Page 123 of His Fated Luna

I later learned that those pills made me drowsy and sick. I couldn’t stand without being hit by a wave of vertigo. Aiden was worried and requested Dr. Danvers come for a house call immediately. Upon examination, Dr. Danvers gently told me that my body was trying to reject the pills. But there was nothing they could do. The medicine was the only one of its kind that suppressed the heat cycles. So I'dhave to be brave through the next few days.

“It really is better to keep up the dosage for five days instead of three since heat cycles can last three to five days. Better safe than sorry.” Dr. Danvers patted my hand in a fatherly manner before leaving.

“There’s someone here to see you, if you’ll meet them,” Aiden told me after seeing Dr. Danvers out.

I heaved a sigh. It was probably Auntie Hilda.

“Ezra came by to give me his report on Tanya’s”—he spit the next words out distastefully— “mate’s pack. Hilda wanted to come up to see you.” He absently ran the back of his hand along my cheek tenderly. “Do you feel up to it? I can send her back if you’re not well.”

“You can let her in.”

And that’s how I found myself face to face with my aunt who was wringing her hands together and apologizing and telling me she wasn’t trying to take my mother’s place but that she’d just been so lonely and so had Ezra and eventually one thing led to another…

“You think I’m angry because of my mother?” I asked disbelievingly. Auntie Hilda nodded hesitantly. “You are like my mother. It doesn’t have anything to do with that. I'm angrybecause you didn’t trust me enough to tell me. I'm angry because…you had to pretend to not be in a relationship because you were afraid of me. Did you really think so little of me?”

Auntie Hilda shook her head fervently. “Rose…it took me a while to come to terms with it. For a while, I felt like I was betraying my sister.”

“I think Mom would have wanted you to be happy…and she would have wanted Dad to be happy. She may even have found it hilarious that you guys found that happiness with each other,” Ireplied softly. I looked up at my aunt as my dad walked into my room. “I’m angrier over the fact that I didn’t pick up on it until now. You didn't tell me sooner! And what would you guys have done? Just continued seeing each other in secret? Auntie Hilda deserves better than that, Dad.” I leveled my father, who’d entered the room amidst my tirade, with a glare.

“I couldn’t agree more,” Dad said, clearing his throat. “Rose…we won’t hide anything from you ever again. And in the interest of no secrets between us, I'm going to tell you that I’ve been asking Hilda to have the mating ceremony with me. She won’t agree.”

“Why?” I gave a stern look at my aunt.

Auntie Hilda stuttered out the words. “I w-w-wanted your blessing, Rose.”

“You have it.”

Ezra and Hilda's mating ceremony that following weekend was not at all flashy or expensive. It was a simple ceremony in which the two exchanged rings and drank from the same chalice. Then, Ezra and Hilda both shifted into their wolf forms along with everyone else in attendance to go run around in the woods in celebration of their new union.

I hung back, watching Josie run off in her wolf form happily. The retired luna had returned the other day with her kids and had brought back some magical antidotes for the poison inDylan's body. Josie was optimistic that they would work and decided to enjoy the ceremony of two of her closest friends. Albeit, she had been contrite over realizing that she hadn't been there for my turn and that I had had my heat so soon. She told me that she'd expected it to happen but not so soon. Josie also confided that she’d been hopeful that even if she didn't get around to talking to me about it, Auntie Hilda might. But it was all water under the bridge now and I couldn't help but appreciate Aiden's constant presence.

I turned towards the pack temple and was surprised when I saw Aiden leaning against one of the pillars of the temple.

“You didn’t go?” I asked.

Aiden shook his head and then inclined his head towards the temple.

“Have you tried…?”

I realized he meant the ritual to converse with the elders.

“I don’t think I fulfill all the prerequisites…but I can try,” Ioffered.

Aiden followed me inside. I started a small fire in a metal bowl in the middle of the temple. Then I used the white chalk to trace inscriptions around the bowl of fire. Sitting down cross-legged, I cleared my mind, concentrating on the task at hand. My voice was loud and clear as the incantations echoed throughout the room.

A brief flare of heat from my fingertips and then nothing more. All was silent, all was still around me. I sat, waiting for something to happen. After a few minutes, I tried again. Then again. Nothing, not even a flare of heat.

I opened my eyes sheepishly to look at Aiden.

“It was a long shot anyway,” Aiden supplied, completely nonplussed.

His eyes drifted away from me and settled on the patch of floor where he’d marked me.

I cleared my throat, heat blooming on my cheeks as I recalled that night. Then I opened my mouth to make an utterly embarrassing suggestion. If we mated, I could tap into my powers.

“We could—”

“Stop offering yourself up like some sort of martyr.” Aiden's voice was flat.