Page 76 of His Fated Luna

And damn me, but I wanted nothing more than to run my hands through them.

Rose's POV

The click of the door and the sudden absence of his scent told me Aiden had left, giving me a moment of privacy.

By the time I made it downstairs to the living room, I was surprised to see Josie sitting there… and Dad too.

“Dad,” I blurted out, startled.

I immediately turned to Aiden, my eyes narrowing. Seriously? My dad didn’t need to hear all the details about my kidnapping—it would only worry him more.

“I wanted to be here for you,” Dad explained gently.

“I can ask him to leave if you don’t want him here,” Aiden spoke up firmly, his gaze going to my father and daring him to challenge the pack alpha.

“Now just a minute Aiden,” Dad started, face turning red. “Rose is my daughter and I have every right–”

“She’s my mate,” Aiden growled and I saw his eyes flash yellow briefly. “And if she doesn’t want you here, you will leave.”

“Of course my daughter wants me here for moral support!” Dad blustered.

I really didn’t want him here. But whatever this pissing match was between Dad and Aiden would only be further aggravated if I told Dad to leave. So instead, I cast a stern glare over both of them, hoping they’d stop arguing about me.

Finally I sat down, hesitant to talk about the werewolf that had attacked me. Instead, I just said that someone I couldn’t see had knocked me out from behind. I started recounting everything that happened after I woke up in a shack. I noticed how everyone’s expressions paled when I mentioned Ray hitting me. The officers wrote down every detail I gave about Ray—his appearance, how he talked about his kids, everything. But when I got to Bobbin, Josie abruptly stood up and ran out of the room, covering her mouth to stifle her sobs.

Dad’s hands clenched into fists, and I could practically feel Aiden’s anger radiating from where he stood. I stiffened. Wait—no. I felt his anger. Not just sensed it from his body language, but truly felt it. Barely-there threads of fury and helplessness seeped into me like static. It wasn’t my own emotions, and I wouldn’t have been able to place it if I wasn’t absolutely sure it wasn’t mine. I turned sharply to Aiden, mid-sentence, catching the tight tick in his jaw as he stared at the floor.

“And after he…uh…untied your hands?” the investigator asked cautiously, like he didn’t want to push too hard.

I blinked and turned back to him. “I realized that I had to try something. I couldn’t just…let him…” My throat felt tight, but I pushed on. “And when my hands were untied, I head-butted him as hard as I could. He was too busy slobbering over me to notice what I was about to do.”

I picked at a thread on the couch cushion, trying to keep my voice level. “His nose started bleeding, and he let me go. I grabbed the beer bottle from the side table and hit him overthe head… as hard as I could,” I added, maybe a little proud of myself.

I didn’t miss the flicker of something on Aiden’s face. Was that pride? No… probably just me projecting, getting our emotions mixed up.

I turned my focus back to the investigator. “It was enough to knock him out, and then I just ran out of there as fast as I could,” I said, finishing the story.

The investigator was scribbling everything down furiously. He nodded at the officers, who stood and headed out, thanking Josie for the coffee and cookies as they left.

“I just have a couple more questions, and then we’ll be done,” the investigator said. He looked me straight in the eyes. “Can you describe the werewolf who attacked you and took you into the woods?”

I nearly fell off the couch. I turned to look at Dad, then Aiden. Neither of them looked fazed.

“It’s okay, Rose,” Dad assured me gently. “You can tell him the truth.”

“Well… he was big. White and light brown fur,” I said carefully.

The investigator wrote something down in his notebook before looking at me. “What about his eye color?”

“Dark yellow,” I answered without hesitation.

He sighed heavily. Clearly, he was hoping for something more specific. I knew why—when the human side is in control, a werewolf’s eyes can shift to their human color.

“Big, dark yellow eyes and brown and white fur. Do you know that you just described ninety percent of the werewolf population?” he said, clearly annoyed as he snapped his notebook shut with a loud “snap”..

I flushed with embarrassment.

“Give her a break!” Aiden exclaimed. “It’s not like she paused to take in all his features. She was being attacked!”