Page 83 of His Fated Luna

“Maybe this isn’t the best place to talk about this,” I said hoarsely.

Aiden gave a tight smile. “You’re a quick learner.”

And in that moment, I realized—he’d risked having this conversation, despite everything, just because I’d asked. Just because I was curious.

For the rest of the night, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I didn’t belong here.

Chapter 27

“The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved; loved for ourselves—say rather, loved in spite of ourselves.” ? Victor Hugo , Les Misérables

Aiden’s POV

Back in our hotel room, Rose reached for the file with information on all the packs and began flipping through it. I noticed how her dress rode up her thighs as she propped her legs on the table. Smooth legs begging to be touched by me. I looked away quickly, realizing how close we were sitting together on the couch.

“So what’s the point of having an alliance with these packs if you alphas can just challenge each other as you please?” she asked, eyes scanning the pages.

Her questions always caught me off guard with how intuitive they were. I rubbed the back of my neck, dragging my gaze away from her legs.

“You can share resources, warriors, even services like summer camps or daycares. Not all pack members live close to the territory. So if one of ours works far from home, they can use an allied pack’s daycare. They can stay on allied land too, after the request is processed. It’s a whole system, really.”

“Why would you need to share warriors?” she asked again.

“Mom didn’t explain the political aspect, huh?” I exhaled slowly before continuing. “Packs usually don’t fall from one-on-one alpha duels. If an alpha knows he’ll lose, he won’t challenge. And if no one challenges, they go to war. A fight. Winner takes all. That’s where allies come in—they send warriors to support you. These days, one-on-one challenges are rare. It’s usually pack versus pack. But really, it’s more about economic strategy now. Sometimes alphas challenge another for the right to mate with his luna—Mom probably mentioned that. Or if the alpha is too weak to rule, physically or mentally, then someone steps up.”

She nodded thoughtfully, still reading through the agenda for tomorrow.

"It seems like you’re the only one in the alliance pushing for a full environmental assessment before any urban development near pack lands. You’re worried it could screw with the natural habitat, especially the animals native to our territory," I heard Rose say, her voice soft with that small smile of hers. "What a noble cause."

“I’m not noble,” I shot back dryly.

And Goddess, my thoughts were anything but noble right now. All I could think about was tearing that damn dress off her body.

I should’ve told her to leave—told her to take the file and look it over in the other room. But my guard was down. I liked having her here.

“The other packs keep saying that building malls will bring in jobs, more people, more income,” she said, tilting her head. “But you’re the only one who doesn’t care about the money—you care about the land.”

Her gaze was too intense. I felt like I was under a spotlight.

“Well, it seems like you’ve got a pretty solid handle on what’s going on.”

“Because you took the time to prepare me,” she emphasized, clearly calling out the fact that she’d felt underprepared tonight when mingling with the lunas.

I’d like to prepare you for other things too.

The thought was crude and inappropriate, but there it was, right as my eyes wandered down to the deep neckline of her dress.

I stood up and started taking off my dress pants. I was done for the night. I needed to strip out of these clothes and crash before she picked up on just how filthy my thoughts were.

Rose suddenly stood up, clutching the file to her chest like a shield, backing away from me like I was on fire.

“Um…you know I’ve never seen a guy completely naked in real life…” she blurted out, voice going squeaky and high.

I laughed, bitter and almost angry. That wouldn’t last if Jake had anything to say about it. Just the thought of him made my fists clench.

Rose gave me a look like maybe the alcohol had gone to my head. And maybe it had.

“So… I’d really appreciate it if you remained fully clothed while we talked about this,” she said, trying to sound dignified despite, well… literally begging me to keep my clothes on.