Page 26 of Forever My Siren Luna (The Hidden Cove #2)

“If I promise to listen without getting mad or defensive, can you promise to tell me the entire truth? Don’t glance over anything if you think I can’t handle it. I am stronger than you think.”

Lachlan smiled softly down on me. “I promise to never keep anything from you again, Lira.” His voice is so sincere, so tender that I can’t help but to trust him. Please, just don’t let my trust be broken again.

Lachlan led me into the parlor connected to the bedroom. It’s sparsely decorated, but it has a settee and a pair of chairs. They look custom made, matching the beach theme with the rest of the room.

“Where do you want me to start?” Lachlan asked nervously, wiping his hands down the front of his pants.

I can tell he is holding back from touching me, which I am grateful for.

I don’t need the sparks and the bond to confuse me right now.

I want to put the bond aside as it should just be me and Lachlan through this if at all possible. Touching would hinder that.

“From the beginning. Our wedding day. The first one,” I told him.

He cringed. “I hate thinking about the way I treated you. It makes me sick,” he whispered.

I nodded, understanding. I hate thinking about it too, but I have to know. I want to know why he was so cruel to me, and it started that day. The beginning of my hardest years started on that wedding day.

“I need to know, Lachlan. I need to understand or I don’t know if I can ever accept you.”

“I know,” he smiled sadly. “Just, please, bear with me.

~~~

Lachlan

“Why are you doing this?” Nilo asked for the hundredth time in the past week. “You know he can’t be trusted.”

“You don’t think I fucking know that? What other choice do I have?

One attack is all it would take to ruin our pack’s peace, Nilo.

One. We lost too many and too much in this last war.

It was either this or we started training the women and children to fight.

Do you want to see young ones out on the gorey battlefield with us? ”

“No,” he groaned, “I just…. I just don’t see why you have to give up finding your fated mate to form this alliance. Why can’t he demand anything else?”

“I’ve been asking myself the same thing.

I have already signed the treaty. There is nothing I can do.

I just have to pray that she doesn’t try to use tricks and schemes to get me into bed.

Two years. I just have two years, and if she doesn’t carry my heir, then the treaty can be broken and I will be granted an annulment. I can hold out for 2 years.”

“If she is anything like her uncle, tricks and schemes are guaranteed,” Nilo grunts.

I know they are, that’s why I will have to be careful.

After the wedding, I plan on avoiding her at all costs.

I even set her room in the furthest tower from my room, assigning her a maid that holds no authority in the castle whatsoever so she can’t cause problems. I just have to avoid her.

It won’t be hard. My men have already been informed of the situation and will help me to not fall prey to any scheme the niece of the damned Alpha of the west may have.

As I get ready, I feel as if I am dressing for a funeral and not a wedding. It feels like a funeral to me. Alpha Wayne is trying to trap me into this never-ending alliance by using my promiscuity against me. He said it himself. “What’s wrong with adding one more woman to your harem?”

It made me sick to be thought of that way.

Yes, I unwind like any other man, but I never make it personal.

As an unmated Alpha Lycan, I need the release after battle.

I need to unwind and destress the only way I can without having my mate.

I don’t mess with the women outside of the brothels, and I pay for the services. There is no harem.

Is that what Alpha Wayne’s niece is expecting? Does she think of me as easy to seduce because of her uncle’s remarks? Is she one of those ambitious she-wolves, trying to fuck her way to a position of authority?

I won’t even entertain the thought with her.

If she wants to be a Luna, she will have to seduce some other Alpha after leaving here in two years, because I won’t fall for such schemes.

I won’t let my pack fall prey to Alpha Wayne and his spying niece.

I will take every measure to ensure that she can’t entrap me like her uncle wants.

“Are you ready?” Nilo asked.

“Ready as I’ll ever be. Let’s get this over with.”

Nilo and I made our way down to the chapel, standing waiting in the front as the music started to play.

The wedding march makes me feel sick as I watch the warriors that came with Alpha Wayne snickering and laughing in the back.

This feels more like a trap than ever, and I have no choice but to let it happen.

When the doors open and Alpha Wayne finally appears with his niece, I am stunned for a moment.

She is really beautiful. Too beautiful. Alpha Wayne even dressed her in the most provocative wedding dress he could probably find.

Her youthful glow radiates out of her, her soft curve accentuated by her thin waist bound in the fabric of her dress.

Her face is like an angel's, but I know better.

This has to be a trap. There is no way a woman can be this beautiful.

When my eyes meet hers, a deep scowl sets on my face, a weird feeling flowing through me.

Her eyes are like emeralds shining bright.

Her face is lit up, and I can almost feel the enthusiasm coming out of her as she stares right back at me.

This has to be a trap. This can’t be normal. The attraction I have for a single woman has never been so strong. She is 18, though, so I know this has to be a trick. She isn’t my mate.

What kind of magic or enchantment did Wayne use to make me feel like this? Did he find a succubus demon to act as his niece? Is the real Elelira Lambert hidden away somewhere until I fall victim to this temptress and I’ve fallen into Alpha Wayne's trap.

I don’t trust this. None of this. There is no reason for me to find this woman as desirous as I do.

All through the ceremony, I ignored the excited vixen beside me, remaining stoic and cold so I didn't give in to temptation. I can see the want and desire on her face when I peek down at her, which makes me feel sick all the more.

I can’t want her. I can’t desire her like this. What spell are they trying to cast on me?

After the ceremony, I am forced to take her hand and walk her down the aisle as husband and wife.

Feeling her touch makes the desire so much worse.

She is definitely trying to bewitch me. Killian would have stirred and claimed her if she were our mate.

He is resting quietly in the back of my head, just waiting for this to be over.

“Get her prepared for the reception,” I commanded Niomi, the elderly maid I assigned to take care of Elelira. I don’t speak to the girl directly, though she has tried to start a conversation several times now with her soft “excuse me”s and “can I have a word”s.

No. She can’t. I am not allowing her to affect me any more than she already is.

Her gaze as she follows the maid out lingers on me, and I somehow manage to tear my eyes away from hers.

She has to be bewitched. No one can have eyes that hypnotizing.

“Congratulations, Alpha Lachlan,” Alpha Wayne approached me as the guests started to file out.

“Alpha,” I nodded stoically, not appreciating whatever he was trying to pull with his niece. “You told me she was of full Lycan blood?” I prodded, wanting to know more about her, to clarify if she was not in fact a demon or a witch.

“Of course,” his smile was almost sinister.

“Her mother is my late sister, who had relations with many of my top warriors. She had a reputation, which is why she faced an early death. I can assure you that Elelira’s father was also a high-ranking Lycan.

She is bred from the best.” He then leaned in to whisper.

“Daughters always become like their mothers. I would keep her on a tight leash, if you know what I mean. I have kept her pure for you, so don’t let my gift of goodwill go to waste. ”

It disgusted me how he can talk about his own sister and niece like that. It sounds like Elelira was groomed by him for the purpose of seducing a desperate Alpha like me.

I won’t let them win. My pack will be stronger in two years, and I will be free from the Lambert pack. I won’t let some temptress trick me into betraying my pack and my future mate.

~6 Months later~

“She is asking for you again, Alpha,” Cherum entered my office, leaning against the door frame. “I sent her packing, but she seemed desperate to see you.”

“I’m sure she did,” I muttered.

I have been doing a good job for months now at avoiding her entirely, but she just never gives up. It’s taxing, always having to be on guard.

The worst part is the dreams. Even if I don’t want to, I still dream of her. The erotic nature of the dreams has been believing more than ever that she is a succubus or temptress from hell. She can’t get me when I’m awake, so she tries to taunt me in my sleep, tempting me to come find her.

I haven’t yet. I don’t plan on coming to find her either. No matter how bewitching the dreams are.

Yasmin has been a savior in handling the aberrant dreams. She comes at a moment's notice to help relieve the effects the dreams have on me. I feel as if I am calling for her or one of the other girls every night now.

“Do you think you should just talk to her once?” Cherum asked. “She didn’t look well, Alpha. She looked skinnier than ever before, and her face looked sullen. I feel bad for the lass.”

“Is that old maid not taking care of her needs?”

Cherum shrugged, “She is, but you said you didn’t want the lass to eat in the dining hall, so Niomi brings her food from the staff’s meals.”