I finally finished my book on my other platform so I can go back to regular updates on this. Sorry for the delays! I had to finish the book before I left for vacation and had to write 30k words in about 5 days on top of having my house flood living in Cali (our weather has been insane the past week). I'm done! I'll try to keep this to daily updates now
Cedric and I were walking back along the docks when Lachlan came out to meet us. After what Cedric and I talked about, it was hard to keep the heat out of my cheeks watching him walk towards us. He was very much an attractive man, with his strong physique and dark features set on a handsome tanned face, and now that I was trying to stay open to the bond for Val’s sake, it’s harder to bury down the natural reactions my body has to him. “Lira,” he said my name with such affection that I lost the battle of trying to keep a blush off my face, “I was just coming to find you.” “She’s been here with me,” Cedric smirks, wrapping an arm around my shoulders, making Val growl slightly in protest. “We were just enjoying a lovely stroll along the water’s edge if you would like to join us.” Lachlan could barely hide his disapproval, because of both Cedric’s suggestion and of his arm around my shoulder. The pestering bond is making it impossible to feel at ease in this situation. I don’t want to d
“Here, princess!” Cedric calls to me cheekily, swimming in loops around me in the water. I tried to keep up with him, but I kept getting frustrated and gave up. Without my fins, I just don’t have the strength or stamina. I envy him for his freedom in the open sea and his being able to dive deep below the water’s surface to a depth where I can no longer see him. The water is majestic from below. The sun’s rays glittering the surface above fade to clear, cool currents teaming with life. “Will you quit trying to scare me, Cedric? I know there is nothing down there that can hurt me.”“And how would you know that?” He asks, lifting an eyebrow. Oh no. I keep slipping up. “I just know. If there was, you wouldn’t be letting me swim out here, would you?”His expression slips back into his easy smile. “No, I wouldn’t. You are right.”I keep almost slipping up and letting it be revealed that I have lived this life already. Well, not this life. This life is far different from my first. The pas
Lachlan POVI watched Lira’s face change from anger to worry. I caught on to Meldec and Cedric a few days ago. I recognized the look that would pass over Mel’s face whenever Cedric was nearby. His eyes would be trained on the siren man, his emotions clear on his features. If Cedric was laughing or seemed happy, Mel would be smiling at him too. When Cedric was being too affectionate with Lira, like just now, my Gamma would start going off in angry tirades that resulted in the men under him doing some form of physical exertion they would hate. Yesterday, when we walked in the great hall and Cedric was feeding Lira pieces of an apple that he was cutting up with a pearl-handled dagger, Mel lost his shit and had our warriors combing the training yard to find some imaginary pen he said he dropped when we went back to training. I didn't like it either, but I was just happy that someone was getting my wife to eat. She's getting to a healthier weight now, and Cedric's non-chalant way of feed
Elelira POVVal is sighing contently in my head. Lachlan is gripping my hand in his large, warm one, the sparks shooting up my arm and making my bond buzz and tingle with rejuvenation. It's like this every time our skin makes contact. No matter how apprehensive I want to remain, the bond reacting to him won’t let me when we are together. Not when he is treating me like this; like I am cherished. When he is kind and gentle with me, I can't react with hostility or coldness like I tried to before.I half expected him to get mad at me for swimming in the ocean with Cedric. I expected him to get angry and yell at Percy. My expectations from the past had me thinking the worst of him without realizing it, but he proved all those preconceived notions to be wrong. He was the same doting husband he had been all week. Now, he is even about to take me to a garden special to his mother. I never even knew of this garden before. If it's in the warrior's area and by the training grounds, that would
Lachlan POVMy nerves are getting the best of me as I lead Lira through the castle and out to the warrior’s part of the castle. I can sense something is bothering her, her face lost in thought as she stares vacantly down at the ground. Val is flashing in her eyes a lot too. “My mate likes me. Don’t worry too much,” Killian tries to tell me. “You’re mate may like you, but mine still wants to go back to the sea,” I reminded him. “She could be talking about leaving me right now.”Killian huffs, “Don’t be an ass and she won’t.”“I’ve been on my best behavior,” I growled at him. I didn’t even snap when the naked merman was swimming with her and she was all over him. I could tell they were just playing, but it didn’t stop the jealousy from raging inside of me. I kept it in, not wanting to anger my wife. I’m glad I did too. She seemed mad enough with Meldec. “You’re right,” Killian sighs, “But it hasn’t been that long. A week isn’t enough time to recover from the past. She has to learn t
Elelira POV “You love me?” I whispered hoarsely, not believing what I was hearing. “How? You barely know me, Alpha.” He presses his lips together, his face stressed and anxious. “I wish you would call me by name,” he softly says, his thumb still tracing my cheek, making sparks dance on my face. I huff, not dramatically, but just a soft expulsion of air at his hypocritical request. I have asked him not to call me Lira plenty of times and he never listened. Surprisingly, the nickname doesn’t bother me as much as it did before. It actually makes my heart race a little when I hear him say it, especially when I don’t realize he is near. Before, the nickname brought me dread. Now, it makes tingles erupt inside me. Funny how much can change in such a short time when you leave the bond open. It chases away the resentment and dread completely, overriding everything with longing for him. My mate. He knows. He knows we are mates. He said he didn’t feel it, but Val was right. Killian can f
Eventually, we did make it to the garden we originally set out for. Lachlan had this expression like he had just won the greatest prize, all from one kiss. I can’t say that I felt much different. It was a great moment for me as well. I finally felt free from the ghost of Lachlan from my past. It was a small act, but felt enormous to me. Now, I do not flinch or hesitate when Lachlan grasps my hand, kisses the back of it, or when he places his arm on my shoulder, hugging me to his side. This feels….right. Like this was how we were meant to be.The garden that used to belong to Lachlan’s mother was beautiful. It was a maze of foliage, blooming roses, and flower-covered vines over wooden archways. The center of the maze had an elaborate fountain with, of all things, a mermaid at its center. She was gorgeously intricate with her carved scales and the delicate way her tail and fins folded to the sides, like water currents were pressing down on them. Water was spewing from her uplifted hand
“Oh,” Cherum mutters. “Um, found you.” Cherum is shifting awkwardly on his feet, knowing ghee interrupted a moment between his Alpha and Luna. He doesn't leave, though. He is probably putting my well-being and the need to eat dinner above making his Alpha happy. Lachlan growls, resting his forehead on mine. “I’m going to kill him,” he huffs angrily. I laughed softly at his expression. "No you won't," I teased him, “And I won.” His eyebrows pulled together, and he looked searchingly in my eyes for a few seconds before his eyes dropped down to stare at my lips. That longing expression returns to his face, and he sighs deeply. “Not yet, you don’t,” he rumbles, surprising me as he quickly stands, lifting me over his shoulder and runs in the opposite direction Cherum came from. “Hey!” I yelled out, “That’s cheating! He has already found us,” I stammered, lifting my head to see Cherum watching us with a confused look. Right before we reached the first hedge, Cherum started to take off
~~~~~~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