The Heartless Alpha’s Beloved Luna (Avery and Gideon) novel Chapter 262

Chapter 262

Avery’s POV

The silver made my wolf snarl and recoil. Or maybe that was just the coldness of the ring settling around my finger like an icy dagger pressed to my skin. For a moment, I almost wished he had cut my finger off instead.

“Let go of her,” Asher said, gesturing to his guard. The guard lifted his boot off my back, and Asher extended his hands to me. “Let me help you up.”

I ignored the offer and stood, dusting myself off. My mind raced. If I rejected the proposal, I wasn’t sure what Asher might do Probably take what he wanted anyway and make it a lot more miserable for me.

And for my baby.

But if I played along… then maybe I could find a way out of this. I just needed to bide my time until the right moment. Someone was sure to come for me. Gideon would find me if I could escape first.

I decided that it would be safest to play into Asher’s schemes. So, even though my stomach was still twisting with a mix of dread and pain, I met his gaze evenly.

“Fine. I’ll marry you.”

Asher’s good eye glimmered. “Just like that?”

“I have conditions,” I said coolly.

He didn’t respond, so I took it to mean that he might hear me out. Might.

“First,” I said, “I want to hold off on the mating ceremony until the next Dark Moon,”

“The Dark Moon?” Asher blinked at me. “The full moon would be-”

“It’s too much of a reminder of the night out… our tribe was taken from us.” I pursed my lips. “My second condition: I don’t want you to touch me until then. Not sexually. And not otherwise.”

Asher stared at me for a long moment, brow crinkling around his eyepatch as he narrowed his eyes. I forced my expression to remain calm even though my heart was pounding. He wasn’t going to accept my conditions. Why would he? I was already his captor, weakened and outnumbered. Technically, he could do whatever he wanted.

But to my surprise, he nodded. “Very well. I think that’s reasonable. Our pups will be

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Chapter 262

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stronger if we wait to conceive until after we’re marked. The Dark Moon would be… interesting, but I’m not opposed to it.”

That was the other thing.

Pups.

Asher wanted to impregnate me. For obvious reasons, I couldn’t let that happen. Furthermore, it was impossible. I was already pregnant.

I had to keep my baby hidden. If he was so concerned about impregnating me with his own pups, then who knew what he might do to mine?

Asher led me back to the encampment after that. By the time we returned, it was getting late. The moon was a fingernail hanging in the sky. It was waxing, which meant that I had time before the mating ceremony-enough time to get out of here. Whether by my own doing or someone else’s, it didn’t matter. I just needed to get

out.

“This will be your home for now,” Asher said, stopping in front of a tent that was close to his. This one was much smaller than his, but still quite a bit larger than the others. When he opened the flap to let me in I was surprised to find that it was furnished with a comfortable-looking bed piled with furs, and there was a small eating area as well as a bathtub and chamber pot hidden behind an ornate screen. The stolen rugs were plush under my sore feet.

Asher stopped in the entryway, watching as I looked around. When I turned back to him, he was still smiling that possessive smile. His good eye gleamed with self- satisfaction. He looked rather like a cat that had caught a canary. Toying with his meal,

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