Page 188 of His Fated Luna

“She’s OK,” a new voice spoke up. It was Tony. “She’s…she’s in the hospital. Sleeping.”

I had to get to her. I turned to exit but Tony placed a hand on my shoulder to stop me.

“Listen, she isn’t awake yet. Go…get yourself cleaned up and then we’ll go see her,” Tony directed gently. “She woke up yesterday for a few hours. They had to…to sedate her. She had a panic attack.”

“What did he do to her?” I asked brokenly, tears falling down my eyes.

Alistair had taunted me mercilessly and a hundred different scenarios of Rose being brutally raped and tortured filled my mind, sending me into a downward spiral. I had failed her!

“Get a grip, Aiden. Rose is strong. She survived!” Tony gripped my shoulders and gave me a shake. “I talked with Danvers and he told me that Alister bit her, very inhumanely. Her neck wasa mess. But she’s healing now. Rose ended up blacking out after that.” Tony gave a desolate sigh. "I kept telling her that someone needed to stay in this house with her, but she wouldn't even let Lorraine come over anymore. She didn't want anyone crossing Alistair's path."

“I need to go to her,” I said in a suffocated voice.

I had to see her, to touch her, to feel her, to make sure she was OK!

“She’s asleep. Dr. Danvers said she’ll wake in another hour. Go clean up! You smell like blood and look like you walked out of a murder scene. Rose will be more distressed if she sees you like this,” Tony urged.

Resentfully, I listened to Tony. I took the fastest shower I’d ever taken in my entire life and bounded out of my house, not even waiting for Tony who had taken charge of repairing the mess in the study.

By the time I parked outside of the pack clinic, I couldn't care less about turning the car off. Leaving it running, I jumped out and rushed into the room where I thought Dr. Danvers must be keeping Rose in.

So before the elderly doctor could even begin to brief me on Rose’s condition,I was pushing through the door to see Rose sitting up in bed, pale and frail. She was awake. I looked at her relieved. She was awake and seemed fine.

“I don’t know whether to kiss you or yell at you for not leaving the minute things got bad,” I said the words achingly as I strode over to her.

“Alpha Aiden?” Rose looked up at me warily.

“What are you doing here?” She asked slowly and without even giving her any answer, I enveloped my arms around her and buried my face into her neck. Her body was rigid in my arms.

Displeasure gripped me when I noticed Alistair’s faint smell on her along with the mark but that didn’t matter for now. Shewas safe, she was awake. She was alive! And behind the scent of Alistair, I could pick up Rose’s familiar floral tones. I breathed in deeply, trying to smell as much of her as possible. It took a minute for me to realize she wasn’t hugging me back. She wasn’t melting into me; she wasn’t warm and willing. I pulled back to look at her searchingly.

“Rose?” I asked curiously. Her eyes were guarded, she looked skittish, leaning away from me. “Are you angry at me?”

“Why would I be angry at you, Alpha Aiden?” Rose asked me after swallowing.

My eyes narrowed as I noticed her scoot away from me slightly. Why was she calling me by my title?

“Babe—” I brought a hand up to cup her cheek.

Rose jerked away from my touch, alarm evident in her eyes. She looked wildly about the room.

“When did you get back? Why are you here?” Rose finally asked.

“Because-because…” I spluttered. Why was she asking me this? I took a deep breath realizing she must be a bit disoriented. “Why wouldn’t I be here, Rose? You’re in the hospital. Of course, I’d be here,” I reasoned with her gently.

“But you hate me!” Rose exclaimed, a hand going up to rub her neck unconsciously.

My eyes were fixed on her and I noticed how she winced as she felt the still swollen mark on her neck. The minute her fingers touched that mark, an expression of confusion and surprise appeared on her face,as if this mark was a new part of her anatomy and she didn’t recognize it at all. Hot anger boiled in my stomach as I saw the bite more clearly, saw the way Alistair had brutally bitten her to mark her. He was a monster. I regretted not killing him.

“Was I injured recently?” she asked vacantly, her fingers skimming over Alistair’s bite again.

My eyebrows furrowed. “Rose. What’s the last thing you remember?”

Rose blinked up at me, hand falling away from her neck. “The last thing...well...I'm supposed to be starting spring semester in college. I recently got accepted into a medical internship with Dr. Danvers. Jake asked me to have dinner with him at the diner this weekend." Rose cocked her head to the side and looked at me curiously. "Aren't you supposed to be on a study abroad program with Lexia? Did you come back early?"

Chapter 60

“Lost love is still love. It takes a different form, that's all. You can't see their smile or bring them food or tousle their hair or move them around a dance floor. But when those senses weaken another heightens. Memory. Memory becomes your partner. You nurture it. You hold it. You dance with it.” ? Mitch Albom