The Heartless Alpha’s Beloved Luna (Avery and Gideon) novel Chapter 559

That should have been a relief, but it just served to terrify me more. Because it meant that maybe we were too late. Maybe she’d already done half the work and Avery and Melissa were gone, and it was all my fault.

Or maybe she already knew what we were planning, because the witch always seemed to know, and the whole thing would end with me cut up into pieces and cooked into a stew.

Maybe that was what I deserved.

At midnight, I shoved the thought aside and pulled on my jacket.

The house had been quiet for hours by then. I’d waited until every light was out, every sound had settled into nothing. My boots were in my hand as I came down the hallway in my socks, my keys wrapped in my fist to keep them from jangling.

I made it to the top of the stairs and stopped.

Colt was standing at the bottom.

The hall light was off, and I couldn’t make out his expression clearly, but I could see his eyes well enough. I hadn’t seen him look like that in a long time. Not since before I took Evergreen, back when he was still someone I had to convince rather than command.

“Colt,” I said. “It’s late. You should go to bed.”

He didn’t move.

I came down two steps. “I said—”

“I heard you.” His voice was quiet. Steadier than I expected. “I’ve been hearing you for months.”

“I’ve spent months rolling over and letting you threaten me because of that fear,” he went on. “I let you walk all over me and this entire pack when I’m the one person left who could do something about it. Well, I’m done rolling over. I’m the last heir to this pack, and I’m tired of being afraid.”

“Step out of my way,” I said.

“She’s going to kill you,” he said. “Whatever you think you’re doing tonight, whatever deal you think you’ve still got with her—that witch is going to kill you, or worse, and I’m done being the person who watches that happen and keeps his mouth shut.” He shook his head. “And I’m done letting you run this pack into the ground. My uncle deserved better. This whole pack deserved better. Communal gardens and pretty festivals can’t hide what it turned into.”

“Which is?” I asked, tilting my head.

“A cult,” he hissed, moving forward. “With you as the leader.”

He moved across the space more quickly than I expected. One moment he was at the door, and the next he was in front of me. Something hard and metallic glinted in his hand, and then pain cracked across my skull, lights danced, and the floor rushed up to meet me.