Page 17 of Forever My Siren Luna

Not this time.

I don’t need any of them to watch me to make sure nothing bad happens to me again. I got through some of the worst things imaginable on my own. How dare any of these men think they can take pity on me now.

“I don’t need your protection, Lachlan. I am not as weak as you make me out to be.”

"Lira," he whispers that damned nickname I once hated, then grew to love. Now, I hate it all over again. I hate that he thinks I'm weak, and I hate that he is the reason everyone is taking pity on me now. I hate all this.

Most of all, I hate that, despite everything, I still crave his touch now that I'm back here again. I hate that he is the reason I am feeling all these conflicting, painful emotions, but I know that one touch, one embrace from him would chase everything away.

I hate that deep down, I know I still love him, which makes all this hurt even more.

I refused to look at him again. I don’t want that damned mate bond to take away any more of my anger right now. If he wants to feel pity for me, fine, but I refuse to feel any for him. I refuse to give into the bond any more today. I refuse to let myself be swayed, even the tiniest bit.

"I'm not weak. I was never weak, and I need no one's pity."

With that, I’m done. I can't stomach this a moment longer. I walk towards the ship, letting Val take over. She rips out of my clothes, and I can hear many audible gasps behind me.

No one here has seen my Lycan before. I know she is a sight to behold. Val is ferocious and gloriously intimidating, as an Alpha Lycan should be. She proudly leaped for the deck of the ship, the crew that were watching hurrying to get out of her way, knowing she is on the war-path.

Beretta is the only one standing in the way with a smirk on her face. “Need some company?” She asks.

Val nods with a wicked smirk, knowing Beretta will make this all the more fun.

“I’ll get us a change of clothes. Meet you at the boats in 5 minutes. Figure out where we can go to let loose in the meantime. The more open and less populated, the better.”

As she walks off, Val paces the deck, scanning the areas without inhabitants along the shore that will be easy to travel to by row boat. Val isn’t ready to give me back control, so I don’t think we should go far, but we will be loud. Sparring and fighting is never quiet.

While scanning, I risked a look down at the dock where the men are still talking, Lachlan and Jack in each other’s space. I can’t hear their conversation, but by my guess, it looks tense. After my last revelation, what did I expect? Jack is probably acting like an overprotective big brother, and Lachlan like the arrogant prick as usual.

Lachlan glances up at me, and when his eyes meet Val's, those conflicting emotions return, causing Val to look away.

“This is hard,”she mutters to me, “Much harder than I expected.”

“We aren’t here for him,”I told her for the millionth time. “Think of Cherum, and Yasmin, Percy, and little Wesley.”

I wanted to mention others, like Cedric, and his mate, who mostly stood back and stayed quiet through this whole ordeal, but my mind is still a mess. I needed time to make sense of everything that has been said. I feel like we have been lied to and manipulated for so long, we need to separate ourselves from the situation before it gets any worse. Things might be clearing up now, but compartmentalizing all the past pains and reevaluating will take some time. I don't need pity or more confusion. I need someone unbiased like Beretta to help me see things more clearly after Val lets off her tension as she needs to. I wish I could see Yasmin again, but that will have to wait for another time. Yasmin and Beretta would get along greatly. They are similar in many ways, which is probably why Beretta quickly became one of my closest friends.

“Ready to go?” Beretta returns a few moments later, a rucksack on her back.

Val nods, moving to the other side of the ship where Joe is readying a boat for us.

“Can I come?” he asks, his eyes shining bright with expectancy.

“Not today, Joe. We will likely be visiting the taverns after theprincess,” she says the word mockingly while giving me a playful smirk, “let’s off some steam.”

“I’m of drinking age, now,” he puffs out his chest, trying to appear bigger than he is, making even Val huff out a laugh.

“That may be, but not tonight. We need some girl talk. Next time, kid,” Beretta ruffles his hair as he scoffs, pushing her away with a disappointed frown.

“No fair,” he crossed his arms, looking very much under the drinking age with his childish fit.

“Life’s never fair, bub,” Beretta sighs.

Isn’t that the truth?

~

Lachlan