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“Yes, sorry. Can I have some iced tea? That would be all for now.”
The woman frowned, then placed a hand on her hip. She looked him square in the eyes, which wasn’t something Lucas was used to.
“I hear you are here to aid us in finding an alpha?”
Lucas nodded solemnly, respectfully.
“Yes. I am friends with Gerri Wilder. She informed me that you were in dire straits and needed someone from the outside to have a look at the situation.”
The woman nodded, narrowing her eyes with suspicion. Lucas remained calm as he always did, observing the response from the woman sizing him up right in front of him.
“Let me get you that tea, then we can chat. My name is Bria. I work at this cafe. That is my daughter Eliana you spoke to earlier.”
Bria pointed behind her back to the main counter. Lucas’s eyes moved before he had a chance to stop himself, relishing any reason to scan his eyes over Eliana. Eliana, with an effortless sultry and sensual look to her, prominent dark red lips, and severe brows. His mind explored various ways he could trace his mouth along her body, studying those curves and the salty flavor of her skin before he shook himself back into reality.
“It’s wonderful to meet you. My name is Lucas Doyle.”
He held out his hand to Bria, who took it cautiously. They shook, and he gave her a broad smile. To say the least, it was a disarming smile with his sharp cheekbones, prominent jaw, and lavishly styled beard.
Bria grinned back briefly, then returned to the kitchen for his iced tea.
Lucas took the time to look at his phone, seemingly unaffected by his surroundings. But his wolf smelled her. It was the scent of an exotic plant blended with the seaside. He would know it anywhere, and everywhere he went, her personal fragrance.
He had to keep it together. Get the meeting done and get out of there.
Bria returned with two glasses of tea, one for him and one for her. He thanked her as she placed his beverage down, and then she sat before him at the small table.
“I wish Gerri had informed me that we were going to have a guest. I would have cleaned up the place a little.”
Lucas was as proper and polite as they came. He had noticed that the place could use a bit of polishing, but really, what establishment in this modern financial age didn’t? It had a homely appeal, and judging by the way the bell above the door was continuously ringing, they didn’t need to change a thing.
Lucas gave her a handsome smirk, then held his palms out over the table.
“If you know Gerri, then you know she loves the theater of it all. The performance of the surprise.”
Bria nodded, regarded him with seasoned and experienced eyes, then went on with a forlorn sigh.
“Phil was our alpha, my brother-in-law. My own husband also passed away many years ago. His death was sudden and surprising, so it has been a lot of grief to cope with.”
Lucas nodded along, listening closely. Most people’s impulses were to comfort the grieving with reassuring words or gestures, but he had found it to be the most poignant to say nothing at all. It was the space given that they appreciated the most.
Bria’s eyes drifted to the table, memories likely surging through her mind like electric shocks, then went on reluctantly.
“So Phil was the alpha once my husband passed. Now that Phil has passed, we are at a loss.”
Lucas mused in his mind that Eliana was as close to an alpha as the pack was going to get. She was the daughter of one, and it didn’t sound like Phil had any children.
“Phil had no kids,” she informed him, “and a lot of the young men here are, how do you say, inexperienced?”
Bria chuckled, and Lucas chuckled along with her.
“Inexperienced in ways of the pack, you mean?” Lucas asked light-heartedly.
“In everything. Most of the men of age have left the island for other, more lucrative opportunities. It’s not really trendy anymore to be part of a pack or lead it, for that matter.”
Lucas understood what she was referring to. He had been groomed since he was a child to lead his own pack, and despite the current issues they were having, he knew that the position was truly meant to be. He didn’t have any other dreams outside his work as full-time alpha beyond taking care of the moans and groans of those who worked below him. Some shifters may have found that boring, but it was comfortable and sustainable to him.
Hell, he hadn’t even thought about finding a mate before he’d laid eyes on Eliana a few minutes beforehand.
