by Anna Lowe
Kai nodded. “It will take ages to sort out Draig’s assets. Silas can help decide what to do with it. But let’s move on. It’s time to establish a leader here.”
Everyone went very quiet. Cynthia stared at Connor, and Connor stared back.
“According to tradition, the choice of alpha is made by a council of elders,” Kai began.
Connor nearly rolled his eyes, but Kai wasn’t done yet.
“However, we have our own way of doing things. A little more in tune with modern times, you might say. A clan should appoint their own leader. We at Koa Point agreed on Silas a long time ago, and the guys named me as second-in-command. So, here on Koakea…”
A weighty silence settled over the group. Candlelight flickered over serious faces, though Connor kept his focus on Jenna, trying not to pressure his brothers. It was time to let them speak and for him to listen. To respect whatever decision was reached and to trust fate a little bit. That much, he’d learned.
Jenna wound her fingers through his, quietly backing him up.
Mate, his dragon sighed.
The word had so many more meanings than he’d been aware of before. Jenna wasn’t just his lover. She was his partner. His anchor, his cheering squad, and his compass at the same time.
Tim shifted uncomfortably in his chair, and a floorboard creaked under Chase’s uneasy step. For a few too-quiet minutes, the only other sound was that of waves rolling onto the shore a quarter of a mile away.
It was Joey who finally broke the silence. “Can I vote for Mommy and for Connor?”
Cynthia rushed to shush him, but Dell laughed hard enough to break the tension everyone felt.
“Sweetie, there can only be one alpha,” Cynthia said. And I want it to be me, her unwavering eyes said.
Connor could understand that. She’d worked as hard as anyone and proved her capabilities. In a way, he was glad not to have a vote. Who would he choose if he were in the other guys’ shoes?
“You know, I think Joey might be on to something there,” Dell said, giving the boy a thumbs-up. “If he’s thinking what I’m thinking.”
“And you’re thinking… What, exactly?” Tim asked.
Connor half expected Dell to make an inappropriate wisecrack, but the lion shifter went serious.
“Well, it’s clearly between Cynthia and Connor. I mean, given that I’ve decided to graciously step aside and let these inferior dragons take the stress of leadership,” Dell joked.
Tim snorted. “Right. Dell as alpha. Every day would be a day off.”
Dell sighed. “And what a life that would be. But sadly, I don’t think you guys deserve me. Which leaves us Connor and Cynthia, right? I mean, until Joey is old enough to be alpha.” He winked.
Joey beamed and sat straighter in his mother’s lap.
“Right,” Tim agreed.
“So let’s see.” Dell waved between them. “Cynthia definitely wins in the graphics department.” He motioned at the whiteboard with the neatly penned duty roster. “And at coordinating manpower — er, man and woman power,” he added quickly. “Just look at how quickly we’ve gotten this place in shape.”
Connor let his eyes drift around the porch and beyond. When he’d first arrived, the plantation house was practically rotting on its foundations, and the grounds were a mess. But under Cynthia’s direction, the place had been restored to its former glory. Well, the house, at least. The grounds were coming along, and everyone had made a start on their own places. He had to hand it to Cynthia. She knew how to get work done.
Cynthia didn’t say a word. She just sat there, waiting for the others to decide, not showing the slightest bit of emotion.
We need to get her a mate, Tim whispered into Connor’s mind.
Connor nearly broke out laughing. It would take a brave man to break through all that ice. But, hell yeah. If they ever found the right guy, Cynthia might finally relax a bit.
“Of course, Connor has a few qualities too,” Dell continued.
Connor went perfectly still, more self-conscious than he’d ever been.
“He’s pretty good at roofing, not too bad at cooking…”
Tim chuckled. “Everything we need in an alpha.”
“…and he’s actually learned a little diplomacy lately. Oh, and he did slay a sea dragon. Or was that Jenna?”
Connor pointed at Jenna. She pointed at him, and they both spoke at exactly the same time.
“Her.”
“Him.”
Connor poked her. “You’re the one who knifed the bastard.”
Cynthia made a face and tilted her head toward Joey, but Connor ignored her. It wouldn’t kill the kid to hear the plain and simple truth.
“You’re the one who got Draig to expose his chest,” Jenna insisted.
Dell scissored his hands. “Whatever. The point is, Connor is the one who reacted in time to take decisive action to stop Draig. Connor is the one who has been organizing patrols, tailing Draig, and working here at the same time. Connor is the glue that holds us together, and we all know it.”
Connor stared at Dell. Wow. When was the last time the lion shifter spoke from the heart like that?
“So what are you saying?” Kai asked.
Dell shrugged. “I’m saying they both have their strengths. Cynthia is wicked smart and ridiculously organized.”
“Ridiculously?” she protested.
Dell nodded. “Sorry, Cynth. But, yeah — she runs a tight ship. And Connor — well, the Special Forces experience shows. He has a nose for trouble.” Dell grinned. “For getting in and out of it. So why compromise? Why not do like Joey says and put them both in charge?”
Kai scratched his head. “How would that work?”
Yeah, Connor wanted to ask. How?
“Just like we initially set things up,” Dell said. “Cynthia runs the grounds. Connor runs security. They work together on the parts that overlap, like assigning workloads.”
“That was a temporary solution,” Kai said.
Dell shrugged. “If it ain’t broke, why fix it?” He looked around. “What do you guys think?”
Connor blinked a few times. He’d always figured it was all or nothing, but Dell did have a point. Cynthia was better at some things than he was, and he was stronger than her on others. The question was, could he handle working with her in an equal-alphas partnership?
He glanced over and found Cynthia eyeing him, probably asking herself the same thing.
Tim nodded. “I’m good with that. What about you, Chase?”
Chase nodded simply. “Yep. All good.”
“That’s a bit…unconventional.” Kai frowned.
Cynthia frowned too. “Untraditional.”
Connor grinned. “I think that’s what I like about it.”
He looked at Jenna, because she was part of this decision too. Her eyes sparkled with pride and confidence, telling him everything he had to know.
He stretched a hand toward Cynthia. “What do you say, Ms. Brown?”
She gave him that I know you know that’s not my name, but I still refuse to tell you look. Her eyes were stern and hard, but for a split second, he thought he glimpsed something like relief. Running a shifter clan — even a small one like this — was a huge responsibility. And, hell. The more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea of sharing the load. Did she, too?
Joey looked up at Cynthia, and she looked down at him, reminding Connor she had as much at stake in the future of their clan as him. She broke into a smile and stroked Joey’s red hair, revealing the sensitive, caring mom within for the briefest of moments. Then she nodded firmly and clasped Connor’s hand in a firm shake.
“Mr. Hoving, I agree.”
Connor laughed. Cynthia could be as formal as she wanted. He wouldn’t be. The second he finished shaking hands, he turned to Jenna and scooped her into a huge hug. Was it really possible to have so many good things happen at once? Or was this payback for all the times he’d experienced the opposite?
And just like that, the weight of it hit him. He’d done it. He’d finally overcome. Not just one hurdle but a whole obstacle course he’d been navigating for the past years.
He squeezed his eyes shut and held Jenna close. Never mind that the others were there watching. He would never have gotten here if it weren’t for Jenna, and there wasn’t a single part of his future she wouldn’t be a part of. So the guys had better well get used to seeing his love for her, damn it.
The funny thing was, when he finally let Jenna go and refocused on the others, they were all grinning and patting each other on the back like they’d accomplished something too.
Dell whooped. Tim smacked him on the back. Chase looked like he was tempted to howl his happiness to the moon. Cynthia kissed Joey, and the other two men hugged their mates.
They had all accomplished something, Connor realized. All of them. They’d gone from being unsure about just about everything — the work, the place, the division of labor — to having carved out a place in the world for themselves. Dell, Tim, Chase — and Cynthia too. They’d gotten to know each other and their new home. Of course, they still had a long road ahead, but they’d made their start, and a solid one, at that.
“Dell, man,” Connor said, clapping the lion shifter on the shoulder. “Who knew you had that in you?”
Dell gave a theatrical sigh. “One of these days, you guys will appreciate my genius and stop underestimating me.”
Maybe someday, he’ll stop underestimating himself, Connor’s dragon murmured.
He kept that part to himself. Dell had a knack for picking exactly the right moment to shine. He’d done it before, and he’d do it again. And maybe someday, he would make it enough of a habit to keep up all the time.
Down in the yard, the tiki torches crackled, throwing playful shadows about. Excited voices bubbled and rose as everyone talked at the same time. A sea breeze wafted over the porch, carrying the scent of tropical flowers.
“It’s beautiful,” Jenna whispered, catching Connor in another hug. The kind that made him think of wrapping up business and getting back to bed.
“It’s perfect,” he rumbled back, sniffing his mate’s scent.
“There’s just one thing,” Kai said in a grim tone that silenced everyone. “The pearl.”
His voice was a low tone of warning, and everyone waited for him to explain.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“The pearl,” Kai said with gravity, looking at Jenna. “Do you have it?”
Connor looked on as Jenna pulled it from her pocket and laid it on the white tablecloth. Everyone leaned in. Even in the pale moonlight, the pearl shone in its unique way, with the gold hues coming to the forefront, and the black fading away. It looked a little different every time he saw it. Was that part of its magic?
“I still can’t figure it out,” Jenna said, gesturing toward it. “Did the pearl help me stay underwater that long or was it my mermaid blood?”
“A little of both, I think,” Kai said, studying the pearl.
Then he cleared a space on the table and nodded to Tessa, who pulled out a huge leather-bound book. Connor sniffed deeply. It smelled of dried leaves. Of cobwebs. Of mystery.
“We did some research,” Kai said in a weary voice that spoke of many hours hunting down that volume.
Tessa opened the book, carefully flipped a few pages, and finally turned it around for everyone to see. Connor squinted at the ornately designed page.
The top of the page was covered in swirling, calligraphic script. The middle was full of text, and the bottom decorated with a hand-illustrated scene. The latter showed the kind of rugged, green mountains found throughout Hawaii, all drawn in a style that had to be a century or two old. A woman stood waist-deep in the ocean, cupping something in her hands while a shark fin circled around her. She seemed more sad than panicked, though. Behind her, the background was filled with details like lush slopes, waterfalls, and a thatched hut.
“Maui?” Tim murmured.
Jenna leaned over the looping calligraphy at the top. It didn’t even look like English to Connor until Jenna managed to sound it out. “Pearls of desire?” She touched the binding. “What book is this?”
Tessa gave them a peek at the cover then laid it open to that page again. “Mates, Myths, and Legends. It was written by one of the first shifters to visit Maui, way back at the end of missionary times.”
Jenna ran her finger along the text. “Nanalani, daughter of Kamohoalii, the shark king. She could only love from afar for fear of her shark side coming out. Terrified of wreaking death and destruction upon her friends the way her brother had done when he took human form, Nanalani kept herself sequestered in a cave for years. Finally, in her loneliness and sorrow, she called forth the spirit of the sea…” Jenna’s voice rose in excitement. “That’s the legend the lady at the store mentioned.”
Tessa pointed to the woman in the illustration — an island beauty with long black hair and dark eyes. “That has to be Nanalani. And look there.” She pointed.
“Pearls,” Jenna breathed.
Connor peered closer. The woman in the picture was holding a seashell filled with pearls. White pearls. Gold pearls. Black, pink, and blue, too.
Jenna read on. “Nanalani called forth the spirit of the sea and put a spell on her pearls — the pearls of desire. Her treasures allowed her to go safely forth as a woman and love a man she had admired from afar. Over the years, Nanalani had many lovers, though she never found her mate. As time went on and her lovers passed away, Nanalani threw her pearls back into the sea, one by one. ‘Now I am alone again,’ she sighed to the god of the sea. ‘I give you my pearls, not to keep, but to safeguard for another worthy lover who needs their power someday.’”
Jenna’s finger trembled as she moved it over the flowery script. She stopped for a deep breath, and her eyes locked with Connor’s. He gulped a little. Jenna might be worthy. But was he?
She read on. “And so it was that the pearls of desire — one for every kind of desire known to mankind — were lost, though legend claims they remain slumbering under the surface, waiting to be reawakened to inspire great acts of love again.”
Jenna’s cheeks turned pink when she finished with a solemn, “Wow.”
Dell whistled. “Pearls of desire? Yeah, I’ll take one.”
Tim beat Connor to elbowing the lion in the ribs.
“Mommy, what’s desire?” Joey piped up.
Cynthia turned pink. It was kind of cute, seeing her flustered for a change. “It’s like love. When you really, really love someone and want to kiss them all the time.”
Connor traded not-so-secret smiles with Jenna. Oh, they knew about desire, all right.
“Oh,” Joey muttered, utterly disappointed. “Yuck.” He went back to unrolling the maki on his plate.
“Wait a minute,” Tim said. “Remember the aquarium Draig had on the yacht? There were pearls in there.”
Connor frowned. God, he’d been so — er, distracted — lately, that he hadn’t thought of that.
Apparently, Kai had, because he nodded right away. “I checked them out. They look — and feel — like regular old pearls, but I sent them to a contact of Silas’s to make sure. I didn’t pick up on any hint of energy or power, though. Not the way I do with Jenna’s pearl.”
“Precious pearls. Magical pearls. That’s what the woman in the shop said,” Jenna recalled. “But, wow. Enough magic to help me stay underwater that long?”
Kai nodded. “Absolutely, especially when combined with your mermaid ancestry.”
“The Spirit Stones are like that,” Tessa added, fingering the emerald around her neck. “Mine made me immune to dragon fire, but only because it amplified an ability I already had thanks to my fire maiden blood. You have to have it in you in the first place.”
“Did Draig know about the pearls?” Tim asked, stroking his chin.
“He knew something,” Jenna said with a deep frown. “He said he could feel its power, but then again, so co
uld I. I just don’t know exactly how it works.”
Cynthia wore a wistful smile. “Maybe it’s like love. The kind of power that’s hard to define.”
Connor blinked at her rare hint of emotion, then cleared his throat. “Anton said something about looking for pearls that night out by Molokai.”
Jenna sighed and picked up the pearl. She studied it, then the book. “Do you have any more books about pearls — or mermaids? I have the feeling I need a crash course on all this.”
Connor took her hand. He might not be the most well versed in shifter lore, but he’d be with her every step of the way.
Kai motioned over toward Koa Point. “We have thousands of books, so I’d say we have our research cut out for us. But the library’s open to you anytime.”
“Yours must be a Tahitian pearl,” Cynthia said, fingering her own string of white pearls. “Very rare, if it’s natural, and I’m sure it is. A symbol of wealth and prosperity.”
Connor stared. Now where did Cynthia learn that?
But Jenna just shrugged and squeezed his hand. “The only wealth that really counts is love, and I’ve got all I need.”
It was one of those I want to hug you and never let go moments, and Connor very nearly did. But Dell waved frantically, dragging his attention away.
“No, no. None of that, kids.” Dell laughed. “Can you try to get through one dinner without falling into each other’s arms? The goo-goo eyes are bad enough.”
Connor slid a hand across Jenna’s shoulders, compromising a little. If he wanted to show his mate how lucky he felt, he would, damn it. But there was a tiny note of jealousy in Dell’s voice, just a minuscule hint the lion shifter probably wasn’t even aware of. There was no need to rub in what he had and the others didn’t — especially when it came to Cynthia, who’d lost her mate. Just the thought of such a blow made him tug Jenna closer to his side.
Tim squinted at the text. “What’s this part about every kind of desire?”
Tessa tapped her lips. “I don’t know. Lust?”
Connor scowled, thinking of Draig. “Greed.”
“True love,” Cynthia said in a faraway voice. “Passion.”
