Chapter Five
Luke stood infront of Geraldine Wilder’s apartment door. Theron had made the arrangements. “Ten a.m.,” the wolf alpha had said. “Not a minute sooner.”
Luke stared at his watch, an old self-winding Timex piece that had been his father’s, as the second hand ticked up to the ten o’clock hour. When it passed the twelve, he knocked.
An older wolf female with long dark but graying hair opened the door. She raised her brow at him. “You much be Lucas Dashwood.” She took a step back and eyed him from his head to his feet and back up. “You’re quite the hot tamale. You remind me of your father.”
For a moment, Luke felt gutted. What did this old woman know about his father? He forced himself to be calm, though as a wolf shifter, the matchmaker would smell his anger. “You must be Mrs. Wilder.”
“Call me, Gerri, hot cakes. Everyone does.”
“Everyone calls me Luke,” he said. “But you can keep calling me hot cakes.”
“Oh, you’re feisty,” Gerri said. “I like a little spice in a man.”
“You mean before you cook and eat them?”
Gerri laughed.
Theron, a tall man who was a little bigger than Luke, walked out of the kitchen. “You giving my aunt a hard time?” He dipped his head down and planted a kiss on the older woman’s cheek.
“I think you have that backwards,” Luke said. Theron was an alpha, and since Luke was an alpha too, even if he had taken lone wolf status, the energy of their power crackled between them. Had Mrs. Wilder not mentioned Luke’s dad, he would have done a lot better job of controlling himself, but the mention of Victor Dashwood had thrown Luke off balance.
“No worries, nephew,” Gerri said. “It’s my fault.” She smiled and nodded to Luke. “You didn’t know that your mother came to me over three decades ago for a match. Victor had been brave and dashing. Living up to his last name.” Her eyes softened. “As I’m sure you have lived up to yours.”
“Why am I here?” It wasn’t for a matchmaking scheme. The only woman Luke wanted was out of his reach.
“Is it true the Orsino Clan has hired your company to work the party this weekend?’
“Yes.” He nodded. “I was told to only send bear shifters. I was told that sending non-bears would be seen as a threat to the men in attendance.”
Mrs. Wilder hooted. “Only Trey Steele, but yes. Best not to rock the boat.”
“I was going to send in Brandon Bennet and his sister, Marigold, from the Orsino clan, and Sonya Delphin and Rick Douglas from the Stone Clan. Now that Brandon has been injured I’m down a man.”
“You could do it.”
“Uhm, wolf.”
“I can disguise your scent.”
“But that still doesn’t make me smell like a bear.”
“I can fix that as well.”
Luke hadn’t been keen to work the party before he knew who it was for, and now that he knew it was the sexy, curvaceous doctor, he was even less inclined to watch her choose another man. “No.”
“I’ve heard stirrings that Trey Steele no longer wants to mate with Quinn. It would suit him even better for another tragedy to happen and take her middle sister when Quinn is out of the way. I wouldn’t ask for your help if I didn’t think you were needed. Theron told me a little about your military record. If anyone can keep Quinn Orson safe, it will be you. At least hear out my plan.
Luke nodded. “Fine. I’ll hear you out, but no promises.”
