The Heartless Alpha’s Beloved Luna

Chapter 102 Avery's POV | barely slept that night. Something was burning in the back of my mind. The whole interaction with Dierdra had been....off. | rose from my bed still unable to shake the feeling that something more was going on. It was hard not to second-guess my intuition. Was there actually something wrong with Gideon's mate, or did | just want that to be the case because | didn't like her? Her mark had flickered under my healing... No, there had to be something there.

| tore through the books Sofia had given me, looking for something that might give me a clue what could be causing my suspicions to flare. | should have been dressing for the day of my wedding. There was a family brunch in an hour, but instead, | curled up on the window seat in my room and flipped through pages desperately. Time was almost up when | found what | was looking for in the book titled 'Selene the Blessed'. The book was a collection of myths about a woman blessed by the Moon Goddess.

---- Unlike me, she was never mated, never marked by a wolf, but at one point in her legend she was brought before a Wolf King who intended to marry her against her will. She didn't want to marry him, and the legend said she used a potion to create a fake mark on her neck. At the end of the story, after she escaped the Wolf King who wouldn't take a marked bride, Selene touched the mark with her moon healing magic and it disappeared.

mate mark could not be removed involuntarily. Therefore... the mate mark on Dierdra's neck wasn't a true mate mark. What could it be, then? The legend didn't explain exactly how Selene faked her mark, but | wondered... could there be some similar magic that Dierdra had used? There was a knock at my door, "Avery? Are you coming to breakfast?" Crap. It

a mark, perhaps it was in here. "Ok, don't be too slow!" Camila called, grumpily. | had caused her favorite brother to be expelled from

Brand'. | rapidly skimmed over the ingredients. Some of these were pretty hard to find. Had Dierdra done this to herself? Or was someone helping her? "Avery? Everyone's waiting!" Camila was back, and this time sounded even more disgruntled. "| just split a zipper!" | said quickly, "m changing dresses!" "Ok, well hurry up!" | listened to her footsteps stomp

lines and memorized the process. It would take a few hours to brew. A plan was forming in my head as | dressed quickly. | would need to buy myself some time... | appeared in the door of the dining room with my best apologetic smile. "So sorry to keep you waiting," | said to the room full of guests. | saw Gideon seated at the head of the table and forced myself to keep smiling as my eyes skimmed over Dierdra by his side. Your time is coming, | thought to myself