Chapter Twenty-Three
Declan
Declan was in shock. Caine had asked him to come out to the compound because he needed to speak with him. He’d figured the leopard wanted to formally thank him for the help he and his team gave the Pard with the Red Moon Clan. He was right, but he’d not expected the form that thank you took. He walked into the apartment he now shared with Lily and heard her in the bathroom.
Lily stepped out of the bathroom in her robe. She’d hopped in the shower while Declan went to talk with Caine because she had to work and figured she could get ready while he was gone. They had plans to get something to eat together before she went to work. “Hey, you’re back. What’s wrong?” she asked at the look on his face.
Declan glanced up at her, and his dazed look slowly turned into a grin that threatened to split his face wide open. “Wrong? Nothing’s wrong. Everything’s perfect. Caine wanted to thank me and my team for our help.”
“O-o-kay?” She was still confused by the look on his face.
“We’re officially the Ghostpoint Pack, and a chunk of Black Water Pard territory now belongs to us.”
Lily stared at him. “Wait, what do you mean ‘belongs to us’? Us, who?”
“Us. You, me, my team. We’re officially a pack and allies with the Black Water Pard, part of New Orleans, and the area northeast of the city is now ours.”
“Oh my gods,” Lily squealed and pounced on him where he sat on the sofa. “Wait, how much of New Orleans is ours now?”
“Everything east and northeast of the eight hundred block of the French Quarter.”
“What? Son of a bitch. That means we have to move. Fuck. I like my apartment.”
“It is cute, but it’s also a little small, don’t you think?”
Lily sighed. “I suppose you’re right. It was fine for one person, but not two. I guess I get to start looking for a new place to live.”
“We should look at houses. For sale.” He watched her face.
“You want to buy a house? Are you serious?”
“Yes, I do, and yes, I am.”
“Okay.”
Lily
Lily was stunned. Not only did they have their own official pack, complete with territory, but Declan wanted to buy a house together. Things really were working out. When she got to work, she found that they had too many people scheduled, and since, out of all the staff, she needed the pay the least, she decided to take the day off. She was going to have to fix the schedule though to make sure that didn’t happen again.
Since she had the free time, she decided to make a phone call she’d been meaning to for days but hadn’t had the chance to until now. She sat in Emile’s office and settled back in his chair. Hell, she was starting to spend more and more time in that office, taking care of things her boss should. He was dealing with some family drama so she was fine with that.
She dialed the number her father had given her and sat there drumming her fingers on the desk while she waited for the other end to be answered.
“Hello?”
Lily arched a brow. The voice on the other end came out tentatively. “Casey? Hey, it’s Lily.”
“Lily? Oh my God. Your father told me he gave you my number, but I really didn’t think you would ever call.”
“Why in Goddess’s name would you think that? Wait, don’t answer that. I took off without a word to anyone six years ago; of course you’d think that.”
“Yeah, something like that.”
“I’m sorry I disappeared like that. There was so much going on and…gods, I feel like such a horrible person because you were still working through what happened and I abandoned you.”
“It’s okay, Lily. I mean, it was rough, yeah, but…we all knew he gave you an ultimatum. I knew that if you’d had a choice, you would have stayed. You wouldn’t have taken off like that. And you couldn’t call me or contact me because, if he’d found out, he would have ordered me to tell him where you were, and I would have had no choice but to obey.” Her voice cracked a little, betraying her emotions.
“I still feel like a horrible friend,” Lily said softly. “But thank you for that. How are you doing, Case? I mean really. Don’t give me this ‘I’m fine’ bullshit. Tell me the truth.”
“I’m…doing. Some days are better than others. It’s hard knowing on any given day I might run into Garret.” Garret Michaels was Jacob’s biological father, but Casey preferred to call him the sperm donor. “Jacob is getting so big, you should see him. You won’t even recognize him as the toddler you last saw.”
“Casey, you don’t have to stay there, you know. I know that being in the same town with that piece of shit, risking running into him every time you’re out, it can’t be easy. Why don’t you and Jacob come to New Orleans? We have our own pack, well, it’s a ragtag group of misfits, but we’re still a pack.”
“We? Who is ‘we’?”
“Well, you know my father sent someone to fetch me and bring me back there, right?” When Casey said ‘yes’, she continued. “His name’s Declan; he’s Liam’s older brother—the one who left right after he turned eighteen to join some secret government organization…and he’s my mate.”
“Oh wow. If you hadn’t taken off like you did…that could have gotten really ugly when he returned and you were married to a different pack member. What do you mean you’re a ragtag group of misfits?”
“Our pack isn’t just wolves. There’s me and Declan, of course, and one other wolf, Steele. Then we have a grizzly shifter named Holden, two jaguar shifters named Sasha and Echo, and a Siberian tiger shifter named Nikolai. We’re allies with the Black Water Pard; they claim half of New Orleans while the other half is now our territory.”
“Whoa, that really is a ragtag group of misfits. How do you all get along?”
“The others worked with Declan in Special Ops, so they already had a close-knit bond between them. They took to me the first time we met. I don’t know if it’s just because I’m with Declan or if it’s also because I’m an Alpha female and they sensed it.”
“I’ll think about it, okay? I don’t want to make any rash decisions, and Jacob gets a say in it too since this will affect him just as much as it would me.”
“That’s all I ask, Casey. You have my number now, so keep in touch, yeah?”
“I will. You keep in touch too. You’re the one who went and disappeared before, after all.”
Lily laughed at the teasing tone in the younger woman’s voice before they said their good-byes and hung up. By the time she hung up with Casey, Lily really felt like she’d accomplished something. Sure, Casey wanted to get her son’s input on the move, but she had the feeling it wasn’t going to matter. Casey would be coming to New Orleans, and she was going to need a place to stay until she got back on her feet. “Time to find a house,” she said softly and headed home. She would use her computer to search for something in the area.
Hours later Lily had a list of houses varying in bedroom size and price that she would show to Declan so they could decide which ones they wanted to go take a look at. It was crazy to think they were already talking about buying a house when their relationship was still fairly new, but it felt right. They were in love, they were living together; she didn’t need a wedding ring to know he was dedicated and committed to her.
When she thought about the path her life had taken since the night her father gave her his ultimatum and she’d chosen to disappear instead, she was happy with where it had led her. Sure it had taken time to get to this point—six long years to be exact—but she was happy. She had a great job, amazing friends, a pack she could be proud of, and a mate who loved her just the way she was.