The Heartless Alpha’s Beloved Luna (Avery and Gideon) novel Chapter 583

Avery’s POV

We didn’t turn on any lights. Gideon knew the stairs by heart, and I followed the shape of his shoulders through the dark with one hand on the rail, listening to our son breathe against his chest.

Bjorn’s door stood open at the end of the hall. I slipped past them to pull back the covers, only to freeze when I saw the dresser.

It was split nearly down the middle, the top drawers caved in, model airplanes scattered across the floor beneath it.

Gideon stopped in the doorway. His eyes moved over the damage, jaw going tight.

I didn’t bother asking what happened. I already had a pretty good feeling, and besides, what was the point? We’d clean it up tomorrow, when the sun was up. Help Bjorn glue his planes back together. And move on.

He laid Bjorn down without a word. Our son stirred as I tucked the blanket up under his chin, one grubby hand coming up to find a strand of my hair. He rubbed it between his fingers with his eyes still closed.

“Still silver,” he mumbled.

“Still silver,” I laughed. “Go to sleep, baby.”

“Night, Mom.”

Two words. That was all. But my throat tightened at the sound of them anyway, because for days, something else had been standing in this house wearing my face, and he had never once called it that.

Mom.

He was out before I’d finished smoothing his hair back. I looked down at him for a few more moments, full of pride and a healthy dose of fear. Tomorrow, when we cleaned his room, we’d probably also have to have a talk about venturing into the woods alone at just ten years old. But I couldn’t be mad at him for it. Not now, not ever.

Gideon crouched and began gathering the airplanes off the floor, setting each one on the desk. I stood and walked over to him, taking his hand.

I nodded and ran my fingers through his hair.

“There were moments I almost had it. The whole time she was here.” His thumbs moved slowly against my hips. “I’d catch her doing something wrong, something that wasn’t quite you, and for a few seconds, I’d know. Everything in me would be screaming. And then the fog would roll in and pull it all away, and the worst part was that I could feel it happening. I knew I was about to lose it, and I couldn’t hold on.”

His grip tightened. My hands stilled in his hair.

“Last night, I woke up and I saw her for what she was, and I…” He huffed. “I have never been that afraid of anything. Ten years of not knowing where you were, and it didn’t come close. Because this time I’d had you back. And I knew, even for those brief moments of clarity, that I might actually lose you for good this time. Not missing, but dead. Truly dead.”

He looked down.

“It was my worst nightmare for ten years, Avery. The thought that I might one day stumble across your bones. I couldn’t bear the thought of it actually happening now, after a decade of searching. After finally having you back.”