The Heartless Alpha’s Beloved Luna (Avery and Gideon) novel Chapter 406

Avery’s POV

I hadn’t seen that face in years.

Ten years, in fact.

The last time I had seen Deirdre, she had been dead. By my own hands. Lying on the dirt floor of that abandoned greenhouse with blood on her lips and eyes that stared up at nothing.

For ten years, that image had haunted me. Never in my wildest dreams had I ever considered that I might one day kill someone, and yet it had been Deirdre’s life, of all the lives, that I had taken.

And yet now here she was. Ten years later.

Alive and walking past me along a sunlit path.

I stared at her, mouth open, footsteps halting in the dirt. How was this possible? Deirdre was dead—I had watched her die.

Unless…

Maybe she wasn’t dead. Maybe I’d been too hasty in my escape. Maybe…

I rubbed my eyes as the woman came closer. She looked at me, noticing my stare, and stopped walking. My heart pounded as she reached up and removed her sunglasses.

It was only then that I realized that it wasn’t Deirdre at all. The woman looking at me had a few similar features; face shape, general body build, same sharp look to her. But it wasn’t Deirdre.

This woman had jet black hair. A small button nose dotted with freckles. Pale skin, nothing at all like Deirdre’s tanning addiction. Her eyes were a deep brown and her lips were full and she had a tattoo of a butterfly on her wrist.

The woman stared at me. “Can I help you?” she asked. Even her voice didn’t sound like Deirdre’s; it was deep and husky with a slow drawl that I couldn’t quite place. Deirdre’s had always been shrill and quick, and she didn’t have an accent like this woman.

“Sorry.” I shook my head and forced a smile, although it did little to slow my racing heart. “I thought you were someone I know. Knew.”

The woman’s face didn’t change. “Knew?” she repeated.

“Yeah, it’s just…” I waved my hand. “Old acquaintances.”

I swore I heard her snort softly under her breath. “Right. Acquaintances,” she muttered. Her eyes flicked up one side of me and down the other, like she was studying me. I suddenly felt very small beneath her gaze, and something about it made the hairs rise on the back of my neck.

But then she brushed past me without another word, hips swaying as she walked down the path.

I watched the whole time. Took in her tight slacks, her crisp button-down shirt, her jet black hair pulled tightly into a bun at the back of her neck. Her stride was familiar, but it wasn’t Deirdre. That was impossible.

Deirdre was dead.

It wasn’t until she disappeared behind a bend in the path that I finally let out a slow exhale. I shook my head and continued up the path toward the house.

Inside, it took my eyes a few moments to adjust from the bright sunlight outside to the darkness within. I blinked, feeling my way toward the kitchen, where I heard Sebastian’s voice.

By the time I reached the kitchen, my vision adjusted. Sebastian was leaning against the counter with a cup of something in one hand and his other hand in his pocket. He looked up at me, and his lips parted.

Before either of us could speak, Gideon stepped into view.

“You’re still here?” I blurted out.

“Don’t sound too excited.” Gideon’s lips curved.

“We got caught up talking about pack matters,” Sebastian clarified.

“I see.” I set my bags from the market down on the table while Gideon gathered up his suit jacket, which was hanging over the back of a chair.

“But you never found remains?” I blurted out.

“Unfortunately, no.”

My stomach tightened. No remains meant that Deirdre could still be out there somewhere. She wasn’t an idiot. She knew how to survive in the wilderness due to her time as a rogue.

Gideon knew that. I knew that.

“Avery,” Gideon said, his voice a little softer now, “it’s been a decade. If you’re worried she’ll return, or that you’ll get in trouble for what happened—”

“I’m not.” I pulled my shoulders back. “Not anymore. I was just curious, that’s all.”

Gideon looked at me for a moment longer. Then, seeming to find nothing in my expression to give away my true feelings, he left.

Once he was gone, I breathed and pulled out the wine I’d bought earlier. I needed a drink.

Sebastian looked at me as I poured myself a glass. “You good?” he asked.

“Yeah, I just… I saw a ghost earlier,” I said, sipping the wine.

“Is it a ghost we should be concerned about?”

“No.” I answered perhaps a little too quickly, but I already had enough on my plate right now. I was not going to let myself worry about a slightly familiar face.

Besides, it wasn’t Deirdre. Just a woman who shared a few vague resemblances to her.

Whether she was dead or not, Gideon was right; it had been a decade. Even Deirdre wasn’t that patient. Wherever she was, alive or not alive, she wasn’t coming back.