Page 22 of Losing My Siren Luna (Hidden Cove #1)

“These are pretty good,” I told Percy after taking a big drink from my second mug of his special coffee.

“I know,” he smirks, “The cream is homemade. Only the warriors blessed to be in your service ever get to have it, Luna. Well,” he smiled at Yasmin, “I guess your new hand-maiden can have it now too.”

I smile warmly at how welcoming the warriors are to Yasmin. I could see in them at first that they wanted to find the culprit who hurt her and deal with them. I feel much the same, but it was going to hurt her more to demand answers here in the dining hall after Cherum almost threw her out.

She had no reason to trust them, or to even trust me, a stranger, enough for her to share that information or relive the horrors she must have been through.

I thought that with her profession, that the men here would assume that it was her fault that something like that happened to her. That was always the case with my uncle’s pack. It was always the woman’s fault, never the man’s.

I used to hear all kinds of misogynistic reasoning in my Uncle’s pack that it was the woman’s fault if she was raped or abused.

It would be the woman’s fault if she dressed provocatively, or talked to a man in a manner he finds flirtatious, even if she was just being kind.

It would be the woman’s fault if she was out alone at night or if she even talked to a man.

If she was a bar-maid or a prostitute, it would be her job to endure that kind of treatment.

I once saw a merchant woman pleading for justice outside my uncle's packhouse because men came into her shop when she was alone and assaulted her. My uncle just said that it was her fault for keeping the shop open when she was alone. It didn’t matter if the man or men who did the act were monsters.

Men were never the ones at fault for their own monstrous actions.

Here, in Lachlan’s territory, I’m glad to see that isn’t the case.

Cherum had a medic come and discretely drop off some medicine to Yasmin for the poison in her system from her wounds, then the men made sure she felt comfortable being here, making small talk about trivial matters and teasing one another until she became more relaxed.

Once she had one of Percy’s coffees in her, she was laughing and joining in on the conversations.

“Why does only the Luna’s guard have access to the coffee?” Yasmin asks curiously.

Kent, another of the guards, pushes Cherum’s shoulder with a broad grin. “Tell her why, Commander.”

Cherum narrows his eyes at Kent while the other men chuckle. “You keep giving me lip, I won’t be sharing my skills with the lot of you any longer.”

“You make it?” I asked in amazement. “You make the cream?”

“Aye,” she smiled proudly, “It was my mother’s recipe. I even milk the cows and churn the butter to make the cream myself, just the way she taught me. Blending it with the liquor was my idea, though. She blended hers with maple syrup or lavender tea.”

“The commander is an excellent baker too,” Maurice smirks.

“How very domestic of you,” a giggle at Cherum, making his face turn as red as his hair with embarrassment.

“He will make a great husband….or wife to his mate one day,” Yasmin leans across the table and whispers to me, making me laugh even harder, holding onto Cherum’s shoulder so I don’t fall over.

I can’t picture the big Delta in the kitchen cooking, or even in a barn milking a cow. That just goes to show how truly different this pack is from my Uncle’s.

“I think a man that can cook is the most attractive,” I tell him when I finally get my laughter under control. My cheeks hurt from smiling so much, but it's a welcoming pain. One I haven’t felt before.

“Me too,” Yasmin giggles. “You should bake for the Luna soon so she can let me try some. If your baking skills are as good as your skills at making liquor infused cream, they must be phenomenal.”

Cherum’s blush travels all the way down his neck from Yasmin’s praise, making all of us laugh even more.

...Until a tense presence makes our attention turn towards the door, our laughter cuts out into awkward silence.

Lachlan is standing near the entryway, looking upset.

No, upset might not be the right word. He looks livid.

Val whimpers inside me at the familiar sight.

This is the Lachlan we were used to seeing in the last year of our marriage in our previous life.

After a year of neglect and completely ignoring me, using all means to avoid me, while the betrayal pains damaged my bond to him, and after Mimi was gone and I was all alone in the castle, this is the Lachlan that we saw most often.

When he would appear before us, he would be wearing this same expression before yelling at me for things that I had done to offend him in the most minuscule of ways.

A familiar panic started to fill me, making my chest tighten, my mind racing for an explanation or reason for his temper.

“ Is it because we are in the dining hall?” Val asked.

“ He told us to eat here, though. He even sent Cherum to bring me, didn’t he?”

“Wait,” Val says in my head, studying his face more through my eyes, “ It is not us that he is looking at this time.”

My eyebrows drew down as I started to really study his face. His nostrils are flaring angrily, but his eyes are not on me, but on someone behind me. Or is it to the side of me?

I turned, and saw Yasmin shrinking in her seat under his menacing gaze. Is he glaring at her? Why? Why would he be angry at someone as helpless as her?

I turned and watched him again, and realized that it was true, that he was in fact glaring at Yasmin, and the whole room had gone silent from the furious aura rolling off him.

He starts moving his feet, his long legs making long, heavy strides in his angry movements, the muscles flexing in his arms like he is getting ready to use them.

“What the hell are you doing here, Yasmin? What the hell are you doing with MY WIFE?!” he roared the last words, making her wince back.

A hiccup leaves her, as well as a fearful little sob. “A-a-alpha, I-I’m sorry. I can expl-”

“LEAVE!” he growls, slamming his fists on the table, making the drinks in front of us jump, and one of them tips over, all over the front of Yasmin and Percy.

Her white tunic shirt becomes see through with the water saturating it, and Percy is quick to shrug out of his jacket, placing it over her shoulders before helping her up, completely ignoring his own wet pants.

“Alpha, you need to-” Cherum starts to say something, but Lachlan is quick to snarl at him, cutting him off as he pushes his aura out even more.

It’s smoldering, the weight of his anger and authority making me want to choke, but then my pendent starts to pulse around my neck once again, and a different kind of magic spreads through me, helping me to fight off the effects of Lachlan’s aura.

“You told me you dealt with them. You and Nilo both said you told all the whores to stay out of the packhouse! WHY IS SHE HERE, SITTING AND EATING WITH MY WIFE?!”

My own fury overtakes me, and before I know it, I’m on my feet, and I slap Lachlan as hard as I can across the face, making the whole room gasp. Even the men I was just sitting with jumped to their feet in surprise, ready to defend Lachlan or myself, I don't know.

I do not care. I don’t care if he takes his anger out on me for this, he will not treat a woman who has gone through enough already in this way, making her feel terrified and belittled for no reason.

Yasmin deserves respect, just as much as any other member of his pack.

I don’t know what eating with me has anything to do with his anger, and I don’t know why he doesn’t want her here, though I can guess. ...

I'm not that naive, but he shouldn't be this rash. It's cruel.

Cherum is on his feet, standing close behind me in a split second after slapping his Alpha. Gone is the blushing baker who makes fresh cream from scratch and cherishes his mother’s recipes. He is my protector and I feel his protective aura washing over me from behind.

Lachlan is staring down at me, looking confused by my action. The surprise of my slap made his aura recede, and without it, Yasmin was panting, finally able to breathe comfortably again.

How dare he. How dare Lachlan try to shame her and oppress her this way. And for nothing.

“Percy, take Yasmin to my room, and ask Gemma and Mimi to help her wash up and get changed. She is not going anywhere.”

Percy looks from Lachlan, who is still staring at me, too stunned to speak, to Cherum, who must have given him some signal that it was okay to obey me, because Percy nods at me then wraps a protective arm around Yasmin before leaving, towing her along with him and shielding her from further humiliation.

“Lira, she’s a brothel who-”

“If you use the word ‘whore’ again to address my friend, or any woman for that matter, or if you try to throw her out, I will be leaving with her,” I snapped, cutting off that horrid word before it could leave his mouth again.

He gulps nervously, no longer looking angry, but panicked.

“If you just want her to leave because you have guilt for past relations with her, or any of those other women you invited to our reception yesterday, I think that makes you more worthy of the title whore than any of them.”

~

Lachlan POV

“Lira,” I said in a measured, warning tone, feeling a heat inside my chest and a ringing in my ears. I try to reach out for her, ignoring the feeling building inside me, but she sneers, moving to avoid my touch.

A growl escaped me, my anger breaking through my stunned reaction.

Her calling me a whore, then avoiding me, like I was filthy or something, hurt far more than her slap. I barely felt the sting of her hand slapping against my cheek, but I felt the pain of her words shredding my pride as an alpha.

Killian is howling at me to calm down; to apologize, but I can’t register his words through the haze of my anger.