The Heartless Alpha’s Beloved Luna

Chapter 169 Avery's POV I walked all over the village that day. 1 couldn't say why, for sure. My body needed to do something to keep me from staring at the wall and waiting for the worst to happen. I was still too weak to actively train on the training grounds, my injuries too severe to use the weights or the exercise equipment. Now that I was removed from the role of Luna, I had more time than I knew what to do with. I walked to the gardens, looked at the growing things, but there was little for me to do there.

I walked to the kitchens and lingered until the cook told me I was in the way and drove me out. At least, I thought, the walking was some form of exercise. Somehow, though, I doubted it would be enough to transform my wolf and save me from the culling. Dierdra's visit had lodged in my brain like a splinter. Even when I wanted to forget about it, my mind kept poking at it. 1 hated that she'd managed to get under my skin, that she had been correct in some way. I tried to just focus on putting one foot in front of the other.

I walked up and down both sides of the main street in the village, until I started getting odd looks. Then I decided to walk up to the ---- pack house. That was a bad idea. Approaching the door brought back so many memories. Of the first time I had entered this house with Gideon. Of the time he had burst in, thinking that I had been meeting with someone in secret. Of the appearance of the rogue captives, and the arrival of Dierdra... Most of the memories were painful. So why did I miss him so much?

If Dierdra's words were a splinter in my mind, then Gideon was a whole-ass tree, growing out of my brain. I couldn't ignore it, I could only work around it. Darkness was falling. I turned away from the Pack House door and began my dreary trudge back into town. No one spoke to me, though a few pack members nodded in greeting as I passed. To them, I was the downfallen Luna, and they feared getting too close lest I drag them down with me. Their fears were well founded, since Dierdra had a vindictive streak a mile wide. Theard steps behind me on the sidewalk, but I didn't bother to turn.

to me here. Therefore I was startled when someone grabbed my elbow and spun me around. I jumped, and then winced, as the movement tugged on my healing arm. ---- The person who had grabbed me hastily dropped my arm, as though they had just remembered that I was wounded. Iraised my eyes. It was Gideon. He stared at me with eyes dark as stormclouds. "Did you take the pack car to Silvermoon to see Ryan?" he demanded. No 'hello'. No 'how are you healing now that my fake-mate has forced you

door and up the stairs. I decided to treat him the way one might a stray cat that followed you home, and put a drink and food in front of him absentmindedly. "You didn't answer me," Gideon glared, though he did begin forking the meal immediately. He looked hungry, and tired, and irritated. "What do you want

being Dierdra, I assumed. Of course. "aren't you having

marriage, you have slept with someone who isn't your wife, you

slightest about my well- being, physically or emotionally. You only care about what I can do for you!" I realized my voice had rose over the course of