The Heartless Alpha's Beloved Luna Novel

---- Chapter 184 Avery's POV The sun was setting on another day of hard work. I stretched wearily, feeling my shirt draw tight over chafed skin. My shoulders and back ached from bending low over my tasks. I walked over to my water bottle and chugged it, grateful for the cool water. I was eager to collapse into my bed. To go unconscious for a few hours, and then repeat it all the next day. These endless days had stretched into endless weeks, and I had found the pattern of survival. Eat, sleep, work, repeat. It was mindless, endless punishment.

Was this how my mother had felt, most of her life, I wondered? She, too, had been relegated to the rank of omega slave, and had worked her entire life for the dubious honor of remaining in the pack where her daughter lived. Was I merely walking in her footsteps? I grimaced at the sky, the edges of my mouth curling back as I tried to will the fatigue to leave my body. "Tt's good to see you smiling," came a familiar voice from behind me. I turned, stiffly, to see Gideon watching me from the path a few feet away.

Ithadn't been a smile, it had been a rictus of pain, but he was far and had misread my expression. No doubt, we had become little ---- more than strangers to each other. It had been weeks since we had last talked. Alpha," I licked my dry lips, nodded. It was all he would get from me for now. We eyed each other warily. I wondered what bad news he had come to deliver this time? Perhaps we were finally getting divorced? Or maybe I would be exiled. Truly, anything was better than these endless days of toil. Though, as I rolled my stiff shoulders, I noted that I was getting stronger.

I could once more feel the comforting presence of my wolf lurking in the back of my mind. I took her presence as a positive sign that I was finally starting to recover. For a while I had been terrified that not only was my body irrevocably broken, but also that my wolf had retreated far within me, never to re-emerge. She had told me to get stronger, and instead I had been grievously injured. Gideon continued to stare, observing me as I gathered up my jacket and water, the remains of my lunch pail. When I went to walk down the path towards my apartment, and a welcome shower, he shook his head.

"Come to the pack house, I have something to discuss." Istared longingly towards my home in the village. I didn't want to head up the hill to the pack house. My legs were tired, and I didn't have any interest in seeing her, Dierdra. She was a vengeful wraith that haunted that house. ---- Nonetheless, I obediently trailed Gideon up the hill, into the pack house, up the stairs, and into his office. Once inside, I hovered awkwardly. I was sweaty and covered in dirt. If I sat, T would stain the chair in Gideon' s office.

He didn't seem to note my discomfort, however, and sat in his chair on the other side of the desk. "{ am preparing to attend the Alpha Council," he said, running a hand through his hair. I noticed he had started wearing it longer, and wondered if that was Dierdra's preference. "The same Alpha Council as the ball we attended?" I wondered. Gideon nodded. "This is more of a governance meeting instead of a social function, but yes. It is expected that all the major pack Alphas and Lunas attend." "T see," I said. I didn't. Why was he telling me this?

"As Luna, you are required to accompany me," Gideon said finally. He didn't look happy about it. "T thought Dierdra- anymore. " T wondered out loud. I wasn't Luna "She... cannot attend," Gideon declined to elaborate further. "Because of her pregnancy?" | asked. Gideon just stared at me, his mouth pressed into a flat line. "Something like that," he conceded finally, with a nod. "We will ---- leave tomorrow. Pack what you need and meet here at the pack house at 9 a.m." Istared at him, wide-eyed.

I was to go with him back to that sweeping estate where the Alphas and Lunas played their complex social games with each other. The last time I had been thrown in their midst, it had been overwhelming. I didn't particularly want to go back.