Page 14 of Losing My Siren Luna (Hidden Cove #1)

We stand in an awkward stare off, her face remaining cold and displeased, and I’m sure I look like a total prick about to drop to her feet and grovel for her forgiveness.

Cherum and Niomi start directing the maids to enter Lira’s new room with her belongings.

Niomi follows the last of the maids in, calling out agitated directions about where to put everything.

She stops momentarily at the door while looking back at Lira for any indication that she might need to stay with her.

Lira nods at her, giving her a reassuring smile.

Niomi sighs, then continues to direct the maids, moving about the room as they busy themselves with the task.

Cherum remains behind Lira, a protective hand still on her shoulder. Is he trying to protect her from me? I’m her mate and his Alpha.

A brief glance at his face and I can see disapproval there towards me.

“Lira, I’m sorry. I reacted before thinking.”

“Again, it’s Elelira, and I’m not the one you should be apologizing to.”

She wants me to apologize to him?! I want to groan, but I know better.

Picking a fight with Cherum won’t do me any good right now, especially when it seems they are growing closer to one another.

Close enough for him to be calling her by a nickname instead of calling her Luna like he should.

I get scolded every time my nickname for her slips out.

He can touch her and call her nicknames, and I’m not allowed to do either of those.

I fight to keep the glare out of my eyes as I turn them up to look at him. “I’m sorry, Cherum, for misunderstanding the situation.”

He pulls on his beard, twirling the tip in his fingers like he’s contemplating my apology. “The growling really hurt my feelings too, Alpha.”

Oh, I’m going to run his ass into the ground during training in the morning.

Lira tilts her chin up expectantly, waiting for me to continue apologizing, I’m sure.

I sigh heavily, running a hand down my face, wishing I could wipe off the shame of this moment. Me, an alpha, apologizing to my Delta for fucking growling. Growling!

“ Serves your headstrong ass right,” Killian growls in my head. “ You don’t deserve time with her anyway. Give me control and I’ll do what you are too stupid to accomplish.”

“What’s that?” I snarl at him in my head.

“ Gain her trust and not act like such an intolerable brat. You are going to make her hate us more. She might hate you, but I did nothing wrong. If you keep messing up, I’ll take over. Apologize to the damn Delta.”

Even my own Lycan is shaming me. Goddess, I don’t want to do this, but I’ll do it for her. I can’t make her any more mad at me.

“I’m sorry I growled at you and hurt your feelings.” I tell him begrudgingly out loud. “ You are going to pay for this later. I hope you know that,” I growl at him in the mind link.

He tries to hold back the grin on his face at hearing my threat. “I accept your apology, Alpha,” he says out loud, then adds in the link, “ And I think you will be paying more for this than I will. Seriously, Alpha. The lass dislikes you enough as it is.”

I growl through the link, not liking the reminder of her disfavor. “ Keep your hands away from her butt and my jealousy might not flare up,” I snap. . He snorts, not amused by my jealousy in the least.

Lira is looking between us, her eyes narrowing the more she studies us. She knows we’re mind linking.

I try to offer her a reassuring smile, but it doesn’t soften her disgruntled demeanor. Yeah, she hates me.

“ I told you,” Killian grumbles.

“ Shut up,” I snap back.

Lira sighs wearily, then turns to look up at my Delta. I almost growl again seeing the small smile she offers him. “Cherum, thank you for your help. I think I’ll head inside to assist Mimi and the maids.”

“Alright, Ela. I’ll be here early tomorrow to show you around your new home,” he says, gripping her shoulder reassuringly before letting her go.

She sends me one last nasty look before entering her new room, closing the door behind her.

“No wonder,” Cherum muses, running his fingers through his beard while staring at her door.

“No wonder what?” I grumble, , glaring openly at the traitor now that Lira couldn’t see.

He jerks his head to the side, indicating I should follow him as he starts walking down the hall. “ She can probably still hear us,” He mind links me.

Shit, he’s right. I sigh heavily and walk with him back down the hall towards the main foyer. When we are a good distance away, he answers my question.

“No wonder the Luna hates you,” he states, shaking his head disapprovingly, then peeking around us to be sure no one is listening. “So, it’s true you had a whore here with you earlier and she caught you?”

I groan.. “I didn’t have a whore here intentionally. Leona showed up at my door drunk and wanting in. I was telling her to leave, but that was the moment Lira came. It was just a misunderstanding.”

He nods, continuing to pull on his beard. “She is your mate, correct? Ela, I mean.”

I glowered at his nickname for her. “I told you she was. Why else would I go out of my way for that horrible man’s niece? She’s mine.”

“I just want to be sure, because she is fighting the bond awfully hard. If I observed her actions alone, I wouldn’t think you two were mates at all.”

I ran both my hands down my face, feeling like I had aged twenty years in one day. “We got off on the wrong foot,” I mumble..

We got off on the wrong foot, and kept stumbling down a rocky cliff into an endless pit of painful mistakes and regrets for two years until she rejected me.

Then, we both came back to this day with those previous mistakes lingering over us.

Add to that the countless misunderstandings and bad occurrences of today and I’m feeling as helpless as ever.

“I’ll fix this,” I state confidently, more confidently than I truly feel right now.

“You better,” Cherum says, “because all you are doing is proving all the rumors about you to be true today. If I lose my Luna because you can’t get yourself under control, it is you who will have to answer to me.

Quit mistreating my Luna, or I won’t blame her if she rejects you. Hell, I might encourage it.”

I can’t even argue with him. It is his sole purpose to protect his Luna, even from me.

“I’m still running your ass into the ground in the morning,” I growl..

He chuckles at my threat. “That’s fine. Just make sure you’re just showing your asshole self to only us. Don’t let her see that side of you. Not until she accepts you, at least.”

When I growl at his insult, he holds his hands up in surrender, “No offense, Alpha. I just don’t want her to hate you more than she already does.”

“ Too bad she already knows that side of you, better than anyone else,” Killian mutters in my head.

I throw my head back, staring at the ceiling, feeling helpless once again.

~

Elelira POV

I’m finally in comfortable clothing; a thick flannel nightgown and my cushioned slippers I inherited from my mother.

They are worn out from overuse throughout the years, but that has just added to the comfort by making them buttery soft and familiar.

The clothes combined with the necklace that has the familiar fae magic emanating from it are wrapping me in a cocoon of comfort.

“Are you sure this is okay for you, Luna?” Mimi grimaces at the faded pattern on my nightgown. “I’m sure I can find you much better sleeping attire for the night. It’s your wedding night after all.”

This is the third time she has asked, but the first time since the other maids have left. I can be more honest with her now.

I wave a hand, dismissing her line of thought about my wedding night.

“I’m pretty sure your alpha plans on spending our wedding night with any of those other women he invited to our wedding rather than me.

” I’m not concerned over making our wedding night something to remember.

I remember our first one all too clearly.

The endless pain of his betrayal kept me up all night.

It’s been quite some time since I left him outside the room and he still hasn’t entered my new bedroom. I think I’m safe for the night. I'm looking forward to my night alone before the pain starts.

Mimi makes a disappointed face, understanding crossing her features. “I’m sorry, Luna. I just thought the rumors might be false, especially after he told all the staff that you were his Luna and to treat you accordingly.”

“He did?” I made a face , not believing he would do such a thing.

She nods adamantly, “He was quite firm about it. Beta Nilo has been running around making the necessary arrangements for you to be treated as such.”

Hmm. That would explain Cherum’s changed behavior. I’m still not sure why Lachlan would do such a thing. He can’t feel the mate bond. Not for two more years.

The grand clock against the wall indicates it’s 9:02 at night. I’m eighteen years and two hours of age exactly. One year, eleven months, thirty days, and twenty two hours to go.

This room is much more comfortable than my last one, with a very large bed, adorned with carved flowers on the posts.

The bedding is pure white and looks as fluffy as a cloud.

It has an attached office and sitting room, as well as an ensuite bathroom, all things I did without in my first life.

The bathtub even has a heater built into the flooring, and the fireplace has a fire raging in it now.

It is almost too warm, something I never felt in the other room.

My favorite part of my new room is the large bay window overlooking the sea. A comfortable and cozy winged-back chair and drawing table are nestled in the space, and I can’t wait to curl up with a blanket in the chair, watching the waves crash to shore.

The maids have finished with unpacking my meager belongings some time ago, all of which are hand-me-downs from my cousin or inherited from my mother.

I never touched the belongings of my cousin in my first life.

I do not plan on doing so in this life either.

My uncle, not wanting to send me away empty handed and embarrassing himself, ordered for the oldest and least appealing clothing of his daughter's to be taken and given to me, which he quickly replaced with newer items.

I really do not have a relationship with my cousin, always being told that me being friends with her was beneath her, but I saw her plenty as she was flitting about the pack house in the West. She was much shorter than I am, and more curvy.

Her clothes wouldn’t have fit me in my first life, and I doubt that has changed, though much else has this time going about this marriage.

Lachlan, for one, has changed greatly. He is still the self-absorbed mutt, chasing any tail he can and behaving like an uncivilized mongrel, but in this life, he seems to be trying to add my tail to the many he is chasing.

I’m his wife now. If he wants that of me in this life, I can’t very well tell him no. I know he can’t feel the bond, so I wonder what has changed his perspective this time around.

Earlier with the Delta, it was almost as if he was jealous.

Of what, I do not know. If he is truly ordering his men and staff to treat me as their Luna, Cherum was only doing his job.

It is very hypocritical of him to condemn Cherum for only doing his job when Lachlan has had women pawing all over him all day.

“ Maybe he does feel the bond,” Val suggests. , “ It would explain why he is showing interest in us now.”

“Mmh, he would have claimed me the moment he saw me at our wedding. He’s an alpha. His Lycan would have demanded it.”

“Then what do you think is causing all his abnormal behavior?” Val argues..

“ Maybe we are in some alternate reality. One where he has to bed ALL the women, not just all the women who aren’t me.”

Val clicks her tongue disapprovingly. “ He didn’t bed all women. Mimi wasn’t very fond of him in our first life. Called him a scoundrel all the time.”

I chortle at the memory, “ She wouldn’t touch him with a ten-foot pole.”

“She might have beaten him with one, though,” Val snorts. .

I giggle out loud at the thought.

“Everything alright, Luna?” Mimi asks me, looking at me strangely while organizing wedding presents on the table for me to open later.

“Everything is fine, Mimi, except you are still calling me Luna,” I mock disapproval, making her sigh with a smile.

“Ela. I’m sorry. That will take some getting used to. I’m not used to dropping formalities with those who are superior to me.”

I snort, “Mimi, I was very much your equal if we are speaking about ranks, up until the moment I said ‘I do’. It makes me uncomfortable when someone uses polite speech towards me.”

She cocks her head to the side, looking confused. “I thought you were the Alpha of the West’s niece. Does that not make you ranked?”

I grimaced, thinking of my uncle. “My mother was his older sister, the rightful alpha of the pack in most places. She-wolves were not allowed to inherit positions in my previous pack, though. My uncle treated her horribly so she wouldn’t forget her place, and in turn, I was treated as less than an omega. ”

“Oh my,” Mimi pressed her hand to her chest, “I had no idea. You must not regard ranked members well then. No wonder you were so reluctant to marry our Alpha, even if you are mates.”

I look at her questioningly. “Mates? He said we were mates?” Val perks up, hope building inside her.