Page 11 of Losing My Siren Luna (Hidden Cove #1)

Elelira POV

When I came to my room, mentally exhausted and ready to retire for the evening, the Delta of the pack was waiting outside, looking about ready to enter the room for whatever reason.

“Why is he here? He didn’t acknowledge us before. Why is he continually trying to get involved with us this time?” Val asked me.

“ I’m not sure. Much has changed this time. It’s a lost cause if he is trying to fulfill his task as my Delta. Lachlan obviously hasn’t changed.”

Val whimpers, thinking about the women that surrounded Lachlan back in the reception hall.

They all seemed more than familiar with him.

I guess it comes with their line of work.

Intimate and personal knowledge of him is something I will never possess.

Watching the women paw all over him, I’m grateful I won't. I’m not here to intrude on their domain.

It makes me sick to think about being with him after all of them have had him.

I left the reception early last time. Did he invite those women to our wedding the first time too? Is that where he disappeared after his Beta gave that awful speech?

I’m still holding the necklace he gave me. I probably should have given it back, but the magic in it is calling to me, urging me to keep it. I grip it tighter as I approach the pack’s Delta.

After telling him I have no plans on moving rooms, or having any closer relationship with his alpha, I go inside my room, alone at last, and begin stripping out of this reception dress.

I just managed to unbutton the last button on the back, letting the dress fall to the floor, when I hear Lachlan yelling outside of my room.

Still wearing my slip, I pull a dressing robe from my bed and wrap it around my body before slightly cracking the door to find out what is happening.

I just wanted a moment of peace away from him, but it seems Lachlan is set on making this life hell for me as well.

“I DON’T CARE WHAT SHE SAID! She’s mine, and I won’t be able to sleep at night with her this far from me.”

Who is he talking about? Is he referring to me?

Val perks at the idea as we continue to listen in, but by the end of their conversation, both of us are growling in anger.

“ He can’t replace her. She is our only friend and support here. Does he want us to be completely alone?” Val asks.

“ Why wouldn’t he? That’s all he wanted before. He will probably replace her with someone who treats us poorly from the start. Our time with Mimi was the only time we didn’t feel helpless, and now he is taking that away from us.”

“Stop him,” Val growls, no longer pining for her mate, but furious with him now instead.

“ How? He is the alpha?”

“And that Delta thinks you are his Luna. The Beta seemed to as well this time. Tell them no, and order them to keep her with you.”

I grimace, imagining how that might go. I pace my room as I think, anxiety building in me. I don't want to lose Mimi. “ A luna in name isn’t the same as a mated luna. I don’t have the authority to command or order anyone in this pack.”

She growls in my head, irritated because she knows I am right. “ Bargain with him then. If he wants you to change rooms or….be closer with him, then agree to do it as long as you can keep Mimi with you. She will die in a year. We can’t let her die on her own.”

Mimi, because she was an elderly, lower omega, didn’t have much support.

Maybe that is why we grew so close. I don’t want her taken from me to die on her own.

I want to love her and cherish her until her time comes, so she can leave this world knowing she is valued and adored, and not just an insignificant maid like she often thought she was.

“Let’s go find Lachlan,” I murmured out loud. Val snorts in my head in agreement.

If he wants me closer to him so he can keep a better eye on me, then fine. If he wants to…partake in his rights as my husband, then so be it, though I doubt that is what he truly wants. He never hinted that he wanted to before. I will endure whatever to keep Mimi with me.

I slip back on my heels given to me for my wedding day.

My feet were aching from wearing them while climbing the stone steps, but I’m not sure where any other shoes are packed away at the moment.

I would rather have gone barefoot, but the stone floors are too cold to walk on without causing my legs and feet to cramp.

I probably appeared indecent, roaming the castle in my slip and a flimsy overcoat, but I couldn’t dress myself in my reception dress again on my own with all the buttons on the back, and I didn’t want to waste time finding another dress.

When I get to the busier, main part of the packhouse, I garner curious glances from those still lingering from the wedding, but I hold my head up high, not showing anything but confidence.

Their opinions do not matter. I’m sure after Lachlan’s little display with all his girlfriends, I can’t be any more in shame than I already am.

Reentering the reception hall, I find Cherum speaking with a group of young maids, probably searching for Mimi’s replacement. I ignored the pointed stares from the remaining guest and strode over to him, not displaying anything but fierce resolve.

“Delta Rosewood,” I spoke , causing him to turn and face me once I was only a few feet away. The maids are surprised by my attire. You can see it in their expressions, but their expressions are nothing in comparison to the Delta’s. His mouth drops and his eyes go wide.

“Luna,” he murmurs, looking quickly around the room, then shrugging out of his jacket, offering to place it over my shoulders. I stepped away, not allowing him to do so.

“Where is Niomi?” I commanded , keeping my head up high.

“Um,” he glances around the room again. “She was reassigned back to the kitchens, or was it laundry?” he pulls his beard anxiously. “I was just about to send one of these women up to help you to-”

“I want Niomi,” I told him. “I do not wish for another maid or handmaiden. I will not accept anyone but her.”

He scratches the back of his neck nervously. “The Alpha said to assign someone more appropriate to you, Luna. I’m sorry, but-”

“If Niomi is taken from me, I will raise hell, Delta Rosewood. I can accept many things about this forced marriage and the hell that it will be, but I will not let you take Niomi from me. Where is your Alpha?”

He makes a face, displeased with my wording, I’m sure. Referring to this situation as hell is a truthful statement, so I will not apologize for it.

“He is in his room, I believe,” Cherum mutters after several awkward seconds of staring at one another.

“I will address the issue with your alpha myself. Dismiss these women back to their tasks. I’m sure they have much to do after this reception .

” I turned, not waiting for his reply. He is not the problem.

His alpha is. I am set to endure more hell in this pack.

I won’t let him take Mimi from me as well.

My robe billows around me as I strut towards the wing his room is set in.

This part of the castle is well insulated and warm.

I’m almost tempted to take off my heels as they are killing my feet, but I don't want to stop my momentum to do so.

I will just have to put them back on when I go back upstairs anyway.

As I neared his room, I heard giggling outside of it. Of course, he isn’t here alone. In my panic about Niomi being taken from me, I almost forgot what he would be off doing tonight.

The woman from before, the one who was pressing her chest into Lachlan’s face, is standing outside his open door as he leans against it.

She runs her finger down his chest, and though I can’t see his face, I do notice he doesn’t push her away.

He doesn’t know I’m watching, not that he would care if he did. He never cared before.

“Alpha, you are so domineering. I love it when you get angry. It makes the night so much more passionate,” she slurs. Is she drunk?

“ Retreat, Val,” I told her, hearing her whimper and feeling her pain, “ I will be out of here as soon as I can. Retreat and don’t look. You don’t need to feel the pain.”

I feel her withdrawal to the back of my mind, her heart crushed all over again. I think she was still holding out hope after hearing him claim us in the hall. That is all over now.

“Leona, I told you already that-”

“Alpha,” I addressed

him, drawing both their attention to me.

His head snaps around so fast, it is almost comical when combined with the panicked look that comes over him. He quickly pushes the woman away, making her scoff with a grimace and hate-filled eyes that she turns towards me.

“Lira,” he whispers my name, almost beggingly. He then looks at the woman and back at me. “This isn’t what it looks like. I was just telling her to leave.”

I held

my head up high, not believing him in the least. He doesn’t know I’ve lived through this already. “I just need a word, then you can return to your guest, Alpha Lachlan. It won’t take long.”

He growls, startling me for a moment, then his eyes soften with panic like he just realized he scared me. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t growling at you,” he sputters, then turns to glare at the woman, “GO! Don’t come back here again. I will tell the guards you are not allowed past the gates if you try.”

“But, Alpha,” the woman puffs up her face in offense while pouting.

“I always spend the nights with you.” Her chest rises and falls like she is about to cry.

Her hips are round, accented by her clothing, and she clutches her chest, making it spill out of her bodice even more.

Is this why he never showed interest in me?

Because he likes well-endowed women like this to keep his bed warm at night?