Emelise, having heard his comment, decided to speak up. “Remy, you need to give her time. I know it’s hard, but…she shared some things with me that made my heart hurt for her. It’s not my place to tell you what she shared with me in confidence, but…don’t push her too hard, okay.”
Remy’s eyes darkened at her words. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what Emelise was getting at. Someone in Kylie’s past abused her. The very thought infuriated him. He wanted to hunt down whoever it was and make them pay for it. “I’ll try to take your advice, cher.” He wanted to question Kylie but he knew if he tried, the skittish female would no doubt clam up. Instead, he turned his attention to helping to get everything cooked.
Kylie
By the time all the steaks, burgers, hot dogs, and sausages were cooked, the rest of the food was set up and ready to be eaten. There were several types of potato salad, a couple different pasta salads, a big bowl of broccoli and raisin salad, and several huge platters of crawdads. There was also a deep pot of gumbo and another full of jambalaya. Kylie had never seen so much food before. “Damn, that’s a lot of food.”
Lily laughed at her comment. “Yeah. Every time the Pard has a cookout they go overboard with the food. Toss in the Pack and it’s really crazy. It’s a good thing most of us are shifters because either there would be a ton of leftovers or we’d all get fat.”
Kylie snickered. “Good point. Okay, what in the hell are those red baby lobster looking things?”
Remy heard her and growled. “You did not just call crawdads baby lobsters. cher, dese are better den lobster any day.”
Kylie rolled her eyes. “I highly doubt that.”
“Uh-oh, that sounds like a challenge to me, Remy.”Lily gave him a mischievous smile.
“Sounds like it to me, too.” He picked up one of the crawdads and showed Kylie how to eat it before he offered one to her. “Try it. Dese might be a bit spicy for you, Kitten, so I hope you like da heat.” He even showed her how to suck on the head.
Kylie glared at the look he gave her and took the crustacean from his outstretched hand. Their fingers brushed and she felt a jolt of electricity that made her shiver. God, if just brushing his fingers made her feel like that, how much more intense would it be if he actually touched her? She pushed the thought away because she had no intention of ever finding out. She ate the crawdad the way he showed her. It was different from lobster, not better, not worse, just…different. She wondered if that was because it was fresh water while lobsters were saltwater shellfish. “Not bad. I don’t think they’re better than lobsters, but I’m probably a bit biased on that.”
Remy shook his head. “Live here long enough, cher, and dat’ll change.”
“We’ll see.” When she saw there was a platter of fresh fruit as well, she added several rings of pineapple to her plate and found a spot to sit and eat. She wasn’t entirely surprised when Remy sat down next to her. When he cocked a brow at her eating a piece of the pineapple first, she shrugged. “It’s my favorite.”
“Good to know, Kitten.” He winked at her. “You seem to be relaxin’ more around da rest of da Pard.”
“They make it easy. Everyone’s been so…nice, so welcoming. It’s a little surprising. I honestly didn’t expect to be accepted so easily despite both Emelise and Mia assuring me otherwise.”
“Your old Pard sounds a lot like da way ours was before Caine became Alpha. Our old Alpha, Zachary—may he rot in hell—was a bastard. He didn’t take care of da Pard, he spent money dat should have gone to support da Pard on his whores, he didn’t like outsiders, and da only humans he liked were da prostitutes he brought to da compound. Emelise’s mama, she took off when she was sixteen because she got pregnant wit’ Emelise. Her papa, as you can see,” he said, pointing to where Derek and his family were seated, “is human, and Zachary would have made Adelaide abort da baby out of fear it wouldn’t be able to shift. If she’d brought Emelise back here when she was a little girl, he’d have killed her.”
Kylie stared at him. “Fucking hell. At least Simon wasn’t that bad. That’s…vile. I’m glad he’s not the Alpha anymore. How long has Caine been in control?”
“Eight years. A decade ago, dis compound was so rundown, you’d have thought it was a slum.”
“Hard to believe that by looking at it now.” Kylie was impressed with how swiftly Caine turned things around for the Pard.
“He’s a good Alpha. We got lucky.”
Kylie glanced where Caine and Emelise were sitting. “I can’t even begin to imagine where I would be right now if Emelise didn’t exist. Did you know, I’d just gotten to New Orleans and was staying…at a shelter, when I saw the ad for the position at the club? I mean, as in I’d just gotten off the bus. I’d probably still be at the shelter if not for her.”
“Naw, Kitten, you’d be here, but tings might have been a little less pleasant wit’out her presence.”
“Why do you say I would still be here?”
He smirked. “Because, someone would have eventually discovered you were in da city, most likely by crossing your path wherever you were workin’, and brought you out hereto meet wit’ da Alpha.”
“Oh. I guess that makes sense. Still, I’m really glad she’s here,” Kylie admitted.
Remy nodded as if in agreement with her. “We’re all glad she’s here. Seein’ our Alpha happy, it gives da rest of da Pard who haven’t found dere mate da hope dat dey will soon.”
“Relationships are overrated,” Kylie said under her breath. “I’m going to go see if Emelise needs anything,” she added as she got up and moved away from him. She felt awkward talking about mates.
Remy watched her go with renewed determination on his face.
“Hey, Eme, you look a little tired. Are you okay? Do you need anything?” Kylie was glad to have a distraction from the discussion she’d been having with Remy.
“You could tell that from way over there? You are watching me way too closely, girl. You should be enjoying yourself, especially with a hottie like Remy Delacroix paying attention to you.”
