“I’m so psyched. I just quit my job.”
Phillipe was in the middle of putting dishes away and he stopped, just stopped, and turned to stare at his friend. “You did what?”
“I quit. God, it felt good. What about you? When is your last day?”
“Uh, haven’t made any plans on that yet.”
“This have to do with the hospital bill?” Patrick asked as he flopped on the couch and kicked his feet up on the coffee table.
“I guess you heard about that, huh?”
“Oh yeah, I heard all about it. You’re a fucking hero in my house. Way to make me look even worse, by the way.”
“That wasn’t my intention. Look, I know Brigid and I had that fight, but after the attack I went to see her and put that all behind us. I didn’t want her to have to drop out of school this close to finishing her degree. But it’s all cool. As part of that arrangement with Brock and Gia, she was able to pay me back everything I loaned her.”
“Dude, so you’re just rolling in it now?”
“Well, I had a little back rent to pay, but I’m set, yeah.”
“Good. So you just need to quit your job, and we need to sort out the transfer letters, and then we can hit the road! I’ll be happy to see this place disappearing in the rear view.”
“I’m not sure I’m ready to leave.”
Patrick sat up, putting his feet on the floor. “You’re bailing on me.”
“I didn’t mean for this to happen, okay?”
“You said you and Brigid were over. You said we were doing this.”
“Things changed.”
“Yeah. She got sick and you got to be the fucking hero. Guess you can’t very well walk out of a situation like that, can you? Not when everyone is going on about how awesome you are.”
“That’s not why I’m staying. I actually care about your sister, okay? I can’t ask her to come with us. You want to get away from your family so that wouldn’t be fair to you and she has school here, and a job now.”
“Not fair to me? We were going to do this together, Phillipe. We were going to split the rent on a place, put New Orleans and everyone in it behind us and start over.”
“And what kind of new start will that be? Where will I get a job? At another bar somewhere? I’m tired of these dead end jobs. Here I have connections, here I could find real work, maybe become head of security somewhere.”
“I’m not staying.”
“I’m not asking you too. It’s different for you. I can say ‘fuck you’ and walk away from my family and never see them again because the city is huge, and they aren’t shifters. If you stay …”
“There’s no ‘if’, Phillipe, I’m not staying. I’ve already talked to Louis, he’s writing my transfer letter. He’s called ahead to Montana, I’m expected. They have a place for me there. I’m leaving as soon as I’m done at work. Are you coming?”
“I can’t. Not now.”
“You’re really choosing Brigid over me?”
“I didn’t ask for this to happen! I didn’t know we’d hit it off or fall in love. I didn’t know what it was to be wanted, needed.”
“I NEED YOU! We were best friends for years. We’re all each other had. We’ve been planning this since we were eighteen. Ten years or more, Phillipe.”
“I can do the math.”
“And none of that means anything to you?”
“Of course it means something. We got each other through hell. I’ve found my way out, and it’s saying ‘fuck you’ to my parents and loving Brigid. You’ve found your way out, it’s Montana.”
“That’s just so fucking easy for you to say, isn’t it? I’m going to Montana, alone. I have to find work and pay rent, alone. I have to live alone. Me. Maybe that sounds great to you, you’re a bear. I’m a wolf and you were going to be my pack!”
Phillipe just looked away.
“You know what, fine.” He stood. “You’re the same as the rest of them. Everyone always said Brigid and Michelle were better than me, smarter than me, whatever, and it looks like you agree. So fine. You stay here and play house with my perfect sister. I’m gone.”
“Patrick, don’t leave like this. Come on, man.”
“Fuck you.”
And then he was gone up the stairs and out into the sunlight, slamming the door behind him.
Phillipe sat down on his lonely kitchen chair and put his head in his hands.
Phillipe parked on the street in front of the O’Leary house and grabbed the flowers off the passenger seat. He jogged up the front walk. The stop at the corner store for flowers had made him late and Katherine did not like late.
He raised a hand to knock on the door, but it opened before he could. Brigid stood in the doorway, her eyes strained with worry. “I thought you weren’t coming.”
“Why wouldn’t I come?”
“I don’t know. Dinner with your girlfriend’s parents can be intimidating.”
“I’ve had dinner with your parents before.”
“But they were always Patrick’s parents. Now …”
He kissed her forehead. “I’m not worried. I just stopped on the way here and it took longer than I thought.”
“Stopped where?”
Before he could answer, Katherine called, “Are the two of you coming? Dinner is ready.”
“Yes, we’re coming,” Brigid said.
Phillipe kissed the top of her head again and tucked his shoes in the closet. He knew she’d probably spotted the flowers but he didn’t say anything about them. He followed her to the kitchen where her mother was setting plates on the table. He took the stack of plates from her hands. “I’ll get that, you take care of these.” He handed her the flowers.
Katherine looked at the flowers, then Phillipe, then Brigid, then her husband. “Oh, well, I’ll just put these in water.”
She hummed the whole way over to the sink and reached for a vase from one of the upper cabinets. Brigid arched her eyebrows in a silent question and Phillipe just smiled and shrugged. He got the plates put out while Brigid grabbed cutlery. Katherine set the vase on the table and then grabbed dinner, a chicken stir fry that smelled of garlic and ginger, from the counter.
As they were sitting down, the doorbell rang. “Now who could that be?” Christopher said.
“I’ve got it,” Michelle said. She jogged to the front door. A moment later she called, “Brigid, it’s for you.”
Brigid looked confused but she pushed back her chair and went to the door. Christopher and Katherine were looking at each other, but Phillipe just smiled and kept his eyes on the food. When the girls returned Brigid was carrying a massive bouquet of flowers.
Phillipe didn’t react, even though everyone was staring at him. Finally Katherine said, “Phillipe?”
“Yes?”
“You ordered her flowers when you were coming over?”
“How else was I going to surprise her with them?”
The girls were all grinning, but Christopher was serious. “You keep this up and she’ll be proposing to you in a few weeks.”
They started on supper, the conversation turning to work and school.
“Have you heard anything from Patrick?” Phillipe asked.
“Is he still not talking to you?” Michelle said.
Phillipe shook his head.
“He hasn’t called us either,” Katherine said. “But Louis got confirmation from the Alpha in Montana that Patrick arrived safe and sound and that they’re helping him find a job and an apartment. I believe he was sleeping on the Alpha’s couch until they could find something more permanent, and private.”
“I’m glad he made it safe,” Phillipe said.
“It’s just so strange, how he just up and left like that,” Christopher said. “I don’t understand.”
Phillipe took a deep breath. “It’s not my place. You’re a family and really, it’s up to you guys to sort things out without me meddling. But Patrick and I were best friends. He told me everything. I know he felt stifled here, he fe
lt like everyone viewed him as a failure and that no one understood him. He felt like the only way anyone would accept him or take him seriously was to start over somewhere new. I was going to go with him, get away from my parents and all the bad memories, but things changed for me.”
Brigid patted his knee under the tabled and he smiled at her.
Katherine’s eyes were wide. “Now, that’s just ridiculous. We love all our children. We never wanted him to run off.”
Phillipe just shrugged.
“How’s the new warehouse?” Christopher asked.
Phillipe shrugged. “One is much like another. Of course I was just getting used to the new location, driving wise, and now I have to remember to go somewhere else again. We used the same place for years, and now a second new location in three years. This is getting ridiculous.”
“I can imagine.”
“Is the pack moving?”
“We’re much larger, and we need more space to run. It will take us some time to find a place that is suitable for our needs, and purchasing it discreetly with all this attention on the Human Order and shifters will make moving difficult.”
“That’s very true.”
“It’s just so hard to believe,” Katherine said. “We all felt so safe there.”
“Not all of us,” Brigid muttered.
Her parents looked at her.
“Did something happen?” Katherine asked.
“Oh, just that I had to stand up for one of the juvenile wolves for a few months because there were some older wolves running her ragged.”
“Why would they do that?”
“I don’t know,” Brigid said.
Phillipe frowned. “Yes you do, and so do I.”
“Phil, don’t.”
“I’m sorry, I know you said Louis was taking care of it, but I don’t like sweeping it under the rug.”
“Sweeping what under the rug?” Katherine asked.
“It was a couple of guys,” Phillipe said. “And the teen was a girl. Maybe they thought that the age difference didn’t matter if they were furry.”
“Is this true?” Christopher said.
“I don’t know what their motives were,” Brigid said. “But she was terrified. Look, I told Louis as soon as it happened and he’s dealing with it. It’s gotten better, I promise. Louis is a really good Alpha, he cares about his pack. He will protect her.”
Michelle nodded. “You weren’t there, Dad, you were at the hospital with Brigid, but he took all of the younger male wolves, like everyone from just shifted to thirty-five, and talked to them while Sylvie entertained the rest of us. I didn’t know what it was about, but I’m betting it was because of Brigid saying something.”
“You did the right thing,” Katherine said. “I’m sure that will be the end of it.”
“Oh, I don’t think those guys are going to try anything,” Phil said. “Pass the stir fry. It’s delicious.”
Chapter 17
“Are you sure about this?” Brigid asked. She was studying her reflection in the mirror.
Phillipe stepped up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. “Trust me. You look gorgeous.”
“Isn’t this a little over the top?” She was wearing a curve-hugging, cleavage-baring, top with leggings and cute little heeled shoes. She’d done her make-up more heavily than usual and had pulled her hair up. “I look like a hooker.”
“You do not,” he said. He kissed her neck. “You look sexy and confident.”
“I don’t like being bait.”
“Bree, I won’t abandon you again. I work at a club, I’ve seen these kinds of men before. A stern word won’t change their behavior, not when Louis’ rules didn’t keep them in line in the first place. This will work. This will fix things.”
“I don’t know. Maybe a different top.”
“If we don’t leave right now I’m going to pin you to that bed and we’ll have to try this again next new moon.”
She felt her heart begin to race. “Okay. I’m ready. Let’s go.”
She tried to walk away but he pulled her back, this time chest to chest, and kissed her hard. “I can’t promise I won’t pin you to the bed later. You’re too tempting.”
She swallowed hard. “I-I’ll keep that in mind.”
He kissed her again, gentler this time. “Let’s go.”
Nerves quickly replaced arousal as they headed for his car. Phillipe dropped her off in front of the pack hall and drove away. She smoothed her leggings, stood up straight, and walked inside.
As she walked in, friends of her parents swarmed her, asking her how she was feeling and offering her warm thoughts and best wishes. She gritted her teeth and smiled through it, thanking them. Really, she just wanted the meeting to be over.
Once Louis called everyone to order, they discussed security issues and the possibility of cutting the human family members out of the pack. This was met with a lot of protest so they discussed finding a middle ground that would keep the pack safe and still promote family.
Brigid kept glancing at the clock on her phone, waiting for the appointed time. The meeting was scheduled to end at nine, but there was always visiting and talking afterwards. “Don’t stay for the visiting. You have to leave promptly at nine. Tell them you have plans. I’ll be waiting,” Phillipe had said. She took a deep breath and glanced around. Alan was there, and he was watching her. She shivered.
As soon as Louis wrapped up the official part of the meeting, Brigid stood and headed for the door. A few people stopped her and she smiled at them and excused herself. “I’m meeting a friend. I have to go. I don’t want to be late. I’ll see you at the full moon in two weeks,” and so on as she went.
The urge to look over her shoulder, to check if Alan was still watching her, if he was following her, was strong but she resisted it, keeping her eyes on the exit or on the faces of those who stopped to talk to her.
She stepped out into the cool night air and breathed deeply. She couldn’t see Phillipe or his car, but she had to trust that he was there, that he would keep his promise to her. She pulled out her phone and checked for updates, trying to look busy.
The door clanged shut a few feet behind her and she looked up. It was Alan and his friends. I guess Phil was right.
The boys approached her. Alan was grinning. “Well don’t you look lovely tonight. Were you expecting me?”
“I’m waiting for a friend,” she said. “Fuck off.”
“The little bitch has bite,” he said. “That might be fun.”
He stepped right into her personal space until she stepped back. He laughed. She straightened and tried to look confident. “I said fuck off, Alan.”
“Patrick isn’t here anymore.”
“I don’t need Patrick to protect me,” she said.
“What are you going to do?” He stepped in closer to her again. Behind him his buddies were snickering. “I’ve been waiting to taste your lips again.”
There was a bump from the garbage bins behind the pack house, then a second louder one.
“What the hell is that?”
Alan looked at his back up and said, “Go check it out. We don’t want to be interrupted.”
“Maybe a parking lot isn’t the best place to be standing if you don’t want to be interrupted,” Brigid said with a burst of confidence.
“Good idea,” Alan said, grabbing her arm. “My car is over this way.”
She struggled against him. Why did I say that? We have to stay here. Phillipe is coming here. I can’t let him drive away. I can’t.
Phillipe was not at all surprised when three young men had followed Brigid out of the clubhouse. He’d seen enough of their type at the club, the type that couldn’t take no for an answer, the type that looked for the drunk ones, the vulnerable ones. He hated them and he’d enjoyed dragging them out of the club and adding them to the black list. He knew they’d simply move on to other hunting grounds, clubs where the bouncers didn’t keep as close an eye on the female patrons. There
was nothing he could do about that.
Bumping the garbage can had worked to lure two of the three attackers away from Brigid. Phillipe was ready to rattle things again when he saw the third man grab Brigid’s arm and begin pulling her away. The possessive, territorial side of the bear sprang up and he bounded out of his hiding place, all seven-hundred pounds of him, moving faster than his size suggested. If he had room to really get going, he could keep pace with city traffic. Here he didn’t have the time or space to get up to speed, but he didn’t have far to go.
He bowled the first two over, knocking them aside with his powerful shoulders. They were nothing, a nuisance; he had to get to the last one, the one that was hurting Brigid.
Even Brigid was startled when Phillipe burst out of his hiding place. She’d never seen him in his bear form before. If he was large as a man, he was huge as a bear, and he was charging straight at them. Seven hundred pounds of angry bear was hard to ignore.
He bounded past the two goons, knocking them to the pavement. They scrambled aside and then took off running down the street.
Alan spun Brigid around and shoved her towards the charging beast. Phillipe easily side stepped her, and with one more easy lope he had collided with Alan, knocking him to the ground. He stood over his target, his nose inches from Alan’s face.
“You asked what I was going to do,” Brigid said. She put a hand on Phillipe’s shoulder. “I think the real question is, what are you going to do? And I’ll tell you what the answer is. You’re going to stop chasing the young wolves around. Stop harassing them, stop teasing them, just leave them all alone. Leave me alone, too. Wolf form, human form, doesn’t matter. You won’t try to harass me or hurt me in any way. Because the next time you do, the Alpha isn’t the only one I’ll report you to.”
Phillipe had promised to keep this quiet but he really wanted to bellow in his man’s face, just to intimidate him. Instead he yawned, showing off his teeth and how wide he could open his mouth. Alan shut his eyes and turned away.
“Alan, do we understand each other?”
“Yes. For God’s sake, yes. Call him off. Just get him away from me.”
Phillipe Page 16