by Angel Nyx
“Pinnacle Electric, this is Mandy, can I help you?”
The voice on the other end sounded about twelve years old but Emelise shrugged. “I certainly hope so. My name is Emelise Rousseau. I’ve just purchased a piece of property on Decatur and the building inspector said that I needed to get an electrician in here to rewire some things.”
“We can certainly help with that. Let me check the schedule to see who is available,” the young woman said. She was silent for several minutes. “No one is available today but we can send someone out tomorrow at eight.”
“That’s perfect,” Emelise assured her. She gave the girl the address and the number where she could be reached and hung up. “One down, let’s hope I have the same success with a mason.” She still hadn’t decided on a master woodworker for the bar restoration yet but she could focus on that once she made sure the place wasn’t going to burn up or fall down around her.
“Good mornin’ and thanks for calling Oak Moss Masonry, what can I do for you?”
“Good morning to you, too. Well, hopefully you can make sure this place I just bought isn’t going to fall down around me,” Emelise said to the man who’d answered the phone. “My name is Emelise Rousseau. I just bought an old bar on Decatur, I’d like to keep the original brick work but I want to make sure it’s in good condition.”
“You bought the old Happy Fish Tavern? I was wonderin’ who that was. I noticed it wasn’t for sale anymore. I knew old Zeke, he was a good man and one hell of a bartender. Sure, I can come check it out tomorrow afternoon, I’ve got a small job first thing in the mornin’.”
“Tomorrow afternoon is good. The electrician will be here in the morning so with any luck they’ll be done by the time you get here.”
“I’ll be there a little after noon then, Miss Rousseau. Name’s Mike Barlow.”
“I look forward to seeing you, Mr. Barlow,” she replied and hung up. She squealed and then jumped at a knock on one of the windows. She made her way to the door and peeked out to find Lily standing there. “Girl, you can stare through that window til the cows come home and pigs learn to fly and you won’t see a damn thing through all the grime,” she said with a laugh once she opened the door all the way. “Get in here.”
Lily laughed and gave her a one armed hug. “I brought coffee and croissants,” she said and set the bag and drink carrier on top of the bar. “Wow, Eme, this place is huge, or at least it feels like it is. I guess once you have chairs and tables in here it won’t seem so big, but dayum, we have got our work cut out for us!” She took a quick look around at all the cleaning that had to be done.
“Yeah, I know, but all the other properties would have needed a shit ton of work to turn them into a club, this one has all the bare bone essentials I need, including a stage platform.”
“I see your point. Well, let’s get to work. Please tell me you brought gloves and garbage bags.” The main area of the former bar was mostly dusty, but at some point in the past vagrants had gotten inside and left garbage strewn all over the place near the back of the building.
Eme snickered at the sad puppy dog look on her friend’s face. “I should be mean and tell you no but there was no way I was touching some of the garbage in this place with my bare hands.”
“Oh, thank Goddess. I don’t have to make a mad dash for the nearest store then.”
Emelise hummed as she worked on a section of the building. “Oh, I have both a mason and an electrician coming tomorrow. I decided to keep the brick walls because I think they give the place an older ambiance.”
“I like the brick walls, too. They give the place character. So what color scheme are you going to go with for the décor?” Lily asked while she worked on removing the grime from the windows with window cleaner and cleaning rags.
“I’m thinking either teal and black with hints of gold, or red, black and gold.”
“I should have known. Those are your favorite colors. Do you have a name yet?”
Emelise nodded. “Scarlet Flux.”
“Oh, I like. You really should go with the reds then, maybe a dark scarlet or crimson with black and gold accents.”
Emelise thought about it. “You know, you’ve got a point. With the name the red scheme would work better. I’m going to have a mix of tables and booths in here, because not everyone likes to sit at a table. Booths can give a more private feel if you’re on a date.”
“Good idea. Oh man, I am so looking forward to seeing this place when it’s ready to open. I know it’s going to be great.”
“I hope so. This is what I’ve wanted for a long time, I hope it doesn’t flop.”
“It won’t. Have faith.”
They spent the rest of the day cleaning before they parted ways to shower so they could have dinner and head out into the swamp so she could meet the Alpha of the Black Water Pard.
There are moments in a person’s life that define the path their future will take. For Emelise, meeting the Alpha of the Black Water Pard was one of those moments. Not that she’d not been aware of that while she sat in that boat staring out at the swamp. She’d sat there imagining what it might look like in the daytime, with the sheen of light on the water, the pale green of the moss swaying as an idle breeze moved through the trees, and the sound of frogs and insects buzzing and humming. She was sure it was beautiful in the day time even if it felt a little creepy at night. She was completely unaware of how much her life was going to change.
The moment Caine Bordeaux had touched her Emelise knew she was lost. She wouldn’t admit to it, especially not to him, but she was. She’d long since accepted that she wouldn’t ever find her mate since there were no leopard shifters in Phoenix. She was okay with that. She’d learned a long time ago that men couldn’t be depended on to be there for you when you needed them. The only father figure she’d ever had taught her that when he walked out on her and her Mama when she was ten. She neither wanted nor needed a man in her life.
Her eyes had locked with his and she’d struggled to look away from their pale depths. She’d feared if she stared into them too long she would get lost and never be able to find her way back. By the time he leaned away from her, after growling that they would talk later, she was shaken. Heat had flushed her skin, dampness pooled between her thighs, and her leopard snarled to get out. When Caine led Declan away from them her eyes traveled down his back. Fuck he had a nice ass. Stop it, Eme, it doesn’t matter how sexy he is, he’ll just be like every other man out there;not around when you need him the most.
Meeting her grandmother for the first time was another defining moment. She’d followed Eulalie into the small house a short distance from Mia’s. Much like Mia’s home it was filled with older furniture that was well cared for. There were photos scattered about and the mantle over the fireplace was filled with a mixture of photographs and small trophies. She moved to them to get a look at them.
“Some of dose were your Mama’s,” Eulalie said when she noticed her interest in the trophies. “Your Mama played softball from da time she was able to pick up a bat. She loved to play. Her team in high school won a lot of division games, her junior year, before she left, dey even won a state championship. She could have gone to college on a full scholarship if tings had been different.”
Emelise turned to look at her. “And I wouldn’t exist, so forgive me if I don’t feel like it’s a bad thing that she got knocked up.”
“Dat’s not what I meant, child. I just meant dat is what could have happened.”
Eme watched her. “Why did you disown her? You have all these photos of her, her trophies out, that doesn’t seem like the kind of thing a person does when they disown their own child.”
Eulalie motioned for her to take a seat. “Can I get you some sweet tea, cher?”
She wanted to scream at her to just get on with it but she forced her frustration down. “That would be great, thanks,” she said before she perched on the edge of the sofa. The scent of jasmine reached her and she closed her eyes. Tha
t was her Mama’s favorite scent and just smelling it brought a pang of sorrow to her for a moment. She knew it would be a long time before the pain of losing her mother faded.
“Here we go.” Eulalie placed a glass of sweet tea on the table in front of Emelise then sat in a rocking chair with her own. “What do you know of what happened between your Mama and us?”
Emelise sipped the tea a moment before she replied. “Mama told me that when she realized she was pregnant she only had two choices. She either had to run away, if she wanted to keep her baby, or let it be killed because the boy she’d given her virginity to was human. She told me that, after I was born, she called and her father answered the phone. She told him why she’d left and he told her not to come back, she wasn’t welcome here anymore. She wasn’t even seventeen years old and her own parents turned their backs on her.” Her anger rose and she had to force it down.
Eulalie nodded at her. “Dat did happen, yes. Her papa did tell her dat.” she confessed. “Now, don’t go gettin’ mad til I explain. You met our Alpha, Caine, he’s a good man, a good Alpha, but he wasn’t always our Alpha. He challenged the old Alpha, Zachary Eitenne, some eight years ago, and defeated da old bastard. It was Zachary who wouldn’t let your Mama come home. Her papa, he knew if she came, old Zachary woulda ripped you outta your Mama’s arms and thrown you into da swamp to feed da gators. He only wanted pure blood leopards in his Pard. It broke her papa’s heart to tell her she wasn’t welcome no more.” Tears slipped down Eulalie’s cheeks. “I tried to reach out to her a few years ago, after Caine took over and we found out where she was. Her papa was real sick, he wanted to tell her he was sorry, he wanted her to know he’d hated his self all dis time because he had to hurt her to keep you safe. I begged her not to hang up on me. She told me to never call her again, dat we were dead to her and to her daughter, and hung up. Her papa died a few weeks later.”
As Eulalie explained what had happened, the real reason why her mother had run away, and why she’d been disowned by her own parents, the anger Emelise felt faded and was replaced with remorse. All this time. If her mother hadn’t been so stubborn she could have been repairing the relationship with her mother and she would have had those last few weeks with her father before he’d died. “Oh gods,” Eme whispered. “All this time, I’ve been so angry. I’ve wanted to come here and rub it in your faces that Mama made it on her own without any help from her family, that she’d raised me to be strong and independent, just like her. I wanted to tell you how you really missed out on the amazing woman she turned out to be and feel smug about it, but now all I want to do is weep for all the lost time. Mama didn’t have to go to her grave thinking her parents didn’t love her. She didn’t have to die believing she was leaving me completely alone.” Her own cheeks were wet with tears and she wiped them away.
“You had a right to be angry, child. You believed you were abandoned by your blood. You had no way of knowing the reason behind her papa’s hurtful words. Your Mama, did she have a good life?”
“She did. I mean sure, things were tight sometimes, but Mama got a job at a diner almost as soon as she settled in Phoenix, which she did because her car broke down there. She was able to rent a little place for a while until she saved up money to buy a house for us. She got her diploma, she did finish that, because she said she’d never been a quitter before, she wasn’t going to start just because she had a baby to take care of.”
“That sounds like my Adelaide. She was always so determined to succeed.” Eulalie smiled a little. “Did she find happiness? Did she ever get married?”
“No. She thought she was going to. His name was Sean. They were together for six years before he just up and left one day. He was the only papa I knew and Mama decided after he broke her heart she was done with men. They couldn’t be counted on to be there and to stick by you so it’s always best to only depend on yourself.”
“There are good men out there, cher. Don’t let your Mama’s bad experiences jade you about that. Your Papere was at my side until the day he died.”
Emelise snorted. “I’d call him the exception, not the rule,” she replied. Yeah, she knew she was jaded but it had kept her heart safe so far.
Eulalie shook her head. “You’re too young to be so jaded, child. I’d like to get to know you more.” The air was suddenly filled with roars from the Pard and a big grin split her face. “Mia must have had her baby. Come, cher, let’s go see. Will you come back to talk, let us get to know each other?”
Emelise nodded. “Yeah. I’d like that,” she said, voice thick with emotion. She wasn’t alone anymore. The feeling of elation at that thought was almost overwhelming.
Chapter Two
Emelise
Looking around the bar that held so much potential, Emelise thought about her first visit to the Pard, and her reaction to Caine when he’d convinced her to dance with him. Had it really only been two days since she'd met Caine? If she really let herself think about it, it almost felt like she'd always known him. She’d felt their connection on a physical level, it was like a jolt of electricity, and she’d known in that moment that dancing with him was so not a good idea. He was already making her body crave things she didn’t want to be craving. Being close enough to him that their bodies were touching, breathing in his scent, would only make things harder for her. Still, she’d let him pull her close, despite her decision to keep him at a distance. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to let him in. Maybe he would be the exception to the rule as well. She’d blinked at her wayward thoughts. No way. No way in hell was she letting herself go there. She couldn’t depend on a man to stand by her, she’d learned that when she was ten years old, no way was she going to let herself forget that.
A knock on the window closest to the door pulled her from her thoughts and she went to answer it.
“Good mornin’. Are you Emelise Rousseau?”
Eme looked up at the man standing outside the door. Sometimes she really hatred being vertically challenged. She wasn’t short, damn it, she was vertically challenged! The shirt he wore bore the logo for Pinnacle Electric so she knew he was there to check out the wiring. “Good morning. Yes, I am. You must be the electrician. Come on in,” she said and stepped back.
“Yes ma’am. I’m Alex Carlson,” he said and offered his hand.
Emelise shook it before she stepped back. “Nice to meet you. I’ll let you get to whatever you need to do. The building inspector said that some of the outlets needed to be rewired and it needed a new fuse panel box but if you find anything else that needs to be done you have free reign to do your job. The entire upstairs has electricity as well so you’ll have to check that out too,” she informed him.
“Will do, ma’am,” Alex said and went to work.
Emelise tried to stay out of his way as she worked on getting the area of the bar she’d started on the day before completely cleaned up.
Alex Carlson did a thorough inspection of the wiring before he approached her. “The buildin’ inspector was right, some of the outlets down here need to be rewired and the entire upstairs needs a complete rewire or else it’ll be a fire hazard. The panel box is an easy replacement, I already have one for it, but I’ll have to do the wirin’ first. I can get the downstairs done day after tomorrow, the upstairs will take about two days to complete. I’ll bring in an assistant with me on both jobs, if that’s alright with you, ma’am.”
“That’s fine. I’d rather it be done right than have it done half-assed and have a fire break out.” They set a time for him to start and Emelise walked him out.
The original plan was for the mason to come that afternoon but he’d had to cancel due to a family emergency. Emelise rescheduled with him before she called it quits for the day and locked up behind her. It would be two days before he was able to go in to check the the walls for structural damage, which gave her plenty of time to go shopping in Baton Rouge with Lily and Shelli.
Caine
There are moments in life that define a person
and who they will be. One of those moments, for Caine, came eight years ago when he challenged the Pard's old Alpha, Zachary Eitenne, for his position and won. At the age of twenty-two, Caine became the youngest Alpha in the United States. It was a position he was hell bent on being the best at that he could be. His Pard deserved an Alpha that cared about them and their well being. Within the first eight years, the Pard went from looking like they were smack dab in the middle of a third world country to looking like any other suburb in the US. Sure, they still had some struggles- being in a southern state with a fairly high unemployment rate coupled with a low minimum wage didn't make for extreme wealth- but what community didn't? The important thing was, they were no longer living in squalor and not a single member of the Pard went without their basic needs being met.
Another defining moment for Caine was the night he'd met his mate. Emelise Rousseau had taken his breath away the moment he'd seen her. He'd wanted to ignore everything else and focus on her, but duty came first. It wasn't until they were celebrating the birth of Gage and Mia's son that he'd gotten his chance to be close to her.
Caine couldn't help thinking back to the moment: Caine scanned the commons, the central area where the party was taking place, looking for Emelise. He found her standing next to Lily and made a beeline for her. Along the way he let his gaze trail over her. She was a tiny thing but she had curves his hands itched to trace. He moved in behind her and leaned down to growl in her ear. “Dance wit' me, cher.”
Emelise turned around to face him but she made no move to take the hand that was held out to her.
