The Heartless Alpha’s Beloved Luna (Avery and Gideon) novel Chapter 498

“Are you planning to run off again?” she asked. “Because if you’re going to leave, do it now. Before you completely break his heart in a way he can’t come back from.”

I swallowed. “I’m not leaving.”

The three of them exchanged glances. The shorter woman asked, “When will you become Luna again?”

The question caught me off guard. I hesitated, my mind racing to come up with a response. It was something that had crossed my mind many times, of course, and it was something that I didn’t want to think about for longer than I needed to.

“I don’t know,” I admitted.

The tall woman frowned. “What do you mean you don’t know?”

“I mean I haven’t decided yet. Right now, I just want to focus on my son. On making sure he’s healthy. And I have my business to think about.”

“Your business,” the round-faced woman repeated flatly.

“Yes. I run a company. I have shareholders, employees. I can’t just drop everything.”

The three women stared at me like I’d grown a second head.

“You don’t want to be Luna?” the shorter woman asked.

“I didn’t say that. I just said… I’m not ready to take the title right now.”

The tall woman’s jaw tightened. “So you’ll stay here, but you won’t actually commit to the pack.”

“That’s not what I meant—”

Suddenly, a man appeared at my elbow and placed his hand on my arm. I recognized him immediately.

Colt.

The three women fell silent, their eyes flicking between me and Sebastian’s Beta. After a moment, they all turned and left without another word.

Colt watched them go, then looked at me. “Avery,” he said. “I was looking for you.”

“What are you doing here?” I asked, stepping back.

“Is that all?” I asked.

“He wants to talk to you,” Colt said. “Face to face.”

“Well, he didn’t want to talk to me when I tried, so right now, I guess I’m sort of busy.”

Colt tilted his head. “Is that what you want me to tell him?”

I sighed and looked at my feet. “Tell him I just need some time. Once Bjorn is better, maybe we can talk. But right now, I’m still kind of reeling from everything that happened, and I think it’s best if we keep our distance.”

Colt nodded, then turned and left without saying anything else.

Once I was finally alone, I turned to leave the room. Suddenly, the banquet hall felt too crowded and noisy, and I was craving the quiet, soil-scented solitude of the greenhouse. But I made it all of two steps when my phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out and glanced at the screen.

It was a call from one of my shareholders.

“Great,” I muttered, sliding to answer. Just what I needed right now.