Page 4 of Forever My Siren Luna

He laughed, ruffling my hair. “I trust you can make it to the base on your own?”

I lifted an eyebrow. “I bet I could beat you there.”

He throws his head back, laughing robustly at my challenge. “A fighter to the core, I tell you. Challenge accepted, my feisty friend. The last one back pours the drinks tonight?”

“In one of Beretta’s corsets,” I added, wiggling my eyebrows.

“Mmh, you would look mighty fine in one lass,” Jack’s eyes darkened as I raised the stakes.

“Not nearly as good as you are going to look,” I sneered, playfully shoving his arm off me. “Now, off my ship. I’ve got a race to win.”

Two

Jack

She looked stunning standing at the wheel, barking orders and commanding the ship just ahead of mine. I stood mesmerized by the beauty and power surrounding her.

“Slow her down, Lucky,” I told my first mate, talking about this ship. I don’t want to trigger my fierce Ela by having her wear a damned corset. She would be too proud to not live up to the bet, but I know she won’t like it. If seeing me in the rib-crushing torture device the ladies fancy that makes their tits touch their chin makes her happy, I’ll gladly wear the blasted thing. I would rather look ridiculous than make her uncomfortable.

“She ain’t goin’ be too happy findin’ out your let ‘er win, Cap’n.” Lucky shook his head at me with a knowing smirk.

“You’d best keep your mouth shut then,” I told him.

I would have gladly left her in the dust if she hadn’t added that last bit to the challenge. I would never intentionally cause her distress by making her do such a thing, even if it was her idea. Remembering her first days aboard my ship, and her panic being surrounded by unfamiliar men has me too worried to let her dress like Beretta. Beretta liked giving the men a show. My fierce little Ela did not. Ela is a beauty for sure, but she didn’t appreciate men gawking at her. I had to drill into my men to keep their eyes off her, especially when she was shifting between her and her fierce Lycan. I know she thinks she's okay with nudity and being around men, but I still can't help but to worry. I would never stop her from doing whatever she wanted with her body, but I'll be damned if I let my men gawk at her.

She may be alright now, but I’m still not. Seeing the haunted look in her eyes, thinking we were going to do the worst to her was all too familiar to me. My mother, sister….my own mate and wife, all had that same look before their deaths, me being forced to watch the whole time.

My surprise at finding out that she was the niece of the man responsible for the death and destruction of my loved ones and my pack was almost as great as my surprise at finding out that she was the mate of Alpha Lachlan Stiles of Hidden Cove, the pack Wayne Lambert has had his eye on for over a decade now, but could never attain.

Ela eventually told me her story, or at least enough of it anyway for me to understand she had led a trauma-filled life, just like me and every single one of my men. We are all survivors, and with her, I feel we finally have a chance at justice; a reason for hope of something more than living the rough life of a pirate on the sea.

I believe there is much more she isn’t telling me. I could never get a clear reason why she ran away from her mate, or how she ended up on that island. Sometimes she would wade in the shallows of the sea, staring out in the distance, her hand resting on her throat with a lost look on her elegant face with her golden hair blowing around her in the wind. Even now, something is still haunting her. I can see the pain and the longing in her eyes as she stares into the ocean void. I thought maybe she hated her mate and his pack, that maybe they had hurt her too, but she had been fighting this fight against her Uncle's forces, solely wanting to do all this for them.

After I told her my story, and told her all I knew of her uncle, she declared it her life’s mission to put a stop to him for good. Her fierce determination and her drive to protect her mate’s pack made her all the more intriguing for me.

I wanted her for myself all the more.

She has a mate, and even though she can’t speak about him without her eyes burning with fury, she claims there has been no rejection. So, I am biding my time, earning her trust and hopefully showing her that in all the ways her mate failed her, I never will.

It would help if she disclosed with me what exactly he did to her. If I could discover what she was hiding from on that island, what she had run from, maybe I could get just a tiny bit closer to having her see me as more than just her captain or her mentor.

Maybe I could get her to choose me.

Each full moon, the desire to claim her stirs my beast, but we both know better than to force a bond to break. I would never take that choice from my fierce little Ela. It seems as if she has had enough choices taken from her in her short life. My beast and I could never be the reason for her to lose the fight she now has raging inside her.

No, if she chooses me, it will be because she knows I’m the better choice. It will be because she did things the right way, rejecting her mate and trusting me enough to tell me her full story; everything that led her to me.

With the time drawing near for her requested time to be returned to her mate’s pack, in order for her to help save it from an impending attack that she seems so sure is coming for it, my time will soon come. I’m not letting her go alone. Me and my men will be fighting alongside her.

I will finally be able to take her mate’s measure and decipher what issues are between them. I will aid my fierce Ela in her mission, then finally declare my desires I have been keeping to myself when she no longer feels burdened with still playing Luna to her mate’s pack.

Pressuring her now; taking away the sense of security she feels while hiding behind me and my band of men by burdening her with my feelings before she trusts me is not how I will win her. I will show her. Words mean nothing in this life. If they did, my pack would still be standing, my mate and family would still be alive, and the alliance I had struck with that bastard might have actually saved us from the demons plaguing us from the Northern clans.

Words are cheap. Actions and deeds are where a man proves his worth, and I will prove mine.

I grin wholeheartedly, laughing quietly under my breath as I watch my fierce Ela cheering with Beretta and her crew on the deck of their ship when they pull into the harbor first.

Yes, wearing a corset for a few hours was all the more worth it to see her smile.