The Heartless Alpha’s Beloved Luna (Avery and Gideon) novel Chapter 506

Avery’s POV

Gideon placed his hand on Bjorn’s shoulder and spoke the words of the declaration clearly, his voice carrying over the crowd.

“I, Alpha Gideon of Nightwolf, accept my son—Bjorn—as my formal heir.”

The pack priest held up a small, thin golden sceptre and a matching circlet that he placed on Bjorn’s head.

Silence fell as Bjorn turned toward the crowd. His eyes flicked up to mine, and I nodded, offering him a small but encouraging smile.

He lifted the sceptre.

The crowd began to applaud, cheers and whistles and howls filling the air.

The shift that happened after was immediate and unlike anything I’d felt before. When I had first returned to the packs after a decade away, I had felt the magic in the air and the soil wash over me like a blanket, my wolf stretching and strengthening for the first time in years.

This was like that, only instead I saw it happening to my son.

The color came back slowly, starting at his cheeks. The gray pallor that had settled over him these past months faded, his shoulders lifted, and he let out a strong exhale. He smiled, lifting the sceptre higher, and looked up at me again.

His eyes were bright, brighter than they had been in months, perhaps even brighter than I had ever seen them.

For a moment, I saw a small version of Gideon. Strong, confident, capable, and most of all…

Healthy.

My throat tightened, but I didn’t hold back my tears this time. I let one fall, slipping down my cheek and making Bjorn groan quietly.

Gideon’s hand found my spine again, and I leaned into it just slightly.

“You okay?” He glanced at me as we watched Bjorn speaking to the other kids. “It’s final now…”

I nodded. “I won’t lie. I’m still terrified.” I looked up at him. “But I think it’s the right decision.”

Gideon’s face softened a little as if in relief. He pressed a light kiss to my temple, then left to speak to someone.

As I turned, surveying the crowd, I felt the pendant itch at my throat like a tag in a shirt. I reached up and adjusted it absently, and the feeling faded. I’d been noticing it on and off since I put it on, but I figured it was just the clasp or my skin heating from the nerves of it all.

I dropped my hand and went to find my shareholders.

I located them near the far end of the banquet table, plates loaded with food they were mostly picking at rather than eating. One looked up when he saw me coming and straightened.