“Don’t lie to the woman, Sasha. Steele is a jokester to the core; he just knows how to be serious when he needs to be,” Echo countered.
“I don’t know much about what all of you have done as a team, but I have an idea that some of it is pretty dark, so if Steele managed to keep a sense of humor with that, then the joking isn’t a bad thing,” Lily said softly.
Five sets of eyes turned to look at Declan. “You have told your mate almost nothing?” Nikolai asked. “There are things she should know, Declan—things that could come back to haunt you.”
Declan growled. “I hadn’t gotten around to that yet. We’ll sit down and talk when we get back to the apartment.”
Lily was suddenly nervous again. That sounded ominous. “Okay,” she said and didn’t push him for an explanation right then.
Declan
Declan watched his mate interact with the people he’d come to think of as his pack and couldn’t help but feel proud. She’d been nervous when they first arrived, but within minutes she was bantering back and forth with them as if she’d known them for years. What surprised him, however, was the way his team reacted to her. He knew they would like her, but it was more than that. They were treating her with the respect and regard given to their Alpha’s mate. They weren’t a real pack, not officially, but it felt like they were, and they accepted her like it was natural for them to do so.
He watched as Sasha and Echo got her talking about her childhood, what it was like growing up in Montana and how she’d adjusted to the different climate when she moved to New Orleans, and he couldn’t stop grinning. Lily was so animated sometimes when she talked, and she’d clearly loved her childhood, even after she lost her mother.
“She’s a good woman, Boss,” Steele said, watching the trio as well. “She fits in well with us.”
“She does, doesn’t she?”
“The perfect mate for our Alpha,” Nikolai said, stepping up to his other side. “You know that is how we look at you, da? You’re not just the leader of our team, you are our Alpha.”
“We may be a ragtag pack of misfits, but we’re still a pack,” Steele agreed.
“Best pack an Alpha could ever ask for,” Declan confessed.
“Aw, Boss, you’re gonna make me cry.”
Declan shook his head at Steele. “Go back to what you were doing; I’m taking my mate to lunch,” he said and headed to where she was talking with Sasha and Echo. “Excuse me, ladies, but I’m going to steal my mate from you so I can take her to lunch.”
“It was really nice meeting all of you,” Lily said. “I look forward to talking with you more,” she added before she said good-bye and let Declan lead her out of there.
Lily
By the time they got back to her apartment, Lily was consumed with curiosity. She’d resisted asking about some of the things Declan and his team had done before they left Special Ops, but it hadn’t been easy. Now that they were safely tucked away on her sofa, she couldn’t keep her curiosity to herself, but she wasn’t going to just bombard him with questions either. “Thank you for taking me to meet your team. I like them; they’re definitely different.”
Declan chuckled. “Different. That’s one word for them. I’m glad you got along so well with them,” he said and wrapped his arms around her so he could hold her close. “Did you happen to notice the deference they showed you? Much like the deference a pack shows their Alpha’s chosen mate.”
Lily tipped her head up to look at him. “Yeah, I did. It felt a little odd but natural at the same time.”
“That’s because you’re an Alpha female, doll. They saw it and responded to it.”
Lily thought about it. “I guess you’re right. I never thought about myself that way before, but if I wasn’t an Alpha, I wouldn’t have had the courage to take off when my father gave me his ultimatum.”
“Exactly.” He kissed her brow, then shifted to study her face. “You sure you want to hear all the gory details about my past?”
Lily swallowed and nodded. “Yeah, I’m sure.”
Declan
Declan watched his mate. He could tell she was nervous about learning all of his dark secrets, but she was determined to know everything about him. Damn, she was the perfect woman for him. It took him a long time to go through the story. He started with being approached when he was eighteen by a government official. He’d gained their attention due to his success on the wrestling team in high school. He’d had no idea when he took the offer and exactly what he was signing up for.
“Within weeks I was being pushed harder than ‘I’d ever been pushed and I’ realized it was exactly what I’ wanted and needed. When I’ graduated from high school, I’d’ felt like I was floundering because I didn’t have a solid direction for my life. Special Ops gave me that direction. It wasn’t easy but it was what I needed.”
As he started talking about different missions, he realized he didn’t want her to know that he was a killer. But she needed to. “I have blood on my hands, Lily. I should have told you about this long before now. These hands have been used to end the lives of so many men and women.”
Lily looked at him. “Were they good people or were they men and women with evil in their hearts?”
“None of them were innocent. They were murderers, rapists, torturers. They kidnapped men, women, and children, put them through hell, turned their lives into living nightmares, and would have continued to do so if me and my team hadn’t taken them out.”
