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?”
