The Heartless Alpha’s Beloved Luna

Chapter 228 Avery's POV The night of the full moon arrived and I found myself unexpectedly nervous as I was getting ready. My first wedding night had been full of anything but romance. I had been fighting for my own survival within the pack. Dierdra had just been 'rescued', and I knew no one would believe my suspicions about her and her mark. I had been frantically trying to brew an antidote, the one that was ultimately used to unmask her, and my thoughts were entirely concerned with warning Gideon. This time there were no guests to greet, no feast afterwards.

There would be no witnesses to the ceremony, and no formal pack alliance paperwork to sign. All of our contracts had already been ratified. So why did this ceremony feel more terrifying than the last? Perhaps with all the 'extras' stripped away, I was forced to confront what lay at the core of this act of matrimony. Tonight it would be just Gideon and I, under the full moon, pledging ourselves to each other in a real relationship. Why was that so frightening? Perhaps it was because our entire relationship had always been confined by our roles.

Gideon as the Alpha, I as his contracted bride and Luna. We had forged what we'd built so far on the backs of our and never had to deal with the people underneath them. I knew my value, and yet there was a part of me that wondered if Gideon would still be interested in Avery, the person, when the labels had been stripped away?

to build something new on the back of a foundation that had been torn down and rebuilt so many times at this point that I couldn't help but wonder if what we were doing was making it stronger, or risking bringing the whole thing crashing down on our heads. I smoothed my simple dress down over my body, rubbing my palms along my

his body stilled, "Avery," he reached out a hand towards me and

Gideon was here with me. His firm hand drew me outside and led me to his car where he helped me inside before crossing

to show you," he said, glancing over at me in the passenger's seat, "It's not very far." I watched as twilight settled over the trees as we rolled through the forest. We must not be very far from the Silvermoon pack border, I realized. Finally Gideon rolled the car down an access road