Filed To Story: In the Shadow of the Past Luna (Lily & James)
1/2
few other females onto the stage to give us an impromptu belly dancing lesson. To my surprise, it was a lot of fun and I picked up the moves very quickly.
It was not long before the professional dancers encouraged us to start dancing and moving with them through the crowd. When I got back to Brady, he pulled me close to him. He looked intently into my eyes and leaned in as though he was about to kiss me…
…until we heard a loud, angry growl from the back of the pavilion.
(Alpha Brady POV)
I am an idiot. An absolute, complete, utter idiot.
First, I rejected my mate.
And now… now I am falling head over heels in love with someone else’s.
What is wrong with me?!?!?!
I should have known the second that my father asked me if I loved Lily. He has always been far more intuitive than I give him credit for. I am supposed to be the special wolf, and yet he always seems to know things far earlier than I do.
When he first asked me if I loved Lily, I did not want to admit it. I knew that I was attracted to her, but I told myself that it was impossible that I already loved her. Lily and I had only just met, and she had a ton of trauma that she was working through. My interest in her was primarily to be her friend and help her. Of course, it did not hurt that she was incredibly hot and kind and funny… but no, I did not love her. I could not; I had not been romantically interested in a she-wolf since Evelyn.
And yet the second my father asked me if I loved Lily, a part of me knew he was right. I fought it for a while… but being here in Hawaii with her has caused even the most reluctant part of me to accept the facts.
I am not falling in love with Lily; I have fallen in love with Lily.
F&&k my life.
Here I am, in the most romantic state in the United States, with a she-wolf that I have just realized that I am in love with, and I am basically forcing her to meet with her ex-mate.
How did I end up in this position? Is this my punishment for what I did to Evelyn?
I know we are here for Lily’s own safety. We need to find out what James wants and then close that chapter of their lives. But what if James decides that he wants her back? Worse, what if Lily decides that she wants him back too? Getting over Evelyn was one of the hardest things that I have ever had to do. Truth be told, I am still not over her. Am I prepared to get my heart broken for a second time?
Honestly, in retrospect, I wish I had convinced Lily that we needed to meet James somewhere else.
Somewhere with a cold, snowy climate that requires lots and lots of layers of clothing. Alaska would have been a great choice. But no, stupid me had to agree to Hawall. A place that not only screams romance and honeymoon fantasies, but which also all but demands that Lily walk around in tiny little shorts.
I made sure to plan a lot of activities for Lily and I while we were here. I thought doing so would be good to help her keep her mind off of James, and I think for the most part it worked. We were having a lot of fun. Heck, even our wolves were having fun together. Kalen is not quite as smitten with Rose as I am
–
with Lily he still misses Evelyn and her wolf-, but even Kalen is smitten, and I can tell he is becoming more and more smitten every day.
At night, Kalen and I would talk about strategies for what we would do or say when we saw James. We had never been good friends with James, but we knew each other and got along fine. Unfortunately, that was the past… before I found out what has been happening in his pack for years, right under his nose. It is tough for me to not want to pound him into a pulp… not only for what he did to Lily, but also what he has allowed to happen in his pack.
The night before the meeting with James, I dragged Lily to a traditional Hawaiian luau. I thought dinner and a show would be a great distraction for both her and myself.
I did not anticipate that the dancers would pull Lily on stage. Nor did I anticipate that they would have her change into a coconut bra and grass skirt. And I absolutely did not anticipate that Lily would be so d&
&n good at belly dancing.
As I watched her dance and start to follow the professional dancers around the room, I made a decision.
I did not care why we were in Hawall; I did not care who we would be meeting with tomorrow; and I did not care if I eventually had my heart broken. I would live for that moment.
I grabbed Lily as she walked back over to our table. I looked into her eyes, searching for any sign of hesitation. Seeing none, I leaned in to kiss her.
Just before our lips met, that a&&hole James made his appearance. His loud growl from the back of the pavilion caused everyone in the pavillion to freeze. Eyes glaring at us, he then walked towards the stage, with an attitude suggesting that he thought he owned the place. He would soon learn, he did not.
I moved forward towards James, ready to fight him. Lily gently grabbed my arm, silently begging me not to do anything that I would regret. Unfortunately, what she failed to realize is that punching the lights out of James would never be something that I would regret.
(Several hours earlier)
(Joey POV)
I had managed to prevent Sheila from sitting next to James on the airplane, but I was not sure how I was going to prevent her from wrecking the overall trip… and our long-term plans.
We had already been on the plane for four hours, and I had yet to come up with a single idea to get rid of her.
Thankfully, the Moon Goddess must have been on our side.
Frustrated and bored, I pulled out my phone, turned on the plane’s wi-fi, and discovered several text messages from my mate.
Jessica:
“Where are you going?”
Jessica:.
“Joey, answer me. It is important. Where are you going?”
Jessica:
“Joey, please for the love of the Goddess, answer me.”
Jessica:
“JOEY!”
Me:
“Babe, so sorry. I had my phone in airplane mode. I forgot the plane had wi-fi. What is up? Is everything okay?”
“No, it is not okay! Have you seriously forgotten about Sheila? And Lily? And our plans?”
“Where are you going?”
Jessica:
Jessica:
Me:
“Hawaii. You know that.”
Jessica:
“No, I mean do you have a direct flight or a stopover?”
Me:
“A direct flight…”
Jessica:
“To where?”
Me:
“Hawaii.”
Jessica:
[angry emoji] “Where in Hawall?”
Me:
“I dunno. One of the islands.”
1/3
Jessica:
“Answer my d&&n question or I swear to the Goddess you will not get laid again for a year.
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?