Page 99 of Forever My Siren Luna

I'm a warrior. A strong one, only matched by Lachlan himself. Val is powerful and can handle anything that may come our way.

Also, Beretta is my sister. I may not have known her as long as Lachlan and Nilo knew one another, but she helped me to grow into the warrior I am today. She taught me to stand up for myself, and to take what I wanted in life. She showed me, as much if not more than Jack, how to take the weakness of your past and to transform it into a strength.

I’m going. I need to help to save Beretta from whatever demons of the North stole my dear friend.

“What a way to start a honeymoon. Ey, lass?” Cherum mused while tightening the cinch on the saddle. “Mel here got an entire week to ensure his mate was broken in. You barely got a night to break in your stallion.”

“Cherum,” I groaned, my face heating at his crude talk.

Mel was already up on his horse and kicked Cherum in the side. “Excuse him, Luna. When he gets anxious before battle, he starts making vulgar observations.”

“Vulgar is what you like to do in the ocean that I piss in every morning,” Cherum snapped, poking the gamma in the leg.

“You just wait, you red-haired, milk-drinking mama’s boy. You wait until you find your mate. I’ll be pissing in your bathtub every-”

“So,” I interrupted them loudly before they started to really fight. “You think this is going to be an all-out battle?”

Both men, who were just fighting and looked as if they would tear into one another at any given moment, looked somber all of a sudden.

“Aye, lass. If it was just a vampire horde or a mindless band of orcs, we would have already sent out a support team and Nilo would have been able to handle the invasion through the night. Demons, though,” Cherum shook his head. “I doubt there is anyone left to support.”

“You mean?....”

He can’t mean they might all be dead. No. I would know it if Beretta were dead. I would know it in my soul if something that tragic happened to the woman I think of as a sister.

“They can’t be,” I whispered. “You can’t be saying that they’re all dead. You can’t mean Beretta….. No,” I whispered, shaking my head.

Cherum came around to place a soothing hand on my back, his power seeping into me to help calm the beginnings of the storm raging inside.

Soon, it’s not just Cherum’s hands, but another set of arms gliding around my shoulders, the sparks shooting through my body to comfort, though I still feel heavy with dread.

I turned to look up at Lachlan. He’s staring down with such concern and tenderness. He felt my pain, and he came to ease some of it.

“Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you tell me how grave this is?”

His eyes shone with Killian pressing forward with his concern too. Val is as distraught as me in their subconscious space. She and Beretta’s beast were as close friends as me and Beretta. Killian still pressed forward to observe me before retreating back to comfort her.

“It’s okay, my Lira. We don’t know anything yet. They could have gotten away.”

“You don’t truly think that. That is why you are so desperate to keep me home.”

He pressed his lips together, not answering, but that is an answer in itself.

“Beretta can’t be dead. She can’t,” I shook my head against his chest, hitting him lightly with my fist while he continued to try and hold and comfort me.

“She’s not dead,” a voice rang out from behind me. His firm tone was unyielding. “Beretta is not dead.”

Jack was standing near the stable’s entrance, eyes red, but a determined look on his face.

“I would know it beyond a doubt, and I know she is alive and fighting. My Beretta would never give up without a fight.”

All of us are quiet, Jack’s eyes locked with Lachlan’s, some unspoken communication passing between them.

“Then we have no time to waste,” Lachlan said with resolve.

With a curt nod of his head, Jack said, “My crew, the men who have trained with yours since our arrival, are ready to follow your command.” He took a step forward. “I am ready to follow your command, Alpha.”

As an alpha himself, it must have taken a lot to get him to say those words. Even with his beast shining through, there was no hesitation in his eyes. He was yielding to Lachlan entirely. All for Beretta.