Page 182 of His Fated Luna

“I cannot help but marvel at this strong-willed girl my mate and I brought into this world,” Dad muttered, arms around me. “You’ve lived a life of seclusion, Rose. Had your true identity hidden from you for the majority of your years. And here you are, ready to lay down your well-being for your pack. Goddess help anyone you pit yourself against, because you are and will be a force to be reckoned with.”

Chapter 57

"It has been said that the love of money is the root of all evil. The want of money is so quite as truly. " ?Samuel Butler

Rose's POV

**One week later.**

Two weeks without Aiden. Two weeks of finishing up the paperwork to give Alistair autonomy over our pack funds and lands. It had been two weeks of me fervently tampering with the accounts, transferring the bulk of pack funds into covertly formed shell companies. I knew on a certain level that what I was doing could be termed as illegal. But if I went to jail for it, it'd still be better than having to live in the empty mansion,missing Aiden, yearning for him and having to endure Alistair's groping hands which were getting bolder by the day.

It seemed that as time passed, he was warming up to the idea of me. Or he was just sex-starved. I couldn't discern which and I really didn't care when all I wanted to do was vomit over the way he let his hands wander over my body as I sat working at my desk in the pack office. He hadn't outright tried anything, but just the way his hands brushed against my waist, my back, my thighs, my hair...it made me shiver. It made me feel dirty. Because no matter what ancient texts said about the mate bond, every inch of me called out for Aiden. He was my soulmate, pack laws be damned. He was my one and only. And when I gritted my teeth, letting that lecherous man on the brink of retirement rest his hand on my shoulder, my back, my arms, I felt like I was betraying my love.

Today, Alistair had left me alone to my own devices. I'd made excuses that I needed to figure out my training times at Dr. Danvers clinic.

Jake had been calling me for days and I knew he was doing so because he was frantic with worry for me, and I had been ignoring his calls. The less Jake knew about all of this the better. But finally, he began threatening to come himself and challenge Alistair. Despite my reassuring texts, he said he wasn't satisfied until he heard my voice. So I decided to call him today. He picked up on the first ring, informing me that his mom was at the Rushing River Pack to help out withAiden's recovery. Aiden was still in a coma. The doctors had no idea when he'd wake up. Jake wanted to challenge Alistair. I stopped him, lying to him that I was perfectly safe.

"You can't be serious," Jake said over the phone.

"It's fine, Jake,” I intoned. The last thing I needed was for him to run in here and get killed. He'd been easily defeated by Aiden.There was no way Jake stood a chance against Alistair. "I have it under control. I'll let you know if I need your help."

"That cunt Lexia was in on all of this, wasn't she? She tried to get me to challenge Aiden, but when it didn't work, her dad stepped in." Jake's voice was angry. "She did this because she's still blindly hoping Aiden will pick her when he wakes up."

"I think we all know that's not going to happen,” I assured Jake.

I didn't want to give away too much. If I told him Lexia had said she'd help Aiden come back, it might reach the wrong ears. I still had no idea why Austin had been transferring pack funds to his married sister. Who knew if she was a spy for Alistair or had some other nefarious motives?

"Lexia wasn't helping her father. I think she's just as disgusted as you are by all of this. After all, it's only been two months since her mother passed away."

"Rose, please promise me you’ll tell me if you need me to come. I have a plan; we can get you out. We can hide you!" Jake was begging me at this point. "I talked with Tony. He said the Coventry Pack reached out to offer assistance. They want the entire family of their future alpha’s mate to come live with them. It's a perfect opportunity for all of you to get away from here. Once you're on their land, Alistair has no claim over any of you."

I was already aware of the offer, and I hadn't, even for a minute, entertained it. Who would protect our lands if I left? Who would take care of the pack wolves? Surely not Alistair. He'd ravage our pack like a disease, leaving a wake of suffering behind him if I wasn't here to stop him.

"I'm not leaving my pack,” I stated firmly. "I'm staying here and waiting for Aiden."

"How can you even be so sure he'll come back? Your mate bond's broken now,” Jake pointed out.

"Because he loves me,” I replied simply.

After a few more minutes of back and forth, Jake finally relented. I breathed in deeply as I finally shut my phone, wishing for the umpteenth time that this was all a bad dream I'd wake up from, eventually. My eyes fell on the screensaver which was a picture of Aiden and me at the previous regional meeting. We'd been so happy together.I'd do anything to have those times back.

I sighed and went back to searching through Aiden's study. Alpha Austin must have had a copy of the EIA report somewhere in his office. No one even knew who had been contracted to conduct the EIA so I couldn't even get a copy from the contractor. Dad had told me that Austinhad kept it under wraps, afraid that the big oil companies might try to bribe or coerce the firm in charge of the EIA. I couldn’t help but wonder why Alpha Austinhadn’t tried to warn me about any of this? He may not have known if Alistair was the culprit behind his death, but he could have at least told me the location of this report. But if he did, then it would have increased the chances of Alistair finding the report and figuring out a way to tamper with its contents. I had done enough research by now to realize that anyone could contract a firm to develop an EIA report, and, with the right amount of money, the report would generate a favorable outcome for the oil company to drill for oil on their precious lands. In hindsight, Alpha Austin had probably thought it was better to let sleeping dogs lie. There was no point in interfering until a problem arose and I asked him about it myself. But Alpha Austin had probably never counted on his son being challenged and defeated by a crazy lunatic.

My only consolation for now was that I hadn't put through all of Alistair's paperwork for the right to sell or acquire pack land. But even so...I'd only be able to push it another week until Alistair got suspicious of me.

He'd already mentioned a few times, albeit off-handedly, that the mate bond made me complacent. He probably believed I felta pull to him now that he was alpha. Well I didn't really, but I'd keep letting him think it. We needed as much time as we could get. And if he thought I was eager to do his bidding, he'd leave me be.

I tensed, clutching some documents in my hand so hard that the paper began to crinkle. My werewolf hearing picked up on a car pulling up into the driveway. Then furious pounding footsteps running into the house. I sniffed and my blood ran cold. Why was Alistair here? The door to the study was kicked open, its hinges broken so that it hung drunkenly from the doorframe.

“Fucking liar!” Alistair roared, striding over to me.

My head turned from the shelf on the far wall, curls falling over one shoulder wildly. I did my best to make it look like being in here wasn't at all outside of the norm. But Alistair's eyes keenly registered the random papers in my hand and one hand resting on the shelf as if to pull more records out.

"What are you doing in my study?" he asked in a dangerously low voice.

He knows I know his real motives.

I tried to push the wayward thought away, silently hoping he'd think he was being paranoid.