The Heartless Alpha’s Beloved Luna (Avery and Gideon) novel Chapter 444

Chapter 444

Avery’s POV

The fire was already lit in the small stone fireplace when Gideon came in, although it was low, nearly embers by now. I shut the door behind Gideon and walked over to the fireplace, stabbing at the coals with the pokers until a few flames shot up.

“Cold?” he asked.

I glanced at him over my shoulder. “I like having the light at night.”

He nodded slowly, then set the wine and glasses on the little table near the armchairs and uncorked it with a small corkscrew he had in his pocket. We didn’t say anything while he poured. I sat first, tucking my feet up under me. Gideon handed me a glass and sat in the other chair.

For a while, neither of us spoke. The fire popped and shifted. The wine was good. Dry, not too sweet, just the way I liked it. I’d drank half of it before Gideon broke the silence.

“So. Long day.”

I almost laughed at the simplicity of it. “Something like that.”

He turned his glass in his fingers. “I’m sorry for brushing you off that day when you said you saw Deirdre’s lookalike. She had work done, but… it was her.”

I grimaced a little. “It’s me who should be sorry. You’re the one she tried to take advantage of.”

Gideon cringed slightly, sipping his wine. “Well, it’s over now.”

“You think it’ll be that easy?” I asked, looking at him.

Gideon was quiet for another moment before he nodded. “Yes.”

I looked at him, studying his face. His jaw was set hard and his eyes were even harder as they stared into the fire. For the first time, I noticed the lines around his eyes and mouth, the hollowness to his cheeks. He looked like a man who had spent ten years searching and waiting, and now he had found both of the women he’d been searching for.

It almost made my chest tighten. But I wouldn’t let it.

“And Fiona?” I asked.

Gideon glanced at me out of the corner of his eyes. “I’m not concerned about her.”

“Not even a little?”

“I don’t think she ever really wanted to do her father’s bidding in the first place,” Gideon said. “And even he won’t be dumb and reckless enough to keep trying anything. Not with Sebastian keeping an eye on him.”

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“Sebastian is a powerful Alpha,” I pointed out.

Gideon snorted. “Yeah. I know.”

Another silence fell after that. Neither of us spoke a word until we finished our glasses, and even then, the only words exchanged were in regards to refilling them. The quiet was punctuated only by the sound of the logs popping in the fireplace.

It was toward the bottom of our second glasses that Gideon spoke once more.

“Can I ask you something?”

I looked at him over the rim of my glass. “If I say no, will you ask anyway?”

His lips twitched a little, but he didn’t smile. “It’s about Bjorn.”

I froze.

“Avery.” He leaned forward. “I need to know. Is he-”

“Those aren’t the terms,” I cut him off, setting my glass down on the small table. “We talked about this this morning. I told you what I was offering, and it had nothing to do with personal questions.”

A quiet fell between us. He was watching me now in that distinct way he had always watched me when he thought I was saying one thing and meaning another. I didn’t want to know if he was right or not at the

moment.

“Business partners,” I said. “Outside of the full moon, that is all we are. You don’t ask questions about things that are none of your business. And I don’t answer them.”

“None of my business?” Gideon’s eyes flashed faintly with irritation. “But if this is about my son-”

“Do you accept my terms or not?” I asked.

Gideon looked at the fire. I watched his jaw work for a moment, the muscle there pulling tight, and then he let out a slow breath through his nose and sat back again. He didn’t say anything for what felt like an

eternity.

I picked up my wine and waited patiently. I had the time.

Finally, he huffed in a low voice, “I don’t like your conditions.”

“I didn’t expect you to.”

“They’re not fair.” He looked at his lap. “We’re mates, Avery. As long as that’s the case, you know as well as I do that your conditions won’t hold up. Not forever.” Finally, he looked at me. “You’re asking me to only be a part of your life for three or four days out of every month. Like I can turn the rest of it off.” His chin dipped slightly. “You know I can’t do that. I don’t think you can either, if we’re being honest.”

I remained silent.

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He studied me for a while longer. Then, with a small huff, he said, “You’re not going to budge on it?”

“No.”

He was quiet again, twisting his wine stem between his fingers. The liquid caught the light, sending amber shadows dancing across the floorboards.

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