Page 79 of Forever My Siren Luna

The smell of rum wafted to my nose, and I looked up, realizing it was Jack.

“You alright there, lass?” He reaches out, as if to keep me steady. I took a step back just in case, so he can’t. I don’t want another fight to break out between him and my mate.

“I’m fine,” I quickly muttered. “I’m sorry I was not watching where I was going.”

He smiled tightly. “It’s alright. I was, uh, looking for you anyway, Ela. Can we talk for a moment?”

I hear Cherum and Cedric coming up behind me, still arguing about their nonsense.

If they catch up, Cedric will prevent Jack from speaking to me at all. Cedric dislikes Jack more than even Lachlan.

“Sure,” I looked around for somewhere more private to speak. The barracks is next to us, and with most of the men in training, it will be relatively private. Just the omegas cleaning the rooms will be around. “Let’s go there,” I pointed to the door, then rushed over before Cedric and Cherum could turn the corner too.

Once hidden inside the building, watching my two faithful shadows walk past through a window, I turned to face the pirate captain. I was just thinking not 30 minutes earlier I needed to have a conversation with him to clear the air. I guess it’s happening much sooner rather than later.

We both begin to talk at the same time.

“Jack, I-”

“Ela, I was-”

He laughed awkwardly as my face began to heat again from nerves.

“You go first,” I insisted.

“Thanks,” Jack reached for his inside breast pocket, then tried to play it off, continuing his reach upward to scratch behind his head. “I, uh, wasn’t sure if I would get this chance to talk to you in time.”

“In time for what?”

Jack goes quiet, looking more anxious all of a sudden. His face, angled downward, looked tense. He peaks up at me through his lashes, his Lycan shining a bit in his eyes. They’re conversing, and the conversation doesn’t seem to ease any of his tension.

“The full moon will be here soon,” he blurts out.

The full moon?

“Okay? It tends to do that. Waning and waxing. Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?”

“Not the phases the moon goes through,” he sounded a bit frustrated. “I wanted to talk about the significance it has for us, as Lycans who have met their mates.”

I’m still confused. What is he trying to say?

“Ela,” he said my name so softly, urging me for something, though I don’t know what. “If you wanted to take a different mate, what would you need to do?”

My eyes widened in surprise, then Val began to snarl and growl through me, catching on to what he was suggesting.

“I’m not taking another mate,” I snapped, grimacing at the notion. “Why would you even think it was okay to ask me that?”

He looked down sheepishly. “You haven’t taken any mate, Ela. We have been here for weeks yet you have remained unmated. I just…. I just want you to know that you do have options. If you don’t want him, consider me instead. I am an Alpha, and my home is already on the sea. I think we could be perfect for one another. I have wanted nothing more since the moment I laid eyes on you asleep in my island cabin.”

I can hardly believe the direction this conversation has taken.

“Jack, I never once considered you in that light. Not once. I saw you as my brother. Nothing more.”

He made a soft strangled noise. “I never thought of you as a sister.”

Val rolled her eyes in my head, and I tried to refrain from doing the same outwardly.

“What about Beretta?”