Page 24 of Forever My Siren Luna (The Hidden Cove #2)

“He's n ot in our room,” Val groaned as I shut the door quietly.

“ It’s not really our room anymore,” I argued with her, “ We left, remember.”

“He left it the same,” she said in a giddy voice, “ He wants it to still be our room.”

“Yeah, well, don’t get your hopes up just yet. A lot has changed since then.”

“Yeah, you are a lot grumpier,” Val grumbled.

“ You sure aren’t a bucket of sunshine anymore either, Val.

You're crankier than me.” She also has a habit of acting on that anger now, but it would do no good to point that out.

This isn’t really the time to remind her that she likes to tear the heads off my uncle’s warriors every time she gets mad.

Hurrying down the corridors, I decided to try Lachlan’s office next. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth thinking of going there, since that was the last place I saw him before I swam away. I saw him with that awful woman. That is not a memory I want to relive.

Turning the corner, I almost ran right into Jack.

“Whoa,” he held me steady, even though he seemed to sway a bit more than I did, “There you are, lass. I’ve been looking for you everywhere. Had to lose my blasted chaperone to find you.”

Chaperone? I’ll have to talk to Lachlan about that. Jack and his men can be trusted.

“Sorry, Jack, but I’m in a bit of a rush right now.”

“Rush for what? Where’s the fire?” he laughed dryly.

“I need to find Lachlan. I’ll come to find you as soon as I’m done. I want to know how the meeting went,” I quickly told him before rushing off down the hall. I can tell he has more to say, but he will have to wait. I want to speak with Lachlan now before I lose my nerve.

He isn’t in his office and I don’t find him in the training grounds either. Is he hiding from me? After my father and I finished our walk on the beach, Lachlan rushed off with Nilo and I haven’t seen either of them since.

Finally, when I’m about to give up, I find Cherum in the armory with Percy and a few other members of Luna's guard. All of them lit up as I walked in, smiles on all their faces.

I can’t help the smile that erupts on mine. I missed these men.

“I was about to hunt you down, Ela. How was your visit with your father?” Cherum asked me after the others finished greeting me and hugging me like I’m their rag doll. Val had to growl at a few of them for squeezing too hard.

“It was wonderful,” my smile broadened, thinking of my first real connection I had with my father. “I was looking for the Alpha, though. Do any of you know where he might be?”

“Hmm, probably there, right Delta?” Percy looked at Cherum.

“Aye, that is usually where he is when we can’t find him?”

“Where?” I looked between the two men.

Cherum smiled brilliantly, his rosy cheeks stretching on his face. “Let me show you, lass. I know the Alpha will be excited for you to see it for yourself.”

~

Jack

I lost her again. I swear, ever since coming here it has been like a game of cat and mouse trying to keep up with her.

She is always on the move, always wanted by someone. Her attention is always somewhere else.

My head is a mess after waking up next to Beretta, knowing that I might have cost myself my chance with Ela. Not only did that happen, my beast seemed entirely at peace with the incident, which was making my head even more of a mess.

“ What’s done can’t be undone,” Oisin said after the initial shock wore off this morning.

He has been strangely quiet all day today, not even getting worked up like I was about Ela spending the night away from her cabin, instead staying here, in the same building as her current mate and husband.

My jealousy was at an all time high. I’m glad she wasn’t there to witness me and her best friend in the walk of shame, but I still can’t stand the fact that I don’t know where she spent the night.

She didn’t seem totally against her husband this morning, even taking him with her to speak with her real father, the bloody King of the bloody Sirens.

Not me, but her husband is the one she trusted the most for such an emotional event. I thought for sure she would choose me for support, but it was still that damned Alpha.

What’s worse is that he had to point out the smell still coming off me, the result of spending the night with Beretta. I didn’t know the smell was that discernable, but he is a strong alpha. He probably could pick it up without much effort, whereas others would have a harder time.

I turned my neck to sniff myself, and could just catch the faint wafting scent of Beretta lingering on my skin.

How did I end up in bed with her, I wonder?

She seemed quite okay with it when she woke up.

She even seemed a bit smug with herself, disarming me a bit when she sauntered her naked ass out of bed, retrieving her clothes off the floor before bending over me and giving me one last deep and confusing kiss before sauntering out of my cabin and onto the main deck, still ass naked.

That woman is a spitfire. Oisin was stunned, and so was I by her very bold display.

She is not the one I have been striving to impress myself upon for the last several months. Why is it that, despite that fact, I don’t entirely regret the events of last night?

I headed back out to the dock, giving up on a private conversation with my Ela for the moment. She seemed desperate to find her mate, like a woman on a mission. An enchanting and beautiful woman on a mission. Her mate must be mad for treating her the way he did.

Still, it is him she is running to meet and not me. That thought left a bitter taste in my mouth.

“Captain,” a suave female voice purred from behind me, startling me. I place my hand over my gut and jump slightly.

I was so lost in my thoughts I didn’t notice someone had come up from behind me.

“Beretta,” I breathed, “Don’t sneak up on a man like that.”

“I didn’t think you were a man who could be so easily startled,” she grinned crookedly. “I was just coming to check on you and see how you were holding up after last night?”

I sighed, taking my medallion out of my pocket and twirling it between my fingers, the smoothed surface helping to calm me a bit.

“Beretta, about last night,” I started, trying to think of the right words to say.

“Oh, Captain,” she struts right up to me, making me tense as she grips the lapels of my shirt. “If you are about to feed me some cheesy line about last night being a mistake, save your breath.”

“Beretta,” I said her name in an even voice, almost like a warning, “I was drunk.”

“But I wasn’t,” she stated, running a finger down my chest. “I was as sober as I am right now. Last night was far from a mistake for me.”

“What?” I stared at her in surprise. She has to know my feelings for Ela. Everyone does.

“I said, it wasn’t a mistake,” she fluttered her eyelashes at me, “I knew what I was doing. I had every intention of taking you to bed, and I am feeling quite proud of myself that I did.”

“But,” I stammered in confusion, “why? You must know that-”

“You are in love with our dear princess Ela?” She finished the sentence for me, “I would have to be blind not to see your affection for her, but I doubt it’s love, Captain.

I think you are just in the hope of love blooming.

I’m sorry to tell you, sir, that no matter how much you tend to nurture that seed of hope, it will never blossom.

Her garden is still budding with someone else’s hope to blossom. ”

“What are you talking about?” I gently pushed her hand away. All her talk about gardens and blossoms is confusing at the moment.

“Our Princess Ela is still very much in love with her mate.

He is crazy for her. He killed for her. His devotion is not something you can compete with, I'm sorry to tell you.

Not with someone as naive in love as our princess.

Maybe if she had any idea of your feelings for her, but women growing up in the pack that we grew up in don't see love and affection the same as most women in other places. It took me years to figure it out, and I'm afraid you won't have years to woo Ela. It’s a lost cause for you, Captain. I don’t want to see you get hurt now that I know she will never return your…. infatuation. The garden of her heart may already be occupied, but mine is void and ready to be seeded.” She turns, pressing her rounded ass in her tight leather pants against me, making me swallow with nervous tension.

Her face is glowing in satisfaction as she turns her head to look back at me over her shoulder.

“Feel free to plant your seed inside me any time you like.”

Oisin purred at her advance, mortifying me and making Beretta laugh.

“You taught me a valuable lesson last night, Captain. I plan on living by it now.”

“What? What lesson is that?” I gulp as she pressed her body back against mine again.

“A pirate takes what they want, and then never lets it go. I took what I wanted from you last night, Captain.” She rotated her hips, dipping down, making my body quiver in excitement. “Get ready, because now that I got it, I won’t let it go.”

With those parting words, she sauntered back towards the row boat she had come here in, her ass shaking with each step she took, leaving me even more stunned.

~

Elelira

Cherum walked me down to a part of the castle I had never been before. I didn’t even know this part of the castle existed.

The hallways looked so new, the stone still bright and polished like it has been freshly cut.

The sconces on the walls are different from the rest of the castle.

They are all shaped like siren tails, the details of the fin scales so intricate.

The floors are polished sandstone, looking a bit like real sand.

Everything about this wing of the castle reminds me of the ocean. I love it.

“Where are we?” I asked Cherum, still looking around in awe.

Cherum chuckled deeply. “You look impressed.”

“I am,” I admitted. “I never knew a place like this existed in the castle.”