high ceilings, drawing everyone's attention.

Maeve’s head snapped toward the sound. She rushed over to the expensive stroller parked in the hallway shadow, her body freezing into rigid shock as she looked down into the carriage. Slowly, she jerked her head back up. Her eyes locked onto mine with a look of such profound, pained disbelief that it felt like a silver blade twisting in my gut. She knew.

Without uttering a single word, she spun on her heel and fled blindly down the hall, slamming the heavy wooden door of the guest bathroom behind her. The lock clicked.

Inside my head, Vance began to curse. Panic clawed at his mind as he paced. *I can't feel her! Gideon, I can no longer feel the presence of her wolf! Nyx has grown dangerously weak!*

When Maeve finally emerged from the bathroom minutes later, she looked shockingly thin. Her face was drained of any remaining color, resembling a walking ghost haunting the hallway.

Unable to stop myself, the question slipped past my lips. "You good?" I couldn't help but ask, genuine concern bleeding through my carefully constructed facade.

"None of your business," she replied, her voice dropping to a temperature that rivaled absolute zero.

Brushing past me with feeble, trembling steps, she stopped abruptly at the front door. She turned to face me with a look of earnest exhaustion.

"I want to get the rejection ceremony done as soon as possible," she stated clearly, her voice eerily steady. "Meet me at the Council of Elders whenever you are finally available. Marrying you was the biggest, most catastrophic mistake I have ever made in my life. Every day spent as your mate feels like a curse. Now I just want to put a permanent end to it while I still can."

With that final devastating blow, she walked out into the night. Her eyes were so icy it was as if she were looking at a total stranger rather than the man she once loved.

A suffocating panic clawed at my chest, tightening around my lungs. She was my fated mate. How the hell could she stop loving me before we even formally rejected each other?

Every instinct screamed at me to chase after her, to grab her and demand she take it back. But the unbidden memory of Siena's tragic, lifeless body suddenly flashed before my eyes, her waxen face a brutal reminder of the past, reigniting the deep-seated hatred for Maeve's father, Arthur. That bitter grudge anchored my boots heavily to the marble floor. I clenched my fists until my knuckles turned stark white, desperately trying to force myself not to care that she was walking away.

But Vance wouldn't stop urging me, howling in my mind to go get our mate.

Eventually, the crushing worry and primal instinct overcame the bitter hatred. Ignoring the stunned looks of Sadie and Nora, I forcefully yanked open the front door and sprinted out into the cool night air to follow Maeve.

To my surprise, she hadn't managed to get very far. Her frail body had collapsed in a heap at the edge of the curb.

Just as I was about to rush forward to scoop her up, a tall, broad-shouldered man jogged over from the nearby intersection and gently helped her up from the pavement.

Under the harsh glow of the streetlight, I recognized him instantly. The man's gentle, tender gaze fixed on Maeve was crystal clear. In that single second, a dark, violent, and all-consuming jealousy devoured my sanity.