Chapter Sixteen
Lily
The sun was just cresting over the waters of Lake Borgne, the gorgeous pinks, oranges, and reds gleaming in her rear view mirror, as Lily headed her car northwest out of New Orleans. They would be taking the I-10 all the way up from New Orleans across the state, through Baton Rouge, Lafayette, and Lake Charles, then on into Houston where they would stop for lunch. From there, they would continue on the I-10 until stopping for the night in Ozona, Texas. The most nerve-wracking part of the trip was going to be through the Red Moon Clan’s territory. Lily had no intention, whatsoever, of stopping until they were well past Lafayette, in order to avoid them. She would stop in Baton Rouge to top off her gas just to be sure she didn’t have to stop again until much later.
“At least it’s a pretty day for a drive,” Emelise said with a cheeky smile. “So, Miss Organized, you have our route planned out for us. What happens if we hit a detour or something?”
“Then we adjust it. As long as we don’t have to stop inside Red Moon Clan territory, I’m okay with having to deviate from our route.”
“What happened the other night really freaked you out, didn’t it?”
“Yeah, it did. I saw the look in his eyes, Eme. If Declan and Remy hadn’t gotten there when they did, he would have raped me; all three of them would have. He’d said he’d never had a wolf before and he wondered if I was as wild as a cat. I honestly believe he is a serial rapist so I hope they made him disappear into the bayou.” There was an edge of a growl to her voice.
“Something tells me that’s exactly what happened to him, girl. Declan isn’t the type of man to let someone who threatened his mate live. That wolf has a dark side; you can see it in his eyes.”
Lily nodded. “Yeah, I know. I’ve seen it too. The question is, just how dark is it?”
“He’d never hurt you, you have to know that,” Emelise said, watching her face.
“I know that, Eme; I’m not worried about him hurting me, but other people, yeah, that’s a concern. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.” She shook her head as if to clear it. “No more depressing talk. This is a road trip; let’s get some jams going,” she said and popped a CD into the CD player on her car’s stereo.
Declan
After getting Lily to promise to not stop within the Red Moon Clan’s territory, Declan had watched her pull away from her apartment and kept watching until she turned a corner and he could no longer see her car’s tail lights. Then he’d headed to the warehouse he’d recently purchased where he was meeting with his team. He would be taking them out to meet with Caine afterward.
The team consisted of three men and two women, not including himself. Sasha and Echo would be his aces in the hole. They were jaguars, and after the meeting with Caine, they would head over to Baton Rouge to let the Red Moon Clan catch their scent. They would be his Trojan horse, hitting the Clan from the inside. With any luck they’d get close enough to the Alpha to take him out, but even if they were only able to take out some of his lieutenants, it would give them an edge over the jaguars. While Echo’s strongest talent was stealth and breaking locks of any kind, including the most secure of safes, Sasha was their techie. She’d created many of the high-tech gadgets they’d used on missions when in Special Ops. Holden, a grizzly bear shifter, was the shifter version of a tank. He was a powerhouse, regardless of what form he was in. Then there was his munitions expert, Nikolai. He was a white Siberian tiger whose family defected to America during the Cold War. Last, but not least, was fellow wolf shifter, Steele. He was a sharpshooter, a sniper without equal. More than once it was his eagle eye from a distance that helped the team get out of a tight spot with no casualties.
“About damn time,” Holden grumbled when Declan finally walked into the warehouse. “What’d you do, get caught up in your mate and lose track of time? For as long as I’ve known you, you’ve sworn you would never settle down with one woman; I find it amusing as hell that you are completely gone on the female you’d come here to fetch for her father.”
“You’re just jealous,” Echo purred at him. “I think it’s good for him to finally have a woman who can go toe to toe with him.”
Sasha draped her arm over Echo’s shoulder. “I think you’re right. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him this relaxed yet completely focused on the job.”
“I know, right? She’s a good influence on him. You’ll have to introduce us before we leave New Orleans, once this is over.”
“Enough gossip,devochki,” Nikolai said. “We have work to do and an Alpha to meet, da? Let’s get it done.”
Echo rolled her eyes at Nikolai calling her and Sasha ‘girls’. He’d called them that ever since they’d joined the Special Ops group.”Fine, fine, we can talk about his girl later. Sasha and I did a little digging and we found the properties that the jaguars have scooped up. They’re not as integral to the leopards as they could be, but some of them box the Pard in,” she informed Declan.
“Technically, they haven’t scooped them up, yet. The plots of land are being auctioned, and so far, the jaguars are the highest bidders. We can easily put the kibosh on their plan by upping the offer to a level too steep for them. If what you said is true, they won’t be able to afford to bid any higher, and that part of their plan will be gone,” Sasha put in.
Declan pulled a credit card from his wallet and held it out to her. “Do it. This is the first step in crippling them before they even begin.” The card wouldn’t lead back to the Black Water Pard as it was linked to a corporation he’d created some years ago for land acquisition that needed to be done discreetly.
“You got it, boss,” Sasha said before she took the card. “Do you have a limit?” When he shook his head, she grinned. “Alright. I won’t drain your finances but I’ll make damn sure it’s too steep for the jaguars to outbid us.” She went to her laptop. She had a scrambler on it so the connection was secure and untraceable.
“I looked over those images you sent me. I think you’re right; the jaguars aren’t planning on using just claws and teeth, they’re planning on using guns too. Where they’ve got them stored isn’t very secure, which tells me they don’t know they’re being watched. I can slip in tonight and make sure the weapons are useless,” Nikolai said once Declan was done talking with Sasha.
“Good. That will be step two in stopping them. The jaguars will come for a fight. They think the leopards are weak because they don’t get into a lot of squabbles with other shifter groups. They don’t realize the reason for that isn’t weakness, it’s Caine’s ability to work out differences in other ways. He’s a damn good negotiator. He’d have been a hell of an asset on the team back when we were still in Special Ops,” Declan said. “Okay, let’s do this. We’re meeting Remy Delacroix in half an hour. He’ll take us out to meet with his Alpha.” He headed for the exit with the others bringing up the rear.
Once they reached the compound, Delcan led them to where Caine waited for them. “Allow me to make the introductions so we can get that part over with.” Declan pointed to each member of his team as he introduced them. “Holden Montgomery, Sasha Frost, Steele Reinhardt, Echo Ramirez, and Nikolai Romanov, meet Caine Bordeaux, Alpha of the Black Water Pard.”
“Welcome to da bayou,” Caine said, inclining his head at the group of shifters who stood slightly behind Declan. Their positioning suggested they viewed Declan as their Alpha. They all nodded hello at him before Caine spoke again. “Declan tells me y’all are da best at what you do. Da Black Water Pard welcomes da help.”
“Dec knows what he’s talking about,” Holden said. “We were a tight-knit unit back in the day.”
Sasha studied the Alpha. “Looking around your compound, I can see why they’re envious, but if they think you’re weak, they’re fools. Anyone with half a brain cell, who is a shifter, would know right away that weak is the one thing you aren’t.”
Caine turned his attention to her. “It is to my benefit if dey make da wrong assumptions because it puts dem in dere place much quicker when dey find out how wrong dey are,” he replied with a smirk.
