A Hero for Mahina, page 1
A HERO FOR MAHINA
REINA TORRES
Copyright © 2023 by Reina Torres
All rights reserved.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of this author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons living or deceased is entirely coincidental.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
AI RESTRICTION: The author expressly prohibits any entity from using any part of this publication, including text and graphics, for purposes of training artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to generate text or graphics, including without limitation technologies that are capable of generating works in the same style or genre as this publication. The author reserves all rights to license uses of his work for generative AI training and development of machine learning language models.
The CONTENT of this book and its GRAPHICS are 100% Human Generated.
Photographer: Golden Czermak - Furious Fotog
Cover Model: Chase Ketron
CONTENTS
Preface
Rescuing Hi’ilani
A Hero for Ku’uipo
A Hero for Summer
A Hero for Olena
A Hero for Samira
A Hero for Lilinoe
A Hero for Tehani
A Hero for Mahina
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Epilogue
About the Author
PREFACE
Born and raised in Hawai‘i, I have had the immense pleasure of discovering life on a tropical island. Far more than a vacation destination, it’s been home to generations of my family. I hope to share some of the beautiful parts of Hawai‘i with you, and yes, some of the darker side of paradise, using concerns of the kamaʻāina in my Delta Force Hawai‘i series.
I’m making my best effort to be accurate in all things, but like all artistic media, there are times when things need to be fictionalized to make a point. In those moments, please forgive me for smudging the lines and bringing you what I feel is the best story for these characters.
And please know that while some of the locations in this book are actual places in Hawai‘i, I’m taking them in my own fictional direction. That’s the great thing about writing novels… it is all a part of the fantasy in my head.
Welcome to my slightly fictional Hawai‘i!
RESCUING HI’ILANI
Jackson Guard, aka “Ajax,” gave up the woman he was falling for because it had been drilled into his head that being in the Delta Force was the greatest sacrifice he’d ever make. Meeting with “Ghost” and “Truck” from a Texas based Delta Force unit opened his eyes. These men… their entire unit were all happy, in love, some with kids. It gave him hope that he could have it all too. He just has to plead his case to the woman whose heart he broke.
Hi`ilani Ahfong was ready to give everything up for love and follow Jackson where ever he was stationed around the world, but he didn’t just put the brakes on, he left her on the side of the road wondering where she’d gone wrong. Her manager barely managed to hold onto the ‘I told you so’ she so richly deserved and helped her focus her energy on performing and building her career. Now, she’s back on track.
Everything changes when Hi`ilani walks into the middle of a murder. Fleeing for her life, she runs smack dab into the very man who’d broken her heart. Now the murderers are after her, needing to shut her up, and that’s trouble that can hurt the people she loves. Jackson wants to take care of her and keep her safe while the police track down the men. But she’s put her trust in Jackson before. She’d given him her heart and soul and he’d left her bleeding.
How can he make her believe that this time he’s in for the long haul and not just ‘Rescuing Hi`ilani’?
A HERO FOR KU’UIPO
Her dreams kept her in Hawai‘i when most of her friends moved to the West Coast to follow theirs. He was on the island of Kaua’i training with the other Deltas in his unit until he fell head over heels for the woman of his dreams.
Ku‘uipo Ornellas has been working most of her life. Starting as a professional hula dancer when she was a child, she just resigned from her job as hospitality coordinator for a large chain hotel to revive a hotel from Hawai‘i’s silver screen past. Hoping to give young residents a practical place to learn their hospitality skills. But someone doesn’t want the hotel to reopen and they’re willing to take out their frustration on the young woman so dedicated to its success.
Efrain ‘Train’ Figueroa is a man who loves his movies, but within hours of meeting the young woman with a sweetheart of a name, he finds himself drawn into her single-minded goal of getting the hotel up and running. Especially because one of his acting idols filmed on the grounds. When the seamier side of Hawai‘i tries to take her dreams away, he’s quick to jump in and help. He just can’t seem to walk away from the beautiful young woman who calls to a part of his soul that has nothing to do with the ephemeral quality of movies and everything to do with the heart that beats hard and fast in his chest.
There’s no script that tells the tale of their love, but who can resist a beautiful heroine, a handsome hero, action, adventure, and love…when ‘Train’ becomes a Hero for Ku‘uipo.
A HERO FOR SUMMER
Summer Maitland loves her job, but as a Forensic Anthropologist working to recover and identify the remains of POWs and MIA soldiers, she can’t just talk about her job in casual situations. Some of her family already consider her job ghoulish, it’s certainly not something you talk about on a date. Not that she has a lot of free time outside of the lab.
Meeting Kai was a kind of kismet. Or maybe just her friend Elodie’s spot on matchmaking. After all, how could she turn down a guy who moved through water like Aquaman and made her burn with a look?
Kai Akina had his share of bumps and scrapes during his life. You didn’t swim in Hawaiian waters and not have a few bad moments with coral or the tides. Being shot wasn’t something he ever expected to happen and certainly didn’t want to try it again. But when he meets Summer Maitland thanks to his good friend Elodie, he quickly realizes that she’s everything to him. He’ll do anything and everything it takes to protect her and their growing love.
Living on the island of Oahu, the military is an everyday part of life. For Summer and Kai, they’re surrounded by it. Kai’s friend Elodie is married to a SEAL and when the Delta Team discovers a body on military property, Summer finds herself with another group of protectors.
When Summer finds herself on a collision path with a serial killer, it will take the combined talents and dedication of everyone in her growing circle of friends to bring her home safely. And into the arms of the man who taught her the best lesson of all, how to save herself.
Kai is A Hero for Summer
A HERO FOR OLENA
Olena Yasui has always been driven to help others and now it’s landed her in some hot water. Moved to Narcotics from Homicide she’s on the trail of illegal growers in remote areas of Oahu when she finds herself in the right place at the wrong time. Face to face with criminals who have no intention of going back to jail, she’s surprised to find she has friends in the strangest places when the Delta Team seems to materialize out of thin air and the one she wants to see the most, steps up right beside her.
Cullen Andrews likes his life just fine. He’s the easy going one of the Delta Team. Ready with a quip or a laugh anytime and every time. Well, that was true. Before he met Detective Olena Yasui. Before he realized that there was something to get serious about. The future. Being in a special ops team wasn’t easy, but he joined because it was something he could do to help others, and as a part of his team, he’s done a lot of good. He just hadn’t looked too far ahead in his life, until Olena was right there in front of him. Now he’s making plans and he wants her to be a part of them.
Olena struggles with what she needs and what she wants, confusing the two back and forth as she gets to know Cullen even more. He may seem to have his future planned out for him, but as a woman in the police force there’s always a tightrope to walk and falling in love is tough when some men have trouble dating a woman in her line of work. She’s just not sure it’s the right time.
She has a drive that he admires and a figure that he can’t get out of his head. She challenges him in ways that he never expected and given him a dream of what life can be for them both, but Cullen’s got two big obstacles to his happy ending: criminals intent on ending her life to end her investigation and her need to protect her heart. He’s not sure which one is more dangerous, but Cullen is ready to face them down and be A Hero for Olena.
A HERO FOR SAMIRA
Samira Ioane is the heart of her family. Raising two children on her own wasn’t ever her plan, but life happens, and she knows ho
Commander Anthony Chastain has trained his men well. His Delta Team is top notch and as much of his family as he’s ever had. Now, he’s taking on the responsibly of raising a teenage boy and struggling with the new responsibilities. Called to the high school to discuss an ‘issue’ he finds himself seeking the assistance and the company of a widow whose very smile makes him want what some of his Delta’s have found: Love, Happiness, and a Future he’d never dreamed could be his.
As their loved ones face ever increasing pressure, Anthony and Samira find themselves struggling to make everything in their lives work and navigate a new romance at the same time. Pressures and stress could easily drive people apart, but maybe the two have come to a time in their lives when they know what really matters in the big scheme of things.
Commander Chastain discovers just how strong Deltas can be on the home front in a brand-new kind of mission to be A Hero for Samira.
A HERO FOR LILINOE
When the pressures of life are trying to smother all traces of hope, having someone to lean on, someone to support you and give you love can make all the difference.
Daniel “Shado” Shimizu has a secret. He’s been falling in love and none of his team knows about it. Meeting Lilinoe turned his world upside down, but unlike his other teammates who’d fallen for their women and went blissfully on their way, he’s hesitant. Not about love, he’s head over heels for the beautiful woman, but she’s tied to the Big Island and he’s a military man. How would this work?
Lilinoe Keahi knows she’s going crazy. With all the stress her family is under, how could she find herself falling for a soldier stationed on Oahu? That was crazy talk. It shouldn’t matter that his smile makes her breathless and his kiss? She didn’t have time or the energy to fall in love at all. Her family’s farm is in jeopardy, and it’s going to take a miracle to save it, but Shado makes her feel like miracle’s aren’t all that impossible to find.
Bad news turns to worse as Lilinoe and her family are being threatened by men who seem to have all the power and none of the rules apply to them. It’s going to come as a shock when those men run up against one pissed off Delta and his friends. Will Shado be A Hero for Lilinoe?
A HERO FOR TEHANI
Fate and cupid can be cruel taskmasters. But they can also be jokesters in their own way.
Devon “Boss” Boseman is the latest addition to Delta Force Hawaii. He knew it was going to be difficult to replace one of the team. Being in Special Forces has been something he’s worked for, even before joining the Army. He never expected to join a team that would be mourning one of their closest friends. He has that weight on his shoulders and the push of his family to build a family of his own.
But Devon is the BOSS of his own life. He’ll do things on his timetable.
Tehani Teva is a young woman who has worked for a living for as long as she can remember. Having no real family of her own, she strives to make a connection to her culture through her dance. But there is only so much time that she can devote to it because she works for a local airline as a flight attendant.
An unruly and out of control passenger makes what should be a normal flight into a fright and stepping in to help her out of a bind is a devastatingly handsome passenger who shows the handsy man who’s the boss in that situation.
Their lives have been thrown together by turbulence in the air, but their attraction soon becomes a love that they didn’t expect. And, as things in her professional life take a turn for the worst, Boss will need to step up and show that he’s a Hero for Tehani.
A HERO FOR MAHINA
Sometimes the ones that fight the hardest fall in love the fastest.
Malcom “Baron” Roth is the one everyone knows is the prickliest member of the team. He’s harsh, rude, and sometimes downright ornery. And he’s good with that. Protecting yourself is easy when no one gets too close. He’s seen all of his teammates, hell, even their commander, fall victim to the fairer sex. Oh, he doesn’t have anything against the women. They’re all perfectly great, on their own, and with their men. But he’s not going to fall into that trap. Nope. Not happening.
Mahina Yoshino is a driven woman. She puts everything into her passion. Wildlife. Growing up in Hawaii, she’s always been surrounded by natural beauty. And now, she wants to protect it, even if that means staging her own stake out. Baron’s not about to let her go it alone. He’ll do what it takes to keep her safe.
There’s an evil in the air that surrounds them. A criminal mastermind who seems to be everywhere that the Delta Team has been in Hawaii. He’s taken a special interest in this woman and no one is prepared for what that might cost the Deltas and their ever-growing circle of loved ones.
Baron’s beyond the point of protecting himself. He needs to protect Mahina like she’s his moon, constantly pulled in her direction. When she’s taken from him, he’ll move heaven and earth to prove that he’s a Hero for Mahina.
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ONE
Baron sat in the Chicago Airport listening to the music on the speakers. It wasn't enough to pique his interest. Instead, it droned on and on letting him ruminate about the things that he'd been ignoring just to keep his head on straight.
Still, it didn't change a thing about why he'd gone back to Chicago. He'd gone back to see his father for the last time.
His dad was a raging SOB all of his life. He'd been like a monolith in the path of a hurricane, unmoving even when the world around him was falling apart or imploding.
Raymond Roth didn't have any weaknesses as far as he was concerned. He'd go toe to toe with anyone to prove a point. And he had.
He'd raised his son the same way, telling him time and time again how lucky Baron was that he didn't have a mother to wipe his nose, spoil, or coddle him.
"A man doesn't need a woman for anything if he can cook his own damn meals and wash his own damn clothes."
Baron learned early enough not to mention anything nice that a woman did for him.
On the rare occurrence that he'd been invited to have dinner at a classmate's house, Baron knew to keep quiet about anything his friend's mother might do for him.
Even in those days, he knew that his father's feelings and actions were wrong, or at least skewed by loss. He didn't dare talk to his father about it again.
Baron lifted his hand up and rubbed his fingers against his cheek.
It was an introspective moment for him. And a moment when he felt the ghost-like sting against his cheek.
His father hadn’t made him bleed that day, but he'd gotten his message across.
Comfort, no matter how good the intent, weakened a man. Made them weak, needy, and soft as fuck.
There were times when Baron appreciated or even admired his father's edicts and mindset, but since he'd been a part of Ajax's team, things have changed.
Baron had changed.
So, when he got the call from his father's neighbor saying his dad's health was failing, he balked at first.
His dad had always believed that being sick was a failure.
