The Heartless Alpha’s Beloved Luna

Chapter 196 Avery's POV The air in the cabin dropped with sudden chill as Gideon froze at my question. I resisted the urge to slap my hand over my mouth. Ihadn't really meant to ask the question, and so early in our trip too... I felt as though I had already ruined everything before it even got started. But there my question hung, as though it had frozen solid in the frosty air that had rushed into the gaping abyss between us.

"Why did you refuse to divorce me?" regretted the question, not because I didn't want to know the answer- in fact I was keenly interested in what Gideon had to say- but I did regret that this felt as though I had taken the frail, fragile thing that was trying to grow between us and crushed it beneath my heel. There was a long delay during which I found it hard to look at Gideon directly. It stretched long enough I was able to scrape together my courage and glanced at his face.

The morning sunshine was streaming through his side of the car, and it highlighted his sharp jawline, recently shaved. It also had the unfortunate effect of shadowing his eyes, so that it was hard for me to tell where he was looking. But the shadows did nothing to hide the clenching of his jaw, or the tension on his handsome face as he appeared to be wrestling with how to answer my question. Perhaps he, too, was reluctant ---- to bring something so harsh as the truth into this delicate situation.

vital to our long-standing traditions and is key to our security." How romantic. He didn't add anything more, and eventually just turned and stared at the landscape outside the window, leaving me

could have been a hopeful thought, but I scoffed at my own pathetic optimism. Sure, it would be nice to think that perhaps the Alpha of Nightwolf had secret feelings for me, but if they were so hard to admit,

spent most of his time pretending I didn't exist would go on this trip with me and suddenly, now that we were alone, be the person I had hoped he would be? Iwas naive to think that being alone together would change anything. Still, his