calm before the storm
Elelira POV“Are you excited about this weekend?” Yasmin asked me as we sat in the finished dining hall, sipping tea after lunch. The men went back to work to get ready for some festival happening this weekend. Lachlan and Nilo have been consumed with preparations for it all week, but today Lachlan asked for my guard and Cherum to accompany him too. Cedric, Yasmin and I were left behind with a stern request from Cherum to not leave the castle under any circumstances. He's a worry wart. “I haven’t been to a festival before,” I wrung my hands in my lap. “Shouldn’t I be helping too if I’m the Luna now?” “Psh, no,” Cedric grins, tracing his finger along the grain of the table. “Just relax. You shouldn’t have to do anything when that ape you married is the one who came up with this idea, even if you are Luna.”It still feels weird to say it out loud. Being accepted by Luna and being treated like Lachlan’s mate is such a weird concept for me. I like it. I’m starting to like Lachlan a l
“Oh my goodness. You look so pretty with black hair, Luna,” Yasmin gushes for the tenth time. “It makes your green eyes pop even more.” “It’s itchy,” I grumble, scratching at the back of my head. “Why do you even have this sort of thing?” Yasmin shrugs, pulling the hood of her shawl over her head as we pass a couple of guards on the road to town. “When you are in that line of work, wigs are sometimes needed. Men have different preferences,” she blushes. “Oh,” I suddenly have the urge to wash my hair when we get back home. I don’t mean to judge or think too deeply of the subject, but the thought of some random man performing those acts in such close proximity to an accessory I’m currently wearing I find mildly disturbing. I hope she washed it afterward. “Does your mate have many preferences too? Does he get the urge to imagine you as a raven-haired beauty to get him going?” Cedric asks teasingly, making me gasp. I’m embarrassed just hearing that question. “No,” Yasmin slaps Cedric
Lachlan POV Killian is pacing back and forth in my mind, restless for some reason, making it hard to concentrate on this meeting. We are working out the final details of the festival this weekend, and I want it to be absolutely perfect. I wish he would calm down and let me focus. “I need to see our mate in order to calm down, jerkface. Hurry this up and go find her.” “She's fine,” I sighed internally. “That annoying merman is with her.” He likes to try and get a rise out of me, but he is diligent about keeping her safe. I saw a visiting merchant drunkenly run into her in the packhouse’s courtyard and before I could even react, Cedric had him by his throat against the wall, forcing him to apologize. I ended up being glad he reacted instead of me, because Lira was upset with him about it for the rest of the night. She called it overkill when I thought it wasn’t enough. “Can we move this along?” Meldec surprised me, saying the same thing as my Lycan in my head. “This is getting too
Elelira POV When we got to the brothel, Lady Vera was not only willing to talk to me, she invited all of us in for a drink. She grabbed a couple of pints of beer, even though it was barely after lunch, and sat the two of us down at a table in the corner while Cedric and Yasmin remained at the bar, talking with her friends. “I barely recognized you with that wig on, Luna,” Lady Vera commented. “It’s one of Yasmin’s, isn’t it? I remember sending it out to be cleaned not long before she quit.” Oh good. At least now I know it’s been cleaned after use. I was trying not to let it bug me, but it was. “I would have smelled scents on it if it was dirty like that,” Val tried to tell me, rolling her eyes. “It’s just the fact it was on her head while someone was doing that to her. It’s just a minor phobia.” With my past life, can you really blame me? Thinking of any man doing those acts grosses me out and makes my throat swell. My anxieties begin to rise and I feel like I’m about to slip i
“A date?” I squealed, pinching his sides in an attempt to tickle him and get him to put me down. I don’t know why I am trying. It never works. “What if I’m not done here?”“What business do you have in a brothel, wife?” he snorts. I pushed myself up against his back, the wig barely staying on my head as I hung upside down. “The same business you used to have here,” I goaded him. “Put me down.”Killian growls inside Lachlan’s chest, making Val chuckle at his possessiveness. “If you think I’m putting you down now, you don’t know me very well,” Lachlan grunts. “I’m sure no one here would dare try and offer you those services.”“I volunteer!” Yasmin giggles, earning her a growl from Percy. “Oh, hush,” she scoffs, pushing against his chest. “I have a few services you might enjoy,” Cedric wiggled his eyebrows at me. “I’m sure some of these ladies wouldn’t mind helping to service you as well.” Many of the girls giggle, nodding shyly in agreement.I press my lips together, knowing he’s jok
Lachlan POVI love flustered Lira. She turns a beautiful shade of pink and can't sit still when I tease her. My little pregnancy comment and the way her whole body, from her chest all the way to her hairline blushed had me wanting to push her a little on the topic, but I know better. She’s still not ready. She’s barely an adult and I still don’t know what she went through in her uncle’s pack. I want her. Lord knows I want her. I am going to wait until she is ready, though, and if she never is, I will be okay with that. Anything as long as we are together.I still like watching her get flustered over me, though.The fluster she is in now is different from the embarrassed kind of flustered like earlier. She’s anxious about telling me why she went to the brothel today. I still want to know. I feel like I need to know. “I didn’t want to mention anything to you because of, um, your distrust in my uncle. I didn’t want to needlessly worry you,” she says in a small hesitant voice, looking
Meldec POV“Do you ladies still want me to show you how to do a fishtail braid?” Cedric leans over the bar, running his finger playfully down one of the girl’s noses, making her giggle. What the hell is a fishtail braid? My beast is snarling inside me, getting more and more upset by the second as I watch Cedric continue flirting with the brothel girls, completely ignoring me even after all this time. “Is that one of the services you were going to offer the Luna?” Another girl who is straightening a bright pink bow in his hair asks. This is what I’ve had to watch the past hour or so. All the women here are fawning all over my mate and I feel powerless to stop it. The girl that was messing with the bow in his hair was now leaning on his shoulder, laughing at something he had just said that I missed completely because I was too busy watching her touch him.That really gets my beast snarling, his growls echoing loudly in my head. “You fucked this up. Fix it!”“I would if I could,” I gr
Elelira POVLachlan 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 a
~~~~~~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