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.
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 Declan 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.”
Lily glared at her a moment. “Traitor,” she muttered under her breath. They reached their destination and she turned the car off. “Here goes nothing,” she added a little louder before she led them to where Remy was waiting for them.
“Well now, dis is a surprise. Looks like you forgot to tell me we’d have more company, cher.”
“Oh, shit, I’m sorry, Remy. I totally spaced on that. This is Emelise. I’m going to make a long story short otherwise we’ll be here half the night. Her mother used to be part of the Pard, but she left when she was pregnant with Emelise, and Eme has just moved to New Orleans so she’s coming to meet with Caine too. Eme, this is Remy Delacroix.”
Remy flashed her a grin. “Welcome. Sounds like an intriguing story dere, but we gotta get goin’. Caine’s waitin’.” He nodded at Declan. “Try to keep your temper, yeah? You don’t want to get ever’one all riled up.” He climbed into the boat before he offered both Emelise and Lily a hand down, and once his passengers were settled, he headed into the swamp.
“I’ll try.” Declan nodded at him and took a seat next to Lily. “Can’t make any promises.”
Lily shook her head. All she could do was hope for the best.