Page 38 of Losing My Siren Luna (Hidden Cove #1)

Killian and I were lost in my head for a moment, snickering about all the degrading places we could shove our merman guest, when Meldec finally appeared walking out of the warrior's lodging.

“There you are. Where the hell were you?” I growled.

He looks up in surprise, eyeing Cedric for a moment, freezing in his tracts before shaking his head and looking back at me.

“Alpha. I was just sorting out a dispute in the dorms,” Mel says gruffly, “Um, Alpha, who’s this?”

I sigh heavily, glad to finally be able to rid myself of the fish-smelling pest. “This….gentleman, is a siren warrior who will be staying with us for the next two years ,” I make sure to accentuate the ‘two years’ bit, “He will be part of the Luna guard, assigned to protect my wife . He will be needing a room. Cedric,” I turned to address the nuisance, but then scowled when I saw his expression. “Cedric?”

He shakes his head, like he’s shaking out a distracting thought, the dazed expression he just had morphing back into his annoying, arrogant one.

“Yes? Yes, I’m Cedric,” he stepped ahead of me, reaching out his hand to shake Mel’s, seeming much more friendly than he was with me.

He almost seemed excited about meeting my Gamma.

“It’s great to meet you. Meldec, was it? ” he asks, “The pack’s Gamma?”

Mel looks nervously at me before taking Cedric’s outstretched hand. “Yeah. Hi. Um, Alpha, where do you want me to put Cedric here?”

“ Horse trough. No, the steamer room under the castle,” Killian suggested eagerly.

“ I don’t think I would like the scent of steamed fish wafting up to me while I bathe,” I snorted.

“Just any open room you can find that is available,” I tell Mel before I accidentally say one of the suggestions Killian is feeding me. “Get him set up and….maybe some clothes,” I grimace at Cedric’s glimmering bare chest. “Help him get anything he needs. I have something to take care of.”

“You got it, Alpha,” Mel sighs, looking exhausted.

With Nilo running around the territory on horseback, pronouncing Lira my one true Luna with news of the festival to be held in her honor, and with Cherum now fulfilling his duties as Delta, taking care of my wife’s safety and well-being, most of the stress of organizing the grunt work of running the pack has fallen on him.

“When Nilo gets back, why don't you take some time off, Mel? You look like you could use some time relaxing with your family.”

He grins. “You clearly have never experienced living with 3 sisters. There won’t be much relaxing. But, yes. Thank you, Alpha. I will gladly take you up on that offer.”

I pat his back, ignoring Cedric’s observant gaze, then started walking back toward the main part of the castle to find my wife. The headache has been passed on to someone else, and I’m hoping there are no other obstacles to get in my way.

“ Be kind this time. Don’t let your damn anger get control of you if she is still upset,” Killian warns me.

“ It was you wanting to take over to rip apart that siren’s face,” I scoffed at him.

“ I just wanted to make the pretty boy a little less pretty. He was getting too familiar with my mate.”

“Our mate,” I corrected him.

“ No, my mate until she starts accepting you. I don’t have to win her over. You do. If it was just me, I feel like I would have already won her back.”

“You’re a real negative Nancy. You know that?” I growled at him.

“ I’m a realist. And you’re really an ass.”

Lord, if I could, I’d fight my own Lycan for his smart mouth sometimes.

“ You’d lose,” he mocks me, and I can picture his wolfy smirk.

When I got inside, I ignored the many greetings and empty pleasantries from the members loitering and traveling about while heading straight for Lira’s room.

When I’m in the hallway, almost there, Percy and Yasmin step out into the hall, and I’m caught off guard for a moment by the way they are looking at each other.

This is different.

“Percy,” I muttered deeply to get his attention.

Hearing me, he straightens up, since he was leaning into Yasmin, his forehead pressed to hers.

“Alpha,” he says in breathless surprise.

He pushes a nervous looking Yasmin behind him, slowly, as if he was hoping I wouldn’t notice he was doing it.

“I was just about to head back to my quarters,” he says as way of an explanation.

Explanation for what, I do not know. If he wants to take Yasmin back with him, that’s his business, not mine.

I’m surprised Lira is okay with it after the incident that happened this morning, but it’s not my concern what two grown adults do, as long as it doesn’t negatively affect my wife.

“That’s great,” I murmured, trying to keep the boredom at his trivial information out of my tone. “Yasmin, can I speak with you for a moment?”

“Um…,” she looks up at Percy nervously, then back at me, “Of course, Alpha.”

“Good. If you would follow me, then-”

“Alpha,” Percy took a step forward, “I mean no disrespect, but Yasmin has agreed to become my chosen mate, and I don’t know if I’m comfortable with a man that was once, uh, involved with her in any way spending time alone with her.”

My mouth feels like it has dropped to the floor, and even Killian is stunned inside my head. “What?” I ask, thinking I may not have heard him right.

“Yasmin is to be my chosen mate, Alpha,” Percy said a little more firmly, “We were going to get her situated in my quarters. That was where we were about to head. If you need to speak with her about anything, it will have to be in my presence. I’m sorry, Alpha.”

After a few seconds, when my shock fades away, a slow smile spreads on my face. This is good. This is different from our first life, but I think Percy taking Yasmin as a mate can only be a positive for everyone.

Percy’s mate was killed in the last war, and he grew bitter in my first life, suffering the effects of losing his mate at such a young age. I wonder why he didn’t take Yasmin back then as a chosen?

“Congratulations, both of you. Of course, you wouldn’t want your mate alone with another man.

That is only natural. I was just hoping to apologize for this morning.

” I turned my gaze on Yasmin. “I was unaware of what had happened to you.

After the reception, and then after one of your former colleagues tried to cause problems for me and my wife last night, and not to mention after the warning the Delta put out to all the girls afterward, I assumed your intentions were harmful to my wife and reacted horribly.

“Cherum told me some of what happened to you, and I am deeply sorry you experienced something so painful and cruel. I should have gotten all the facts about the circumstances of you coming here, especially before lashing out, and I’m sorry for that.

Was the one responsible for the trauma you faced dealt with?

” I asked her, but I looked to Percy for an answer.

He stared down at Yasmin, wrapping a protective arm around her shoulders, then looking back at me. “They were visitors, Alpha. They were just passing through, and were out of the territory before they could be handled.”

I groaned, thinking of who it might have been.

“ We had visitors for the wedding, but only Wayne Lambert and his men went to the brothel in our last life,” Killian reminds me.

“ They didn’t seriously harm anyone before, though. They were loud and obscene, but didn’t cause any major problems.”

“We were also there at the brothel, though,” Killian reminds me, “ And if memory serves me right, we were with Yasmin that night.”

That’s true. Damn, to think doing the right thing by my wife in this life would cause this other woman such grave harm.

It makes me feel truly guilty for my actions this morning.

Before, I blamed myself more for the way I reacted to Lira.

Now, hearing how one decision on my part, even if it was a step towards bettering myself for my mate, could cause someone else’s future to change this dramatically, is a humbling fact to discover.

“I truly am sorry, Yasmin. I don’t think I could ever find the words to truly express how sorry I am for what you had to endure,” I told her.

She smiles slightly, then looks up at Percy and shows a real genuine smile that lights up her whole face.

I used to choose her before all the others just because of her easy smile and kind demeanor.

She was sweet and unselfish for a prostitute, and most of all, I thought at the time that she looked most like Lira.

Nowhere near as beautiful, just the blonde colored hair and light complexion, but I thought her demeanor was much the same.

I don’t think that anymore. Yasmin looks weak and mild, like she needs someone to lean to and depend on.

That is nothing like my wife, who needs no one to survive in this harsh world.

My wife is a fighter, as this morning proves.

She was made to be a luna, which I’m sure is why she was so quick to stand up to me this morning.

She wasn’t going to let me, her mate and her Alpha, traumatize someone who had already been through so much. She was made for the role she now bears as my wife, my mate. After apologizing to Yasmin, I can truly say I am proud of my wife’s fierce protectiveness and her strength.

I had better figure out how to win her love, because I’m not the only one who needs her.

This entire pack, my whole territory needs her.

They need a strong and resilient Luna who will fight for them, no matter the odds or who she is up against. I pray she will soon allow me to stand beside her and support her in that fight.

I look to Percy, “We have trained doctors that can help overcome traumatic experiences. After you get her settled, why don’t you take her to have appointments made to see someone?

If she is your mate, she receives the same benefits and perks as you, so don’t be hesitant to get her the help she needs. ”

He gave me a perplexed look for a moment, then smiled crookedly. “Thanks, Alpha. We’ll do that.”

Yasmin was staring up at him, wide-eyed and looking very much infatuated with her new mate. I’m happy for them as they walk away, down the hall to the warrior barracks I just left.

“ Mel, if you’re still getting things situated in the dorms, can you look into family housing for Percy? He took a chosen mate.”

“Yeah, Alpha. I’ll see what I can do.”