Page 45 of Losing My Siren Luna
“These are pretty good,” I told Percy after taking a big drink from my second mug of his special coffee.
“I know,” he smirks, “The cream is homemade. Only the warriors blessed to be in your service ever get to have it, Luna. Well,” he smiled at Yasmin, “I guess your new hand-maiden can have it now too.”
I smile warmly at how welcoming the warriors are to Yasmin. I could see in them at first that they wanted to find the culprit who hurt her and deal with them. I feel much the same, but it was going to hurt her more to demand answers here in the dining hall after Cherum almost threw her out.
She had no reason to trust them, or to even trust me, a stranger, enough for her to share that information or relive the horrors she must have been through.
I thought that with her profession, that the men here would assume that it was her fault that something like that happened to her. That was always the case with my uncle’s pack. It was always the woman’s fault, never the man’s.
I used to hear all kinds of misogynistic reasoning in my Uncle’s pack that it was the woman’s fault if she was raped or abused. It would be the woman’s fault if she dressed provocatively, or talked to a man in a manner he finds flirtatious, even if she was just being kind. It would be the woman’s fault if she was out alone at night or if she even talked to a man. If she was a bar-maid or a prostitute, it would be herjobto endure that kind of treatment.
I once saw a merchant woman pleading for justice outside my uncle's packhouse because men came into her shop when she was alone and assaulted her. My uncle just said that it was her fault for keeping the shop open when she was alone. It didn’t matter if the man or men who did the act were monsters. Men were never the ones at fault for their own monstrous actions.
Here, in Lachlan’s territory, I’m glad to see that isn’t the case.
Cherum had a medic come and discretely drop off some medicine to Yasmin for the poison in her system from her wounds, then the men made sure she felt comfortable being here, making small talk about trivial matters and teasing one another until she became more relaxed.
Once she had one of Percy’s coffees in her, she was laughing and joining in on the conversations.
“Why does only the Luna’s guard have access to the coffee?” Yasmin asks curiously.
Kent, another of the guards, pushes Cherum’s shoulder with a broad grin. “Tell her why, Commander.”
Cherum narrows his eyes at Kent while the other men chuckle. “You keep giving me lip, I won’t be sharing my skills with the lot of you any longer.”
“You make it?” I asked in amazement. “You make the cream?”
“Aye,” she smiled proudly, “It was my mother’s recipe. I even milk the cows and churn the butter to make the cream myself, just the way she taught me. Blending it with the liquor was my idea, though. She blended hers with maple syrup or lavender tea.”
“The commander is an excellent baker too,” Maurice smirks.
“How very domestic of you,” a giggle at Cherum, making his face turn as red as his hair with embarrassment.
“He will make a great husband….or wife to his mate one day,” Yasmin leans across the table and whispers to me, making me laugh even harder, holding onto Cherum’s shoulder so I don’t fall over.
I can’t picture the big Delta in the kitchen cooking, or even in a barn milking a cow. That just goes to show how truly different this pack is from my Uncle’s.
“I think a man that can cook is the most attractive,” I tell him when I finally get my laughter under control. My cheeks hurt from smiling so much, but it's a welcoming pain. One I haven’t felt before.
“Me too,” Yasmin giggles. “You should bake for the Luna soon so she can let me try some. If your baking skills are as good as your skills at making liquor infused cream, they must be phenomenal.”
Cherum’s blush travels all the way down his neck from Yasmin’s praise, making all of us laugh even more.
...Until a tense presence makes our attention turn towards the door, our laughter cuts out into awkward silence.
Lachlan is standing near the entryway, looking upset.
No, upset might not be the right word. He looks livid.
Val whimpers inside me at the familiar sight. This is the Lachlan we were used to seeing in the last year of our marriage in our previous life. After a year of neglect and completely ignoring me, using all means to avoid me, while the betrayal pains damaged my bond to him, and after Mimi was gone and I was all alone in the castle, this is the Lachlan that we saw most often. When he would appear before us, he would be wearing this same expression before yelling at me for things that I had done to offend him in the most minuscule of ways.
A familiar panic started to fill me, making my chest tighten, my mind racing for an explanation or reason for his temper.
“Is it because we are in the dining hall?”Val asked.
“He told us to eat here, though. He even sent Cherum to bring me, didn’t he?”
“Wait,”Val says in my head, studying his face more through my eyes, “It is not us that he is looking at this time.”
