Lionel huffed. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me. If you think this little flesh wound is gonna make your family look bad in the police blotter, then buckle up. Just wait until the society page of the Times-Picayune finds out the wealthiest man in the history of New Orleans ain’t even man enough to show up to the wedding of his daughter. Everyone’s gonna read how Rosemary DuChamp was given away by her mother, and they’re all going to ask you about it at the club. All because she’s marrying his former business rival’s son over some long-forgotten feud.”
GiGi stared wide-eyed from Uncle Lionel to Rosemary to Aunt Betsy to Ash. They all looked like they were waiting for the old man to pounce on Vann with a vengeance. He was old, yes. But her uncle was loud and powerful and charismatic, and he could still make a Teamster’s nuts shrink into his abdominal cavity with one withering look. One doesn’t run the biggest shipping operation on the Gulf Coast with the demeanor of a pansy-ass.
But Lionel did not yell. He did not stomp his feet. What he did was tuck his checkbook back into his breast pocket, turn, and walk away.
Everyone watched him go. Betsy turned to follow her husband out.
“Mama?” Rosemary said.
Betsy looked back at her daughter and shrugged, whispering, “I do not know,” in answer to the unspoken question that was on Rosemary’s mind. Then she scampered to catch up with her husband. As the pair of them made their way down the hall, everyone could hear Lionel murmur, “I hear that daughter has got you helping with the wedding now. Oh, Betsy, how she gets her way with you, every time, is beyond me.”
Betsy replied. “That’s a trait she didn’t lick up off the street, Lionel DuChamp.”
Before they disappeared out the exit doors, everyone saw Lionel reach over and pull Betsy in close, followed by Betsy reaching over and slapping old Lionel on the ass.
Rosemary gasped, and Ash remarked, “Looks like the old man’s getting lucky tonight!”
“’Bout damn time,” said Rosemary, to a response of everyone’s laughter in relief that the tension was finally broken.
GiGi shook her head. “You people are crazy.” She still had tears streaming down her face.
Vann looked deeply concerned about her. “Thanks for coming, y’all, but my GiGi here and I are gonna have a little chat.”
They all reluctantly left the room, but not before Pen shot her a look of death.
“Pen, wait!”
GiGi wrenched herself free of Vann’s grasp and went to Pen, who held up impatiently.
“Pen,” GiGi said, “I don’t know you, so I don’t blame you for being angry with me. I know what this looks like.”
“It looks like several flesh wounds. Deep ones,” Pen said.
GiGi felt the stabbing pain of remorse grow deeper. “I am so sorry. I don’t know what else to say.”
Pen crossed her arms. “You two may not be such a good fit for each other. Rosemary and Ash are outliers. You know that, right?”
“Pen,” Vann interrupted. “Please. I know you mean well, but you need to go. It is not your place to bring this up. GiGi and I have got this.”
Pen was hurt. “So you’ve made a decision.”
Vann and Pen exchanged looks. The sound that came out of Vann was laden with grave warning. “You know who I mate with is none of your business.”
Pen left without another word, but GiGi thought she could see her dabbing at her eye.
GiGi regretfully watched her go. So much for trying to make friends with Vann’s people. This was why GiGi threw herself into her work. She wasn’t good at relationships, platonic or otherwise.
“Hey,” Vann said as if reading her thoughts. “Don’t worry about her. She’ll be fine.” He wiped her tears with his thumbs and kissed her mouth tenderly. When he was finished, he said, “So I guess we need to talk, Crazy Cat Lady.”
“Oh, Vann. I’m so sorry…”
“Oh no, you don’t. You do not need to apologize for who you are. But listen. We are not going to have this most important conversation while I’m wearing a butt window hospital gown. Let’s go get a whiskey and a steak and we can talk this thing out. Okay, Peaches?”
“But have they discharged you yet?”
He laughed. “I don’t know, and I do not care, but let’s get the fuck out of here.”
Chapter Thirteen
Vann
One advantage of being a wolf shifter who gets into a scrape, he can heal up quickly.
Vann hadn’t needed a blood transfusion or any extra treatment at the hospital, and his wounds were almost healed by the time they were halfway through their steaks.
It was perhaps a good thing he was still in a slight amount of pain and GiGi was afraid to touch him, because it allowed them to talk.
“So can I come out with the pack on a full moon sometime?”
The two of them were enjoying enormous steaks—hers with wine, his with whiskey—at a secluded chophouse on the river, the only people in the place in jeans and sneakers. To top it off, there was the bandage on Vann’s neck and more bandages on his back, giving his ratty hoodie a sort of humpback look. But one nice thing about dining with Vann was nobody questioned his attire at an upscale eatery. Celebrity earned him special dispensation.
Vann had just finished telling GiGi all about the history of the family and the curse that had been laid on the Boudreauxs, and how the present-day pack had all found each other.
“If you go back far enough in the family tree, Ash and I and the rest of the wolves are related. We all sort of discovered by accident what we were, and Ash’s parents, Jimmy and Charlene, took us all in when our parents didn’t know what to do with us. We all owe everything to those two.”
Then it was GiGi’s turn. The panthers had been cursed by a
