Page 171 of His Fated Luna

“Happy New Year, babe.” Aiden looked back at me, his face full of love. He gave my hand a squeeze. “I’m so glad I get to spend all my New Years’ with you.”

I opened my mouth to tell him I felt the same but before I could do that, exclamations and a loud whirring sound interrupted me. There was an explosion, and a deafening roar made its way towards us. I stood stock still, unable to even scream in horror as a whirlwind of fire and debris came straight towards us. Tony quickly moved to cover us. In an instant, Aiden was moving his body forward, pushing me down and covering my frame entirely with his tall, muscular body, taking the full impact of the explosion.

Chapter 52

“Over everything, I choose you” ? Marissa Meyer, Heartless

Rose's POV

Someone had set off an entire crate of fireworks. No, not just anyone, Ray. Ray who now lay dead on a stretcher and I was asked to identify him as my kidnapper. It had been a risky mission and I knew enough to deduce that he must have known the chances of him surviving were slim.

“His wife is a crack addict, and they have six children. Ray himself was a convicted felon.” The investigator droned on, seemingly oblivious to how I clenched my fists.

I realized he must have been offered an exorbitant amount of money to risk his own life in an attempt to end mine, or Aiden's .

Tony was in a coma, his entire body suffering from burns, the one on his leg extending down to his bone and others still which had burned away muscle. Shrapnel was also pierced throughout his body. We were lucky his vital organs hadn't been damaged. Humans could have never survived something like this. If I hadn’t moved Aiden aside to speak in private, all three of us would have been dead right now. We'd only been caught up in the edges of the explosion, Tony taking most of it. Aiden's right leg also had shrapnel lodged in it from the explosion, burns extending over his entire back, legs, and arms. If Aiden had been human, his legs would need amputation, such was the extent of his injuries. Again, I thanked the Moon Goddess no vital organs were damaged and our werewolf regenerative abilities kicked in immediately. However, both brothers had a long recovery ahead of them. Burns were some of the hardest things to heal for werewolves.

“I suppose no one wants to hire a convicted felon,” I spoke hollowly. “So he found a way to provide for his family.” My voice was suddenly curt. I didn't want to sit here anymore. “Detective, if that’s all, I have an injured husband I’d like to go check on now.”

I left without waiting for a response and went to the pack clinic. I was angry. Angry at Ray, angry at the world for putting a man in such a position that he had to take his own life and harm several others just to provide for his family. And even more so, I was angry at Aiden for putting himself in harm’s way. AndI was livid, absolutely livid, over the anonymous person responsible for all of this.

“Stop looking at me like that.” Aiden winced as he tried to sit up in his hospital bed. I was sitting next to his bed after visitingan unconscious Tony. The look on my face mirrored the anger and self-loathing for my own slow reflexes.

I ground my teeth in a bid to not scream at him. His right leg was wrapped and propped up, his bone had been broken in several places and his beautiful skin was chalky white and charred. He had severe burns which for any human would have been fatal.

“Well it’s a nice change from you always being in the hospital bed,” Aiden said kindly.

“I would gladly trade places with you.” It was the first thing I said to him all afternoon as I sat next to him in stoic silence.

“That’s out of the question.” Aiden said with a shaky voice and then he added, “I can't even imagine what happened to me, happening to you.”

“It’s my fault for freezing up! I should have moved! I should have had faster reflexes!” Iexploded.

“So what? I’m supposed to let my luna get injured just because she froze up in surprise? You reacted like any normal person would!” Aiden retorted. “You’re not battle hardened. I know that. I knew this was the only way to get you out of the line of fire.”

“You could have pulled me away—”

“There wasn’t enough time! It was too risky.” Aiden cut in defiantly. “Are you really going to fight with me over this? It was a choice between saving you or me. I chose you, Rose. Every time, I’d choose you.”

Tears that had been welling up behind my eyes spilled over my eyelashes. Aiden's eyes widened; he tried to reach out to me, but his arm was still suffering from severe burns. He winced in pain as he moved. I leaned forward, letting his palm come to rest on my cheek.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “This happened because you were trying to save me.”

“It was my choice because I love you. It’s not your fault someone chose to try and hurt us,” Aiden replied. “Now kiss me, Princess. Because it’s been two days, way too long, since I’ve felt those lips over mine. I miss holding you at night before we fall asleep.”

I kissed him as the tears ran down my cheeks, praying to the moon goddess above that this was the end of our hospital visits. I wanted to tell him, tell him that hopefully, next time I was in a hospital bed it would be for a good reason, for the purpose of the life growing within me. But Ididn’t want to break such good news on the heels of a fight. So I decided to wait.

Dr. Danvers informed me that Aiden's healing was progressing remarkably and that the young alpha would be discharged by the end of the week to rest and recuperate in the comfort of his own home. Aiden was coming home on January seventh, just in time for his birthday, I realized with a start, and an idea began to form in my mind.

I had finally braved the drawer of lingerie in the dresser in the spare room. Because by now my old room had become the spare room. I had long since moved into Aiden's room, moving my essentials into a shared closet and he’d helped me move my toiletries into his bathroom, all the while mumbling over the insane amount of lotions and shampoos women needed.

So now I stood, gnawing on my bottom lip looking over racy pieces of lingerie that I had never touched because well…Aiden enjoyed me naked. SoI’d never really thought about wearing lingerie but now I was definitely thinking about it. Aiden'sbirthday was tomorrow, and I had already planned a fancy dinner at home with his family. But I also knew that Aiden was a young man with a healthy appetite for sex and he’d been in the hospital for an entire week. His burns were pretty much recovered, but his leg was still healing and his body was still weak, still recuperating from the trauma of the burns. If the last two months were anything to go by, Aiden would want sex tomorrow night after being discharged. And I wanted to do something special for him. But who was I supposed to ask for help with this? I couldn’t ask Josie, that would be weird. Auntie Hilda would be even weirder and as for Layla …well, she didn’t have much experience in the department of seduction.

What did a girl wear when she was trying to seduce her husband? Totally confused, I rifled through the drawer recalling that whatever Ichose would probably end up ripped by the end of the night anyway. And then a shudder went through me as I realized that most of the seduction pieces in my drawer had probably been purchased by either my aunt or Aiden’s mother. I shut the drawer firmly. No…I wouldn’t wear anything from here.

I decided to take a trip into town; it wouldn’t matter. The mind block was open, we were completely mated now. Plus, I could mind-link anyone in the pack as well. I no longer needed the security detail.

I was taken aback however when Ibumped into Dylan emerging from Aiden's study. He had pronounced bags under his eyes and a gray pallor to his skin.