The Heartless Alpha’s Beloved Luna (Avery and Gideon) novel Chapter 553

“Do you think he did?” she asked.

I looked down at the dark glass in her lap.

“I don’t know,” I admitted.

I had no way of knowing whether Bjorn had heard a single word I had said or if he just felt the pull with no real understanding of it. Either way, there was nothing more I could do about it tonight. I’d planted whatever seed I could, and now all I could do was wait and hope.

…

Gideon’s POV

“Dad. Dad, wake up.”

I rolled over, blinking in the dark. Bjorn was standing beside the bed in his pajamas, his face pale in the dim light, his hand touching my shoulder. The clock read just past two. Beside me, Avery was sleeping peacefully, completely unaware.

“Bjorn?” I rubbed my eyes and sat up a little. “What is it, bud? Bad dream?”

“No. I mean—I don’t know.” He glanced at his mother, then back at me, and shuddered. He looked scared. “Can we talk? Just you and me. Not in here.”

Something about the way he said it got me up out of bed. I stood and followed him out of the room, quietly pulled the door shut behind us, and walked him a little ways down the hall, then crouched down so we were eye to eye.

“Okay,” I said. “What’s going on?”

Bjorn clutched the hem of his shirt in his hands. “I heard Mom,” he said. “Her voice. It woke me up.”

“She talks in her sleep sometimes,” I said. “Maybe you—”

“Not like that.” He shook his head quickly. “Not from the bed. From far away. Like she was calling me from outside, from the woods.” He pointed down the hall, toward the back of the house, toward the treeline. “That way. I could feel where she was. She said she needed help, that she's not really here, that the Mom in there isn’t really her.” His chin trembled. “Dad, I think Mom’s in trouble. I think she’s out there.”

My brows lifted. Some part of me wanted to believe him, but I just… couldn’t. The more I tried to rely on that instinct, the sillier it felt. Avery was right here, sleeping just a few feet away. I would recognize her anywhere.

Strangely, that thought seemed to block something else out. Something faint and worried. But it was gone before I could place it, completely covered by that warm, solid certainty.

The Avery who slept beside me was the real one.

He didn’t answer. I left his door cracked and padded back to my own room.

The second I slipped under the covers, Avery stirred.

“Where’d you go?” she murmured, rolling toward me.

“Bjorn woke up.” I settled onto my back. “He came in all worked up about a nightmare.”

“A nightmare?” She propped her head on her hand. “What about?”

“He said he heard your voice calling him from outside. From the woods.” I huffed a tired laugh. “Swore up and down you were out there somewhere and needed help.”

Avery stiffened, but the laugh that came out of her was soft and low.

“Oh, Gideon,” she said, settling back down against my side. “He’s just a kid being a kid.” She took my hand, splayed my fingers over her waist, close enough to feel her pulse thrumming against my palm. Slow, steady, certain.

“I’m right here,” she whispered. “And I’m not going anywhere.”