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“Eliana, life is short. Trust me, I know. It is way too short to forgo any kind of passion for the sake of thinking too much. That is what life is about. Don’t you want to know what it feels like to have your mate touch you? To make you feel good?”
“Mom …”
“I have known that passion, and I want you to know it too. Now go on. Don’t waste any more time.”
Eliana looked up at her mother with tears in her eyes. Her mom spoke from the perspective of her own loss, musing on the love she had for her husband, that had nowhere to go.
“Thank you,” Eliana whispered.
Her mother nodded and got up to refill everyone’s drinks.
Eliana sat for a moment, considering her mother’s words. Tao was a great guy, sweet and proper. They would have a good life together; there was no doubt about that. But it would be a predictable, mundane existence. They would have children, and the children would be the next in line to be alpha, and she would die never having known a passion that lit her entire world into a blazing inferno.
She had felt it by looking at Lucas, by sensing him, imagining him in her bed. She had run her hands along her body when she showered, thinking of her fingertips as his, her skin breaking out in goosebumps, and she trailed them over her breasts and between her legs. It wasn’t just the thrill that she wanted; Eliana wanted to feel the earth shift beneath their colliding bodies.
Eliana had a handful of great sexual experiences. But she had never made love to her mate, nor had her mate made love to her. She’d heard from others who had found their own mates that it was a transcendent, cosmic experience. She had always wondered what it would be like.
Eliana couldn’t live her life without knowing what having his body pressed against hers felt like. To let herself go, to gasp at his touch, to cry out his name into ecstasy. Even if she did agree to marry Tao, she could live that lovemaking in her mind, a loop of an eternal sensual fantasy that would help her go on with her duties.
So she rose from the table, feeling like an empowered goddess. She caught only the back of Lucas’s head as he went out the door, the screen smacking sharply behind him.
Eliana had made up her mind. Her body did the work for her, driving her through the crowd and into the warm tropical air.
THIRTEEN
LUCAS
Lucas didn’t want to get in the way of Eliana’s event. He felt it wasn’t his place to stand by her side the way Tao was when she made her announcement. He was an outsider, and although he was helping her and the pack, he kept his distance.
Watching Tao touch her affectionately really got to him, though. His wolf growled, his eyes narrowing on the man he knew was an incredibly good and kind person.
He was the best for the pack. His wolf was ready to accept that.
So Lucas stood by the bar, having a few rum and Cokes to take the edge off. He told himself that he would leave the next morning, wishing her and the pack well. He would make sure that Garth had departed after their battle on the golf course, then that would be it.
The idea of leaving made his stomach stir with acid. He’d never felt that way toward another woman in his life. It physically hurt to think of not being near her.
He watched her move through the party in her canary-yellow dress, floating like the most graceful and elegant bumble bee. She did what was expected of her, all with genuine empathy and emotions toward her peers while pushing down her own deep-seated pain.
She was remarkable, and he had to leave her.
When he had finished his third drink, Eliana was speaking to her mother. Her soft, smooth skin was six feet away from him, her legs crossed and adorned with heels that made her calves show off their inherent musculature. He caught her fragrance through the cluster of wet dog smell, a blend of cherry blossoms and exotic beach scents.
He’d had enough. Tao socialized with the other pack members, chortling with a wide, pleasant face. They didn’t need Lucas anymore.
So he paid the bartender an extra tip, calling it a night. He left the boom of the restaurant and made his way into the peaceful silence of the warm evening.
He walked toward the resort to spend one last night on the island. He strolled, brooding with his wolf scratching at the insides of his gut and skull. His wolf pleaded with him to return, to take Eliana into his arms and show her what a real alpha was like.
Stopping on the beach, Lucas kicked off his shoes and walked on, the softness reassuring. The sand looked white in the splash of moonlight, the sea a still pane of glass sparkling just for him.
“So that’s how you’re going to say goodbye, then?”
He turned to find the voice, and his heart thumped like a kettle drum.
Standing there in the spill of moonlight was Eliana in her yellow dress, looking more pastel in the natural illumination. Her curly wild locks were darkened, and her skin, with that flawless creamy texture, was even more softened by the dark glow. She, too, had removed her heels, holding them in her hooked fingers while giving Lucas a stern look.
It was difficult for him not to smile. Her mere presence made all other problems shrink away, nearly disappearing into oblivion.
