by Angel Nyx
Lily sighed softly and tried to hide her disappointment. She wouldn’t have minded being awakened in the morning if it meant spending the night with him, but at the same time it was sweet that he was thinking about her comfort. “I understand, honey. I wouldn’t have minded but I know you would feel bad about waking me up so early, and it’s sweet of you to be so concerned. I will definitely hold you to that rain check, mister.” She leaned up and kissed him tenderly. “Happy anniversary.”
Keith groaned and returned the kiss. “I knew you’d understand. Happy anniversary.” He waited until she went inside to leave.
Declan
After having Lily’s drink thrown at him, Declan had wiped his face and watched her with a hooded gaze when she’d stalked off to the dance floor. He’d smirked when he thought about her fiery temper. He’d wondered if she was just as fiery between the sheets. Sitting there, he’d imagined what it would be like between them. Given the intensity of their mutual attraction, the sex would be beyond wild. He wanted to see her on her back, her hands bound and held above her head so she was completely at his mercy. He’d drive her insane with need, make her beg him, before he finally buried his cock in her and gave them both the release they ached for. “Get a fucking grip.” He was so hard, it was almost painful, and thinking like that was just making it worse.
He watched as the human pawed at her while they danced and he gripped the table he sat at to keep from snapping. He wanted to pull the guy away from her and throw him through the wall. He needed to get his shit together if he was going to finish the job he was sent to do. The more they danced, the more he had to bite back the growl that threatened to escape him. His hands gripped the table hard enough to crack the wood. Every fucking time that human pawed at Lily, he wanted to go up to him and rip his fingers off.
Declan had a feeling she would look for him at the table so he’d moved to a different area of the club and smirked when she glanced at the table she’d been sitting at. Watching her hips sway on that dance floor and not being able to touch her had been pure torture for both him and his wolf. He needed to make the stubborn she-wolf realize where she belonged—with him, and soon, before he did something he might regret. Like rip the fucking human to shreds.
He watched them head to the door of the club and waited until they were through it before he followed. As luck would have it, the wind was in his favor; he was downwind of the pair so his scent didn’t carry to the she-wolf.
He followed the pair at a safe distance, keeping to the shadows in case Lily looked around. She seemed focused on the man at her side but he wasn’t fooled. She was a shifter; she wasn’t going to let herself be taken by surprise by anyone, not even him. When they stopped outside an apartment building several blocks over from the club, he got as close as he could so he could overhear their conversation without being seen. “I can’t, sweetheart.”
Declan tuned him out after those three words. What the fuck? Lily asked him to stay and he turned her down? He was a fucking fool and she deserved better. If she’d made the offer to him, he’d have picked her up and carried her up to her apartment. He wouldn’t have left her bed until she was so sated she was exhausted and unable to move.
He watched the human leave after Lily headed inside. He waited until he was sure she wasn’t in the lobby of the building before he slipped inside himself. There was no security for the place, as far as he could tell, and that pissed him off. Anyone could waltz into the building, commit all sorts of evil, and no one would be any the wiser. What was she doing living in a place like that?
He made his way to the row of mailboxes and scanned them until he found her apartment number. Apartment 204. A ground floor apartment would have made it too easy for someone to break in while a second floor apartment still allowed her to escape if she had to without causing too much damage to herself. Smart girl.
Lily
Lily looked around her apartment and sighed. She’d planned such a romantic night with Keith after they went out. She had candles ready to go and a bottle of wine was in the fridge. She had romantic music ready to play on the stereo and she had on sexy lingerie under her clothes. It was all for nothing.
Sighing again she moved around the living room, collecting the candles to put them away. So much for her romantic plans. This anniversary sucked, big time. It was her own fault. If she’d told Keith about her romantic plans, he might have stayed, but she’d kept it to herself and just let him walk away.
A knock at the door stopped her and she went to it, a smile on her face, assuming Keith had changed his mind and come back. “Did you change your mind?” The smile faltered and fled when she saw who was standing on the other side of the door. “What in the hell are you doing here?”
Declan stood in front of her door with a faint smirk on his face. “Change my mind about what? You’ve been away from your own kind for too long, babe, your senses are getting dulled. You should have smelled me through the door before you even opened it.”
“Answer the question, Declan. What are you doing here?” Lily ignored his taunt even if it was true. She should have smelled him through the door but she’d been too distracted by her emotions.
“Our conversation from earlier isn’t over. Since you refused to listen to reason while your human was there, I decided to give you a second chance now that he’s gone home.”
Her eyes narrowed. “How do you even know where I live?”
He shrugged. “I followed you. How else?”
Lily stared at him. “You followed us? I looked for you before we left the club, I didn’t see you. I thought you were already gone.”
“You thought wrong, doll. Are you going to invite me in or not? Do you really want to have this conversation with me in the hallway where any of your neighbors could walk by?”
Lily glared at him before she relented. “Fine. Come in.” She stepped back so he could do so, then closed the door behind him.
Declan stepped inside when she moved out of the doorway. “Nice place.”
The apartment had an open floor plan that allowed visitors to see the entire front of it without effort. There were two doors, one that led to the bathroom and the other was her bedroom. Her furniture was old but in good condition and it looked comfortable. There were splashes of color throughout the space, from the blue and gold throw pillows on the sofa to the butter-yellow cabinet doors in the kitchen. Wood floors stretched from one end to the other, and small area rugs added warmth and color to them, as well. “Thank you. Can I get you something to drink?” She might be irritated with him showing up at her door but she wouldn’t be rude.
“What have you got?”
“Coffee, tea, beer?”
“Beer. Woman after my own heart.” He winked at her and chuckled.
She rolled her eyes and grabbed two bottles from the fridge. She would much rather be drinking the wine but she wasn’t going to drink that with Declan there. Maybe she’d have a few glasses after he left. “I know you think our conversation isn’t over but you’re wrong about that.” She handed him one of the bottles before taking a drink of her own.
“Babe. I am never wrong, about anything.” He smirked and took a swig of his beer. “I also always get what I want so you might as well just give up now.”
“You’re an arrogant bastard, aren’t you?” She sat in the comfortable chair she had and motioned him to the sofa. “You might as well sit.”
He chuckled. “Yes, I am, with good reason.” He didn’t seem the least bit fazed by her words. He sat and watched her a moment. “He’s a fucking idiot.”
“Who?” Lily frowned at his comment.
“That human you’re dating. Only a fucking idiot would walk away from an offer to spend the night in your bed.”
“You were eavesdropping on our conversation?” A growl slipped from her and her eyes narrowed at him.
“Of course I was. I needed to know what you were saying.”
“That was a private conversation. You had no right to list
en to it.”
“Listen, doll, the sooner you realize I don’t give a shit if something I do pisses you off, the better. I’m here for a reason. Your father sent me after you. I made him a promise and I am a man of my word. I’m not leaving until I finish the job.”
Her eyes narrowed at him. “Did my father tell you why I left?”
“He said he gave you some kind of ultimatum you didn’t like and you took off in the middle of the night.”
“Leave it to my father to only give part of the information,” she said with a soft growl. “See, here’s the deal. My father is the Alpha and I am his only child. Several months before he pushed me to the point I chose to leave, he decided that, as the only child of the pack’s Alpha, it was my duty to settle down with a fellow shifter and have lots of babies with the hopes of me having at least one male child so he would have an heir. Normally that might not be such a big deal, right? Well, it is when you are given no say in who you are to take to your bed. My father chose two of the dominant males in the pack, the two he felt were worthy of me, and told me to choose between them. One is someone I don’t get along well with, and the other is someone I have no romantic interests in. He refused to listen to reason, and when I continued to refuse to choose, he forced my hand. He told me I had until the full moon to make my choice or he would do it for me. I chose to leave instead.”
“He fucking tried to force a bond between you and another pack member?”
Lily was startled by his snarl. It was a bit over the top but at the same time it made her feel warm. She pushed that feeling down and tried to ignore it. “Yes, he tried to force a bond. I will not go back there just to have him try to force me to choose someone I am not drawn to.”
“I wouldn’t let that happen.”
“How, pray tell, would you stop it? Challenge him for Alpha?”
“If need be.”
Lily stared at him. Why would he even say such a thing? “You’re crazy. Go home, Declan. Tell my father whatever you want to tell him, but just go. New Orleans is my home now.” She was struggling with her attraction to him, and the longer he stayed in New Orleans, the harder it would be to fight it.
“I already told you, Lily, I’m not leaving without you. I know you feel it—the attraction between us. It’s not just because we’re both shifters and you know it. So why fight it?” He moved off the sofa and was suddenly in front of her. He leaned down, invading her personal space, and breathed her in. “Fuck, you smell so damn good.”
Lily’s eyes closed at the growl that escaped him, and she felt a small shiver work it’s way down her back. “I’m with someone I care very much about, someone who makes me happy and doesn’t expect me to live up to the standards society has for women. That’s why.” She tried to push conviction into her tone but she wasn’t sure if she succeeded. Her fingers itched to trace his jaw, and she curled her hands into fists in her lap to keep from reaching out to touch him.
“A relationship that can’t fulfill all your needs, because you can’t share a core part of yourself with him, one with an idiot who went home when he could have you under him right this very minute. That’s really what you’re going to cling to?”
“What I do or don’t do in my personal life is none of your damn business, Declan. I think you should go. Please. Just go.” What she really wanted to do was strip and beg him to fuck her, but she refused to betray Keith’s trust in such a way. She refused to hurt him like that. She refused to give in to animal instincts.
“Not yet,” he said before he gripped her face in his hands and crashed his mouth down on hers.
Lily was startled by the kiss and a soft groan escaped her. She gave in to it for several seconds before reason kicked in and she tore her mouth away from his. “What in the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Proving a fucking point. You want me just as much as I want you. You can lie and tell yourself you don’t all you want, but your reaction to my kiss proves it.” He smirked at her. “It’s only a matter of time, doll, before you drop the human and accept that you’re mine.” He stood and headed to the door. “Sleep well, Lily.” He gave her one last heated look, and left.
Lily sat there, staring at the door. Her hand lifted to her lips and she shuddered. She’d never had such an intense reaction to a kiss before, not even from another shifter, so why did his kisses move her so deeply?
Declan
Declan wasn’t sure how long he stood there on the other side of Lily’s door once he’d walked out of the apartment. That kiss shook him, his cock was hard as a rock, and his wolf raged in his head. He needed to get out of the city and let his beast run. He needed to do something to take his mind off the need burning through him. The fiery-tempered brunette was going to be the death of him if he didn’t get his reaction to her under control.
He left her building and made his way to the hotel. Once there he hopped in his car and headed out of New Orleans. He didn’t want to risk shifting in the city and being seen. That would create a fuck-load of problems he didn’t want to deal with. He would find some place away from the city where he could pull off and park so he could go for a run. If that didn’t work, he was fucked because he couldn’t go back to her apartment. If he pushed too hard, too fast, he knew she would fight it just for spite.
Half an hour outside the city he pulled his car off the side of the road, parked, and got out. He made his way into a wooded area, stripped, folded his clothes, then shifted. He was tempted to howl his frustration, but wolves weren’t indigenous to Louisiana and he didn’t want to raise any questions.
The sun was lightening the sky when he finally made his way back to his hotel. His body was exhausted from the run but his mind was still on the kiss and the way it had affected him. The run had done nothing to decrease his arousal and his craving for the stubborn she-wolf.
Chapter Four
Lily
“Earth to Lily. What’s got you in such a funk today, girl?”
Lily blinked and looked over at Shelli, one of the other girls who worked at the shop with her, and one of her best friends. “Sorry, just tired I guess.”
“Lover boy keep you up late last night?” Shelli wiggled her eyebrows at her. “You must have had one hell of an anniversary.”
“I wish I could blame him for it.” At the look Shelli gave her, she sighed. “After we left the club, I asked him to stay, but he said he had to be at the office really early this morning, and he didn’t think it was fair to me to disturb my sleep so he went home. I’ve just been thinking about other things.”
“Such as? Come on, Lil, talk to me. We’ve got a lull right now; we have time to chat.”
“My past, mostly. It’s been six years since I left home and cut all ties with my family. I guess I’m feeling nostalgic or some shit.” She flashed a cheeky grin. “You would love Slatefall, with all that greenery surrounding the area.” She knew Shelli much preferred the country to the city, but there were more jobs in the city so that was where she lived and worked.
“Maybe you should reach out to your family then. Whatever sent you running from them, it can’t be so bad that you can’t ever go back. They’re your blood, and that’s important.”
“It’s not that easy, not with my father, but maybe I’ll think about it. So, how did your night go?” She decided it was time to change the subject.
“Oh my God, girl, last night rocked. The concert was awesome but the sex with Matt was even better. That man knows what he’s doing, that’s for damn sure. Remind me again why I kept turning him down?” she asked with a laugh.
Lily laughed too. “Because he’s your brother’s best friend and you didn’t want to risk causing trouble between them? Oh, and the fact that he changes women like women change their underwear? That could be it too.”
“Oh yeah, that’s right. But damn, it was worth ignoring all my reasons for turning him down. Even if it was just one night of great sex, it was so fucking worth it.”
They both laughed but were inte
rrupted by the door opening. Lily stifled a groan when Declan walked in.
“Wow, sex on two legs.”
Lily had to bite back the growl that almost came out at Shelli’s comment. When Shelli stepped to the counter and put on one of her smiles that always got her attention from the opposite sex, and sometimes from the same sex, Lily had to push down the spike of jealousy that flared through her. What in the hell was wrong with her?
“Welcome to Gathering Grounds, sugar. What can I get for you?”
Declan looked at the woman who was speaking before he glanced over at Lily.’ “Nothing, thanks. I’m actually here to talk to Lily for a moment.”
“Oh. Go ahead and take a break, Lil. We’re slow enough.” Shelli arched a brow at her.
Lily knew that look. The instant she had the chance, Shelli would be grilling her about him. She wanted to glare at Declan but forced a smile instead. “We can talk over there.” She motioned to a table in the corner. “Would you like a coffee while we chat?”
“You should make him that new drink of yours,” Shelli said, then glanced at him. “It’s really good. A lot of our regulars have taken to ordering it whenever Lily is here to make it.”
“What’s it called?”
“Lupine Spice,” Lily informed him. “It’s a white tea with ginger, cinnamon, clove, and anise. It can be served either hot or cold, and if you get it cold you can have it either blended or iced.”
“I’ll try it hot,” Declan said after a moment.
“Lupine Spice, coming right up.” She fixed herself one as well. When she joined him at the table, she set his cup in front of him, then sat across from him. “Why are you here, Declan?”
