Page 29 of His Fated Luna

"I’ve combed through all the scrolls already. There is no way around it. When the Moon Goddess granted our luna the power to converse with the spirits of our elders, she gave this gift under two conditions," Ezra recited from memory.

"One condition was that the luna would always be born on pack land. It’s another reason Estelle was so adamant about having our baby here, and I…" Ezra swallowed. "I didn’t contest her wishes. Not because I wanted my child to be luna, but because everyone always had their children here on pack territory. I didn’t put it together until after her death. For me, it was just tradition to let Estelle give birth to Rose in our pack clinic. Had I known it would cost my wife her life, I never would have agreed to it. But I did, and when Rose was born, she had the phoenix mark."

Ezra looked at me, willing me to understand what he was about to say next.

"Obviously, the next condition was that whoever had the mark would always remain Luna. We are obligated under the Moon Goddess’s gift to always make her chosen one our luna. Aiden, if you truly don’t want to be with Rose, you can always step down. Rose’s power can only be tapped into when she has mated with the pack alpha—whoever that alpha is. You owe it to your pack to not make us lose this gift. If you stayed alpha but didn’t mate with Rose, we would never be able to avail ourselves of the Moon Goddess’s blessing."

Ezra sure was banking on me stepping down. I could tell he didn’t want his only daughter to live a life with someone who didn’t love her. Did he hope a new alpha would step up that was more suited to Rose? That pissed me off.

“Even if neither of you see it, we do—there is something between you two. And once you both get past your egos, I believe you would be happy together,” Mom pressed.

"What about the mate pull?" I asked quietly. "If I wasn’t Alpha anymore… would I still feel it?"

Ezra gave a hesitant half-nod, unsure. My eyes flicked to Mom for confirmation.

She shrugged. "Our ancient texts mention others challenging the alpha. The few times an alpha was defeated, it was always a fight to the death. The new alpha then took the current luna as his mate. The bond between Luna and the former alpha was obviously broken because the alpha had died. Naturally, the luna formed a new bond with the new alpha. Once that bond was established, she was able to converse with the elders in our ancient temple."

"Barbaric," I whispered. "Sleeping with your mate’s murderer—and we wolves pride ourselves on it."

"It’s the way of the wolves. The female always goes for the stronger male," Mom said nervously.

"Why didn’t you tell me any of this before, Mom?" I demanded, returning to my original question.

"I didn’t think you’d be able to resist your mate!" she admitted. "I kept hoping that once you returned home and… and saw her…" She sighed heavily. "People rarely marry their high school sweethearts, Aiden. I thought you and Lexia would naturally drift apart. The mate pull is so strong—how are you even able to resist it, Aiden?" she finally blurted out.

“Goddess knows your father… well, when he felt it with me… we couldn’t resist each other. We knew we were destined mates, but neither of us had turned yet. He left for five years to train at the Werewolf Alpha Academy in England. But when he got back, all it took was one whiff of me, and he couldn’t control himself. I couldn’t control myself either… and… well, six months later, you were born," Mom finished, and I pinched the bridge of my nose.

I really didn’t need to hear my mother telling me that the moment they consummated their bond, I was conceived. Werewolves only stayed pregnant for six months due to their pup’s rapid developmental abilities which manifested in utero.

“All I’m trying to say"—she plowed on like a bad dream that wouldn’t end—"is that I’ve experienced the pull of an alpha to his luna, and I didn’t expect you to be able to fight it off."

“I’m not Dad," I bit out, finally losing my temper. "Dad was always more prone to giving in to his wolf’s instincts. You should have told me all of this before."

With a heavy sigh, I turned to leave the room but stopped short when I saw Lexia standing there. The tears falling from her eyes told me she had heard everything. But instead of feeling remorse over her pain, my gaze hardened.

She had no business going to Rose and asking her to reject me. That was completely uncalled for.

Ignoring her, I walked out of my house. Stripping off my clothes and stuffing them into a duffel bag, I shifted. Gripping the bag in my teeth, I took off, following Rose’s scent.

I tracked her all the way to the edge of pack territory.

We needed to talk.

It had been a long time coming.

I found her sitting on a rock at the outskirts of our pack’s territory, her legs curled beneath her. She must have smelled me approaching—I could tell by the way she stiffened slightly. It was still strange to think about how we could pick up each other’s scents so distinctly, how her own was already starting to change and become stronger as her turn came closer.

I shifted behind her, the sound of the familiar crack of bones rearranging into place fading as I pulled on a pair of pants.

"You knew," I said simply, my voice low but firm.

Rose nodded, her back still turned to me.

"You knew," I repeated, stepping closer, "and you let me go on and on about how I was going to make Lexia my luna?" My tone hardened, accusation slipping into my words. "Were you laughing at me the whole time? The alpha too blind to even know his own pack’s rules?"

She turned then, her gaze locking onto mine. For a moment, I forgot what I was saying—forgot everything, really—because she looked so damn beautiful, flushed from running, her wild mahogany waves catching the sunlight.

"It’s not like that," she said vehemently, beautiful green eyes flashing. "I... I felt bad for you. You want Lexia, and you’re stuck with me," she choked out, voice thick with emotion.