Page 9 of Forever My Siren Luna (The Hidden Cove #2)

“He couldn’t,” Cedric stepped up to say. “He wanted to, but couldn’t, princess. It was in the contract with your father.”

My brows furrow. I angrily wiped my eyes on the back of my hand, then turned my glare on him. “What contract?”

“The contract Lachlan had to sign with your father to bring you back to life, my princess. We were all forbidden from telling you anything. It was a blood contract. He couldn’t tell you even if he wanted to, which I’m sure he did. Actually,” Cedric took another step forward, “I know he did.”

I looked at Lachlan, Val stirring in my mind, desperate to know if that was true.

“You made a blood contract with the Siren King? You?” He never would have made himself vulnerable to the leader of a different race before.

Why would he do such a thing with my father?

“Why?” I simply asked, wanting to understand.

He had never trusted other races before.

Is that why he was so open to sirens in this life? Because he had to be?

His eyes were imploring me; for what, I do not know.

He looked so desperate, so forlorn, that I felt my eyes softening in response.

The stupid mate bond has my body reacting to him, even though I don't want to.

It's like I can feel Killian searching for us somehow.

How he has the power to do that without touching me is beyond me.

I was able to fight against the bond before when he wasn't touching me.

Why is it so hard right now? Is it because I can clearly see his pain in his face and throughout his body, the way his neck is tense and flexed, and his fists are folded into tight balls at his side, his knuckles turning white from the strain on them?

I don't understand any of this. Why would he sign a contract with my father that would take away any part of his free will? A blood contract makes him at the mercy of my father, doesn't it? I don't know the terms, but I know they are never in the contractee's favor.

“It was the only way to get you back to me,” he answered in a harsh whisper.

“I would have bent the knee to anyone to get you back. I wanted to tell you, Lira. I always did. I couldn’t reveal anything about our first life or your father's involvement. I would have instantly if I could. Until you accepted me as your mate, I wasn’t allowed to reveal a word.

I could simply confirm or deny it when a question was asked, nothing more. ”

What? Why? “Why would….why would my father put such stipulations on you?”

Lachlan’s body tenses, a lost look crossing his face.

He is pressing his lips together, his eyes trained on mine as if he is using them as an anchor, or maybe a liferaft to keep his head out of stormy waters.

I could see the storm behind his eyes, making even Val mewl softly, the damned bond affecting her again.

“He was trying to punish the Alpha while also keeping you safe,” Cedric reveals.

“I’m sorry, princess. Everything was my fault.

I….I should have waited for Alpha Lachlan to speak with you that morning, or even waited until your father came later so he could better explain himself.

I was rushed in my attempts to try and do what I thought was best, but I ended up hurting you more.

If I had gone to your mate first, that awful woman would never have been able to corner him like she did, and none of this would have happened. ”

Stunned. My entire body is simply stunned, my mind not yet fully comprehending what all this means.

“Why….,” I started, trying to find the best way to word this question. “Why would preventing him from talking to me be punishing him?”

Cedric looked hesitant to answer, looking at Lachlan from the corner of his eye before looking back at me.

“Because your father heard of the ways your mate misguidedly treated you in your first life, Lass,” Cherum told me, being the only one willing to speak up.

“I don’t agree with it, but I can understand why your father wanted to make it harder for the Alpha to win back your favor.

He had to start anew with you, while you still thought the worst of him. ”

My brows pulled down, still trying to work this all out. And was Cedric hesitant to tell me that because he didn't want to speak ill of Lachlan for once? He was always ready to say whatever to paint Lachlan in a bad light before. I looked at him in bafflement, wondering why that changed.

“Ela," he whispered, "I wasn’t lying when I told you that your father just wanted to keep you safe by hiding you here, in plain sight,” Cedric added on to what Cherum was saying. “He was trying to find out how you died and prevent it, and at the same time, keeping you under the Alpha’s protection so as to not cause you more harm by revealing to the world who you really were was the best option he saw. If you had died while searching for him like we were led to believe, and it was a death caused by being the Siren King’s daughter, he didn’t want you to have to carry that label until you had your magic unlocked and he could protect you in our kingdom.

Alpha Lachlan, though he has his faults, is the safest form of protection for you.

He was known for being bloodthirsty and fierce in battle.

He is not a man to trifle with. That’s known far and wide.

He was also very remorseful of the past. He…

.he did everything he could to make it right, princess.

He suffered willingly, sacrificing greatly to bring you back from the dead. ”

I stared at Lachlan in disbelief. “How?” I asked. “What exactly did a man with no magic do to bring me back?” What did he have to sacrifice?

Lachlan stands quietly, just staring at me as I try to piece everything together.

After a long moment, he says, “I killed him.”

“Who?” I furrowed my brows, more confused than before.

“Your uncle. I killed him and brought him to your father in order to have his blood to bring you back.”

My eyes went wide in disbelief. He killed him?

My uncle? “How?” I’ve been looking into ways to kill my uncle for months, but he had the strongest defenses, and his packhouse is fortified, surrounded by innocent pack members, not vulnerable enough to simply invade and attack.

Plus, if he has some form of alliance with the Northern vampire and demon clans, they could wipe us out before we ever get close enough to take a shot at him.

“By sacrificing all of us,” Cherum says. “He took our pack into battle with your uncle’s, and, from my understanding, many of us died in order to give you this chance.”

“What?” horror fills me. “No,” I whisper. I never want anyone to sacrifice themselves for me. How could he do that? Why would he do that?

“Lass, I don’t hold any memories of the past, like you and the Alpha, but I’m sure of one thing. There isn’t a warrior in this pack that wouldn’t lay down their lives to save yours. I would die a hundred times for you, Luna.”

“As would I,” Percy said.

“And I,” said Maurice, who was always so kind to the orphans that I loved when he could come with us to visit them.

Many others, every warrior waiting and watching on the bridgeway leading back to the castle, and further up the docks added their agreement too.

"From my understanding," Meldec said quietly, "We all willingly fought for you back then."

"Of course we did," Cherum grinned softly at me.

"You are our Luna. Even if you did reject the Alpha, as you rightly should have after the mess the bastard put you through at the time, you were still our fated Luna, and this pack would die for you.

I would do it again, though Alpha refuses to tell us just who died and who didn't. And lass," he gave me that all too familiar big brother stare, "I can tell you this.

He may have been a bastard in your first life, but he's been sincere in this one.

Any of us can attest that the man loves you. "

Val whimpered brokenly, straining to maintain her fierce aura hearing a person we both trust saying that he knows our mate loves us.

He may love us, but is love enough to overcome the past?

“Any sacrifice I had to make, I was going to for you,” Lachlan whispered at the end.

“You are my mate, Lira. The love of my life. I treated you poorly, thinking you were a trap set by your uncle. I never trusted him. If he really is in cohorts with the Northern Clans, that explains a lot. The stipulation about you having to give me an heir within a certain time frame, and how I felt drawn to you without feeling the bond led me to believe that he….that he sent you to bewitch me. To trap me and my pack. I didn’t try to betray you.

I didn’t want to hurt you. I was simply fighting against my desires, to protect my pack.

I did it in the worst, most horrifying way possible, and I will forever regret that.

I just….I just couldn’t live in a world where you didn’t exist. This pack loves you.

” He takes a deep, shuddering breath. “I love you. I know asking you to forgive me and love me back may never happen, but please don’t run away again.

Please,” he falls on his knees, “just stay where I can see you and keep you safe. Let me be the one to protect you again.”