Page 36 of Forever My Siren Luna (The Hidden Cove #2)

Lachlan and I walked alongside one another down the dock beside his personal ship. I used to walk here frequently in the past. I stared up at it as we walked by his ship, wondering what it might be like on board.

I had never set foot on it before. I’m wondering if it is much like Jack’s ships I’ve grown accustomed to.

“What a lunch, huh?” Lachlan said, bumping softly against me.

“I know. I’m sorry about that.” I was the one who invited them to eat with us. I feel bad for extending the offer in my naivety.

“You shouldn’t be sorry, Lira. Everything was calm and peaceful until he decided to change that.”

I grimaced. “I’m sorry because I feel like I shouldn’t have invited him to be there in the first place. Poor Joe. He was even left abandoned after Jack chose to leave for whatever reason.”

Lachlan scoffed. “The boy was indeed put in an awkward position. Don’t worry too much. Cherum is taking him to the warrior training grounds now and showing him the ways to become a warrior.”

“Really? I thought he would head back to the ship.”

Lachlan shrugged. “I guess he had questions of his own about pack life.”

I nodded in understanding. Joe is a lot like the older boys in the orphanage, lost and looking for guidance.

He was looking to Jack for that, but maybe it would be healthier for the boy to spend time with Cherum and the other pack warriors as well.

As long as they don’t try taking him to the brothels.

“So what was it you wanted to talk about? What were you curious about earlier?” Lachlan asks, getting right back to it.

How do I start?

“So, Cedric told me something today, and I was wondering if it could be true,” I frowned, thinking of lunch just now. “And then what just happened with Jack more or less confirmed a bit more of what Cedric was warning me of. I just wanted to know more from you.”

“Is this in relation to your pirate captain?” Lachlan asked and I nodded. Lachlan smirked slightly. “I can only imagine what Cedric might have said to you. He doesn’t really have a filter.”

I giggled. “No he does not.”

Lachlan rested his hand in mine, squeezing it tight. “I missed your laugh so much over the past several months. It's a compelling sound.” He lifted my hand and planted a gentle kiss on the back of it, making Val purr rather embarrassingly.

While I'm a bit dazed, Lachlan smirked and asked, “So, what did our candid friend Cedric say to you that is related to the pirate but also concerns me? You have my curiosity peaked as well.”

I stared at him as I contemplated for a moment, then looked around to make sure that we were alone.

“Cedric seemed to think that Jack sees me in a different light than I thought he did.”

Lachlan sighed. “So? Do you not think that is true? Do you want me to confirm or deny it to you?”

I grimaced. “Not exactly that per se. Cedric mentioned that things were said to you after my arrival back to the pack when the two of you were conversing on the docks.”

“Things?” Lachlan raised an eyebrow.

I’m a little annoyed that he is making me be so direct.

“Did Jack try to lay claim to me then? Cedric was under the impression that Jack, uh, was staking a claim on me, and warned me to watch myself around him if I wanted to try and work on things with you. I guess I’m just wondering what exactly was said.

Before Jack spoke out at lunch I had my doubts about whether it could even be true.

I’ve never thought Jack harbored lust or any such related feelings towards me. ”

Lachlan snorted. “Lira. You wouldn’t notice those things coming from anyone.

If you are asking if Jack sees you as a woman, the answer is yes.

He did try to claim you belonged with him and not me.

It pissed me off for a minute, but later I remembered it was you we were talking about.

I really didn’t have much to worry about unless he tried to forcibly mark you, then I would just kill him.

” Lachlan shrugged like it is no big deal, speaking of killing Jack.

“Why do you say that? What exactly do you mean?”

He stared at me pointedly, like the answer was obvious. “Lira. It used to drive me absolutely insane how oblivious you were to other men’s advances. It would make me furious at times. I thought maybe you were putting on an act, but I came to realize you really were just ignorant to such things.”

I’m gaping at him in doubt. “What on earth are you talking about?”

He rolled his eyes. “You are gorgeous, Lira.

Stunning. You are absolutely the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.

I am not the only one who thinks so. Men stare at you all the time.

If I ever saw you talking to a man, no matter how innocently, I would blow up with jealousy, but you never noticed any of the stares that came your way.

“You still don’t. Why do you think I was so upset this morning? Other men were staring at you in awe with that wanting look in their eyes, but you were too focused on proving me wrong to notice. You are just very ignorant when it comes to men’s affections.”

I grimaced. “I’m sorry. I just never noticed.”

He laughed softly. “I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. Not all the time. As long as I can show I have some claim on you, I can manage. But, yes, your friend Jack is very much attracted to you. The level of that attraction, I am unsure of. I don’t really want either of us to ever find out.”

“ Told you,” Val teased me.

I really didn’t think anything of Jack’s kindness towards me other than he was just looking out for me the way other men I trusted in my life did.

“I’m sorry,” I repeated again. “If I had known, I would have been more careful. I wouldn’t have invited him today.”

“Lira,” Lachlan stopped me, cupping the side of my face, looking down on me with that tender expression that makes me want to swoon. “I really hate you apologizing to me. You don’t have to. Ever. You tolerated a lot worse from me.”

“I didn’t really have a choice but to tolerate it,” I glared, muttering through clenched teeth.

“I know. That is why I don’t want you to apologize now.

You were strapped to a bastard of a mate like me, and I was blessed with a beautiful, head-turning mate like you.

If I were to get worked up every time a man fancies you, I would die at a young age from a heart condition or have a nervous breakdown. ”

“Seriously?” I sputtered in my laughter, unable to maintain my previous glare. “You exaggerate.”

“I wish I was,” he muttered, then sighed, stroking my face with his thumbs, making sparks dance on my skin. “Do you hold any attraction for the pirate?”

I shook my head.

“I have never held any attraction to any man but you,” I admitted, though doing so made me blush.

A radiant smile spread on his face, making my knees feel weak.

“What was that? I didn’t hear you properly.”

“Oh, yes you did,” I swatted his hands away, unable to take any more of the sparks or tingles. I turned tail and started back for the castle, too embarrassed to face him again.

“Are you trying to run away from me right now?” He laughed, walking right next to me so he could bend to speak directly in my ear. “Where are you going, Lira.”

“This way,” I growled, “Don’t you have work to do?”

“Nilo has work to do. I have a beautiful mate who just confessed she is attracted to me. My only job today is to make sure she doesn’t change her mind.”

“You’re failing,” I snapped.

His hands snake around my waist, halting my escape as he pulls me back against him, burying his nose in my nape.

“I’m not. Admit that I’m not.”

“Never.” My voice is strained as I hold back my urge to laugh.

I’m not ready to admit it yet, but he’s right. He is not failing at anything at this very moment. Quite the opposite, really.

~

UNKNOWN

“I’m sorry, Lord Tenebris. I can not speak with any confidence about the situation in the South. My team of men never returned. Not one of them. No matter who or how many we send out, they get lost at sea each and every time.”

Intolerable scum. I have been waiting for the right moment to strike for far too long. This man promised me he could corrupt the pack from the inside, but he can’t even tell me the state the pack is in right now.

"You test me, Alpha Wayne. I thought you said you could pollute the integrity of the pack with your whorish niece?"

"I thought I could. His reputation is well known.

And she was desirable and seductive enough, according to my men, but I haven't been able to check the status of her womb and if she has conceived the young alpha's heir yet.

Without an heir, killing him would be useless to me.

I couldn't take control of his pack without that claim. "

A snarl vibrated through me. I had seen Alpha Wayne's niece.

She was desirable. Far more desirable than I was expecting.

I had heard of her mother and her exploits.

I will only take the pure and unsullied to be my bride or I might have chosen the niece instead of the daughter when this all began.

I don't want my heir to be tainted by the essence of other men.

Plus, I wanted the more powerful of the two.

The niece was born of a lowly warrior. The daughter was pure alpha.

When the niece was of age, she was sent to the south when my brute force was not enough to overtake the pack after years and years of trying.

His plan was to have her impregnated by the young alpha, then end him so he could have a way to overtake the pack legally as her rightful guardian and the heir's only living male relative.

If that plan has failed, and the niece is still without a child growing in her belly, I will have to try again with just brute force and hope this time that it is enough. Maybe since Alpha Wayne has been plagued by pirates, the southern pack has been too.

This cretin. He is failing me at every turn. My disdain for the man grows each day.

“Your daughter,” I sneered. “Where is she?”