The Heartless Alpha’s Beloved Luna (Avery and Gideon) novel Chapter 517

“It’s not like him,” Melissa said, as if reading my mind. “I’ve known Sebastian for a long time, and he’s been in dark places before, but this is different. He seems…” She shook her head. “I don’t know. Off.”

“What am I supposed to do about it?” I asked.

“I thought maybe if you reached out to him, even just to check in, it might help.”

I leaned against the doorframe and looked at her. “You came all the way here for that?”

“I didn’t know who else to ask.”

I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck. The pendant shifted against my collarbone with the movement.

The truth was, I’d been intending to check on Sebastian anyway, at least eventually. I’d meant what I said to him at the ceremony—I still cared about him, even with everything that had happened, and I wasn’t the kind of person who could just switch that off. I figured I’d stop by Evergreen next time I was passing through, once things had settled down a little more.

“I’ll stop by when I get a chance,” I said. “I can’t promise when, but I will.”

Melissa exhaled. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet. I don’t know how much help I’ll be.”

She nodded, then glanced past me at the house for a brief moment before she pulled her jacket tighter and turned to go. At the bottom of the steps, she paused.

“Avery,” she said, without turning back. “Just… keep an eye out. Okay?”

“For what?”

Gideon was sitting up beside me, breathing hard. His hand was pressed to his side.

“What happened?” I reached for the lamp on the nightstand and clicked it on.

The light came on and I gasped. A long gash was running across his left side, just below his ribs, already gushing blood. Three clean lines, close together, like something had opened him up in one swipe.

My stomach turned over as Gideon’s eyes flicked downward with horror in them.

I looked down at my own hands.

My claws were extended, curved and dark at the tips, and there was blood on them. But this time, it wasn’t my blood. It was my mate’s.