Page 63 of Losing My Siren Luna (Hidden Cove #1)

Elelira POV

Lachlan and I started to ride back to the castle on his horse after leaving the cafe.

It was a very distracted ride so far, though we haven't even made it to the outskirts of town yet. His hands as he helped me up to mount the beast sent tingles traveling all over me, and instead of the calming effect his touch has been giving me since I began accepting him, it’s now making my skin itch with some unidentifiable need.

I know what I just confessed to Lachlan was basically an invitation, and it was the truth. I do have this desire that comes over me when I’m with him now…..

But there is also this hesitation inside me, like my heart is trying to tell me I’m still not ready.

“ You’re just nervous,” Val grumbles at me. “ It’s our mate, and he wants us. There is no reason to not finally claim each other.”

“I feel like there might be,” I confessed, still feeling unsure.

“ Like what? Do you think he kicks kittens and taunts grannies by unraveling their yarn balls when you’re not around?”

“No,” I huff, “but this just feels….rushed.” I know I said it myself, and he didn’t urge me in the least, but now that it might be happening, I can’t help but feel like I didn’t fully think this through.

My Lycan urging me to finally give in to my urges didn’t help me to think rationally either. Horny beast.

“ You are being mighty annoying right now,” Val grunts. “ You know you want him, and you know we can trust him. Just give in. For once.”

“Okay,” I whispered to her. “ I’ll try.”

“Everything okay, Lira?” Lachlan nuzzles his nose against the side of my neck, his lips brushing against my skin, making many of my doubts rush away as a new wave of desire comes over me. I lean back against his chest, letting his touch ease my worries.

“Yes,” I whispered, leaning my face back to look at his handsome features. I bite my lip when staring at him makes butterflies flutter in my chest. “I’m just, uh, nervous,” I confess.

He smiles gently, pressing his lips to mine. “We don’t have to fully mate, Lira. I’m happy just being by your side. I can wait.”

Hearing him say that chases away the last of my doubts. I smiled up at him, shaking my head, ignoring Val screaming at me to not let this chance pass by. “I want to,” I told him. “I want to take that leap with you.”

If it’s this Lachlan, the current one that loves and cherishes everything about me, who teases me instead of degrades me when I go against him, I can trust him. He is nothing like the Lachlan of my first life. He loves me, and it’s time that I started letting myself love him too.

His smile is so brilliant, it makes me smile just as brightly, right before his mouth meets mine in another passionate kiss. Every time he kisses me like this, it feels as if my heart is going to beat wildly out of my chest.

His free hand, the one not holding the reins, moves across my side, then slides down to my upper leg, kneading and gripping my flesh. The wave of pleasure his touch brings me has me moaning softly into his mouth, making him smile against my lips.

“I can’t wait to get you home,” he whispered hoarsely, his deep voice surrounding me not helping me to calm down.

Tingles erupt deep in my belly, his face leaning in to deepen our kiss, but then he groans, pulling away from me, leaving me confused.

“Damn it,” he mutters under his breath. “Why right now?”

“What?” I looked up at him in question.

“They need me at the docks,” he groans. “Why the hell can’t they figure these things out themselves?”

“What things?”

“There was a fleet of ships that came in and apparently one of them had a member of our pack gravely injured.”

“Oh no,” I whispered, all my lustful thoughts leaving me at the news. “Of course you should go. If it’s serious enough for them to call for you and not Nilo, the person must be pretty badly hurt.”

“Maybe,” Lachlan grumbles, still upset that our plans were put on hold. “The dock manager said the person asked for me and only me,” Lachlan’s eyes were glazed over, like he’s still mind linking whoever reached out to him.

“ Hmm. If they are well enough to speak, they must not be so injured that they need our mate,” Val huffs.

“ Be nice. There must be a reason.”

Lachlan turns his horse around and starts heading for the docks, holding me tightly as his horse races at a gallop, weaving through the people loitering on the road.

“I called for Cherum to come pick you up at the docks. I may need to escort whoever this is back to the packhouse. The manager seems to be tied up with sorting things out and isn’t offering me much information on who it is.”

“I don’t mind,” I told him.

“ I do,” Val mumbled, her disappointment souring the thoughts in my own mind. I wanted to spend more time with Lachlan too, but he’s the Alpha. He has duties that can’t always be blown off to spend time with me. We should be more understanding in times like these.

When we get to the docks, there are people all gathered around a certain ship in the middle of the yard.

Guards are standing at the ready, as well as medical staff, but the broken body of the individual lying on the wooden planks is screaming, yelling for everyone to stay away, demanding my husband be the one to help her.

The voice is shrill and familiar, making Val snarl in my head.

Leona.

She is scarred and bruised, even bleeding out from the scapes on her face and arms. Those scrapes look suspiciously self-inflicted, like she threw herself on the dock and scraped herself up. She is a Lycan, isn’t she? Why isn’t her beast healing her.

I then see the bracelets embedded into her wrists, wrapped so tightly that her skin around them is raw and red, blood droplets seeping from around them. I know those bounds all too well. They are the reason Val couldn’t help me when I needed her to heal me in my past life.

“WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!” Lachlan’s voice booms, making everyone quiet and turn their attention to us. When Leona’s eyes met mine, my blood ran cold seeing the hate in her eyes. She narrows her eyes seeing the way Lachlan is holding me tightly against his body, her lips curling up.

“Alpha,” A short, stocky man waddles over to stand beside Lachlan’s horse, staring up at him with an anxious expression. “I’m sorry. I know you said you were spending time with the Luna today, but everyone here was at a loss about what to do.”

Lachlan stares at Leona coldly, then looks back at the short man. “Just send her to the pack clinic and I’ll send Nilo to deal with her later.”

“That’s not the issue, Alpha,” the man looked back at the ship nervously.

That’s when a group of burly men in red-striped uniforms comes forward, all with sinister expressions.

I recognized most of them right away. Two of them were the last faces I saw before my death.

Their sick smiles as their eyes meet mine makes all those memories come crashing back to me, a cold sweat running down my neck.

I reached up for the necklace, rubbing it furiously with my fingers, seeking its comfort like I hadn’t done since my first morning here.

Even Lachlan’s touch right now isn’t enough to keep those memories from wreaking havoc on my mental state.

They’re here. I knew my uncle would send men, but I never thought I would see all of them at once like this.

The mountainous warrior who acted as the medic who harshly examined me to see if my virginity was still intact each and every time he visited the castle pushed past the rest of the men to stand before them before he slowly walked down to the dock, sneering and turning his nose up at Leona before walking towards Lachlan and me. His expression is cold and hard.

I want out of here. I want to go home. I want to go to the brothel; to the orphanage. Anywhere but right here.

“Alpha,” the mountainous man nodded his head once in a half bow of respect, then came to stand behind the short man I could only guess was the dock manager.

The dock manager bows his head, moving back to give room for the horrible figure beside us.

“Alpha Wayne offers you this traitor as a token of his loyalty to the alliance. She came to our pack not long ago, claiming to be fleeing from our Alpha’s niece and her harsh punishment of banishment.

” The man looks at me, a chilling smile turning up the corners of his lips.

“I knew she had to be spewing nonsense, Elelira. You were never one to kick up a fuss or cause someone unnecessary discomfort. Isn’t that right? ”

Lachlan looks down at me with a questioning expression. I couldn’t do anything but sit there in fear, not knowing how to respond. No matter my response to this man in the past, he was cruel, leaving me bruised and hurting.

“You remember me, don’t you, Luna?” He sneers the title like it’s an insult.

“Issac,” I croaked out in a broken whisper, answering automatically, my body remembering what would happen when I chose not to respond to him when he asked me a question.

His smile broadens. “I knew you would.”

Lachlan growls behind me, pulling my body back against his in a possessive manner.

His growl snaps me out of my trance of terror, and I quickly look away, wishing for some form of exit from this situation.

I’m not ready to face these demons of my past. The past is rushing back to me, making my soul cry for help.

“Ela!” Cedric’s voice breaks through the fog of panic in my mind. I turned in Lachlan’s grip to see him rushing down the pathway to me.

When he rushes to the other side of Lachlan’s horse, I dive out of Lachlan’s arms for him, relieved that he’s there. He holds me tightly against his chest, cradling me to him. “Take me home,” I whisper brokenly. “Please.”

“Yes, my princess,” he kissed the side of my head, cradling the back of my neck, his magic rushing forward, seeping into me, lulling me to a comatose state, making fatigue rush over me. “I’ve got you. I’ll take you home.”

~

Lachlan POV