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
“Well, not directly, no. He had Beta Nilo tell all the staff you are his true Luna and to treat you as such.”“Hmm,” I pondered the possibility of him feeling the mate bond like Val suggested. It seems more plausible now. I twirled the ring around my finger; the wedding ring Lachlan had given me earlier today. Even the ring with this marriage is different. My first was dull and thin. It was a cheaply made ring to match our cheap marriage. This ring is elaborate and beautiful. It may be the most beautiful accessory I have ever had in my possession. Well, besides the necklace, but Lachlan said that the necklace was given to me by someone else. The individual just asked for Lachlan to be the one to give it to me for some odd reason. I wish I knew who it was from, or wish Lachlan had finished explaining to me why he was the one to give it to me before all those women interrupted him. I would love to know who had access to siren or fae magic.There is so much difference in this life. May
I was absolutely stunned. He never would have done this in my first life. The only thing he had ever given me was scorn and hatred. “Maybe this isn’t the same timeline, Ela,” Val tells me, “It can’t be.”She is almost in tears of relief, that hope of being accepted by our mate blossoming inside her once again. “He would have told us if he felt the mate bond, though. Remember how you were the first time we laid eyes on him? If my uncle had not been holding on to us as we walked down the aisle, you would have made me run to him.” His indifference and cold demeanor is what prevented me from saying anything to him when I finally could speak to him at the reception, away from my uncle. His attitude was like ice water dousing me and waking us from the spell the mate bond cast over us. “You are being pretty cold to him in this life. Maybe he is just too scared to say anything, just like you were.”“Well, I’m not going to be the first to say it now, either. If he feels the mate bond, he wi
Lachlan POV After slipping off her worn-out and beat up slippers, I couldn’t stop myself from tasting her skin. Her feet were adorable and smooth, and my lips were on them before I could stop myself. To my surprise, she didn’t stop me either. No, she seemed for a moment overcome by the bond and unable to do anything but react to my touch. Thank the goddess, something has finally turned in my favor. I thought she might kick me in the face or slap me again for kissing her. Her reaction had Killian mewling for more. He was the one who told me not to push her, but now that the fire was lit inside us, seeing her body vibrate with want and hearing her sweet little gasp, that was all he could focus on. “Not yet, you animal. She doesn’t trust us yet. Calm down,” I told him. “She can trust us after,” he growled, “Let’s put a babe inside her womb, then that solves all our problems.” “No. It may get her to stay with us, but that’s not how we are going to gain her heart and her love. Wh
Elelira POVI was nervous about meeting Lachlan’s Lycan, hoping the decision wasn’t going to hurt Val in the long run, but the moment Killian took over Lachlan’s body I had the wind knocked out of me as I was pounced on, falling backward onto the mattress. My entire body was overcome by the pull of the mate bond, my skin erupting into mind-numbing sparks. I couldn’t think about those worries any longer. I couldn’t think about anything. I was all sensation and euphoria like I never felt before. The bond inside us, that had once called out to Lachlan, but deadened with my deprivation over time, was jolted back to life. My whole body felt like it was singing from his touch. Does he feel this too?“Mmmh,” the Lycan controlling Lachlan’s body purrs, making his chest vibrate against mine.Goosebumps rise up on my skin, and Val, the pushover, purrs back. I can’t blame her. It’s too hard to fight the bond when he is touching me. "Hi," I managed to mutter out in an airy voice."Hi, Elelir
I feel disoriented for a few seconds, time standing still as reality sets in.I told him not to kiss me again earlier today, then our Lycans went ahead and did the act for us, leaving us in a very awkward position.“I’m sorry,” he pants, his hands still resting on the sides of my face. “I was yelling at him to stop, but he just ignored me.”I press my lips together, still feeling his warmth and moisture on them. I can’t really blame him when Val initiated it as much as Killian did. “That’s okay,” I mumbled, pushing my body away from his and kneeling at the end of the bed, “Val is to blame as well.”He looks disoriented and lost, almost, as he stares at me, still lying on his back on the bed. I felt self-conscious, wondering what he was thinking. That was the first willing kiss I had ever had. The thought is wracking my brain. It may have been Val, but my body was still a willing participant. The thought is humbling, and makes my stomach feel like a bottomless pit.Every other touch
~~~~~~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