Page 80 of Losing My Siren Luna

“Ha. Like he has any authority to tell me I can’t.”

Cedric chuckled at my defiant attitude. “I doubt that man would tell you no anyway. He would likely drop all his work to adhere to your wishes and take a swim with you.”

My face heats at the idea of swimming with Lachlan. I didn’t feel any embarrassment at the thought of swimming with Cedric, but swimming with Lachlan, both of us in minimal clothing, where modesty is not attainable without risk of drowning, makes the nagging bond flare in my chest again.

“Because you find him attractive. As you should. He’s your mate,”Val huffs.

“You would have to be blind to not find Lachlan attractive. That’s not it. Cedric’s attractive too. It’s just the bond making me feel this way, and you being an insistent pest.”

“Insistent pest or not, you know deep down why you feel shy with our mate and not the smooth-talking fish,”Val rolls her eyes at me, annoyed with my denial.

“What is this?” Cedric smiles crookedly down at me, his perfect teeth glistening in the moonlight. “Do we have a blushing bride, shy about swimming with her husband?”

“No,” I lied, pushing him away and scowling at him.

“We do,” he grins, teasing me, “Is my princess too shy to ask her husband to take a dip in the water with her? If you want some alone time with him for more intimate moments, I could wander off into the deeper parts of the bay.”

“Intimate moments will not occur, so that will not be necessary.” I cringed, just imagining the panic attack that could cause. Holding hands may be fine, but the things Cedric is insinuating are not possible for me. That’s another reason I don’t want to get my hopes up with Lachlan. If he gets tired of waiting for me to be ready for that kind of relationship, he may again turn his affections elsewhere.

Cedric stared at me for a few moments, all the teasing gone from his face. “Are you afraid of being intimate with your husband, Princess?”

Even using the endearment of princess, I can feel the seriousness of his question. I feel like he is asking me something more than just inquiring about the intimacy in my marriage.

“I’m afraid that is too personal of a question, Cedric. One you need not worry about.”

His stare continues, then his sigh heavily before looking around at the guard and then the sea. After a while, he turned back around to face me.

“If anyone were to ever hurt you, I would deal with them, princess. I can promise you that. Even if it’s the rabid alpha that you married, I would put him down if he ever hurt you or forced you to do something you were not ready for.”

“I appreciate that, but I promise you that Lachlan has never hurt me. Not in the ways you are insinuating. He has never laid a hand on me. That is why I said intimacy is not to be expected.”

He stared right into my eyes, not holding back and being straightforward with his next question. “Has he hurt you in other ways, Elelira?”

I press my lips together, not knowing how to answer. “Not yet,” is all I say. That's all I can say. He has hurt me, but again, it wasn’t this Lachlan. It was the one from my first life. “And I can only hope he won’t,” I whispered, more for me than him.

“He won’t,”Val tells me, but I can feel her uncertainty. She is certain of her mate, but I can feel in her tone now that she is still unsure of mine, no matter how much she tries to say otherwise.

“He won’t,” Cedric says out loud, repeating the words my Lycan just said while coming forward and taking hold of my shoulders. “No one can hurt you with me by your side.”

A small, unsure smile appeared on my face. “I believe I can handle myself.” I did in the past. I know how to overcome any misfortune that may befall me in this life. Nothing could be worse than what I suffered at the end of my last one.

“I believe you can too, but you are not alone, princess. Use the tools you are being given when you need them.”

“Are you calling yourself my tool?” I smirked at him, trying to lighten the mood.

He smiles at my teasing, “I will be whatever you need.”

~

Lachlan POV

“Did you reach all the villages in the territory?” I asked my Beta, who was kicking back in a chair in the armory, drinking a beer by the fire and scarfing down leftover stew.

He just got back and I wanted a debrief as soon as possible so I could get back to Lira. The afternoon with her has been so great and I just want to retire for the evening, not having to worry about work again until tomorrow.

“I want to brush her hair,”Killian has been pestering me. He wants to have some kind of contact with our mate too. He was jealous of me holding hands with her all through dinner.

“Let’s get this done, then we can ask.”I don’t think Lira will mind as long as Killian agrees to not kissing her again.