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“So, let us celebrate our hero, Phil, today and the fact there is no longer a threat. Let us focus on the future, for it is bright and bold!”
The pack cheered, a mixture of masculine and feminine calls for celebration. The chatter started up again with happiness, several people embracing in relief.
Before Eliana climbed down from the chairs, she saw Bria taking Reta into her arms. Her shoulders shook with grief, but there must have been some relief to know her husband hadn’t been living a secret life of addiction.
Tao helped her down, and they gave each other a tight embrace. It felt good, but it didn’t compare to being held by Lucas.
“That went well,” Tao said, grinning ear to ear.
He held onto her hands for a good amount of time. His smile faded a bit, not with disappointment, but with admiration.
It took her a moment of hearing the din of the restaurant and looking into Tao’s eyes to realize what was happening. He swung their arms back and forth like when they were two young, naive kids thinking they knew everything about love.
Eliana also knew the power of a good-looking woman. A man would give up everything he owned and all of his dreams for a beautiful woman.
She blinked at him and smiled.
“I haven’t decided yet,” she said, talking over the chatter and music that had been flicked on. “It’s still too soon.”
Tao nodded with understanding. Eliana didn’t want to hurt his feelings, and he was a wonderful man. But she knew in her heart that he wasn’t meant for her.
“I know, don’t worry,” Tao replied.
Eliana slowly let his hand go and snaked through the crowd. She felt Lucas’s eyes on her, not in a creepy way, but in a way that empowered her. She hadn’t felt sexy in a long time, being lost in grief.
She went to her mother and Reta, comforting them both as they spoke about the good times with Phil. When Reta spoke about how deeply she was in love with Phil, she said it was like having someone treat you like magic, and you finally start to believe you were.
Lucas’s energy was like a shimmering moon over placid waters. She wanted him to come to her, to pull her away from everyone and pin her against a wall in a private place. Tangible heat built between her legs like an infinitely flowing river. The craving was so strong that it made her feet feel like she was standing on pins.
Reta excused herself to socialize with the rest of the pack, all of whom gathered around to comfort her unimaginable loss.
Her mother, of course, took it as an opportunity to nose into her business.
“So?”
Eliana sat across from her mother with her legs crossed, one foot bouncing up and down with rattling impatience. She gave her mom a look that only mothers of radical daughters could understand.
“So what?” Eliana teased back.
Her mother leaned forward on the table. “So when are you going to go get your man, hmm? You’re walking around here looking like a bombshell in that dress, and you’re wasting it talking to your old mother.”
Eliana threw her head back and let out a cackle of laughter. It felt good in her gut, unraveling some of the coils that had grown since Lucas had arrived.
But her mother wasn’t laughing. She pursed her lips at her daughter, wiping under her eyeliner delicately.
“I’m being serious, Eliana. Did you not hear Reta talking about Phil? Is that not something you want?”
Eliana frowned.
“Are you telling me to walk over to a man who is already the alpha of another pack and seduce him into my bed?”
Bria rolled her eyes.
“I think at this point if you told that man to strip in front of everyone right here and now, he would. He’s your fated mate, isn’t he?”
Hearing the words aloud made Eliana’s smirk melt away. It hit her like a bowling ball to the stomach, a truth so profound and stunning.
Eliana didn’t respond, so her mother went on, staring into her daughter’s dark and brooding eyes.
