Filed To Story: Traded To The Lycan King Novel (Colette & Merikh) by MG Wattsons
“Yeah, tell me about it,” I mutter.
“So he didn’t just screw up, he like…fucked up sideways and upside down.”
I chuckle, relishing her tiny humor slips that make it feel like it’s not as serious as we both know it is. Merikh has put me in a strange pickle indeed.
“Yep,” I say, popping the ‘p’ with my lips as silence falls over us.
“So like…how does that work…Also, who is your dad? But like…how did Alpha know?” She says, her brain. catching up with the words I told her finally. “There is a lot to unpack here.”
I chuckle. “Yeah, abandonment issues, never feeling like I fit in, my uncle and cousin hating me and raising met like a freaking maid.”
“How are you doing?” She asks, pushing forward and moving closer to me.
“I really…don’t know.” I shrug. “One minute, I think I’m okay with it. The next I feel like the rug is being yanked out from me all over again.”
“I can’t even imagine…” Penny says softly, reaching out to pat my folded hands that rest in my lap.
“My mother and father were mates. And they loved each other and wanted to make it work…but someone found out. I guess I grew up with them until I was ten. I apparently knew him as my dad and living with my mom near the water.”
“Water…?” she asks, then it’s like something clicks in her brain and she makes an ‘oh’ face.
“Yeah. Ever met a siren?” I tease her, and she shakes her head.
“Nope, never been to the ocean.” She shrugs. Eyes wide and filled with excitement.
“Well, Hey!” I give her a tight smile and she grins. “Now you have met a half siren.”
She giggles. “I feel pretty damn special, not going to lie.”
“But also, they live in the ocean usually, but they can live in fresh water if they need to.”
“You don’t think there are any in the lake at home, do you?” She asks, nervously.
I let out a bark of laughter and shake my head.
“They would have to have permission to ever enter the water. Permission granted by the alpha and I don’t think Merikh would agree to that,” I tell her and she nods in understanding. “Ah, I see.” she pauses. “So…like…what does all of this mean for you?”
“Well, Merikh is going to have to mark me in order to keep me alive…IF we can even get on the board.”
She rubs her temples, squeezing her eyes shut.
“I have never had so many questions in my head in my entire life.” She mumbles.
“Well, for starters. Yes, I’m okay with him marking me. Yes, we have already…um…consummated the mating, just without the mark.”
Her mouth falls open, and she pretends hits me as if I was saving the biggest secret for last.
“Okay, Luna, don’t hold back. Tell me all about it.”
My cheeks heat as I blush. “It was…nice.” I admit, feeling a little shy.
“And you guys have been going at it since?” she asks hopefully. “You know Lycan needs an heir and all that, so it’s just a normal, not creepy, question.” She winks jokingly.
“We have not…done it since that one time.” I clear my throat and she winces for me.
#5
“You found out after, didn’t you?” She asks softly and I nod my head yes. “I can’t speak ill of him, but know that I’m on your side and if you need me to, I can arrange for his food to taste like shit one night. Then blame the staff,”
A laugh breaks from my lips as I press back into the couch, thinking about how hilarious that thought is.
“That does sound amusing, but I think my coldness to him has been doing the trick just fine.”
“Do you think you will forgive him?” She asks after a few minutes of silence.
I sigh, trying to figure out how to answer it. It’s something I have thought hard about every spare moment my mind is able to wander.
No matter what I do I am stuck with Merikh, as a mate, and as a Luna and I refuse to let my people down the way everyone seems to have let me down my entire life. But does being stuck with him mean I should make it easier. by just…forgiving him?
“Eventually,” I frown. “I know it sounds weak, but to him I was a pawn, a means to an end for the suffering of our kind. In a way, I understand the logic, no matter how flawed it was.”
“Plus, he reconnected you with your dad.” She adds, and I nod.
“And my dad, Caspian, seems genuinely loving. Like he cares about me and wants to make amends.” I pinch the bridge of my nose. “I mean really, at the end of the day, he did what he had to do for our people, and in the process gave me a part of my family back that I didn’t even know I was missing.” It’s not easy to admit, but I do.