The Heartless Alpha's Beloved Luna Novel

---- 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.

| had assumed that the mark on Dierdra's neck had flickered under my healing magic because marks were essentially unhealed wounds, but as | read further, the book explicitly stated that a true 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 was Camila, Gideon's sister.

| was running late for the wedding brunch. "I'll be down in a minute!" | called as | dove for the book of ---- potions titled "Panacea Obscura". If there was a potion that could create 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 the pack, so she had been more than a little cold towards me lately. | flipped through the potion grimoire in a panic. Slow minutes ticked by. | was definitely going to be late. Finally | found it! There, in a section focusing on Charms and Illusions, there was.

a recipe for something called the 'Indelible 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 back down the hall while | raced through the next few pages trying to see if... aha! There was a section on an antidote that would remove the illusion.

---- | ran my finger over the 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 while giving her a gracious nod on my way to my seat on Gideon's other side.

"You look..." Gideon paused, searching my face, "...better. You had me concerned last night." | gave him a smile, "Oh, must have been wedding nerves." | waved my hand as though it was of no consequence. His jaw clenched and he seemed unconvinced. Dierdra swiveled her head towards our conversation, "Oh, but isn't this wedding just a formality? Gideon made it seem like..." she trailed off delicately and | raised my eyebrows at her. "Like...?" | pressed. ---- "Well, it's not a real marriage, you're just marrying for the pack alliance, right?" Her expression was all innocence.

"That's an interesting take," | murmured, looking between her and Gideon, "I suppose if | was just an imposter, | wouldn't feel much at all." 2