“Yes, Alpha. Jeez. I did exactly as you asked, and now the whole territory is excited about this festival that we have yet to finish planning.”
“Did you even start planning it?” Meldec asked. “I thought you just had the idea. I didn’t know it was a sure thing.”
“Of course it’s a sure thing,” Cherum pushes his shoulder. “She’s our Luna. It needs to be celebrated that our Alpha has finally found her.”
“Yes, it does,” I grin, “I just want to shout it from the bell tower.”
“Look at you, all smitten,” Cherum chuckles, “Funny how much your attitudes changed after a mere tea party. I think I should get a raise for my excellent tea-making skills.”
I laughed, unable to hide my happiness. “I’m feeling generous enough to almost grant that request.”
They all chuckle. “I thought your marriage was doomed after this morning. I’m glad you overcame the incident so quickly,” Meldec says.
“What incident?” Nilo asked.
“I’ll tell you later,” Cherum sighs. “He’s finally in a decent mood. Let’s not ruin that now.”
No. Let’s not. Shame still fills me each time the image of her frightened face flashes in my head.
That reminds me….
“Hey, Mel. Can you do some research for me? I want to find out how my wife was living in her Uncle’s pack.”
He made a face. “I can try. I think we have a ship setting sail for the West tomorrow. I can get a couple of our agents on board. Why? Do they need to find anything specific?”
Cherum is the one that answers before I can. “The lass must have endured some hardships in her short life. You don’t have panic attacks like that from a one-off incident. She, uh, also mentioned encountering many misfortunes while living there.”
“What kind of misfortunes?” Killian is pushing to the front of my mind with me, listening intently while fury builds inside us, thinking the worst may have happened to our mate.
“She says she still has her virginity. I don’t think assault of that nature was part of her misfortunes, Alpha, so tell Killian to calm his tits. We don’t need two occurrences today, especially right before you head back to be with her.”
Hell, he is right. I close my eyes and take deep breaths, trying to reign in my growing anger. After several breaths, I felt Killian settle enough to safely continue the conversation. I had to remind him repeatedly that Lira was with us now. Nothing would hurt her again.
“What misfortunes?” I asked Cherum again.
“Well,” he eyed me warily, “I think she suffered something similar to Yasmin, but without the final, uh, act, if you know what I mean. Women can be assaulted without penetration. She wouldn’t tell me the details, but she related too well to what Yasmin encountered last night to not have gone through something similar. I suspect the men who hurt Yasmin were the men from Wayne’s pack too.”
I growl deeply, wishing I had my people escort the Alpha and his men out of my land after the wedding.
“Yasmin from the brothel? What happened to Yasmin? Why was she with the Luna?” Nilo asked.
“You missed a lot being gone all day,” Meldec tells him.
“I know! Someone needs to tell me what happened. I was thinking of visiting the brothel after leaving here. I guess I can ask Yasmin there if you guys won’t tell me.”
Cherum chuckles, “You won’t be seeing Yasmin there any longer. She has a mate.”
“What?!” Nilo’s eyes went wide. “Who?”
“Percy,” Cherum grins. “He took her as his chosen.”
“What the hell? Anything else happen I should know about? Did you two get mates too?” Nilo asked Meldec and Cherum. Cherum chuckles, and Meldec shifts in his chair like he is uncomfortable. He doesn’t like the attention on himself.
“We have got a merman living with us now,” Cherum tells him, and Meldec lifts his face, looking at Nilo to get his reaction. I’m curious too to see what Nilo will think about a siren living in our presence without knowing that his new Luna is one.
“A siren? Why?” Nilo scrunches his face in displeasure. Meldec looks just as disappointed as I feel at his reaction.
“The Luna, it seems, has a siren Lord protecting her. Her necklace was a wedding gift that called him here from the distress she felt this morning. I don’t fully understand it myself, but the Alpha was aware, so I figured it was just some weird wedding gift the sirens sent to try to form a treaty or start good relations with us or something.”