The Heartless Alpha’s Beloved Luna (Avery and Gideon) novel Chapter 434

Chapter 434

Avery’s POV

Gideon didn’t say anything right away. Instead, he just stared at me like I had two heads. Then, with more calmness than I expected, he walked to the window and stood there with his back to me, looking out at the workers in the distant fields.

Finally, he turned to look at me again. “That’s what you want?” he asked. “To be friends with benefits, basically?”

“It’s what makes sense,” I replied quietly. 2

“It’s not fair, Avery. To either of us.” 1

“Yeah, well, life isn’t particularly fair,” I said. “We both know that.”

“Taking advantage of each other’s bodies once a month isn’t a solution.”

“I didn’t say it was. But a bandaid wouldn’t hurt.”

He looked at me with an expression I couldn’t quite read. “You’d really be okay with that?” he asked. “Hooking up once a month during the full moon, and nothing else?”

I thought about last night. About how my wolf felt at peace for the first time in a lot longer than I wanted to admit. I thought about how, in ten years, not a single full moon had passed without this desperate ache burning in my heart, forcing me to pace back and forth in my bedroom or drink myself into a stupor or run until my legs gave out.

Because that was the truth. For ten years, every single full moon had been agony. I hid it well from most people, especially Bjorn, although my mother always saw it.

She was always there, sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of chamomile tea waiting for me, ready to listen if I needed to vent. She was always there to help me get to bed when I drank too much wine in a half-hearted attempt to staunch the agony. She was always waiting by the front door when I came home, limping from running halfway around the city like a madwoman.

For ten years, the full moon had been full of pain and desperation when it should have been simple and happy.

And last night was the first time in all those years where it actually felt that way. Even if a part of me regretted it now, I couldn’t regret it entirely. I knew it would happen again, and it would be even harder to deny ourselves next time, and maybe it was just easier if we allowed ourselves to give in once a month instead of fighting it forever.

“Avery.” Gideon’s voice snapped me out of my reverie. “Please tell me.”

I swallowed. “Our mate bond is still intact. The full moon isn’t going away. Fighting it is exhausting and, apparently, pointless.” I gestured at the room. “This was going to happen sooner or later regardless of what either of us wanted.”

Gideon looked at the room, then back at me. “So you’re saying we should just lean into it.”

“As long as we can both be practical about it, then yes.”

He let out a short breath that was almost a laugh, but not quite. “Practicality. That seems to be your motto as of late. Aren’t you worried that you’re just making things harder for yourself in the name of ‘practicality’?”

“Maybe,” I said, “but you saying you love me a few times isn’t just going to fix everything, either. So this is what I’m offering. Take it or leave it.”

He didn’t have an immediate answer for that. Good.

I crossed my arms. “Besides, the bond won’t last forever. Once it breaks, the arrangement needn’t continue.”

“Once it breaks,” he repeated slowly. “You mean once one of us marks someone else.”

I nodded once.

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“It won’t break,” he said, “not from my end, anyway, because I don’t intend to mark anyone. Do you?” z

“You’re really going to stand here and tell me you don’t intend to mark Fiona?”

“What? Of course not. She’s basically a child.”

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