Page 76 of Losing My Siren Luna
“Cute?” he repeats, “You think I’m cute?”
I press my lips together to keep my inner thoughts inside, feeling my cheeks light up as his smile stretches further on his handsome face.
“I think you’re cute too. Beautiful, actually,” he tells me, “The most beautiful woman I have ever seen.”
“You mean for a whore?” I let slip out, then regretted it instantly. Val is growling and snarling at me for ruining the mood as Lachlan’s face falls. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I said things I shouldn’t have this morning as well.”
He scratches the back of his neck again, looking uncomfortable. “You didn’t say anything that was not true, Lira. I was the one out of line. I’m sorry that I said that. I really didn’t mean it. At that moment I just….I don’t know. I get defensive easily and it slipped out before I could stop myself. Killian was trying to make me stop, but I lost my head.” He looked deep into my eyes, making my heart beat rapidly in my chest. “I’m sorry Lira. I really, truly am.”
I smiled slightly, feeling guilty for making him apologize again.
“I told you, it was my fault too. I should not have hit you like that.” I gulped, taking a deep breath before I continued, “I do want to ask one thing.”
“What is it?” he sat forward, eyebrows drawn down in concern.
“This necklace,” I lifted it from under the neck of my dress and held it up for him to see, “Where did it come from?”
Chapter 25
Lachlan POV
I knew this was coming, but my stomach still drops to the floor when Lira asks me that question.
“The necklace?” I repeated her question, anxiety eating at me. How do I tell her with the damn blood oath in place? I feel my throat closing up just thinking about telling her about her father. “Didn’t, uh, Cedric tell you?”
She presses her lips together, staring at me pensively for a moment. “He did. He told me that my father was the one that told you to give it to me. Is that true?”
Thank goodness she asked a yes or no question. Open-ended questions seem to be where I get hung up on the oath. “Yes,” I murmur, pleading with her with my eyes not to be mad at me. We were just caught in the first decent moment where we were both laughing so carefree, almost like the events of this morning hadn’t happened.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she whispers, looking disheartened.
This is going to be the hard part. How do I tell her without telling her that I couldn’t tell her? “Quit talking in riddles and just try to get her to answer her own questions,”Killian tells me, "Ask questions back or be just vague enough to where she asks the questions more directly. She knows about her father. If you need to, just tell her to ask the fish since he won't be held to the same oath as you."Killian is coming to the forefront of my mind, ready to take over for me if I get overwhelmed or start to panic.
“I couldn’t,” I simply told her. It’s the truth, and also isn’t forbidden by the blood oath.
“You couldn’t,” she furrows her golden eyebrows, making an adorable little ‘v’ between her eyes. “Did he tell you not to?”
I rub my hands over my thighs nervously, then nod before looking up at her through my lashes. Screw Cedric. If he could have just explained everything to her, then I wouldn’t be in this predicament. He probably wanted her to be more mad at me, though, so he didn't tell her everything on purpose. Stupid fish. Her father sure didn’t seem to mind the thought of taking her from me early either. Cedric could have helped explain a bit if he really thought mate bonds were important.
“Why would he do that?” she asks, “Why couldn’t you tell me? Did he want to hide himself from me?”
“I truly don’t know,” I muttered softly, tensing with every word in fear the oath would stop me from speaking. “I….I just did what I was told.”
She looks down at her hands again, that bottom lip she has a habit of chewing on and abusing being gnawed on once again by her top teeth. “Did my father not want me to know about him? Did he….did he not want to see me?”
“No, Lira,” I quickly went to her, kneeling on the ground before her and taking her hands in mine. Killian warned me a half a second too late not to scare her again by touching her or approaching her too fast, but luckily she didn’t pull away frightened. She looks so somber and mournful about her father that it hurts me to see her like that. I went to her without even thinking. “I don’t think it was that. I think Cedric can answer those questions better than I can, but I truly don’t believe that that is the case. Why give you something that was meant to protect you if he didn’t care?”
She smiled sadly, “Cedric said something similar. I just….I just don’t understand why you wouldn’t tell me that the necklace came from him. If he wants to protect me, then why not take me with him?”
My throat swells and my heart races, but it’s not from the blood oath. It’s from fear at hearing that she still wants to leave me and escape with her father. Killian is mewling like a kicked puppy in my head, his pain just as evident as mine.
“I don’t want you to leave me, Lira. I don’t want him to take you,” I told her honestly.
She looked startled for a moment. “Is that why you didn’t tell me about my father?”
“What? No. I really just couldn't. I'm not…I’m not allowed to.” I almost breathed a sigh of relief that I could actually say that statement.
She gave me a dubious look. “You’re not allowed to? How can he ban you from telling me? Did he use magic or something to prevent you from saying something? Because I don’t see how someone couldnot allowyou to do anything, Alpha.”
