Page 142 of His Fated Luna

I walked down the steps much later to find Aiden, still shirtless, waving Tony out the door. He turned to see me come up behind him. My eyes fell on the papers in Aiden's hand. My alpha had a grim set to his mouth as he silently handed over the document in his hand to me and that’s when I realized that Tony had brought over the translated text for the ceremony, completed by the translator.

Excitement filled me as I read the contents. Judging from the text, I was most likely right that it would work for Dylan. It was a ritual enacted by the mated pair, the luna and alpha of the pack, as an acceptance of a second alpha to help co-rule.

I sat in Aiden's study with him, studying the document thoroughly before handing it over to Aiden for safe-keeping. So this was it. We had a way to help Dylan. But instead of the elation Iexpected Aiden to show, he only heaved a bitter sigh, putting the document into his desk before getting up to go into his room. I noticed that he seemed on edge. What was wrongwith him? I did my best to push ugly thoughts away. Thoughts that whispered that this change seemed brought on by Lexia’s untimely arrival in our home a little more than an hour ago.

Aiden absently brought me close to him in the hallway outside his room. He gave me a kiss on the forehead before going to sleep.

“I’ll drop you off at the university tomorrow. I have some stuff to do in town tomorrow morning,” Aiden offered as I moved to open the door to my own room.

I gave Aiden a smile of ascent before I watched him disappear into his room rather than stepping into mine. I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong with him. But what?What had Lexia said to him?

Chapter 45

“When you trip over love, it is easy to get up. But when you fall in love, it is impossible to stand again.” ? Albert Einstein

Rose's POV

The following day, Aiden was quiet as he drove me to University. He was so distant. I couldn’t help but pick up on it. I decided he must be worried about Dylan and realized he probably needed some space to process his emotions. Aiden seemed perfectly fine with me. He even stopped at the coffee shop, buying me coffee before giving me a soft kiss on the cheek.

I turned to leave, but Aiden grabbed my arm impulsively.

“Rose…” he began, earnestly. He was looking at me and apprehension played across his face. “You know I never wantyou to do anything that you feel forced into, right? This…us…it’s a choice every step of the way. We’re together because it’s a choice. Right? And if you ever feel forced into something or backed into a corner, you’ll tell me. You won’t do something you don’t want. Promise me that. Promise me you’ll exercise your right of choice when it comes to us.”

I gave Aiden a confused nod. “I’d like to think we chose each other.” I said the words carefully. “What are you trying to say here, Aiden?” Alarm bells were going off in my mind and I tried my best to get them under control.

Aiden swallowed, bringing me into his arms for a minute, hugging me, inhaling my scent, before finally letting me go. I walked away confused over such vague statements. When my lab ended, I was surprised that Dad came to pick me up later that day in place of Aiden. He told me Aiden had gotten caught up in something. When Dad brought me home to the alpha mansion, I was happy to see Josie and the kids over for lunch.

My eyes landed on a ring box laying open on the kitchen countertop. It held a beautiful princess-cut one carat diamond ring. The ring every alpha of Bloodfire Phoenix Pack gifted to his luna.

“What’s this?” I asked Josie, motioning to the open box on the kitchen counter.

“Oh!” Josie exclaimed hastily, reaching over to shut it quickly.

“Aiden wanted it resized, so I offered to do it for him!” Josie exclaimed.

I gave it a start. Was it for me? But if it was for me, why hadn’t he mentioned anything or gotten it done sooner? Why now? I tried to feel Aiden out, to figure out where he was and almost lost my footing walking up the steps when I realized he was at the Silver Creek Pack. He was at Mr. Evans’ mansion. At Lexia’s house.

Why?

I heard him come in later that evening but couldn’t bring myself to go see Aiden. He’d gone to Lexia’s place and hadn’t even deigned to tell me. He was being distant. He mentioned that this relationship was a choice. Was he about to change his choice? Is that what he was insinuating earlier today?

I left Aiden alone for the remainder of that evening and night. I kept waiting, hoping he’d come to my room later at night, but he didn’t show up.

The next morning, I looked around for him only for Lorraine to inform me that Aiden had left the house early to pick up Josie and then go meet with Dr. Danvers about Dylan’s situation.

I left for university only to run into Jake, after I had finished filling out paperwork for my physicians assistant degree. Jake shoved something quickly into my hands.

“Rose, I’ve kept quiet long enough but enough is enough,” Jake spat.

I looked down to see that Jake had given me a copy ofThe Count of Monte Cristo. No...wait, the worn pages, the creases across the cover looked oddly familiar. I flipped the book open to see that it had Aiden's name in it.

“Why do you have Aiden's book?” I queried.

“Not me. Lexia. She had it. She had the book. Said Aiden left it when he came to spend the night at her place last night,” Jake huffed angrily. “She insinuated he wanted to do more than sleep.” Jake looked at me shrewdly. “You can’t seriously want to stay with someone like that. He can’t seem to make up his mind, apparently.”

I sat down with shaky legs. No. It couldn’t be true. Was he trying to get back with Lexia? Is that why he was being so distant? But Aiden said he cared about me. I had to take a deep breath and look at the facts. Aiden had been home last night. I'd smelled him in the house. It wasn’t possible he’d stayed the night at Lexia's. Was it? Had he left when I'd fallen asleep? I bitmy lip, trying to piece together the information I had. He hugged me yesterday morning. Would he do that and then go get with Lexia? No, Aiden was a one-woman man. He'd never cheat.

“Lexia was at our place a few days ago. She could have picked it up then. Aiden may have given it to her,” I finally supplied. That seemed like the logical explanation to me.