“I did notice you seemed awful cozy with them. A bit odd given they’re cats.”
“Their species has nothing to do with them as people.” She narrowed her eyes at him.
“Not many wolves think that way. I’m glad to see you’re more open-minded than most of our kind.” He’d worked with shifters from various species; he didn’t discriminate but many did, and he’d been testing her to see how she felt about it.
“Yeah, well.” She looked a little flustered but continued with her explanation. “Anyway, as I was saying, I was in New Orleans about two weeks when Remy and Gage came in; I’d been working at the shop for about a week—yeah I’d gotten lucky and Emile hired me on the spot when I went in to apply for the job. Right away they knew what I was and things got a little tense, at first. They didn’t know if I was part of a pack trying to move into their territory or not, but Emile let me take a break and I sat down and talked with them. I told them the bare bones about why I was in New Orleans and that night they took me to meet their Alpha. Caine Bordeaux is pretty intense, like most Alphas, but he’s fair-minded. With Caine, I had to go into more detail; he wouldn’t accept the barest of information, but he heard the sincerity in my voice when I told him I was a lone wolf who’d fled her pack because I was being forced to bond with someone I had no attraction to or connection with. He let me stay, and once a week, since then, Remy and Gage have stopped in for a cup of coffee. I think they’re really just checking up on me but we’ve become friends. Gage and his mate, Mia, are expecting their first child any day now and I’ve been invited to the naming ceremony they’ll be having once it’s here.”
“That’s a big deal, being invited to a naming ceremony, Lily. It means they think of you as more than a friend. You’re family, part of their Pard even though you’re not a leopard shifter.”
She smiled a bit. “I know. I told them both I was humbled by their acceptance of me. I think of them the same way and I would do anything for them.”
“That’s because you’re a good woman.”
She blushed at the compliment. “Thank you.” She took a bite of her breakfast before she continued. “Before they left yesterday, Gage pointed out that since you’re in their territory uninvited, I need to bring you to meet with their Alpha. Otherwise you might have trouble with those in the Pard who haven’t met you yet. I’m off tomorrow, so we can do that tomorrow evening. I won’t be available until about six.”
“You just tell me where to meet you, doll, and I’ll be there.” He turned his attention to his food. “This looks and smells really good. Did you fix it yourself?” At his question, she arched a brow.
“I can pick you up in front of the coffee shop a little after six. “Yes I fixed it myself. What, you think I got up at the crack of dawn and ran out to a restaurant to buy it? As if. If I didn’t know how to cook, I wouldn’t have invited you to breakfast.” There was indignation in her voice.
He chuckled at her tone. “Good to know my woman knows how to cook.”
“And there you go ruining things with that arrogant bullshit again.” This time there was teasing in her tone.
He just smirked at her. “Are you inviting your friend to tag along with us tomorrow? I’m assuming she’ll have to meet with them as well? Why isn’t she already with them anyway?” He’d picked up on her scent before he’d left the coffee shop and knew she was a leopard.
“She just moved here from Phoenix so she hasn’t had the chance to meet with the Pard, and yes, she’ll be coming with us.” She looked down at her plate a moment before she returned her gaze to him. “Declan, I need you to stop pushing so hard. Please. I need time to figure out what the hell I’m going to do. I know this attraction between us can’t be helped, but it’s animal instinct. I can’t just suddenly end a relationship, that hasn’t had any serious problems, without taking into account the pain it’s going to cause. Keith is a good man, and I know you don’t want to hear it, but my relationship with him has been good and I care about him a great deal.”
Declan watched her a moment. “I can’t promise to stop pushing, but I can promise to not kiss you again. For a while, at least. But I’m not a patient man, Lily. I won’t give you forever to agonize over this.” The fact he was even willing to give her time to figure out her feelings suggested he valued her integrity.
“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?”
