AWESTRUCK

Chapter Two

After three months of working at the restaurant Selena felt she was ready to finally leave her childhood home.

Her parent's house. 

The tips she had received each month from the wealthy customers that visited the restaurant were almost as high as the paycheck she had received at the end of each month.

Paying rent and feeding were not going to be so difficult, she thought.

Freedom and peace at last.

But leaving wasn't quite simple, her parents made sure of that. As far as Selena's dad was concerned, age nineteen was too young for a female child to be out of her father's house.

It was only an excuse for debauchery. Her mum thought she was just an ungrateful child who wanted to keep her earnings to herself and abandon her to a miserable lonely life with her father, not caring that she had stayed in this marriage because of Selena.

Selena knew her mother was going to squander whatever money she gave her on booze. The woman was really intent on ending her miserable life and having fun doing it. Selena's parents were her own personal hell and she sometimes found herself wishing them dead.

She was not so naive to imagine a white Knight coming to save her. She didn't believe in any knight.

But that was exactly what had happened though.

●***

Gabriel Adams was ravenous and he felt the chicken gnocchi soup was a great idea. Usually when he went over to the Meat-and-Greet Italian restaurant which happened to be his favourite restaurant, he was hit by a wide variety of delicious smells that instantly made his mouth water and his stomach growl, but today was different.

He stopped in his tracks and took a deep sniff, which made the other diners who had noticed his entrance watch him with puzzled expressions on their faces.

Gabriel was used to people ogling at him when he entered into a room. His werewolf genes made him extraordinarily handsome and he radiated raw primal energy.

The women especially, claimed they could get off just by his mere presence. Today though, the attention was somewhat different and he felt uncomfortable and quickly took his seat before he embarrassed himself any further. The ethereal scent that had stopped him in his tracks earlier grew stronger and tugged at something deep inside his soul, and he realized the source was approaching. 

He looked up from the menu he had been pretending to peruse. His heart did a somersault and he forgot how to breathe. He saw her steps falter as she came over to take his order.

Her rich chestnut hair was held in a bond so tight he feared it was going to rip right out of the scalp. Her unique turquoise eyes fringed with long dark lashes were shimmering with barely contained excitement and confusion.

There was a light dusting of freckles across the bridge of her nose and other cheeks. Her full cherry red kissable lips were slightly parted in surprise. He wasn't even aware of rising up out of his seat. They stayed like that for a whole minute drinking up the sight of each other.

"Mate?!!" he whispered and reached out to touch the side of a neck. Her eyes widened, a tiny gasp escaped her mouth and she jerked back as though she had been shocked.

This brought them both out of their trance. Immediately she dropped the small basket of bread sticks she had been holding on the table and switched to waitressing mode, remembering her duties.

" Good afternoon sir what will you be having today?" she asked not quite meeting his eyes. Gabriel's lips twitched at the word 'sir'. He took his time settling back into his chair and slowly

scanned the menu.

Then he raised his head and drawled," I would love to have you"

He saw her eyes widen again and heard her heart beat speed up as she tried to think of a

suitable response." I don't think I understand you sir"

"Oh I think you do"

She gulped and glanced sideways at the table closest to them, her eyes silently pleading with

them to save her from the situation.

The diners looked on with interest, the only thing missing was popcorn.

Then something suddenly clicked in Gabriel's mind. While other women would have flirted right back with him, this one was terrified for some reason.

"What's your name?" He asked

 She had just opened her mouth to respond when a tall, lean man with blonde hair and blue eyes approached.

"Selena is everything okay?" The new arrival, Michael Knowles, the owner of the Meat-and-Greet restaurant looked at Gabriel and scowled.

"Selena was just telling me how delicious and wonderful the chicken gnocchi soup is," Gabriel said with an amused expression on his face.

Michael gave him a bland smile."I apologize sir. She's one of our new employees and isn't aware that you are one of our regular diners here and have tried all our recipes."

Gabriel glanced at Selena who looked relieved that someone was taking charge of the situation.

"I would love the chicken gnocchi soup please. I'm starving," he said, poping a piece of bread stick in his mouth.

He watched as she walked off, enjoying the view of her shapely legs and full rounded hips swaying. Michael cleared his throat gaining Gabriel's attention and shot him a parting look of irritation.

Gabriel ate his meal without tasting it. His mate was clearly human and it bothered him. Surely the moon goddess knew humans were weak.

He was an alpha and he needed a strong Luna.A weak Luna meant a weak pack. She had also looked terrified. If she was so scared of being accosted by a man, he wondered how she was going to react when she found out he was a werewolf.

Already his wolf was impatient to mark her. He wasn't even sure about how things worked with a human mate.

But one thing he could not deny—the mate bond aside—he was intrigued and curious. He wanted to know why her reaction was one of fear.

He growled lowly as he watched Michael place a hand on Selena's shoulder longer than necessary. He walked out of the restaurant before his wolf made him do anything stupid like marking her right there and then.

He had to seek his parents' counsel. They had more experience with things like this and may have heard of a werewolf, particularly an alpha, with a human mate.

Hopefully.