Page 21 of Losing My Siren Luna
I feel her withdrawal to the back of my mind, her heart crushed all over again. I think she was still holding out hope after hearing him claim us in the hall. That is all over now.
“Leona, I told you already that-”
“Alpha,” I addressedhim, drawing both their attention to me.
His head snaps around so fast, it is almost comical when combined with the panicked look that comes over him. He quickly pushes the woman away, making her scoff with a grimace and hate-filled eyes that she turns towards me.
“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 heldmy 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-endowed women like this to keep his bed warm at night?
Lachlan growls again, more fiercely than before, and she jumps at the sound, hurrying away down the hall, right past me. She sends me the nastiest look as she walks by, but I just smile apologetically. She can have him. I’m not here to take her client, lover, or whoever he is to her away.
“That was unnecessary, Alpha. I just need to discuss the matter of my maid, then you can go back to her.”
“Lira,” he says that awful nickname in that same pleading tone again. “It wasn’t like that. Really. I was just sending her away. I won’t touch another woman ever again now that we are married.”
“What a beautiful lie,” I smiledweakly. His face falls, but I maintain my indifferent air. “It is of no concern to me, Alpha. If you wish to take all those women to your bed every night, that is your business, not mine. What is my business is the matter of my maid, Niomi. Delta Rosewood told me she was reassigned. I do not want that. I will not accept anyone other than her.”
He runs a hand down his stressed face, but I remain unmoving, not faltering, though I can feel his agitation. “I’m sorry I interrupted, Alpha,” I murmured, “I won’t accept Niomi being taken from me though.”
“You didn’t interrupt anything. Lira. Please, stop thinking the worst of me.”
I scoffed, breaking my indifferent stance to roll my eyes. Who is he trying to fool?
“I’m serious. I was turning her away, but then you showed up. I didn’t call for her or ask her to come. I didn’t ask any of those women to come tonight.”
“My maid,” I broughtthe topic back to that, not wanting to hear more lies. He doesn’t know this is my second time enduring this torturous night. I know exactly why those women were here. He isn’t going to take my only person who will give me any comfort while I endure it all.
He sighs deeply, knowing I don’t believe a word he says. “Niomi is old and frail. She never should have been assigned to you in the first place. We have many warriors' daughters who would be better suited for the task of your handmaiden.”
“I only want Niomi,” I told him stubbornly. “I will do anything to keep her, but if you take her from me, I won’t forgive you.”
I didn’t expect that threat to do much, knowing he could care less about my forgiveness, but he actually seemed to fear my hatred after the words left my mouth. His expression darkens, like a weight was just placed on his shoulders.
“Will you do anything to keep her?” he asks after several awkward moments of silence and an intense stare-off between one another.
A knot formed in my stomach, unsure of myself now that I offered. I’m doing this for Mimi, though. I don’t want her to spend her last year of life in hard labor, feeling unappreciated until the day of her death.
I nod solemnly. “As long as I can keep her with me.”
“Would you move into my room with me?” he asks, biting his lip.
I can’t stop myself from making an appalled face. “The room you have shared with countless other women?” I can’t help but to comment. His hopeful expression falls once again.
“I will change rooms. Just sharing a room with you would be enough for me,” he quickly explains .
I tilt my face, pondering his offer. His eyes soften as I think, and the strenuous mate bond makes tingles build inside me under his stare.
“I do not wish to sleep in a bed many women have shared. Could I just allow for you to, um, visit me in my own quarters whenever you desire, um,that?”
His chest vibrates with a frustrated growl. “I told you, there will be no other women. Ever. But if that makes you feel more comfortable, so be it. I just ask for your room to be moved down here, so you can be closer to me.
I grimace, not liking the idea, but seeing no way around it. “Fine. As long as you can assure me, Niomi will remain with me.”
