The Heartless Alpha’s Beloved Luna (Avery and Gideon) novel Chapter 168

Chapter 168

Dierdra’s POV

My footsteps rang hollow on the stairs leading down from Avery’s apartment. If I’d had my choice, I would have put her in a basement unit. She deserved to be in the ground.

Anyone watching our interaction would have known that I had scored a mark when I had told her about the Culling. The fear that had hollowed out her eyes had been real. She knew she was in no shape to stand up to the pack if they called for her blood.

But my threats were also just that, unless I could actually manage to stir the pack to call for the culling, and I wasn’t sure I would be able to accomplish that. She had a frustratingly positive image in the village, despite having been absent during her recovery.

I needed to come up with a secondary plan.

Gideon had left to handle issues on the border, or at least that’s what he had claimed. I had a sneaking suspicion he just wanted to get away from me… from Avery and I both.

That infuriated me as well.

I just couldn’t understand what he saw in that girl. She was nothing. She came from nothing. She had no redeeming qualities, no exemplary skills, and while pretty, she was no great beauty.

And was I not his mate? (I mean, I wasn’t, but… you know what I mean) He believed me to be his mate, and that should have been everything to him, but I could tell that his heart wasn’t in it, and that terrified

1. me.

If my deception was discovered, if Gideon turned on me, I was so screwed. Even if he didn’t call for my death immediately, I would be exiled, or worse. I needed to make sure that could never happen.

Avery had her suspicions, though I had no idea how she had originally managed to reveal that my mark was an illusion. It was claimed she was a great healer, and yet she couldn’t even manage to heal herself, so I wasn’t impressed.

But it was unfortunate that she had managed to stumble across Zara and I in conference at the Alpha Ball. That wasn’t supposed to happen, and I’m still not sure whether she just got lucky or someone tipped her off. Regardless, it was clear that she had suspicions but hadn’t taken them to Gideon.

I still wasn’t sure what there was between them. There had been moments at the Alpha Ball where I had felt like there was some… connection. Yet, other than that questionable instance of Gideon using her restroom the morning after Reynaud had slipped her that drug Zara gave me, they barely interacted.

In every way that should matter, he should have been mine.

And yet.

I was a survivor, and my instincts were a large part of why I was still alive. Why, despite being a rogue, I was now Luna and Mate to the Alpha of Nightwolf.

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Chapter 168

+25 Bonus

So when my senses told me that something was a threat, I listened.

And they were screaming that Avery was a threat.

I needed to figure out a solution to that threat, and I knew just the person who could help me.

I climbed into the pack vehicle and set out for my scheduled rendez–vous. When I pulled into the secluded glade, I saw that the Silvermoon Luna had already arrived, and her new companion…

“Dierdra,” purred the man I knew only as the Rogue King, as I stepped into the isolated cabin, “You are looking well.” He looked me over with his one eye. The other was obscured behind an eyepatch, although it didn’t truly detract from his handsome face.

The Rogue King looked every inch an Alpha, and yet there was that air about him that screamed of the wilds. A Rogue’s energy. His strength didn’t come from pack hierarchy, but from his raw power.

He was incredibly dangerous, but, he was also my lifeline. Without him and Zara, I would still just be a captive rogue.

Zara was leaning against the table, her voluptuous form dressed smartly. She looked every inch the competent and powerful Luna.

They would have been a beautiful couple… if they had been together.

Zara’s Alpha, Ryan, was not privy to our secret meetings. Apparently he still harbored feelings for Avery, who he had thrown over when Zara had seduced him at the Full Mating Moon. It was still very juicy gossip within Silvermoon and I could tell it got under Zara’s skin.

She made up for it by being utterly ruthless.

“I need a plan,” I said, frustration seeping into my voice, “Despite everything, he still won’t dismiss her. Your attack was almost good enough, but you should have just killed her. Instead, now she’s recovering and Gideon feels sorry for her, although I was able to get her removed from the pack house.”

“She must not be killed,” the Rogue King’s voice was commanding in the sort of way that made my spine. stiffen and the hair on the back of my neck rise, “If I find out that she dies on your watch…”

I blanched at the threat in his words, “Tell me what I need to do.”

When I pulled back into the driveway at the Nightwolf pack house, I flicked off the pack vehicle lights before putting the car in pack. I was surprised to see Gideon’s car was in its customary spot. Had he returned then?

I stepped out of the car and walked up to the front door, but some instinct told me to hide, and I ducked behind a tree just in time to see Avery coming down the path. She passed within feet of me, but didn’t notice me.

When she was gone, I breathed a sigh of relief. If she had caught me returning from Silvermoon, it would

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Chapter 168

+25 Bonus

have been unfortunate. I needed to get rid of her, and bind Gideon to me more completely, before I was caught and accused of treason.

I wondered what she had been up to in my absence. I would need to check with my informants and see if they knew.

I returned to my quarters and bumped into Gideon stepping into the hallway.

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