The Heartless Alpha's Beloved Luna Novel

---- Chapter 78 Gideon's POV The pain was incredible. Wounds were a familiar part of my life. You don't get to be werewolf Alpha without many battles. This wasn't even the worst wound I'd received. | had scars all over my body from injuries that were more mortal than this. This was one of the few times that | had been injured with silver, however, and the way it set every part of me on fire was heart- stopping. | could feel the poison advancing through my system, creeping towards my heart.

| hoped that my magical healing could stop it before it killed me, but there was a terrifying doubt in the back of my mind that there would be enough time. Of course, | couldn't say any of this in front of Avery. | didn't want to scare her. She was terrified enough. The way her eyes had looked at me when she was working up the courage to ask her question... She had looked haunted. Like she was steeling herself for more bad news. It was clear that she had thought that | had slept with Zara. Certainly, her vampish half-sister had tried to tease me into ---- shifting my loyalty.

Unfortunately for Zara, | wasn't easily shifted. The increased pressure from Silvermoon was unprecedented. For generations they had been one of our strongest allies. When they had given Avery to me for my bride, they hadn't seemed to care much about giving her up. It had been downright insulting the way they had acted like she was trash they were foisting onto me. But clearly, Ryan, the Silvermoon Alpha, had some lingering feelings. He kept trying to lure Avery back.

In the face of his inconstancy, Zara had felt her own position threatened, and she had thought to seduce me to secure a better position in Nightwolf. | couldn't understand that way of thinking, but | could see the path that had led them to their choices. Avery was who | didn't understand. In some ways, knowing that she had tried to run away from me was a relief. She had acted in a manner that was predictable. | had left her few outlets for escape, so | suppose | wasn't that surprised when she'd finally taken one. It was why I had asked Tegan to follow her. Where was my Beta, anyway?

| hadn't seen any sign of him in the struggle. | had come when I'd heard a howl, but it was possible he had fled back to Nightwolf to try and find me. ---- Now that this mist had rolled in, that would be very difficult. We would have to wait until it cleared to head back to the pack. Of course, | would be hauling Avery back with me. Her attempts at independence, while admirable, would not do. | needed her for my bride, and that was that. But the torment she continued to receive from her former pack was provoking. Not just for her, but for me.

It stirred dissension and threatened the careful peace | had spent my life guarding. Here in the northern wilds, unnecessarily weakening a pack in any manner was treasonous. Resources were scarce, and our communities were our survival. Silvermoon was suicidal to keep threatening the status quo, especially with the rising rogue threat. My thoughts were derailed by another sharp pain. | could feel the volume of blood increasing as it poured out of me. Avery was doing her best, but the silver was accelerating the deterioration of the wound.

"Please, Goddess" she whispered, and something warm and lovely bloomed in the middle of the pain. | snapped my head up to look at her. "Say it again." | prompted. Her hands started to glow with moonlight. | had never seen anything like it. It was like she was gilded in silver. ---- "Avery, your hands." Moonlight coursed down from the celestial sky, cutting through the mist and brushing over my shoulder. The relief was immediate. If you've ever been in constant pain that suddenly shut off, you understand what | mean. The absence of it took my breath away.

Avery crawled towards me, pressing her hands softly to my shoulder. Soft warmth spread through that side of my body. Instead of stabbing torment, now | could feel my healing accelerating. The tide of the silver fever was turning.