by Angel Nyx
“I’ve already figured out that patience isn’t one of your virtues.”
Declan laughed. One thing he could say about his mate—she was going to keep him on his toes—when she finally gave in and gave herself to him. Her wicked sense of humor, combined with her stubbornness, turned him on in a way he’d never felt toward a woman before. He wanted to bury himself in her so deep she wouldn’t be able to think about another man for the rest of her life.
Lily
Shelli sat down across from Lily during a lull in customers and set a cup of tea in front of her friend. “Okay, girl, it’s time to dish,” she said and propped her elbows on the table. “The hottie who keeps coming in to see you, who is he?”
Lily took a sip of her tea before she responded. “I’m surprised you waited this long to ask me that. Do you remember me telling you about my father?” She paused for a moment and, when Shelli nodded, she continued. “Well, there are some things about my leaving that might be a little difficult to…wrap your head around. Um, see, the thing is, I’m a wolf shifter.” She watched Shelli closely to gauge her reaction.
“Wolf shifter? You mean you turn into a wolf on the full moon?”
“That’s an old wives’ tale, that we’re controlled by the phases of the moon. I can turn into a wolf anytime I want to.”
“That’s…kind of nifty. I always knew there was something different about you. What does that have to do with your father?”
“It doesn’t freak you out?” Lily was startled by the sense of relief she felt over her friend’s response.
“Why should it? I’ve always known shifters existed. I mean, hello, Remy and Gage Delacroix went to school with me and my brother.”
“I’m just…relieved. Okay, so moving on. Among shifters, we each have a mate, someone who, when we meet them, we know right away they were meant for us. Not all shifters are lucky enough to meet their mates but when they do the attraction can be…intense. My parents were lucky; they had that deep connection. Eleven years ago my mom was killed by a hunter who thought she was a regular wolf. If she’d still been alive, things might have been different, but she wasn’t there to make my father see reason. He’d been pushing me to choose a mate because I’m his only child and he’s the pack’s Alpha, and he felt it was my duty to take a mate and give him an heir. When I continued to refuse, he gave me an ultimatum. He decided between two members of our pack and told me I had until the full moon, which was a week away, to decide on one of them or he’d decide for me. I made a different choice entirely; I left. This past Mardi Gras, a member of one of the other packs in that area was down here and saw me. The shifter reported it to their Alpha, who in turn told my father. He sent Declan down here to find me and bring me home. There’s just one problem with that. I have no desire to ever go back to Montana.”
“So tell Mr. Hottie that and send him packing.”
“I tried. He won’t listen to reason. I don’t know if he still wants to take me back to Montana but…he’s my mate. He won’t leave because he wants me and he’s determined to get me, and Goddess help me because I want him just as much.” She was almost afraid to look at her friend, afraid of the look that might be on her face. When she finally lifted her gaze to Shelli’s, she was startled to see compassion in her eyes.
“Oh, sugar, that’s got to be really rough on you. You’re not the kind of girl to stray, and you and Keith have been together for what, two years now? What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. Fight it until I can’t. I know it’s animal instinct. My wolf is drawn to him and maybe that’s influencing my attraction to him. If I cant fight it, I’ll have to figure out how to end things with Keith. I don’t want to, I care about him, but if it gets to the point where I can’t resist the pull between Declan and I, it wouldn’t be fair to Keith to keep the relationship going. Hell, to be honest, I should tell him about my attraction to Declan anyway, because I know if he was really attracted to another woman I’d want to know about it. I just don’t know how to do it. How do you tell the only person you’ve been attracted to for two years, the guy you’ve been happy with, that suddenly that’s changed because some guy walked into the shop and made your entire body go haywire?”
“That’s a hard question to answer unless…does Keith know you’re a shifter?”
“No. I-I’ve just never figured out how to tell him. I know I should have by now but, hell, I was nervous telling you and we’re just besties. I guess I’ve just been afraid that he’d be horrified and dump me for it.”
Shelli winced at her response. “I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but just be honest with him. Completely. Don’t leave anything out, including the fact that you’ve been keeping a big part of who you are from him all this time. You’re absolutely right that you should have told him before now. I might understand why you didn’t say anything, but you still should have.”
Lily rested her forehead on the table and sighed. “Just shoot me and put me out of my misery. You’re right, I don’t want to hear that, but you’re also right that I need to be honest with him. How can my life get so screwed up in such a short time?”
“You’re just lucky like that.” Shelli couldn’t help but tease her. When customers walked in, she hopped up. “Finish your tea; I’ll take care of them.” She stood and put on one of her flirty smiles as she approached the two men who waited at the counter.
Lily shook her head. Shelli had a knack for stating the obvious in a way that didn’t offend, and she could make anyone who walked through the door feel comfortable and as if they were the center of the universe.
By the time they closed up that night, Lily still hadn’t figured out how she was going to sit down and tell Keith everything. She cared about him and she didn’t want to hurt him, and damn it, she’d been happy until Declan showed up.
“Talk to him, Lily; you owe him that much,” Shelli said as she locked the door behind them.
“I know, I know. He’s out of town for a couple of days on a business trip his boss sprung on him on short notice. I’ll figure out how to tell him when he gets back. I hope.” With that she said good-night and headed home. She had a busy day ahead of her; she was going to help Emelise start cleaning up the property she’d bought and then later she had to take both Eme and Declan to meet the Alpha of the Black Water Pard. A dominant wolf surrounded by leopards, what could possibly go wrong?
Chapter Seven
Lily
Late afternoon sun streamed through one of the windows Lily had painstakingly cleaned earlier in the day. She’d arrived at the address Emelise had texted her at eight that morning, with coffee and croissants in hand, to spend the day helping her on the cleanup of the building she’d purchased for her new business venture. There was a lot that needed to be done. Vagrants had used the building at one point to sleep in and some of the garbage left behind made Lily cringe. She didn’t even want to think about what some of it was. “I vote we stop for the day, go get showers, and get some dinner.” She looked over at Emelise while she stretched to work out the tension in her back muscles. “You know, you might have to hire some people to help get this place cleaned up.”
Emelise sighed. “You may be right. I don’t know if I can do this all by myself,” she reluctantly admitted.
“It’s a lot of work, Eme; don’t feel bad if you can’t do it all by yourself. Besides, who knows, maybe some of the Pard will come help with it.”
“That’s a thought. Maybe they will. Okay, let’s call it a day. I’m hungry anyway. Where do you want to grab some food?” she asked as they made their way to the front door.
Lily thought about it a moment. “Let’s go to Brennan’s, over on Royal. I can pick you up and then we can swing by after we eat and pick Declan up at Gathering Grounds where he’s supposed to meet us a little after six.”
“Sounds good. See you in a bit then.” Once they were outside, Emelise locked the door behind them and got in her car to go to the hotel while Lily headed home.
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As soon as she was back at her apartment, Lily sent a text to Remy, letting him know when they would be at the dock. She wasn’t looking forward to taking Declan among the leopards. He’d gotten his hackles up with just Remy and Gage, how was he going to react to being around the entire Pard? ‘Please let this go smoothly,’ she silently prayed before she got into the shower to wash the grime from the empty bar off her skin.
I’ll be at the dock at 7, cher. Tell your wolf he needs to tone down the aggression if he doesn’t want to end up in a fight.
Lily read the text from Remy while she got dressed and sighed. She could warn Declan but that didn’t mean it was going to do any good.
I’ll do my best but I can’t make any promises. And he’s not my wolf.
That done she was off to pick Emelise up.
Emelise was outside waiting when Lily pulled up, and after she got into the car, she arched a brow in Lily’s direction. “What’s bugging you? I can feel your tension all the way over here.”
“I’m just worried about how this is going to play out. Declan got his hackles up when it was just Remy and Gage, and Remy texted me a little bit ago to tell me to tell Declan to tone down the aggression or things could get ugly tonight. I don’t think that damn wolf knows how to tone down the aggression though.”
“He’ll do it if you ask him, especially if he thinks it could put you in danger if he doesn’t.”
Lily glanced at her, then laughed. “Oh, that’s sneaky, but I like it. Gods, I’m so glad you’re here, Eme. I didn’t realize how much I missed just hanging out with you until now.” She found parking down the street from the restaurant and they walked to their destination.
“I’m glad I’m here too. I’ve missed my best friend. There have been times, girl, when I really wished you were there so I could vent or so we could pig out on ice cream and binge-watch TV shows like Angel and Buffy,” Emelise replied with a cheeky smile. “Have you been to Brennan’s before?” she asked as they approached the restaurant.
Lily laughed. “I haven’t binge-watched either of them in forever. We should do that. I can invite Shelli and introduce you two. I think you’ll hit it off with her, too.” Shelli and Emelise were a lot alike; Lily was certain they’d be fast friends. “Yes indeed. I have eaten at Brennan’s before. It’s one of my favorite places, but it’s not somewhere I’d go all the time. Mainly because I can’t afford to eat there all the time, but this is a special occasion.”
“Aw, because I’m here? Thanks,” Eme said and playfully kissed her cheek. “Well then you can tell me what’s good because it all sounded delicious when I looked the menu up online, and I couldn’t decide on what I wanted,” Eme informed her as they went inside. They didn’t have reservations so they had a short wait before they were shown to a table.
“Well, the Rock Shrimp Remoulade and their oyster soup are both good appetizers. I usually get the remoulade,” Lily said once they were seated. “Entree-wise, that depends on what you’re in the mood for. If you want fish, the Poisson Blange is delish. If you’re not in the mood for fish, the Bacon Roasted Pork Tenderloin is always a good choice.”
Emelise looked the two entrees over before she nodded. “Right, the pork it is. I like fish but I need something more filling than fish after all my hard work today.” Laughter filled her voice.
Lily waited until they’d given their orders to their server before she turned her attention to her friend. “Have you thought about what you’re going to do if Caine demands you move out of the city and into the community the Pard has out in the bayou?”
“Tell him no. Politely. I’m not going to be controlled by some Alpha male who thinks his word should never be questioned, and we both know that’s how an Alpha thinks. I’ve only ever had my mother to answer to; I’m not going to be cowed by some Alpha on an ego trip.”
Lily stared at her before she burst out laughing. “Oh gods, I am so glad I’m going to be there to see whether it happens.”
Declan
Declan stared at his cell phone for several minutes. He’d missed a call from Magnis Quinn while he was in the shower getting ready for his meeting with the Black Water Pard’s Alpha. He knew the man wanted to know if Declan’d had any luck yet and he wasn’t sure what to tell him. He’d found Lily, but getting her back home was proving to be extremely difficult. “Fuck it, just tell him the truth,” he growled to himself before he called back.
“Declan. Tell me you have good news.”
“That depends on your definition of good news.”
“What in the hell does that mean?”
“The wolf was right—the young woman he saw was your daughter, Lily.”
Declan was interrupted before he could finish what he was saying.
“Then why in the hell isn’t she here?”
“That’s what I was trying to explain, Magnis. Lily is…well, hell, your daughter’s stubborn as fuck and refuses to go back to Slatefall. It seems she’s made a life for herself here in New Orleans, and she has no intention of giving it up now.”
“She doesn’t have a choice. She has a duty to her pack.” His anger was evident through the phone.
“With all due respect, Magnis, that attitude is the reason she ran in the first place. She’s an intelligent woman with her own hopes and dreams; you can’t just order her to do your bidding as if she has no will of her own.”
Magnis growled at his comment. “I don’t have to like it but you’re right.” He heaved an irritated sigh. “So tell me what your plan is to convince her to come home.”
“There isn’t one. New Orleans has become home to her; I don’t see her giving that up for anyone or anything. She’s still your daughter, and unless she becomes part of another wolf pack, any children she has will be tied to the Crescent Peak Pack so you’d still get an heir to the pack out of it. But tell me this, Magnis. What will you do if she has a son and when that boy is say five, a younger wolf from the pack challenges you for the position of Alpha? If you lose the fight, her boy would no longer be in line for Alpha and it would all be moot anyway.”
“Are you telling me Lily has a child?”
“Fuck no. It’s an example. I’m just saying, you need to rethink this idea that just because you’re Alpha right now means you’ll be Alpha twenty years from now. If you were so hell-bent on having a male heir so that pack leadership would stay in the family, you and your mate should have had more children or you should have tried to have more with another female.”
Magnis was silent for several minutes. “We tried. Lily’s mother had three miscarriages after Lily, and by the time she’d had the third one, it was just too fucking hard on her to go through again so we stopped. Tell me something, Declan, if you found your mate, that one woman who was everything to you, could you bed another just to try to have a son?”
Declan thought about being with a woman who wasn’t Lily. He hadn’t even been with her yet and already he knew the answer. “No, I couldn’t. I’m sorry, Magnis. I think you and Lily need to talk. You need to tell her what you told me, about missing her, but I really think you need to give up this idea of her having a son that you can pass the pack to. I’ll see what I can do about getting her to call you but I’m not making any promises. I’ve got to get off here. It seems New Orleans and the surrounding area is part of the Black Water Pard’s territory, and Lily is taking me to meet their Alpha. I have to meet her at her work soon.”
“Pard? Leopards control New Orleans? How does Lily know them?”
“I’ll let her fill you in on that one. I’ll let you know one way or another if she’ll talk to you.” Declan hung up his phone and left the hotel, on foot, to head over to Gathering Grounds to meet up with Lily and her friend. He wasn’t entirely looking forward to meeting with the Black Water Pard’s Alpha, but getting into fights with members of the Pard, because he was there uninvited, was even less appealing.
Lily
Lily pulled up in front of the coffee shop and couldn’t help but watch as D
eclan pushed himself away from the front of the building and headed to her car. She’d argued with Emelise on the way there because her friend was going to move to the backseat and give him the front seat, but Lily put her foot down. It was going to be bad enough having him in her car; she didn’t want him sitting next to her. That was way too much of a temptation for her.
Declan settled into the backseat before he spoke.’ “How far are we driving?”
“Just to the docks on the bayou. Remy will meet us with the boat and we’ll get to the Pard’s compound that way. They’ve got land a good distance from the city to give them room to run.” Lily paused for a moment before she continued. “Speaking of Remy, he sent me a text earlier. You were really aggressive when he and Gage came into the coffee shop. They let it pass because we were in public, but if you pull that arrogant, aggressive bullshit while with the Pard, you’re liable to find yourself in a world of hurt. They’re not going to put up with it. And for the love of Goddess, do not act that way when you’re talking to Caine. If you do that, you’re likely to be kicked out of Pard territory with the threat of death hanging over your head if you come back.” She glanced at Emelise and remembered her suggestion. “Not to mention, if you piss them off, Emelise or I might get caught in the crossfire.”
Declan growled low and leaned forward. “Not gonna happen. No one is going to lay a fucking hand on you. As long as they don’t fuck with me, I’ll mind my manners. I’m not a complete savage, doll.”
Emelise laughed. “Oh, I like you. You’re snarky and exactly what Lily needs even if she’s being stubborn about it.”
