The Heartless Alpha’s Beloved Luna

Chapter 5 Avery's POV The key turning in my door seemed obscenely loud. When Zara stepped in, her face bore a haughty and pleased expression. My stomach sank. This wouldn't be good. "Lucky you. You get to live a little longer." She informed me, dumping a pile of clothing onto the bed. "Your marriage has been decided." So. They had found some unlucky but obliging wolf to foist me onto. I tried to stir up an emotion, but all I felt was relief that I wasn't going to die. Until she told me who it was. "You will marry Alpha Gideon." Zara crowed triumphantly. A flare of panic raced through me.

My fingers trembled where they gripped the blankets. It can't be! The man is ruthless! I might as well die anyways! Zara looked at my pale face and laughed. "Oh yes, you're the only woman he would agree to marry." She stepped to the bed where I sat and pulled me to my feet. "Get up, Bride-to-be! It's your lucky day!" she sneered. I clutched at Zara's arm frantically as she hauled me up. "Zara, if he discovers that I was marked, he will kill me," I pleaded. "Actually, he won't mark you because he has a marked mate already. Who knows what happened to her!

I bet you will enjoy all the drama." My stepsister laughed in my face, "And if he still finds out you were marked, just kill yourself before he tortures you to death." Zara snatched my hairbrush from my dresser and began attacking the knots in my hair. She twisted my hair up into a pile on top of my head and secured it with a clip. Then she held out a formal dress from the pile of clothing she'd brought. "Get dressed. Your fiancé is waiting, and he doesn't look like a patient man." When she was done preparing me I didn't recognize the woman staring at me in the mirror.

of the dress clung to my body suggestively and the flashy beading and high neck of the collar sent the whole outfit into "trying too hard" territory. I had always preferred simple styles that weren't so flashy. A dress like this was not something I would ever have chosen for myself. None of this was. You

to the ceremony hall was lined with members of the pack. They milled about nervously, anticipation thick in the

my mother when she could. I wished I could tell her everything but that would only put her in danger as well. Although it felt like I had no true choice at all, I could choose not to endanger anyone else. I hugged her tightly instead, trying to put all of my gratitude and friendship into the embrace

figure sent a pang of ice through my heart. Maybe one day it wouldn't hurt to look at him and remember how foolishly I'd loved and believed him. Ryan squared his shoulders and stared at me with disdain as we approached. "How quickly you've changed, Avery." He said in a snide, cold voice. "It took no time at all for you to cling to another Alpha." There had been a time when Ryan had claimed to