Page 86 of Losing My Siren Luna
He throws his head back and laughs, “You’re using me to beat me?”
“It’s called being resourceful,” I smirk before diving back under.
The same thing happens again;he tries to swim past me but I grab on to his tail. We wrestle underwater for a minute, then get above the surface when I need to breathe. I’m hanging on his back, laughing uncontrollably as he tries to throw me off.
We end up back at the shore eventually, our mission to warn the lovebirds all but forgotten. Cedric’s fins are shifted to limbs, even with me hanging on his back, demanding he admit that I won. My wet clothes are bunched high on my thighs, my legs wrapped around his torso. He reaches back to poke at my side to tickle me, trying to get me to let go. He is bellowing laughter and empty threats to get me off.
It isn’t until a very angry growl startles me that I finally let him go and slide off his back. I turned to see Lachlan, Nilo, Cherum and Meldec watching us. Cherum and Nilo are pressing their lips together to keep from laughing, Gamma Meldec is glaring at Cedric and me disapprovingly, and Lachlan’s face….it reminds me of his face towards the end of our first marriage when he was always so angry with me.
“You’re hanging on the back of a naked man. Of course he is angry,”Val growls at me.
I jerked my head to look at Cedric, just now realizing that he was naked, and my face, I’m sure, is bright red now from embarrassment.
Cedric, showing no shame, places his hands on his hips, grinning widely. “Did you men want to join us for a swim? The water is quite lovely, right princess?”
Meldec surprised me, being the one to growl at that question. “Princess? Are you that familiar with the Luna to being calling her in such affectionate ways with no clothes on?”
Why is he so offended? Cedric always calls me that. He just shifted back too. It’s not like we were swimming together while he was naked.
“Get dressed, Cedric,” I pat his arm, then looked up at him. His face no longer looks easy-going. He looks hurt by what the Gamma said, which I don’t understand. He usually wouldn’t care about such statements. “Cedric?”
He forces a smile and looks down at me. “Yes, my princess,” he briefly kisses my temple, “Since your knight and the jesters are here, I think I’ll head back to my room for a bit to rest. Thank you for accompanying me on my swim.”
I smiled weakly, sensing the discord between my friend and Meldec. I’m a little offended by the Gamma’s words too, but they really seem to be bothering Cedric.
After he was out of earshot, not bothering to put his clothes back on that he scooped out of the sand, just walking back naked, I turned to glare at the men, particularly Meldec.
“Did you need to be that rude? He just shifted back. He wasn’t intentionally naked.”
Meldec frowns at me, but looks guilty now. He opens his mouth, then shuts it, then turns to follow Cedric back to the bunk houses and dorms.
“Hey! Don’t be mean to him!” I started to follow after him, but Cherum wrapped an arm around my waist, stopping me.
“I don’t think he is following the man to be mean to him, Ela. I think there is more going on there than it seems.”
“What do you mean?” I looked up at him confused.
He shakes his head. “Nothing to worry about right now, lass.”
I pressed my lips together, not believing him.
Chapter 28
Lachlan POV
I watched Lira’s face change from anger to worry. I caught on to Meldec and Cedric a few days ago. I recognized the look that would pass over Mel’s face whenever Cedric was nearby. His eyes would be trained on the siren man, his emotions clear on his features.
If Cedric was laughing or seemed happy, Mel would be smiling at him too. When Cedric was being too affectionate with Lira, like just now, my Gamma would start going off in angry tirades that resulted in the men under him doing some form of physical exertion they would hate. Yesterday, when we walked in the great hall and Cedric was feeding Lira pieces of an apple that he was cutting up with a pearl-handled dagger, Mel lost his shit and had our warriors combing the training yard to find some imaginary pen he said he dropped when we went back to training. I didn't like it either, but I was just happy that someone was getting my wife to eat. She's getting to a healthier weight now, and Cedric's non-chalant way of feeding her is helping with that.
While we were in our meeting discussing the arrangements for the festival that is to be held at the end of the month in my wife's honor, Cherum let slip that Lira went for a swim with Cedric in the sea.
My panic took a leap, imagining the evening that Lira rejected and left me again, but Mel got up and started pacing the room in an aggressive manner. He couldn’t focus, and I too really wanted to see Lira and make sure she was still there and not swimming off into the sea. I cut the meeting short and we all went to the docks to find my wife and her siren bodyguard.
Lira and Cedric were diving under water together, then they would pop up after some time, wrestle and splash around playfully, then disappear beneath the water's surface again. Watching Lira be playful with another man hurt, but even Killian said we had no room to get angry. She endured far worse from us. He was annoyed, but I think knowing that Cedric isn’t as much of a threat as we originally thought he would be has helped to keep his angry side at bay.
Plus, she is staying open to Killian entirely. Killian is even able to feel flickers of the bond at times. When he comes forward each night to brush her hair, she will talk and laugh with him, not holding back her affections like she does with me. She likes my Lycan. I just got to get her to like me and trust me.
“Lira, my wife,” I called to her, not liking her being in Cherum’s hold but knowing I couldn’t come right out and tell her that. I also do not like her dripping wet in nothing more than a short slip with undergarments showing underneath. I should have a proper swimsuit fashioned for her. One that fully covers her beautiful body in a darker, non-transparent when wet material.
