Page 20 of His Fated Luna

I swallowed hard as he descended the stairs, stopping directly in front of me. I couldfeelthe heat radiating off his skin. His scent wrapped around me, intoxicating me and setting my nerves abuzz.

I kept my eyes trained on the floor, afraid of what I might do if I looked up. My hands itched to reach out, to trace the ridges of his muscles.

“The sessions all retired lunas must give to the future luna,” Josie answered smoothly.

Aiden scoffed. “Then shouldn’t you be giving those lessons to Lexia?She’sthe future luna. Not her.”

I bit the inside of my cheek. Hard.

Had Josie never explained the rules of our pack to him? He needed to understand that while hecouldstep down as alpha, I wouldalwaysbe the luna.

“Aiden,” Josie sighed, rubbing her temples. “We’ll talk about this later.”

Aiden shrugged, his gaze flicking back to me. I kept my focus firmly on the floor.

“You can stay if you want,” he said offhandedly. “I was just surprised to see you.”

Right.

I knew better than to read into that. The truth was, my presence put him on edge. But if I was a guest in his home, he couldn’t exactly ask me to leave.

Still, I couldn’t bring myself to say anything. Instead, I simply walked into the dining room.

“Get a shirt on Aiden before you join us for dinner,” Josie called out.

I heard Aiden grumbling about house rules but he begrudgingly left to follow his mother’s instructions. I held backa giggle. He was the highest ranking member of this pack and even he had to listen to his mother. It was…cute.

Tanya burst into the room like a hurricane, throwing herself at me.

“Rosie! Pretty Rosie!” she squealed, yanking at the curls I had tied back in a ponytail.

“You’re very pretty too, Tanya,” I said fondly, settling her into the seat next to mine. “Did you have a good day today?”

She nodded enthusiastically. Winter break had just ended, and she was back in school.

“My teacher taught me how to add numbers today!” she declared proudly. “She said I was the only one who could understand addition.” Her little face was scrunched up in determination as she pronounced "addition" asadashiooonnn.

“Oh, really?” I said, feigning excitement.

“Uh-huh! Bet you don’t know five plus one?” she challenged, her eyes twinkling.

“No, I don’t think I do,” I said good-naturedly.

Tony coughed into his glass of water, clearly amused, but I shot him a look, silently warning him not to ruin Tanya’s fun.

“Six!” she declared triumphantly.

“Good job!” I said, giving her a high-five.

By then, the rest of the boys had filed into the dining room, including Aiden, and Dylan scoffed at Tanya.

“That’s easy, Tanya. Rose, I bet you don’t know how to multiply big numbers like…like…three hundred and sixty-one times thirty-three!” Dylan challenged, crossing his arms.

Tony opened his mouth again, but I sent him another warning glare. This time, Aiden caught the exchange, his eyes flickering between us in confusion. There was something in his expression—something prickling beneath the surface—as if my easy connection with his family unsettled him.

“Why don’t you tell us?” I prompted Dylan.

He took a minute, counting on his fingers before finally announcing, “Eleven-thousand-nine-hundred and thirteen.”