Page 54 of Forever My Siren Luna

“No,” I stared back at him and his haunted, tear-stained eyes. “You don’t.”

He bit his lip, his jaw ticking and his eyes clouding over. “I know,” he cried, “I know I don’t deserve you and I don’t deserve your forgiveness. I just…. I don’t know what to do. I can’t make this right. There is no way. I should…. I should just….”

He doesn’t say it, but he doesn’t have to. I can feel it. I can feel his never-ending guilt and his fatal solution to make all the guilt and pain cease.

I won’t let him off that easily though.

“You will serve me,” I lift my chin, setting my jaw with stubborn ambition. “This person to blame is still living high, protected in his packhouse and manipulating others to do his dirty work. You will serve me, Lachlan, and you will help me to rid the world of that filth so no other victims fall prey to his depravity. You said you wanted to atone for the past? Do this with me. For me. Help me defeat the one who holds the most guilt. He needs to die.” I leaned forward, lifting his face up to stare at me. “You are a victim as much as I am. Your death is meaningless, and the only way you will never earn my forgiveness is if you ever follow through with that line of thinking. This pack would be worse off without you, but not his. Help me, Lachlan. This is how you can start atoning for the past. Fall in line under me.”

He is an alpha. A powerful one. This goes against everything in him. This is against our Lycan nature itself. The Alpha leads, not the Luna. The Luna is supposed to fall in line behind her mate.

But…. His submission to me in helping me achieve my goal is the only way I see myself ever allowing us to move on, because I know I can never submit to a man ever again. I am not that scared little girl. I am no longer haunted by my past. I am a warrior on a mission.

“You want my submission?” he asked, staring back into my eyes, the bond making sparks dance across my hand.

“I do.”

“You have it,” Lachlan stated desperately, placing his hand over mine. “My very life is yours, Lira. You have my submission and my devotion. You have all of me. Use me as you see fit.”

Seventeen

Riley

“Daddy Kent. What are we doing today? Why are we going to the packhouse?”

I stared up, wondering what we were going to do. I thought he said we were going to hunt today, and he was going to teach me how to tan a hide. I still don’t know what a hide is, but I know that when Daddy Kent goes hunting, we get to eat the yummy stew with the parsnips for dinner. I like the deer stew. It makes my tummy really hot and full.

“We have to bring a friend to see the Luna,” Daddy Kent smiled down at me.

“The Luna?” I look at him like he’s crazy, because he is. I’ve never seen any Luna here. I’ve never seen no Luna ever.

I know there used to be one, because people talk about her a lot. They said she had pretty hair and she liked to play in the water. I like to play in the water too. Westley and I do it all the time when we visit. Westley even said that he played with the Luna in the water a lot, but then she ran away in the water by swimming.

“The Luna is back,” Daddy Kent rubbed my hair, making it go in my face. He laughs at me when I blow on it and tries to make it go away. “We’re meeting someone on the way that is bringing Westley, then you can meet her finally.”

Oh, wow. I hope no one lets her play in the water this time. It would not be happy for a lot of people in my new pack if she swam away again.

My tummy started to feel funny as I thought about her. What if she doesn’t like me? Westley said she was nice, but then she ran away and he was sad. Everyone was sad. I don’t want her to run away again and make Westley and everyone sad.

“What are you looking all blue about, little man?” Daddy Kent asked, helping me to get my new boots on my feet. The boots have lots of hooks and it's hard to make the strings go the right way on them. I mess up a lot when I try to do it myself.

“What if the Luna doesn’t like me?” I couldn’t help but to let my bottom lip poke out. I try not to, because Daddy Kent doesn't like seeing me sad. It makes him sad too. I can’t help it, though.

Instead of getting sad, Daddy Kent laughed really low, and his smile made me feel better. I know when he smiles that he has something happy to say.

Daddy Kent is very easy to understand. He does everything he says he will do, and he doesn’t make the fake smiles like my old daddy had to do a lot. I think it’s because this pack is happier, so Daddy Kent can be happy too. He doesn’t have to hide being sad or worried either. When Daddy Kent is sad or worried, he tells me why, and he always has a way to make him happy again.

I wish I could do that someday. I still try to hide when I’m sad a lot. It hurts when I do. It hurts my chest. Daddy Kent said that I don’t have to hide being sad. I can just tell him and he will help me.

It’s hard to trust adults sometimes, but I’m trying. I trust Daddy Kent. He likes me being happy.

“The Luna is a very special woman, Riley. She is very kind, and very protective, especially to people like you.”

“People like me?” I tilted my head, not understanding.

“Yes. She likes to stick up for people hurting. She was actually from your old pack. Did you know that?”

“She was?!” That’s not good. My old pack was not nice. “How did she get here? Did you save her too?”