Page 71 of Losing My Siren Luna

“Do even your commanders hide from you, Alpha?” Cedric muses, “My princess and her handmaiden must not be the only ones.”

“Fish pond,”Killian repeats, “Better yet, just give him a damn trough. The horses will share.”

“I could just put him six feet under,”I tell my Lycan.

“Oh, I like that idea even better.”

Killian and I were lost in my head for a moment, snickering about all the degrading places we could shove our merman guest, when Meldec finally appeared walking out of the warrior's lodging.

“There you are. Where the hell were you?” I growled.

He looks up in surprise, eyeing Cedric for a moment, freezing in his tracts before shaking his head and looking back at me.

“Alpha. I was just sorting out a dispute in the dorms,” Mel says gruffly, “Um, Alpha, who’s this?”

I sigh heavily, glad to finally be able to rid myself of the fish-smelling pest. “This….gentleman, is a siren warrior who will be staying with us for the nexttwo years,” I make sure to accentuate the ‘two years’ bit, “He will be part of the Luna guard, assigned to protectmy wife. He will be needing a room. Cedric,” I turned to address the nuisance, but then scowled when I saw his expression. “Cedric?”

He shakes his head, like he’s shaking out a distracting thought, the dazed expression he just had morphing back into his annoying, arrogant one. “Yes? Yes, I’m Cedric,” he stepped ahead of me, reaching out his hand to shake Mel’s, seeming much more friendly than he was with me. He almost seemed excited about meeting my Gamma. “It’s great to meet you. Meldec, was it?” he asks, “The pack’s Gamma?”

Mel looks nervously at me before taking Cedric’s outstretched hand. “Yeah. Hi. Um, Alpha, where do you want me to put Cedric here?”

“Horse trough. No, the steamer room under the castle,”Killian suggested eagerly.

“I don’t think I would like the scent of steamed fish wafting up to me while I bathe,”I snorted.

“Just any open room you can find that is available,” I tell Mel before I accidentally say one of the suggestions Killian is feeding me. “Get him set up and….maybe some clothes,” I grimace at Cedric’s glimmering bare chest. “Help him get anything he needs. I have something to take care of.”

“You got it, Alpha,” Mel sighs, looking exhausted. With Nilo running around the territory on horseback, pronouncing Lira my one true Luna with news of the festival to be held in her honor, and with Cherum now fulfilling his duties as Delta, taking care of my wife’s safety and well-being, most of the stress of organizing the grunt work of running the pack has fallen on him.

“When Nilo gets back, why don't you take some time off, Mel? You look like you could use some time relaxing with your family.”

He grins. “You clearly have never experienced living with 3 sisters. There won’t be much relaxing. But, yes. Thank you, Alpha. I will gladly take you up on that offer.”

I pat his back, ignoring Cedric’s observant gaze, then started walking back toward the main part of the castle to find my wife. The headache has been passed on to someone else, and I’m hoping there are no other obstacles to get in my way.

“Be kind this time. Don’t let your damn anger get control of you if she is still upset,”Killian warns me.

“It was you wanting to take over to rip apart that siren’s face,”I scoffed at him.

“I just wanted to make the pretty boy a little less pretty. He was getting too familiar with my mate.”

“Our mate,”I corrected him.

“No, my mate until she starts accepting you. I don’t have to win her over. You do. If it was just me, I feel like I would have already won her back.”

“You’re a real negative Nancy. You know that?”I growled at him.

“I’m a realist. And you’re really an ass.”

Lord, if I could, I’d fight my own Lycan for his smart mouth sometimes.

“You’d lose,”he mocks me, and I can picture his wolfy smirk.

When I got inside, I ignored the many greetings and empty pleasantries from the members loitering and traveling about while heading straight for Lira’s room. When I’m in the hallway, almost there, Percy and Yasmin step out into the hall, and I’m caught off guard for a moment by the way they are looking at each other.

This is different.

“Percy,” I muttered deeply to get his attention.