“That concludes this meeting,” the queen started with a dismissive wave of her hand and everyone started to get up and leave the room. “Jessie, make the necessary arrangements and be ready to depart by pre-dawn,” she stated as she placed a hand on Lily’s arm in a silent request for her to stay. “Take your son with you, Lily,” Queen Hazar told her once everyone was gone and linked her arm in Lily’s.
“What? Take A. J.?” she repeated in disbelief, letting the vampire queen guide her into the moonlit gardens. The waning moon still full enough to adequately light the large gardens. Lily shook her head in refusal. “No, I can’t take him. It’d put him in too much danger. If Silvano found out about him if he doesn’t know already that would make him a target,” Lily explained and the queen gave her a small close-lipped smile.
“Is it Silvano you’re worried about or James?” She asked, giving Lily a knowing look that made Lily bristle with irritation but before Lily could reply she continued. “It’s too dangerous for him to stay here. At your home, he’d be protected by those who would put down their lives for him. Lily, my dear hybrid, you have more enemies in the shadows than in the open.”
“Of course I do,” Lily grumbled as they walked and the queen laughed a sweet sounding laugh that brightened her mood a little.
“You also have more friends if you’d let them be,” the queen retorted then stopped walking and turned to face Lily. “You’re not as alone as you think you are and letting someone in doesn’t need to be hard as you make it seem, remember that Lily,” her tone serious then she started walking again.
“What? Wait, what is it you’ve seen?” Lily asked, stopping the walk and looking at Queen Hazar. She stared at the vampire’s face, trying to decipher her expression and the meaning behind her words.
“You have a chance to choose and to change Lily. Take the time and choose wisely,” Queen Hazar told her then held up her hand to stop Lily before she could say another word. “No, that is all I’m going to say. It’s for you to decide and I wouldn’t have my words taint your thoughts. Now go, prepare all that you need, get some sleep, and keep yourself safe. “Queen Hazar stated, clearly having dismissed her.
Lily started back to the compound as the vampire queen resumed her walk. She wanted to argue but knew better than to argue with Hazar, if she didn’t want to say more there was no way to make her speak. Lily couldn’t shake the feeling that Queen Hazar was saying goodbye to her as if Lily wasn’t going to return.
Cold dread filled her and she mentally shook herself, telling herself she was overthinking things. Everything would go fine. In a week or two she’d be back working with Veronica in the lab like always.
James Lacrosse packed up his tools, graciously turning down the offer of lunch from the scantily dressed woman leaning on the wall in what he assumed she meant to be a seductive pose. He never understood why women thought that if they wore less clothing a man would suddenly become more interested in them. He quickly made his escape out of the house and walked to an aging werewolf standing by a red beat up pickup truck.
“Didn’t stay for lunch?” The older werewolf asked with a chuckle and despite being his boss James shot him a glare in reply which only made the werewolf hoot with laughter. “Good, let them think you’re playing hard to get,” he said through bales of laughers. “They pay more that way. Just to see your pretty boy face they’ll pay me double of what I usually charge,” he went on gleefully and James shook his head.
He swore Freddie, sounded more like a pimp every day. Not that he could blame him for pushing an advantage. Freddie was getting up in the years and close to retirement. The old man wanted to pad his nest egg as much as he could, but James just wished Freddie stopped padding it at his expense. “Maybe I should be getting a raise since my dignity is apparently for sale,” James replied back with mocked bitterness as he sat in the back of the truck.
Freddie sent out another hoot of laughter. “Dignity? Boy, what man wouldn’t love to have all the pretty ladies practically throw themselves at his feet,” Freddie exclaimed between laughter and James allowed his disgust to show. None of those women really were interested in him, but his pretty boy face as Freddie put it or his dark reputation.
Every werewolf knew the name, James Lacrosse. They knew that you didn’t want to mess with him or you’d end up in the intensive care unit of the local hospital… if you were lucky, all thanks to Xavier Thompson’s experiments. Except James wasn’t the uncontrollable hothead he used to be but that didn’t change the way people kept looking at him or treating him. Most wolves tread carefully around him so as not to ignite his famous temper.
Though some tried to recruit him as an enforcer or as in most cases with unmated women, tried to collar and tame the big bad wolf, they thought he was. Humans weren’t much better, they didn’t know about his monstrous shift, but they knew his reputation. So the result was always the same for the most part. They didn’t see a person but a trophy. A trophy that they bickered and fought over so that they could be the ones to shelve it in their home.
He’d only met one woman that didn’t treat him like that. The one woman he wanted more than anything, his brief and very reluctant mate, Lily Nawassa. James ran a hand through his hair with a sigh as he thought of her and as he had many times before wondered how she was doing. Did she get any farther to going back to human? Was she happy? “Hey James,” a high pitched gleeful voice broke James from his thoughts.
James looked up and did his best not to cringe as he saw the woman approaching them. “Hey Ginger,” he replied, trying his best to sound friendly and not annoyed as he really felt. She was an attractive wolf. Her red hair, bright blue eyes, and a curvy body was enough to get any man’s attention. Top it off that she had a kind and upbeat disposition that made it a pleasure to be around but James just couldn’t bring himself to see her as more than a friend.
Sadly, Ginger wanted to be more, especially after he made the mistake of letting her kiss him one night where he had more than one too many beers and was feeling lonely. Thank God he came to his senses and stopped her almost immediately. He tried letting her down, but she turned out to be painfully persistent. “Hey there, pretty lady,” Freddie greeted with a sly smile, he knew what had happened and, of course, thought it was hilarious.
She gave him a brief wave of the hand and instead kept her focus on James. “I wanted to come by and invite you to lunch,” she told James with a bright smile and James wanted to roll his eyes. He knew she wanted to invite him that’s why he had been ignoring her calls.
“I’ve already got a lunch,” he replied with his best diplomatic tone that had Freddie smirking behind his own food.
“That’s okay, more the merrier right?” She jumped in, looking so hopeful that it made him feel bad for wanting to refuse.
“Sorry Ginger,” Freddie told her. “The alpha has called some meeting later on that James has to be at so we need to make sure we get the day’s work done by then,” he explained and James glanced at his boss, wondering if he was telling the truth. Ginger pouted with clear disappointment then smiled a smile that made James more nervous than anything else.
“Maybe I could go with you,” she suggested and James nearly choked on his sandwich but once again Freddie jumped to answer.
“Sorry sweetie but I heard that this meeting is invitation only,” he told her and she looked at the older werewolf with some irritation then turned back to James giving him a bright smile.
“Well I could accompany you there,” she said and Freddie lost all his amusement in his face.