Page 69 of Losing My Siren Luna
A tall man, with broad shoulders and long silvery hair that is far too pretty to be on a man's head, is walking alongside my wife, his arm protectively around her shoulder. He is wearing a cape, no shirt underneath. Thankfully, he is wearing pants, but his bare chest grazing against Lira’s shoulder as they walk is not a pleasant sight. He is smiling down at her, saying something, then laughing at whatever response she must have given him.
She doesn’t recoil from his touch. She isn’t panicking like she did with mine. She isn’t looking up at him with guarded features, barely containing her disdain like she does with me. No. She is smiling a beautiful, heart-wrenching smile that lights up her whole face and makes her eyes shine more brilliantly than ever before.
Killian begins to whimper in my head, and my heart feels like it is breaking all over again. The pain I felt when she rejected me might be the only thing that could ever come close to the pain I am feeling right now, watching the love of my life, the woman I desire more than anything, my mate and the only future I will accept, smiling under the arm of another man. She was accepting him. Accepting his touch, his presence, his conversation, and I’ve been praying for the last several hours that she would just accept my apology.
“Alpha!” Cherum sees me, jogging ahead of the group to meet with me first.
Lira and the man, Cedric, turn to look at me after hearing my Delta call out my name, and the cheerful look that Lira just had fades to the more familiar look of disdain. No smiles and laughter for me. Not a warm greeting. Just a cold look that makes me recoil and makes my lycan whimper like a beaten dog.
“Hey, Alpha. I know you said to bring him, but I have half a mind to throw him back in the sea where he belongs,” Cherum looks back disapprovingly at the man being far too familiar with my wife, “I fear that man, thatsirenman, is getting a little too chummy with the lass, and she seems enraptured with her. I don’t trust the sirens, Alpha.”
A low growl vibrates my chest. “There isnothingwrong with being a siren,” I snap. Even in my anxious state and dislike of this new man, I feel defensive of my wife. She is a siren as well as a Lycan, and I will not allow discrimination like that around her.
“But, Alpha, they can manipulate a person. They can make you feel lust or desire, even if you don’t wish to feel those things.”
They can, but they can not use such power against their own kind, which Lira is. A siren can not manipulate another siren, which makes the scene of my wife being friendly with this man so much harder to take.
“She is safe from such magic, Cherum. You need not worry about that,” I mumbled glumly. “He has to stay unharmed. I do not like it any more than you do, but he is vital to my wife staying here and remaining our Luna. I will lose my wife if you try to drive him out, and I can not lose her, do you understand?” I can not lose my mate. Never again.
“No, Alpha, I don’t understand, but I will follow your orders nonetheless," he sighs, "Just don’t tear the castle apart when you lose her to a bloody fish.”
A threatening but quiet growl leaves me, and Cherum shakes his head in disapproval, but doesn’t say another word.
“Alpha,” Percy and Maurice greet me with a respectful bow of their heads as the group finally reaches the gates. I nod back, making note of the way Yasmin is hiding behind Percy’s back, and Percy seems to be angling himself to shield her from me. That doesn’t hold my attention for long, though.
I focus my eyes on Lira’s beautiful emerald ones, lost in their depths as my mind reels for a way to connect with her. I’m trying to think of something to say, anything, to break this tension. I thought she might be scared of me now, but she looks ready to face off with me again, the defiance in her face making her glow more radiantly as her strength shines through.
I was working hard to ignore the man with his arm still draped over her shoulder, knowing my anger and the anger of my lycan may boil over at the smallest thing, and that is not something I need right now. That is not something Lira needs from me. Though I am working hard to ignore him, he chooses not to do the same.
“Alpha,” he grins, holding his free hand out to shake mine.
Lira turned her face away, and I wanted to reach out and force her to hold my gaze longer. I want to rip her out from under this man’s arm and bury my face in her sunshine hair, enveloping her in my scent and begging her to never let any other man but me touch her ever again.
I can’t do that, though. After this morning, I’m lucky she hasn’t yet kicked me in the groin and kissed this man in front of me, just out of spite.
Keeping the distaste off my face is impossible at this point, but I take the man’s hand, more firmly than I probably should, and keep his stare, his eyes seeming to mock me and the state I am in with my mate.
“To say it is good to finally meet you may be a bit of a stretch,” he said in a velvety but sarcastic voice, “but I am glad that you are cooperating. Thank you for that.”
I grit my teeth, trying not to let the profanities coursing through my head leak out. “Having no choice makes this greeting a little bit more tense than welcoming, but I do hope you enjoy yourlongstay at Hidden Cove Pack.” He will not be taking my mate away from me. I will make sure of that, so he had better be ready to stay here the full two years, at the end of which he will be thrown back to the sea, just as Cherum suggested.
“Oh, I plan on enjoying my stay very much,” he grins, then looks down at my wife, who is steadily ignoring me.
Killian snarls at him in my head, and I almost think she hears it, because her neck quickly turns and she glances worriedly in my direction. I don’t know what she sees, but her expression softens for half a moment before she turns her face away again.
My wife. My mate. Please, don’t let me suffer like this for too long, because I don’t know how much my heart can take.
Chapter 23
I somehow manage to swallow down the growl building in my chest when Cedric stares down at my wife like she is the very reason for his existence. I want to rip that smile off his face, Killian wants me to rip his head off, but I know that isn’t the way to get into Lira’s good graces.
“While my Delta takesmy wifeto rest inourroom, why don’t you and I take a moment to discuss the arrangements that need to be made for you to stay here for the long term. I can have my Gamma make room for you with the warriors.”
Cedric turns that aggravating smirk back towards me, tilting his head to the side. “Princess?” he whispers down to her, “Would you mind terribly if I left your side for a moment to speak with yourhusband.”
My lip curls menacingly at the way he says ‘husband’, like it is an insult to the term. I somehow am able to keep my composure, even watching him whispering intimately in my wife’s ear.
Somehow, I don’t think he is doing it for any reason other than to antagonize me. I don’t believe this man has those kinds of feelings towards my wife, because his actions are clearly a display for me, not an endearment to gain her favor.
