The Heartless Alpha’s Beloved Luna (Avery and Gideon) novel Chapter 495

Gideon’s jaw tightened. “I looked at the stars every night. Wondering if you were alive. If you were safe. If you ever thought about me.”

“I never stopped thinking about you,” I admitted. My voice came out rougher than I would have liked, but it felt good to be honest for once. “Even when I hated you, I couldn’t stop.”

He turned to face me. “I never hated you. Not once. I was angry, yeah. Furious. But I never stopped loving you.”

The words hung in the air between us. I looked at him and saw the truth of it written all over his face.

“I loved you too,” I said. “Even when I was terrified of you. Even when I convinced myself you only wanted me for Luna and an heir. I still loved you.”

Gideon reached out and touched my face, his fingers brushing against the bandage on my nose. I stiffened, but I didn’t pul laway. “I’m so sorry. For everything I put you through. For not saying the words when I should have. For making you feel like you had to run.”

My throat felt too tight to speak. I leaned into his touch, closing my eyes. His fingers moved to my cheek, and I leaned against his palm.

“I’m sorry too,” I whispered.

Gideon didn’t answer. When I opened my eyes again, he was closer. Close enough that I could feel his breath on my face.

I wasn’t sure who kissed who first. But it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that our lips suddenly met, and it wasn’t gentle at all. It was desperate and raw, full of ten years of pain and longing and everything we’d never said to each other.

When we finally broke apart for air, both of us were breathing heavy. My heart was pounding so hard I thought it might break through my ribs.

“I love you,” I said. The words came out before I could stop them. “Even when I hated you, I still loved you. Just as I do now.”

Gideon’s eyes were dark with desire and a million other things I didn’t want to separate from one another. “Avery,” he said, “I know you said you don’t want to become my Luna, but…”

Gideon’s hands moved to my sweater, gripping the hem. He pulled it off over my head, making my skin prickle in the cold night air. I helped him shrug off his jacket, then pulled his shirt over his head. The scars on his torso were more visible in the moonlight, old wounds that had healed over the years.

I traced one with my finger, and he shivered.

Without speaking, he laid me back onto the moss, his body covering mine. The ground was cool beneath me, but his skin was warm, and I pressed into him, needing to feel every inch of him against me.

His mouth found mine again, and I lost myself in the kiss. In the feel of his hands on my skin, the weight of him above me, the way he whispered my name like a prayer.

This was the same place where we’d first made love as husband and wife. The same moon overhead, the same stars watching us.

And just like ten years ago, we fell back onto the moss and let the world disappear around us, just for a little while.