Chapter Five
Emelise
Emelise Rousseau looked around the building that she’d recently purchased with a critical eye. It had been a bar, once upon a time, which would make her plans to turn it into a blues and jazz club easier, even if it was a bit rundown at the moment. The former owner had died, and didn’t have any family, so the property had gone to the bank, and it had sat empty for several years. It needed some work to get it up to code, and in order to get the look and feel she was going for, she knew she had her work cut out for her, but she was up for the challenge. If there was one thing that could be said about Emelise Acadia Rousseau, she was tenacious when she wanted something and she’d wanted this for years. She’d worked in a jazz club back in Phoenix, learned all the ins and outs of the business, and saved every penny she could in order to get the capital to buy her own place. Now she just needed to do the work to open the doors and see her dream come to fruition.
She’d been born in Phoenix, Arizona, but her roots began right here in New Orleans. Her mother, Adelaide Rousseau, Goddess rest her soul, was born and raised in New Orleans, but she’d left the city when she was a junior in high school. She’d let a guy sweet-talk her into giving up her virginity to him, and she’d gotten pregnant.
Normally that wouldn’t have been something that would make a girl leave home, but for Adelaide, leaving was the only option if she wanted to keep her baby. She was a leopard shifter, part of the Black Water Pard, and the father of her unborn child was human. There was no guarantee her child would be a shifter, and since the human wasn’t her mate, she knew her parents would force her to terminate the pregnancy. Adelaide chose to leave home, and keep her baby, instead.
She’d ended up in Phoenix working at a diner and made a decent life for her and her daughter. Her parents had disowned her when they discovered she’d left because she was pregnant by a human, so even after her daughter shifted for the first time, at the age of three, she’d stayed in Phoenix. There was nothing in New Orleans for her to go back to.
Over the years Emelise had wanted to go to New Orleans. She wanted to meet her mother’s family, to meet the Pard she’d been a part of, and the father she’d never known, but Adelaide used guilt to keep her from going. Anytime she asked questions about her father, her mother simply told her that he’d moved on with his life and they were better off without him.
The excuses and the guilt trips ended a few weeks ago. Her mother had gone out for drinks with some friends, and on the way home, she was hit by a drunk driver and was killed. The loss of the only family Emelise knew pushed her to follow her heart and dreams and go back to her mother’s hometown.
Now she was here and she was nervous as hell. She knew she would have to get in touch with the Black Water Pard. She was in their territory without an invitation or permission, but since her mother used to be part of the Pard, and she was a leopard shifter herself, she doubted they would have a problem with her presence. The only problem was she had no idea how to contact them. She was hoping Lily Harper, the only shifter she knew in New Orleans, would know how to get her in touch with them before too many days went by.
She’d met Lily about five years ago when she’d stayed in Phoenix for a few weeks before moving on. They might be different species of shifter, but they’d hit it off immediately and their friendship was still going strong five years later. She’d been immensely jealous of Lily when she found out she’d settled in New Orleans and had decided to finally put down some roots. Emelise grinned when she thought of the surprise she was going to see on Lily’s face when she walked into the coffee shop she worked at, provided Lily was at work. She hadn’t even told her friend she was moving.
Lily
Lily was twenty minutes away from getting off work when the front door opened and someone she hadn’t seen in five years walked in. The petite brunette with green eyes and a flair for fashion had a voice that could make the angels envious and a mouth that would make a sailor blush when she really got going. Lily had met her on her first night in Phoenix, Arizona, a week shy of a year after she’d left Montana, and they’d become fast friends. “Emelise Rousseau, what in the world are you doing here?” She rushed around the counter to greet her.
“Oh, I don’t know, popping in to buy a coffee, maybe read a book…oh, and open up my own club right here in New Orleans.” Emelise flashed a cheeky grin. “You are a sight for sore fucking eyes, girl.”
“Wait, hold up, back up a bit…did you just say you’re opening a club here?”
“Yes, yes I did.” Emelise grinned even more. “Damn, I need my camera right now. The look on your face, I could use it for blackmail for like, forever.”
“Give me twenty minutes and I’ll be off and we can talk. You have to fill me in because the last I heard, New Orleans was off limits to you.” She saw a flash of pain in her friend’s eyes and knew something had caused it. She wouldn’t dig but she really did want to know what had changed in the month since they’d last talked. They kept missing each other with work schedules and other things going on in their lives, and it was past time for them to catch up.
“Sure thing. I’ll just get myself a drink and find a cozy spot to sit.” Eme read over the menu a moment. “Oh, vanilla caramel macchiato, that sounds delish. I think I’ll get that. With one of those apple turnovers.”
“Go take a seat; I’ll bring it to you.” Lily moved to the machine to make the coffee for her. Just as she rounded the counter to carry it over to her, Declan walked in. She caught his scent first and it made things low in her body tighten with need. With the way she reacted to him, you’d think she hadn’t had sex in forever. She pushed down the desire to turn and look at him. It was just animal instinct. Just because her wolf wanted him didn’t mean she had to give in to it.
“Looks like you’ve got an admirer.” Emelise kept her voice down as Lily set the cup in front of her.
“Ugh, don’t remind me.” At her friend’s look she shook her head. “Long story, I’ll explain later. Enjoy the turnover.” With that she turned and went back to the counter.
Declan
Declan sauntered into Gathering Grounds with one thing on his mind: Lily. He’d been sent down there to get her and take her back to Montana, but the more he saw how happy she was there in New Orleans, the more he realized Slatefall, Montana was no longer her home. He wasn’t sure how he was going to break that to her father, but he’d figure it out. Eventually. Today she was wearing an ankle-length skirt that hugged her hips and swayed around her legs when she walked. He had the urge to push it up, bend her over, and bury himself in her. Fuck, the sexual tension was almost a constant thing when he was around her, and it was going to kill him.
He knew the second Lily was aware of his presence because her arousal spiked, and he smirked when the scent of it reached him. Lily could deny her interest all she wanted; her body said differently. He slid onto a stool at the counter and watched the sway of her hips as she carried a cup and plate to one of the small tables. When she bent forward, just a little, his cock hardened at the sight. She was fucking killing him. Did she have to be so fucking sexy?
As Lily walked past him, Declan reached out and snagged her wrist. “I’m taking you to dinner tonight. We need to talk about you keeping secrets.”
She gave him a look. “Excuse me? What secret is that? You mean me not telling you that you’re in Black Water Pard territory?”
“Yes, that. We’re going to dinner. I don’t give a shit about your human, so don’t try to use that as an excuse to get out of it.”
Lily glared at him. “Look, Declan, you might be used to women falling at your feet and giving you whatever you want, but you are beyond delusional if you think I’m going to be one of them. One of my best friends has suddenly moved to New Orleans, and I’m spending tonight catching up with her.” She sighed after a moment. “You’re right though, we do need to talk about the Pard. Come to my apartment tomorrow; I’ll fix breakfast and we can talk then.” This conversation needed some privacy and they wouldn’t get that at a restaurant or diner.
Declan gave her a lazy grin. “I’ll be there at nine, doll.” He let his gaze linger on her before he finally released her wrist. He didn’t need to see her face to know she was affected by him. He could smell it. “See you in the morning,” He winked at her before he ordered a coffee to go and left.
Lily
That smile did all sorts of funny things to her. Lily had to turn away from him for a moment so she could get herself under control before she was able to get the black coffee she knew he wanted. Was it telling that she already knew what he liked to drink?
An hour later Lily was curled up in the chair in her living room with a glass of wine and a pizza box open on the coffee table. Emelise was stretched out on the sofa with her own glass of wine. “Now that we’ve got food and wine, dish, Eme. Like I said earlier, the last I heard, New Orleans was still off limits to you. What happened?” She was gentle with the request because she remembered the flash of pain in her friend’s eyes.
Emelise took a sip of wine before she turned her attention to Lily. “Three weeks ago my mother went out for drinks with some friends. On the way home she was hit by a drunk driver and died at the hospital. It was such a freak accident. She was a shifter—normally she would have survived a car accident—but a piece of the broken frame severed an artery. Between that, a punctured spleen, and two collapsed lungs…there was too much damage all at once. Her body couldn’t heal fast enough.” Her voice was thick with emotion. “After the initial shock wore off, I sat down and got to thinking about what I really wanted for my life. I could have stayed in Phoenix and opened a jazz and blues club there, but I’ve wanted to come to New Orleans since I was a little girl. I figured now was the time. Yeah, it hurts like hell that my mama is gone; sometimes it’s still hard to believe, but I can’t let myself think about it too much or I’ll drive myself crazy.”
“Oh Gods, Eme. I am so sorry. You should have called me. I would have flown out to be with you while you dealt with all of the funeral arrangements.” She’d met Adelaide during her brief stay in Phoenix; she’d liked the woman a lot. Her determination to live her life and give her daughter every advantage she could was inspiring.
“I know, but you have so much going on here, I didn’t want to drag you into my mess.” Emelise drained her glass and refilled it. “Now it’s your turn to dish. Who was the hottie who was watching you earlier?”
Lily groaned. “Here I was hoping you’d forget about that.”
“Not a chance, girl. Hell would freeze over first. So, who is he? And please tell me you’ve sampled the goods because I’m betting he has a very nice cock, if the bulge when he left is any indication.”
Lily threw a pillow at her. “Gods, Eme, I’m dating someone! No I haven’t sampled the goods.” She felt her cheeks warm and knew she was blushing.
“But you want to, don’t you? Who wouldn’t. He is fucking hot. If you don’t, maybe I will.”
Lily bit back a growl. She knew Emelise wasn’t serious, and it wasn’t like she and Declan were together. There was no reason for her wolf to get it’s hackles up. “If I thought he’d take you up on it, I’d tell you to go for it.” She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “His name is Declan Monroe; he’s from my old pack in Montana. My father managed to track me down after all this time and sent Declan down here to fetch me, as if I was an errant child who’d wandered off instead of an adult who is more than capable of making my own decisions.”
“If he was sent to take you back to Montana, why hasn’t he left to let your dad know he failed, miserably?”
Lily looked at the wineglass in her hand. “Um, well, that’s the problem. He’s…my mate, and yes I’m fighting it.”
“Oh. Wow. Wait, why are you fighting it? Lily, do you have any idea how fucking lucky you are that you’ve found your mate? So many of our kind go through their entire lives wishing for that very thing but never getting it. I mean, I’d pretty much settled for the fact I would never meet mine since I wasn’t around other shifters, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t wish for it.”
“I know, Eme, I do, but there’s one little complication. I’m not single. I care a great deal about Keith. He’s sweet, funny, attentive, considerate; he’s a good man and he makes me smile. I can’t just toss aside the last two years just because Declan is my mate.” She crossed her arms. “Besides, it’s animal instinct and I’m more than my wolf. I’m a person. I am the one who decides who I belong with, not my wolf.”
“I don’t see why you can’t end it in order to be with your mate. Relationships end all the gods-damned time, Lil. You just tell him that you aren’t happy, or hell, tell him you’ve lost interest, find a reason to dump him but do it. It’s not fair to him if you stay with him out of some twisted sense of obligation. For fuck’s sake, Lily, would you want a guy to stay with you for that reason?”
Lily blinked at her friend. “No, I wouldn’t, but it’s not out of a sense of obligation. I care about him.”
“You care about him but do you love him? Can you see yourself spending the rest of your life with him? Because if not, you need to rethink your relationship.”
Lily sighed softly. “Maybe you’re right; I’ll think about it. Hey, listen, I’m going to have to take Declan out to meet Caine; he’s the Alpha of the Black Water Pard. Do you want to come when we go? You’ll have to meet with him anyway, so might as well kill two birds with one stone, right?”
Emelise nodded. “Yeah, sure. I was going to ask you about that anyway. Just let me know when and where to be, and I’ll be there.” She finished her third glass of wine and sighed. “I should get out of here. I have a lot to do tomorrow to get started on revamping the old bar I bought. It needs a fuck ton of work but it’s going to be so worth it when I’m done.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to crash here instead of a hotel?” Lily asked as she walked her to the door. “Oh, and the day after tomorrow is when we’ll go, in the evening. Why don’t I come help you with some of the cleanup, then we can get dinner and head out after that?”
“Oh, that sounds good,” Emelise replied. “Positive. I’ll be finding my own digs tomorrow too, I hope. Besides, you have a breakfast date, remember? I’d just be a third wheel.” She’d obviously overheard the quick exchange between Declan and Lily earlier at the coffee shop.
“Don’t remind me. What was I thinking inviting him here? I shouldn’t be alone with him.”
Emelise laughed. “Uh-huh, but you already invited him so suck it up, babe. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” she added and left before Lily could find something to throw at her.
Lily cleaned up their impromptu dinner of pizza and wine, filled her bathtub with vanilla bath salt, and soaked in the tub until the water turned cold. When she crawled into bed that night, her mind went to the kiss she’d shared with Declan, and a shiver worked it’s way down her spine. She was in so much trouble with that man. Being alone with him in her apartment was a horrible idea.