Elelira POVWalking back to the reception hall, I tried to let the numbness overtake me again, taking a final swig of the wine before leaving the bottle on the pathway, not wanting to draw any more negative attention to myself by coming in with it. There are many differences in this second time marrying Lachlan already. Not just the kiss, which was unexpected and confusing enough, but Lachlan coming to look for me after. Once he left the reception before, he never came back. I was on my own the rest of the evening until Mimi led me back to my room for the night. What reason would he have to come search for me? I thought he and his subordinates would be readying themselves for their night out about now. “Luna,” someone says, disturbing my thoughts. I looked around and saw Nilo and Cherum, Lachlan’s Beta and Delta watching me as I reentered the hall. I didn’t know which one addressed me, or why they would be calling me Luna, so I just stared at them in confusion. “Pardon my late in
Lachlan POV “Alpha?” Leona paws my chest while pulling my arm. I shake her off and step away, intending on chasing after my wife. She is gone, though. She didn’t even turn back when I called her. “Why?” I growled furiously as I slowly turned towards the women. “Why would you think that was okay? To disrespect your Luna like that on our wedding day, why would you-?” “Lanny,” Leona pathetically whines out the nickname many of the girls call me, cutting off my question. “Don’t be like that. You looked like you were struggling, so we came to help. You told us she wasn’t going to be anything more than an annoying guest,” she pops her hip out to the side, ‘You said she would never be our Luna, Lanny. I don’t know why you are being so mean.” I pinch the bridge of my nose, focusing on containing my lycan, who is trying to break free and tear this woman apart for insulting our mate. How am I going to get close to Lira now? How am I going to overcome this misunderstanding? “Alpha?” Yasmin,
Elelira POVWhen I came to my room, mentally exhausted and ready to retire for the evening, the delta of the pack was outside my room, looking about ready to enter it for whatever reason. “Why is he here? He didn’t acknowledge us before. Why is he continually trying to get involved with us this time?” Val asked me. “I’m not sure. Much has changed this time. It’s a lost cause if he is trying to fulfill his task as my delta. Lachlan obviously hasn’t changed.”Val whimpers, thinking about the women that surrounded Lachlan back in the reception hall. They all seemed more than familiar with him. I guess it comes with their line of work. Knowing him intimately and personally is something I will never know, and watching the women paw all over him, I’m grateful I won't. I’m not here to intrude on their domain. It makes me sick to think about being with him after all of them have had him.I left the reception early last time. Did he invite those women to our wedding the first time too? Is t
“Lira,” he whispers my name, almost beggingly. He then looks at the woman and back at me. “This isn’t what it looks like. I was just telling her to leave.” I held my head up high, not believing him in the least. He doesn’t know I’ve lived through this already. “I just need a word, then you can return to your guest, Alpha Lachlan. It won’t take long.” He growls, startling me for a moment, then his eyes soften with panic like he just realized he scared me. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t growling at you,” he sputters, then turns to glare at the woman, “GO! Don’t come back here again. I will tell the guards you are not allowed past the gates if you try.” “But, Alpha,” the woman puffs up her face in offense while pouting. “I always spend the nights with you.” Her chest rises and falls like she is about to cry. Her hips are round, accented by her clothing, and she clutches her chest, making it spill out of her bodice even more. Is this why he never showed interest in me? Because he likes well-endow
Elelira POVThis whole ordeal with changing rooms is utterly ridiculous, but at least I get to keep Mimi with me. She was in tears when she came up to my room soon after Lachlan sent me away to start packing. “I thought I had done something to offend you, my Luna. Thank you for believing in me,” she sniffled. “I will serve you well, my Luna. These old bones are still strong.”“Just being here for me is enough,” I smiled warmly at her, “and call me Ela. We’re friends, remember. Formalities don’t matter between friends.” After that, she quickly dried her tears and got to work on organizing my room. I don’t plan on being Luna of this pack anyway. I’m not going to tell her that, not with so many ears listening and when she is feeling like she is honored by serving me, but this position isn’t final until Lachlan either marks me or the mate bond is formed. Lachlan won’t mark me, and I plan on rejecting him and leaving the moment my magic comes and the bond is formed again.Mimi is taking
Lachlan POVI was pacing outside the room that would soon be Lira’s. Nilo just came with a few men and took my bed and mattress from my room to be burned. I don’t need it. I plan on spending my nights with Lira in her room now that she has agreed to it. Her only requirement was not sharing a bed I shared with other women. There is now no bed that fits those disqualifications, so I'm in the clear. I’m giddy with excitement at the prospect of holding her in my arms at last. That shit show with the women set me back momentarily, but I’ll win her over. She won’t be able to fight the bond if I’m touching and holding her. She might mentally fight it at first, but her body will crave my touch. “Don’t be an asshole and force her to do anything she doesn’t want to do. Manipulating her with the bond she feels but we don’t isn’t right,” Killian growls at me.“I’m not manipulating her. I just want a damn opening.”“You don’t deserve an opening,” he growls, “I hope she punches you in the nuts
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 followed 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 nodded 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 could 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 t
Elelira POVI’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 waved 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 r
~~~~~~I had closed my eyes in hell, giving the rest of myself, all that I was over to the man I knew would fulfill the task that I had set out to do. Lachlan would bring my daughter happiness. He was giving her a family. He had already given her everything she had missed out on in her former life.As I closed my eyes, I felt peace, knowing they were going to be fine. I felt peace, knowing that my greatest accomplishment was finally seen through to the end. I felt peace….because I knew I could finally be with her. I could finally join my love. I had closed my eyes in hell, and I opened them again in the light. The light around me was brilliant, so brilliant I instantly knew where I was. There was no sun. No moon. No definition of time. There was just the light, and all the good the light had to offer. None of the pain and heartache of the mortal world could be felt in this place. My feet pressed into the soft, vibrant grass, like a pillowy carpet and without the harshness of weeds
7 months later on Elelira’s 20th Birthday….Elelira POVTonight was the night. It was finally the night I would turn twenty. Just a few more minutes, and the full extent of my power will be released inside me once again. “You look lovely,” Gemma gushed, standing beside me in front of the mirror. “She looks like she’s getting ready for something other than taking a swim,” Beretta muttered to Yasmin, who was feeding her and Percy's daughter. “Maybe a private swim in the hidden pools near the stream.”Yasmin snickered. “They do that plenty. Percy overheard the Alpha ordering the sharp stones be smoothed down so as not to hurt his Luna’s back.”“Will you both stop it,” I snapped, scowling at them in the reflection. “It’s just a robe.”“And what are you wearing underneath?” Beretta wiggled her brows.“You’re annoying. Don’t you have a pack to run?” I huffed. “Eh, it’s running itself right now.” She appointed one of the women who escaped the North with her, who was also originally fro
Lachlan POV“Where is she?!” I demanded, running through the castle after being called back from town. “Where’s Lira?”“Alpha,” Meldec was waiting for me, and was rushing to keep up as I stormed through the halls. “Ced and Cherum took her to the ocean.”“THE OCEAN?!” I roared. Killian was growling in my head, “This is not the fucking time to take a bloody swim.”“She kept demanding to be taken to the ocean, Alpha. She commanded it.”“Of course she did, that infuriating woman.” She goes into fucking labor the day she insists I pick Westley up to surprise Mel and Cedric. She was too excited about sending me away with their adoption papers they applied for last week. Because Westley had living relatives from another pack, we had to ensure they wanted no claim on the boy before we granted my gamma and Lira’s knight’s request. They didn’t want to take him in years ago, and they didn’t want the boy now. When we got the message back this morning, Lira insisted I handle it right away, but I
Elelira POVLife after the brief but impactful war was much different than our lives before. So much had changed. When the rest of our warriors saw that Lachlan had survived and I was also alive and well after running into literal hell, the celebration lasted weeks. Percy chewed me out, as did the rest of my guard, but they soon turned to rejoicing at our return from certain death. Our pack was celebrating, but our hearts were not in it.My father’s body was taken back to the sea by Cedric and Lillian after I was finally able to let him go. It took me days to accept that he was gone. I had been hoping that some magic was left in his body and could save him from death, and everyone allowed me to live in the fantasy until I came to terms with him truly being gone. He was to be laid to rest deep in the ocean, at the place where all the siren kings and queens were buried. I wasn’t aware, and neither was Lachlan, but when my father and Lillian had stormed into my uncle’s pack the day bef
Elelira POVMy soul was torn. My heart felt like it hadn't beat since the moment we felt the pain of his death. Val was howling and roaring furiously as we tore through the rugged terrain to get to the place we sensed he was. Something was pulling forward, whether it be desperation or insanity, or maybe some lingering trace of our dying bond, our body just knew where he was. He can’t be dead. There was no way he would die just like that after all we had been through. After everything we overcame to finally be together, I can’t accept that it was all ending just like this. I could sense others behind me, but Val wouldn’t slow down for anyone. She was maddened with her desperate need to see our mate. To see with our own eyes that this was truly the end. As we raced forward, I suddenly felt another tear in my heart that had Val roaring loudly with the pain. I’m choking with the dread of finding out what it was from. My world was collapsing, and we could do nothing but run towards th
King Brennus POVEverything happened so fast. I was already feeling weak because of draining as much of my magic into the necklace as I could. It was not just my daughter I needed to save anymore. It was all of them. My daughter, son-in-law….and their child. I wouldn’t let all the sacrifices her mother and I made be in vain. With the bond connecting them, I prayed that the magic would flow through that and keep her safe, while also protecting the one that will protect her and my grandchild in my coming absence. When my mate told me before we reset the fabrics of time once again that his happiness was hers, I didn't understand what she meant. I thought that just Elelira being alive and safe was all that mattered. Then, she ran away, joining the pirates, and though she was fierce and found her inner strength, I could see that it only made her bitter. Not happy.Her happiness didn't come until she finally forgave and accepted her mate. Now, he was dead, and everything was coming full
Jack POVThe sky was growing dark. Night was coming. The anticipation for the battle to come was now painful. It was festering. The anxiety it left in my chest was like an infection that I couldn’t cure. Even if I had a lick of alcohol, it wouldn’t help this feeling to go away.That, coupled with the fact I still had no idea if Beretta was alive or dead, made this entirely unbearable. I wanted to attack first. I wanted to draw first blood, and tear through any and everyone blocking my path to save that maddening woman. I knew why I couldn't. I knew I would never make it through the demons alive. All I would be doing is risking every life here. It didn’t make it any easier to just sit around and wait. “Gamma!” A group of freshly shifted men came running towards where the Gamma and I were sitting, staring at the growing dark army while discussing our plan of attack for our men when the time came. “Gamma!”“Percy?” Gamma Meldec stood up, looking curiously at the men that were left beh
Nilo POV“We have to stop her!” Beretta was hissing at me. “Do you know what he will do to her? Do you have any fucking idea what these monsters do to women?”I knew. I knew that too damn well. I wish I could do something, anything to stop her, but I feel helpless right now.Irrita used her magic to hide our voices, but the strain on her was growing. I could tell the energy was draining from her face. She may be free from the restraints, but there is no telling how long she and these other women were oppressed. They won't have the reserves of energy like a fit warrior would.The other women were holding Beretta back from revealing our location. When the Luna said she was here to trade her life for ours, I reacted the same way. The command Ela gave and my fear for my mate's safety were the only things keeping me from acting right now. When I saw Ela move to cut the throat of her own uncle, my blood ran cold. She is my Luna. I should be out there protecting her from the vile stares of
Elelira POV“Oh, really? Then what, pray tell, have you come here for?” The dark fairy was gazing down at me with sinister superiority. He did have the upper hand, but I had a plan. Val and I were discussing how to get Nilo and Beretta out of here, speaking about how we could use the magic still inside us to win this, even though the situation was not in our favor. We came up with one way, and it was something we never could have considered in the past. Something so grotesque and shameless that even suggesting it would have sent me into a panic before. I just need him to take the bait. If I can get him alone after I guarantee my loved ones’ safe passage to the south, I could finish this, and there will be no need for endless bloodshed. “I have come to trade myself for the prisoners you took from my pack,” I stated boldly. “I wish to give you my life for theirs, as long as you allow them to return home unharmed.”A vicious snarl ripped through a mind link that I recognized coming