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Bria’s eyes widened. “Gerri Wilder?Auwe!” Bria lit up like a Christmas tree. “The matchmaker sent mykaikamahine’smate here?”
“Kali! Matchmaker? Gerri Wilder is a matchmaker? She told me she was sending an alpha to help our pack pinpoint our new alpha. She didn’t say anything about mates.” Eliana dropped her head into her hands and groaned in frustration.
“Kaikamahine, is it true? This Lucas?” Her mom was starting to pry, and she wasn’t about to give in that easily. If she didn’t verbalize it, if she didn’t put the words into the universe, she could still deny it.
“I don’t want to talk about it. There are more important things to do. We are running a business, Ma.”
Eliana didn’t like being snippy with her mother, but all of this fated mates stuff was getting out of hand. That wasn’t why he was here, and it surely wouldn’t be a reason to stay. She tried to sidestep her mom, but her parent was too good at blocking Eliana’s escape.
“Oh myku’uipo… tell yourmakuahine.” Bria took Eliana by the shoulders and searched Eliana’s eyes for the truth. Bria’s bright, opal eyes caught a glimpse of light, and Eliana slumped her shoulders.
Eliana had to look away, ashamed of the feelings she was having. “Fine, I will admit, there is an attraction. I am becoming more and more sure it is the fated mate bond, but …”
Bria didn’t wait for her to finish. “A, ‘o ia! Lucasisyourmea aloha. I knew it.” Bria announced triumphantly. “So exciting,ku’uipo.” Eliana frowned at her excited mother.
“Not that it matters. I don’t have time for such things.” Eliana waved the thought off. “We are far too busy as it is. Aunt Reta is counting on us. Besides, you forget. He’s an alpha, and he will have to go home to his own pack.”
Eliana ended on that note, hoping it was enough to get her mom off her back. Unfortunately, when she looked back at her mother, she realized she had no such luck. She had seen that look many times before, and she was dreading what it meant for her this time.
Bria was clearly plotting the way mothers do. Eliana needed to get out of there before she was the victim of a drive-by embarrassment. Bria had no shame when it came to pushing people together.
Eliana tried to refocus her energy on something, anything, other than this topic.
It doesn’t matter what she thinks. I have to focus on the businesses.
Does it matter what I think?Her wolf grumbled.
Not particularly, she sniped back.
She continued trying to dodge her mother and avoiding her gaze. Soon after, she heard the ringing of the front door opening. Saved by the bell, she ran off to greet customers, leaving her scheming mother to her devices.
It took everything in her power not to glance at the table where her mate sat. He looked too large for the chairs, and she was trying not to imagine the sheer largeness of him. She pasted on her best smile, determined to distract herself again.
“Welcome to Aloha ?Ohana Hanai, where we believe everyone belongs together. May I offer you a table?”
Eliana continued to wait on tables, take orders, and run herself ragged until she heard her mom announce loudly that Eliana would be taking Lucas to meet the suitable alpha candidates.
The plot has come to fruition.
YES!Her wolf howled.
FOUR
LUCAS
Lucas, who was normally a very patient and still man, sat at the table inside Aloha ‘Ohana Hanaiwith his leg bouncing up and down like pins inside a pinball machine. His mind, body, hell, and even his heart were at odds the moment he walked in and laid eyes on the young woman tending to customers at the counter.
Her temperament was frenzied, but her appeal was apparent to the wolf whimpering with such a potent craving deep inside him. Her long black hair was luscious, streaming down her back like onyx marble, glistening in the hot Hawaiian sun that poured into the quaint cafe. Her hips swayed back and forth hypnotically as she rushed back and forth from the kitchen to customers like a bee hovering from flower to flower.
She was quite a specimen, every corner of her body and essence responsible for awakening Lucas’s wolf with sharp vigor. It was a highly inconvenient truth, but there was no way around it; Gerri had brought him to meet his mate in the disguise of aiding another pack.
Damn that Gerri Wilder with her sneaky offers,he thought, trying his damnedest to keep his eyes with an unfixed gaze on the world around him. The woman was still scattered, and he noticed even in his peripheral vision. She was like a star bursting across a naked sky, fiery and combustible, unable to be ignored.
He didn’t need that. His pack had their own damn problems to deal with. So Lucas did his best to ignore the instincts in his nature, burying his wolf in the darkness of his subconscious.
“Can I take your order?”
The woman from earlier who had helped him to his table returned, one that looked an awful lot like the one running frantically in and out of the kitchen. Lucas cleared his throat, attempting to clear his mind of the harmful erotic thoughts flowing through like a free river.
