Filed To Story: In the Shadow of the Past Luna (Lily & James)
Brady looked at me sheepishly. I kind of like it when the big, bad alpha gets sheepish around me. And it suddenly gave me an idea.
“Don’t worry. It is fine. We can fix this. I know what I need to do. Brady, can you grab the cake pan on the bottom shelf of the cabinet over there?”
Brady nods, goes over to the cabinet, and leans over. As soon as he does, I take the bowl of cookie dough that he had been stirring and dump it over his head. To make sure it sticks, I then remove the bowl and quickly use my fingers to smash the cookie dough into his hair.
Once I do so, I run as fast as I can to the other side of the kitchen island, laughing the whole way.
“LILY! I AM GOING TO GET YOU BACK FOR THIS!”
Brady grabs a few eggs that are nearby and chases me around the island until he catches me. He then cra cks them on my head. Of course, I retaliate. Soon, we are in a heated battle as we hurriedly throw flour, eggs, sugar, and whatever else we can find at each other.
Ten minutes later, we are a laughing, ugly mess and we have run out of ingredients to throw. Unfortunately, that is when we realize that someone is watching us. And not just someone.
We immediately stop laughing.
“Dr. Hyder.”
“Dad.”
Dr. Hyder gives us serious looks.
I
“I did not know you were coming back to the pack today, Dad. I thought you were planning to stay in Red
River with Mom for the next several weeks.”
Dr. Hyder ignores Brady’s comment. “Is this how you run our pack when I’m not here, Brady?”
“Dr. Hyder, please do not be mad at him,”
I cut in. “It was me who started it. I am really sorry. I do not know what I was thinking.
“You started it, but he obviously continued it, didn’t you, Son?”
“Dad, I-“
“What do you think ‘Nancy is going to say when she walks into her kitchen and sees what you have done.
to it?”
Dr. Hyder asks gruffly. Nancy is the head omega, and the pack kitchen is her pride and joy.
“I will clean it up, Dr. Hyder.”
Dr. Hyder glares at me. “Why should you clean it up? My son here obviously enjoyed himself. If he enjoyed making the mess, he should enjoy cleaning up the mess as well.”
Brady recoils at the way that Dr. Hyder is talking to him. “Dad, your tone suggests you have forgotten who the alpha is now.”
“Son, your tone suggests you have forgotten who raised you and gave you this pack. If you want to be treated as an alpha, act like an alpha. Clean up this mess and then shower. Both of you. We need to talk. I will meet both of you in the alpha office in an hour.”
(One hour later)
(Dr. Jay Hyder POV)
I use the alpha office to get some work done while I wait for Brady and Lily. My son is the first to arrive.
“You are sitting in my chair,”
Brady says matter of factly.
“I am sitting in the alpha chair,”
I correct him.
“And I am the alpha now.”
“Not while I am here,”
I respond back tersely.
Brady says nothing in return. He knows better. He may be the alpha right now, but ceding authority to anyone is not something that I do. I will always be in control, regardless of whether I am alpha or not.
“Dad, about what you saw”
“It was nice to see her laugh.”
Brady looks at me with surprise.
“It was nice to see you laugh, too, Son.”
Brady’s eyes get even bigger.
“Do you mean that you are not angry about it?”
I glare at him.
“Ok, so you are angry,”
he says, defeated.
“You are a grown man. An alpha of a pack.”
You should not give a sh&t what I think, I add silently. “There are thousands and thousands of lives depending on you. Two adults having a food fight in the middle of the day is st upid and irresponsible. If any of the pack members saw you two screwing around, it would send the wrong message.
Brady frowns.
“Responsible or not, it does not change the fact that it was nice to see the two of you happy and having fun. That girl has been through a lot. Way too much. And you, Son, have not been the same since Evelyn …although yours of course was your own d&&m fault.”
Instead of saying anything, my son just nods. He does not appreciate it when I bring up Evelyn. That is why I do it every chance I get.
“Do you love her?”
I ask. I am not the kind to beat around the bush.
“What?”
“Do you love her?”
“Who?”
“Don’t play with me, Boy. Lily. Do you love Lily?”
“Dad, I only met her a few weeks ago.”
“And yet you are already propositioning her for sex.
Brady gulps.
“Yes, Son, I was there the entire time. You were too engrossed in each other to notice me.”
“Dad, I-“
“She has a mate, Brady.”
“She HAD a mate. She does not have one anymore,”
Brady growls. “That a&&hole does not deserve her;
you said that yourself.”
Before I can say anything else, Lily knocks on the door and walks into the office. I invite her to sit down in the guest chair next to Brady.
“We need to talk. I got another phone call from James Anderson.”
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?