Chapter Sixteen
Kylie
Kylie awoke to the feel of arms holding her and for those few, sleepy seconds, she forgot where she was or that Ezra could never touch her again, and panic began to set in. Then Remy’s familiar scent registered in her sleepy brain and the panic faded. A contented sigh escaped her and she snuggled closer to his warmth.
“Good mornin’, Kitten.”
She could hear the sleepiness in Remy’s voice and smiled a little. “Good morning, Cajun.”
Remy chuckled. “I tink I’m beginnin’ to like bein’ called dat.”
His chuckle vibrated through her and she lifted her head to study his face. “You can’t tell me I’m the first person to ever call you that.” She arched a brow at him.
“No, but it wasn’t used as an endearment, cher. It was said as an insult.”
“What the hell? Whoever did that is just an ass.” She chewed on her bottom lip a moment. “Thank you, Remy, for last night.”
He pressed a finger to her lips. “You don’t need to thank me for dat, Kitten.”
“You might not think so, but I do.” She moved a little closer to him. “You took the fear away from me last night. After everything…Ezra did to me, I didn’t think I would ever want to be touched again, and you changed that.”
Remy’s hand lifted to caress her cheek. “I would do anyting and ever’ting you needed me to do just to get you to smile, Kitten. I know we still have a rough road ahead of us. I know one night doesn’t erase da five years of abuse you lived through, but I’m willin’ to take this one step at a time, one day at a time. Whatever you need.”
Kylie could feel tears stinging her eyes and she blinked several times to try to clear them. “I don’t deserve you, Remy,” she said softly. This man was something else. She’d pushed him away over and over, and he hadn’t given up. She knew he was right. They still had a rough road ahead of them. The lingering mental scars from Ezra made sure of that. Still, she knew he would do exactly what he said. Take it one day and one step at a time until she could really put the past behind her.
Remy
Kylie said she didn’t deserve him, but Remy felt it was the other way around. They spent the morning just cuddled up together before they finally got out of bed, got cleaned up, dressed, and headed into Lafayette. There they spent the day being ‘tourists’, even though Remy was from Louisiana. With Lafayette being in a formal rivals territory, he’d never been to the city before. Since Lafayette was in Red Moon Clan territory, and they were now allies, he’d gotten permission from their Alpha to be there.
“We need to make a stop, Kitten.” At the look she gave him he explained. “Lafayette is da Red Moon Clan’s territory. Da Pard and Clan are allies, which is why I was able to bring us here, but we need to pay our respects to da Alpha.”
“Oh. Okay. We definitely don’t want to insult an ally by not doing that. It still sounds so strange to me that the Pard is in an alliance with other species of shifters. My old Pard would never dream of such a thing.”
Remy shrugged. “We do tings differently here in da bayou, cher. I guess we’re just more friendly den some.” He grinned at the way his comment made her laugh.
Kylie shook her head and her soft laughter faded. “It’s that southern hospitality thing you’ve all got going on down here.”
He chuckled. “Someting like dat.” He sent a text to the Clan’s Alpha to inform him they were on their way to visit, then programmed the man’s address into his GPS and they were on their way.
Remy drove to the outskirts of Lafayette to the small compound the Red Moon Clan called home. He didn’t know what condition it was in before Ryan took over as Alpha, but he had a feeling it had been a bit run down. Maybe not as bad as the Pard’s compound under Zachary’s reign, but still run down to an extent. Many of the yards were bare dirt but the small houses all had fresh coats of paint on them.
“Afternoon, Remy. I was beginnin’ to think you weren’t coming by while in Clan territory.” Looking at the Clan’s new Alpha, you’d have a hard time deciding if he was French, Italian, or Latino. He had dark hair that had a bit of a curl to it and shone in the sunlight. Equally dark eyes took in everything around him. His skin was naturally tanned and no doubt got darker if he was out in the sun too long.
“Afternoon, Ryan. Naw, I wouldn’t do dat. I got more respect for Pard allies den dat. Ryan Vallier, I’d like you to meet my mate, Kylie. Kylie, dis here is da Clan’s Alpha, Ryan Vallier. He became Alpha after that little scuffle da Pard and da Clan had a while back.”
Ryan laughed. “Little scuffle, he says. I suppose with only a few of the Clan dying, scuffle works. At least the ones who died were the bad apples to begin with. It’s nice to meet you, Kylie. Y’all come on inside and have a glass of lemonade. I’ve been meaning to talk with Caine about an idea I had, but since you’re here, you can take it to him. Y’all know about the Bear Clan in Mississippi?” At Remy’s nod, he continued. “A while back, some of my jaguars had a run in with them. It got smoothed over thanks to Caine suggesting I talk to Declan about bringing Holden with me to talk to them. I think it would benefit the Clan, Pard, and Pack if we approached their Alpha about creating an alliance with the bears.”
Remy sat there, rubbing his jaw as he thought about what Ryan said. “You know, it just might be a good ting. Da more allies we have, da more people we have to call on in times of trouble.”
“That was my thinking, as well.”
“I’ll talk wit’ Caine when we get back to da compound tomorrow.” He and Kylie had followed Ryan inside and were sipping on fresh, cold lemonade while the man talked. “I tink he’ll agree dat it’s a good idea and he’ll talk wit’ Declan about it.”
“That’s one wolf I do not want to piss off. He can be a scary son of a bitch.”
Remy laughed. “Dat he can, my friend, dat he can. We’re gonna head on back to da B&B. I’m sure you’ll hear from Caine in da next few days about approachin’ da bears together.”
“I look forward to it. Drive safe going back tomorrow. It was nice meeting you, Kylie.”
“It was nice meeting you, too,” she replied.
Remy slipped his arm around her and escorted her back out to the truck. The sun was beginning to set by the time they swung through Lafayette, to get dinner to go, and then got back to the B&B. Neither of them wanted the company of others for the last night of their weekend trip away from the Pard.
