Page 12 of Losing My Siren Luna (Hidden Cove #1)

Lachlan growls again, more fiercely than before, and she jumps at the sound, hurrying away down the hall, right past me. She sends me the nastiest look as she walks by, but I just smile apologetically. She can have him. I’m not here to take her client, lover, or whoever he is to her away.

“That was unnecessary, Alpha. I just need to discuss the matter of my maid, then you can go back to her.”

“Lira,” he says that awful nickname in that same pleading tone again. “It wasn’t like that. Really. I was just sending her away. I won’t touch another woman ever again now that we are married.”

“What a beautiful lie,” I smiled

weakly. His face falls, but I maintain my indifferent air.

“It is of no concern to me, Alpha. If you wish to take all those women to your bed every night, that is your business, not mine. What is my business is the matter of my maid, Niomi. Delta Rosewood told me she was reassigned. I do not want that. I will not accept anyone other than her.”

He runs a hand down his stressed face, but I remain unmoving, not faltering, though I can feel his agitation. “I’m sorry I interrupted, Alpha,” I murmured , “I won’t accept Niomi being taken from me though.”

“You didn’t interrupt anything. Lira. Please, stop thinking the worst of me.”

I scoffed , breaking my indifferent stance to roll my eyes. Who is he trying to fool?

“I’m serious. I was turning her away, but then you showed up. I didn’t call for her or ask her to come. I didn’t ask any of those women to come tonight.”

“My maid,” I brought

the topic back to that, not wanting to hear more lies. He doesn’t know this is my second time enduring this torturous night. I know exactly why those women were here. He isn’t going to take my only person who will give me any comfort while I endure it all.

He sighs deeply, knowing I don’t believe a word he says. “Niomi is old and frail. She never should have been assigned to you in the first place. We have many warriors' daughters who would be better suited for the task of your handmaiden.”

“I only want Niomi,” I told him stubbornly. “I will do anything to keep her, but if you take her from me, I won’t forgive you.”

I didn’t expect that threat to do much, knowing he could care less about my forgiveness, but he actually seemed to fear my hatred after the words left my mouth. His expression darkens, like a weight was just placed on his shoulders.

“Will you do anything to keep her?” he asks after several awkward moments of silence and an intense stare-off between one another.

A knot formed in my stomach, unsure of myself now that I offered. I’m doing this for Mimi, though. I don’t want her to spend her last year of life in hard labor, feeling unappreciated until the day of her death.

I nod solemnly. “As long as I can keep her with me.”

“Would you move into my room with me?” he asks, biting his lip.

I can’t stop myself from making an appalled face. “The room you have shared with countless other women?” I can’t help but to comment. His hopeful expression falls once again.

“I will change rooms. Just sharing a room with you would be enough for me,” he quickly explains .

I tilt my face, pondering his offer. His eyes soften as I think, and the strenuous mate bond makes tingles build inside me under his stare.

“I do not wish to sleep in a bed many women have shared. Could I just allow for you to, um, visit me in my own quarters whenever you desire, um, that ?”

His chest vibrates with a frustrated growl. “I told you, there will be no other women. Ever. But if that makes you feel more comfortable, so be it. I just ask for your room to be moved down here, so you can be closer to me.

I grimace, not liking the idea, but seeing no way around it. “Fine. As long as you can assure me, Niomi will remain with me.”

“Whatever you wish for, my wife,” he grins.

~

Lachlan POV

I thought all would be lost and it would be the final straw to break the camel’s back when Lira walked up on Leona, coming on to me in her drunken state.

There were so many mishaps tonight, I was sure any second her father would reappear to take her away from me, and I would lose my fated mate all over again.

This turned in my favor, thank the goddess. I got her to agree to move closer to me, and even though she was reluctant, she was open to sharing a bed with me, as long as it was a bed other women were never in.

Easy enough. I plan on never taking another woman again, so there will be no problem.

I don’t know how I ever managed to get hard for women other than Lira before.

She looked like an avenging angel in her white silk slip and loosely hanging overcoat.

Her milky skin looked so soft and supple, and her sweet fragrance and beautiful face made my heart race.

Her shoes were sinfully perfect with her sulky attire.

If I wasn’t so upset about the situation Leona put me in, I could have admired Lira fully.

“ Nilo. Where are you? I need you to do something for me.”

“What’s that, Alpha? I’m briefing our commanders and warriors about the situation with our new Luna and your mate now.”

“That’s perfect,” I grin , “Bring a few with you and get this bed out of my room. Burn it. Have them make a bonfire tonight. I want it reduced to ashes by tomorrow.”

“You want us to burn your bed?” He questions me like I’m crazy. Maybe I am crazy. Crazy for Lira. I would burn this entire wing down if she wanted me to. I’d burn down the entire castle and build her a new one if it would make her happy.

“ Burn it. I didn’t stutter. Then, I want construction to start on a new wing by next week at the latest. I want to build a family wing, with a grand bedroom for me and Lira to share.”

“Uh, okay. Are you sure, though? Everyone that witnessed her confrontation with Cherum in the grand hall overheard her call this marriage to you hell. She said something about enduring it for only two years. The construction alone will take at least a year. Probably longer if we have a nasty winter.”

We won’t have a bad winter. Not this one, at least. Our second winter after marriage was a horrible one. I want this wing completed before then. She's not leaving me. Not after two years. Not ever. I just have two years to make her think this marriage is heaven instead of hell.

“ Just do it,” I bark at him.

“ Yes, Alpha,” he sighs.

Lira went back to her old room to instruct the maids and Cherum on what to pack and take down to her new room.

Nilo had the room next to mine cleaned during our reception and even managed to send for the jeweler so I could pick out more presents for her birthday.

I still haven’t wished her a happy birthday, and to suggest it being ‘happy’ might be too much of a stretch now, but I still wish to give her a gift.

After all I put her through tonight, it’s the least I could do.

That’s what I was coming back to my room to do when Leona drunkenly knocked on my door.

Now that she is no more of a worry, and Lira is busy moving rooms, I quickly pick out a pair of stunning emerald earrings that match her new wedding ring, along with a few other trinkets, and I’m anxiously awaiting her return.