Traded To The Lycan King

"How is she looking?" Melody asks me. My heart is in my throat watching her swim, afraid she will love this world better than the one she lives in with me.

Could I handle it if she told me she longs for the sea? Would I regret everything if I let her do what she needs, even if it means leaving me behind? I shake my head at these thoughts, clearing my throat. "Like she feels at home," I say with a sigh, lifting my hands from the sand and wiping them together to clean the particles off.

"Ah," Melody says in a sort of musical tone, like she understands something I haven't even said. I look at her, arching a brow in question, and she chuckles, shaking her head back and forth.

"What?"

"I know that look, the thoughts in your head." She gives me a knowing half smile.

"I am sure you do," I mutter, realizing she had it worse than I do.

She had a fully fledged siren king. One who couldn't choose her even if he wanted to. Without the water, he would die. Colette, however, only needs to be near water, in it occasionally and she is healthy. But that doesn't mean she feels her best with her situation at home.

"Every single day was agony, every week another week my heart felt both full with Colette yet my life still somehow felt empty without him there. She was so young, and for a while she kept me busy. When Caspian would come back-" She pauses, her voice cracking. "It was heaven on earth. Nothing could touch us, ruin us."

"Until reality came for you." I say with a knowing frown.

She shakes her head and wipes a rogue tear from her cheek.

"It came for my daughter. My heart outside of my body and they took her and Caspian failed me. He promised..." She stops, her eyes closing as she sniffles and laughs to cover her sadness. The shudder in her body as she tries to inhale deeply doesn't escape me. It is obvious she is in pain, and not just physically.

"The problem with a promise is that no one tells circumstances they have to bend to our will to make them happen." I say, looking back out at my perfect mate as she dives beneath the water, disappearing from my view, my lycan growing uneasy every time she is gone from sight.

"Life has a way of doing what it wants, regardless of our own desires, that's for sure." she gives me a gentle smile, her eyes meeting the Siren who remains above the surface, his eyes trained toward the shore and I feel her shiver as she drags her arms over her chest, hugging herself close and looking away.

"You two haven't spoken yet?" I ask, and she lays her head on her arms, looking at me.

"Colette is not meant for the sea." She whispers, her voice full of sadness as she ignores my question, which is the answer in itself.

can you know that?" I ask her

he would have. His love is pure, and so gentle. She gets that from him. The ability to

chest and my hand flies to my chest and I am flooded with excitement and the thrill Colette is feeling flowing in through the mate bond as she shares it all. I smile to myself,

to protect her heart." I whisper, the

first. The other bits you will learn

do you suggest to do that?"

would start with speaking with Calvin," she says, standing and dusting her legs of the sand that clings to her. "He is ready to speak about anything you

is a dragon," I frown at her.

her, annoyed that she has mentioned

if I want answers, I need to go directly to

She says, "Walk with

look out at the water once more and Melody reaches out, touching my

the dragons, it's with Caspian and in

my head, she is only safe when I have eyes on her.

protection she needs. But maybe that is part of the problem. I haven't had the chance to think clearly since she has been back. Now is the time for

"Fine," I grumble, standing.

bartered for my daughter instead of my niece?" She says, but I know she is joking with me based

terrible person." I tell her and

I'm learning that maybe my brother wasn't so

protecting her for you."

the cabin; me regaling her with why I chose her daughter and when I realized she was mine. It's not a story that makes me

you?" she asks as we push

everything. Colette doesn't run from problems.

widely. "She gets that from

be resting." Calvin says from inside the

frowning. "It has been ten years since I have felt