The Heartless Alpha’s Beloved Luna (Avery and Gideon) novel Chapter 411

Avery’s POV

The meeting was held in Sebastian’s office, which overlooked the pack grounds below. It was a bright, sunny day, just as it had been all week. In the gardens below, I could see Bjorn giving Colt the runaround, tiring the poor Beta out with a game of tag. Under different circumstances, I might have smiled at the sight.

Today, I couldn’t look at it.

Aldric sat in one of the armchairs in front of Sebastian’s desk, with Gideon seated next to him. Sebastian had offered me his desk chair, but I couldn’t sit, so he took it while I paced.

In the middle of the room stood a pack healer. She stared at the floor and wrung her hands, having just informed us of the bad news. The very same news that Aldric had arrived with this morning.

The children were not responding to the Lycan Root treatmènt.

In fact, their condition had worsened.

Thankfully, we knew one thing for certain: the healer said that the children’s conditions had worsened in typical

pattern for their illness. It wasn’t the Lycan Root that was making them worse. But it wasn’t doing anything to help them, either. Not even a little.Aldric was looking at me now like I had betrayed him.

“You seemed so certain your drug would work,” he said.

“I was.”

“Well, you were mistaken,” Aldric huffed. “Forgive me,

Avery. Sebastian. But I think it might be in my pack’s best interests if I were to pull out of the arrangement.”

I snapped my gaze up to meet his.

“Already?” I asked. “After just one failed trial?”

He splayed his hands wide. “What else am I supposed to do? Your medicine isn’t working. These children are getting sicker. I’m not blaming you, but clearly I need to seek out an alternative.”

I bit my lip. I couldn’t blame Aldric, exactly. I might have done the same in his position. But it also pained me greatly to think about kids suffering when I had special DNA in my blood, abilities that could help them heal more than any plant, and that there might be a way to make this work.

My mind was already racing. Sebastian was looking at me like he knew it.

“What are you thinking?” he asked quietly.

I was already moving. “Avery?” Sebastian called out.”

Where are you going?”

“I’ve got work to do,” I said, flinging the door open. I paused for a moment to look at Aldric. “One week. I’ll have a new recipe within that time.”

Aldric nodded curtly, and then I looked at Gideon. I pressed my lips together and tucked my chin. “Thanks for the endorsement.”

With that, I quickly turned and left.I had been so sure about the Lycan Root. I had spent years developing it, testing the chemistry of it, adjusting and refining until I was confident it could do what I needed it to do. And maybe it still could, under the right conditions.

But right now, those kids were still sick, and the formula I’d given them wasn’t strong enough to do anything meaningful in time.

I needed a booster. Something that could increase the drug’s absorption rate, improve blood flow, get it moving through the body faster and more effectively.

I wasn’t really sure why I went to the community garden.

The plants there were mostly edible, not the type to be • particularly useful in my pursuits. But the moment I saw Melissa tending to her space, her skirt fanned out around her as she knelt in the dirt, I realized why I had come.