“Yeah I am, I was playing with Uncle Tony,” she told him, giving the toddler a quick kiss.
“Lily,” James started and Lily sighed loudly.
“Look, James, if you’re going to give me your version of Sandy’s lecture. Can it wait a while okay,” she asked, allowing annoyance to fill her voice.
“Actually I was just going to ask if you’re okay,” he replied back tartly and she sighed once more.
“Sorry,” she apologized. “I’m fine I guess, thanks. I really need to go get in the shower before Sandy goes nuclear.” James gave her a small smile and she tried to ignore it effects on her pulse. She was so not going there! Lily took off her mud-caked shoes and raced upstairs to take her shower. She met Tony once more in the hall, Sandy was already giving him instruction and Lily could tell he was practically frothing with irritation.
It didn’t take long for Tony and Lily to clean up the mess they had made. Lily really did have to agree with Tony that it really wasn’t that big of a deal, but she’d never admit that with Sandy in hearing range which for a werewolf is quite large. Lily sat on a barstool in the kitchen sipping on a beer, feeling much lighter and more at ease than she had in a very long time. “He’s down,” James said, walking in the kitchen, referring to A. J.
“Really? That was pretty quick,” Lily admitted impressed.
“Yeah well we had been playing hard today,” he replied with a grin then looked at her with an intense gaze. “You look different.”
“What? What do you mean?” She asked, confused and looked at herself.
“I don’t know… you just look different, more like when I first met you,” James told her and Lily couldn’t help but smile. The time he met her, her sister Lacy was chasing her around the house because Lily had stolen her childhood diary which she wrote about her enormous crush on James.
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Lily stated and finished off the beer and he nodded.
“Yeah that was meant to be a good thing,” he said. “Well I got to go; five a. m. comes all too early. I’ll see you later.” She gave him a small wave with a goodbye, glad that things hadn’t gotten weird between them but also a little irritated. Why hadn’t he said anything about the kiss? Maybe it was because he seriously wasn’t attracted to her in the slightest without the bond. That should be a good thing but couldn’t help feel a little disappointed.
The week went on, things were pretty much normal. James had not once mentioned the kiss or acted as it had even happened. It was starting to really irritate her, but Lily attempted to keep herself too busy to think about anything that had to do with James. It was Thursday when Jessie finally got in contact with her. “What’s the report on the vamp sighting?” Lily asked as when her phone rang and the disgruntled grunt from Jessie told her all she needed to know.
“We couldn’t find a trace of him when we got there. I wondered if he was even there to begin with,” Jessie complained. “You said you needed to get to get in contact with me urgently. What’s the update?” Lily told her about her big mouthed uncle and that the mission was now not so secret. Lily took the phone away from her ear as Jessie began to loudly and quite vividly curse and swear.
“My brother, Tony wants to meet with you and discuss what’s going on and if there is anything he can do,” Lily told her once she had finished and Jessie grunted again as an answer.
“Might as well, the only thing missing is a big neon sign pointing at us saying, King Silvano, we’re here to capture you. Send me the when and where and I’ll be there,” Jessie told her.
“Alright I’ll call my brother right now,” Lily replied and once she hung up, she called her brother who set up a meeting for that evening around six.
Lily paced the living room nervously as she waited for Jessie to show up. Her old life mixing in with her new one had her a bit anxious. When the resounding knock came to the door, she bolted towards the hallway to be the first one to open up and her jaw fell to the floor.
“You’re all here?” She said in awe.
“Hell yeah!” Cesar jumped in. “None of us wanted to miss the chance to see the domesticated life of the hybrid,” the red-headed demon teased.
“You make it sound like I’m a rare exhibit at the zoo or something Cesar,” Lily argued.
“Nah this is more like Animal Planet! Here we have the rare specimen of Nosferatu-lycanthrope! It’s a one of a kind and found only in this region of the United States,” he stated with a bad English accent.
“Enough Cesar, we’re here to work,” Jessie demanded and Lily stepped aside so they could all come inside. She led them to the living room and everyone seemed to be surprised by the amount of people following her as she had been.
“This is my brother and the pack alpha Tony,” she began. “That’s James, his beta, and Keon, his enforcer. This is Andrew the ex-alpha, Tony’s father… and you all already know Chris,” she stated. “Tony this is Jessie Hart the ops leader. We worked together in Montana against Xavier” she started indicating the knockout brunette human beside her.
“This is Donovan. He’s one badass fairy, a lead guardian trainer in Montana. He’s actually one of mine for my short-lived attempt to join their ranks, and about the only one who was able to knock some sense into my head,” she said with a smile and the large fairy grinned at her then nodded respectfully to Tony. “This is Cesar, a fire demon and an expert on survival techniques, taught me a lot too,” she went on indicating to the redhead beside her.