“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.
