|Siren for Luna|

|vii|

TW: violent imagery, grief, and mentions of rape

Ximena 

It was soft murmured singing that awoke Ximena from her slumber. The voice was feminine with a light, high-pitched tone, but the words she was singing seemed uncomfortable on her tongue. Ximena tried to determine what language she was singing, but her experience with any other foreign language besides Spanish was severely limited to Japanese and perhaps Italian. Perhaps French?

"Luna, I know you're awake. You can stop pretending to be asleep." The voice spoke in perfect English with only a slight Irish accent, and without hesitation, Ximena answered. 

"One, don't refer to me as Luna. And two, I wasn't pretending to sleep. I was trying to figure out what language you were singing in." A light chuckle rang through the room, and she opened one eye to see a young Asian woman with long black hair braided over her shoulder straightening up a shelf in the corner of the room. She was wearing a simple black dress with a green cardigan, with dark Doc Martens on her feet. The stranger turned towards Ximena, a small smile on her face. 

"Well, Ximena, I was singing in French. It's a song called "La Seine". I love the song, but I'm far from a good singer, unfortunately. I hope it wasn't terrible to hear?" Ximena sighed softly before pushing herself up on the bed, a small twin sized one. "The Alpha requested you have your own room for the time being. He wants you to be as comfortable as possible." So he hadn't placed her in his own bed. It seemed like no matter how much Ximena wanted a reason to hate Lorcan, he constantly found a way to make her warm up to him. "The Alpha did want me to tell you that you're welcome to reject him if that's what you want. Of course, he would rather you waited till the situation in the city calmed down. Your safety is his top priority."

"Reject him? What are you talking about?" The woman walked slowly to Ximena's bed side and sat on the edge, giving her enough space. 

"Rejection is the act of a shifter or, in your case, human rejecting their mate; it has to be something you wholly want, with no hesitation. The bond then would be broken between the two of you." 

"Why is this the first time I'm hearing about this? Why did no one tell me this sooner?" This time, her companion's voice got harder when she responded. 

"No one was sure whether you were in the headspace to receive that information. And again, you were barely conscious for an hour when Deidre showed up. Hardly enough time to offer that to you." Ximena sensed some mild disapproval in his tone, and a mean part of her asked, 

"What's your problem? It is my choice, after all. And he even agrees." 

"A mate is a gift. I personally don't approve of the practice. A lot of the time, it's done for superficial reasons." Ximena stared hard at her before nodding softly. With this knowledge, she had her ticket for escaping guaranteed. Why was she hesitating on taking it then? "I was rejected two years ago by my chosen mate, only because of my rank. I was crushed. I would hate to see my Alpha receive the same fate." All Ximena could do was analyze this woman's body language, and she could, reluctantly, see a slight slump in her shoulders. It didn't seem like a temporary gesture, but something rooted in permanence. Did she really want to subject Lorcan to that?

"I'm sorry, um, sorry. What's your name?"

"Keeva. And no, it's not spelled how it sounds." The woman raised an eyebrow in confusion. "My name is spelled C-A-O-I-M-H-E." 

"That's definitely a mouthful. I have no idea how you get 'Keeva' from that." Caoimhe smirked softly. 

"It's an Irish name after all." 

"Well, regardless, I'm sorry that happened to you. What's your rank, if you don't mind me asking?" The woman glanced absentmindedly at her fingernails before responding.