opened and closed his mouth as he looked at her.
“Is everything all right?” Flora asked. “We were just coming into the restaurant to join you and Valerie when we met Elise and Karros in the reception area.”
“Elise.” Caleb stared at her with a small smile on his lips.
“Yes.” Elise stepped forward and held out her hand, partly because people in Wishing Moon Bay and the world beyond greeted each other this way, and partly because she really wanted to touch him. “Good to meet you. I didn’t realize Aiden had a twin.”
“Elise.” Caleb slipped his hand into hers and warmth spread across her skin and up her arm. He certainly did resonate at a different frequency.
She leaned forward and stared into his eyes. “Are you okay?”
“Yes.” He blinked rapidly as his fingers closed around hers, holding her as if he were never going to let her go.
“Oh!” Flora’s shock registered in Elise’s brain even through the fog that filled it.
“Oh, what?” Elise half-turned to look at her friend.
“You and Caleb are mates.” Flora stated it as fact, but how could she know when Elise had only just met Caleb?
It was a redundant question. Elise knew the truth. She suspected Aiden had known even before they entered the kitchen, that would explain the faraway look on his face.
“I don’t want a mate,” Elise answered. “I’ve come here to learn to be a chef. I don’t want to be the mate of a shifter.” She let go of Caleb’s hand, noting her own reluctance to break the connection between them. “No offense, and I’m sure you are a perfectly nice shifter, but getting married and having kids is not my thing.”
“What are you all doing in my kitchen?” A tall, dark-haired man with gray flecks at his temples and eyes that bore into her entered the kitchen carrying a box of fresh vegetables.
“This is Elise,” Aiden introduced her. “She wants you to teach her your ways.”
“My ways.” Ivan’s expression darkened. “You mean train her?” His nostrils flared. “She’s a fae.”
“She is,” Elise answered.
“I don’t think that would be a good idea,” Ivan replied.
“You don’t want me to work for you because I’m a fae?” Elise forgot all about the shifter who was her mate. Even though he didn’t take his eyes off her. She could feel the caress of his gaze as if he were actually stroking her skin. She shivered and the hairs on her arms stood on end.
“Yes. I don’t think we’d be a good mix.” Ivan placed the box of vegetables on the countertop and removed the contents, examining them closely before lining them up.
“Because shifters and fae don’t get along?” she asked.
“That would be the start of it,” Ivan confirmed.
“I am very open-minded about shifters,” Elise replied. “When Karros told me that he’d ended the arrangement with Flora’s family so that she wouldn’t get banished from the fae realm, I was very supportive.”
“Good for you.” Ivan didn’t look at her, he just continued emptying the box.
“I am good. At cooking.”
“Then you don’t need me,” Ivan retorted.
“I’m good, but you are so much better. I don’t think I have ever tasted a hollandaise sauce like yours. And your desserts are so creative,” she gushed but Ivan was unmoved.
“There are plenty of other chefs you could train with.” He turned to face her, his eyes flashed bright, and she gasped. “Yes, now you’re getting the point.”
“You’re a dragon shifter?” Her eyes widened, she’d never seen a dragon shifter outside of the dragon isle.
“Exactly. Fae and dragons are like oil and water. We do not mix well, so I certainly don’t think it would be a good idea for you and me to work together in my kitchen.”
“Please, give me a chance.” She didn’t care what he was, to her he was a man who knew how to turn quality ingredients into something incredible.
“I don’t think so...” Ivan suddenly noticed Caleb’s expression. “Are you all right?”
“Will you reconsider?” Caleb asked. “For me?”
“For you? Why would I?” Ivan moved closer to his brother and stared into his eyes before swinging around to look at Elise. “No!”
“Yes,” Aiden answered. “And I think it’s your brotherly duty to help Caleb’s mate.”
Ivan’s jaw tensed and he shook his head before burying his face in his hands and groaning. “I know I’m going to regret this, but what choice do I have?”
“None,” Aiden answered.
“You’ll teach me?” Elise answered.
“Yes, because you are my brother’s mate. But don’t expect me to go easy on you.” Ivan went back