Filed To Story: In the Shadow of the Past Luna (Lily & James)
“We have a lot to talk about, I think.”
(James POV)
“We have a lot to talk about, I think,”
Lily says.
“Understatement of the century,”
Luke links me.
“1. I have so many questions,”
I stammer out.
She nods. “That is why I am here, is it not?”
“Yes… no… I mean…”
Lily looks at me curiously. “You seem different.”
“I feel different,”
I concede.
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why are you different? Why are you here? Why did you want to see me? Before last night, the last time that you and I had a conversation was at Stephanie’s memorial, and that was not exactly pleasant for either one of us.”
I take a deep breath. I have so much to say… so much to make up for… and so much I want to know. I do not even know where to start.
“Start from the beginning,”
Luke encourages me.
“Stephanie’s memorial that was also your birthday. Your 20th birthday.”
I watch Lily’s face as I bring up her birthday. I can almost feel her heart stop and her breath catch. She looks at me sadly. “Yeah. Yeah, it was.”
I wait to see if she is going to say anything else, but she does not.
“Lily, I am so very sorry. I blamed you and punished you for Stephanie’s death… and I should not have. I was a fool.”
Again, I watch Lily’s face. She seems to be trying really hard to hold back tears.
“Why,”
she asks in a whisper.
“Why?”
I repeat, not understanding what she is asking.
She stares at the ocean. “Why did you tell everyone that Stephanie’s death was my fault? Why did you tell my parents that it was?”
I look down at my hands. I do not know what to say.
My silence is once again the wrong move. Lily turns to look at me. This time, tears are quickly running down her cheeks and her eyes are blazing with anger.
“All these years, James. All these years, I have been told that Stephanie’s death was my fault. I have been bullied and abused because of it. I have been treated like trash by my own parents and by my brother. I was forced to fend for myself, sometimes going without meals. And yet, no one has ever been able to tell me why they think it was my fault, other than you told them that it was. I think I deserve to know why.”
(Lily POV)
I am embarrassed and angry that I am crying right now. This was not part of the plan. Not that I had a plan exactly, but crying was not part of whatever semblance of a plan that I did have. I never wanted James to see me cry, nor did I ever want him to know how much he had hurt me over the years.
“He needs to know,”
Rose links me. “And it is good for you. For us. You need to get this out. You have been holding on to the hurt for too long. Lily. Share your burdens with him. If you cannot lay the hurt and pain down at the feet of the male who caused it all, who can you share it with?”
“Brady?”
I suggest, although I am not serious.
“No. Not Brady,”
Rose replies adamantly. “James. It is time we share these burdens with James. Our mate.”
I do not want to fight with Rose right now. I love her and respect her, even if I think that she is letting the lingering mate bond impact her.
I wipe the tears from my eyes, and I wait for James to respond to my last question. He does not. Instead, he just looks at his hands. His silence makes me more and more angry.
I lash out at him again.
“How can you sit there silently and not respond to me? Don’t you think I have the right to know? SIX YEARS, James. SIX YEARS. During that time, NO ONE has ever asked me what happened that night. NO. ONE. And yet everyone has punished me as though I committed some heinous crime. AND I DO NOT EVEN KNOW WHAT CRIME I COMMITTED! I don’t even know why people think I did something! Much less why me and not Sheila? Why did people blame ME? Was it just because I exist? Was my crime just
James looks up, and I see sadness, guilt, fear, and confusion In his eyes. And yet, he still does not answer me.
“ANSWER ME, D&&&IT!”
(James POV)
“Answer her, James,”
Luke demands.
I want do. I really do. But I am so scared. I have allowed Stephanie’s death and Lily’s role in it to define my life for the past six years. I now know that Lily was not to blame, but am I ready to cast negativity on Stephanie… the she-wolf that I loved “that you thought you loved,”
Luke corrects me for almost my whole life?
–
Worse, what if Lily does not understand why I blamed her? What if my explanation makes her hate me more? What if, after I tell her, she ends the meeting and walks away?
“You owe it to Lily to tell her the truth,”
Luke tells me. “If she does not forgive you, then… then we will figure something else out. But tell her, James. Please.”
I look at the ocean, take a deep breath, and slowly begin to lay it all out there.
“The night that Stephanie died, we were watching a movie together. She got a text around midnight. She did not let me see the text, but she said that it was from you. You snuck out of the house to meet a boy in the woods, and you got lost. You needed her to come and rescue you.”
I take a quick glance at Lily. She is watching me intently. I look back at the ocean. My mind brings me back to the memories and emotions of that fateful day. I continue the story almost as though I am telling it in real time.
“I was angry. Really angry. You should not have been in the woods late at night, much less in the woods.
to fool around with a boy. I wanted to go with Stephanie to rescue you…. and to teach you a lesson… but Stephanie insisted that she go by herself. She said you would be embarrassed if anyone else knew what you had been up to. So I let her go.
An hour later, I got a mind-link from the pack warriors saying that you had been seen running out of the woods screaming for help.
We all rushed to the woods, and we found….”
I pause, feeling myself get choked up by the memory. “…we found what was left of Stephanie. It was awful. Her clothes her hair. her blood… I have never seen anything like it. It was as though the rogues had literally eaten her alive. I was so angry and hurt and upset. My whole life, I had been told that your sister was my future. And yet, there I was, looking at my future literally reduced to a pile of blood, hair, and torn clothing.”
I put my head in my hands, as I feel my own tears threaten to fall. 1 wanted someone to blame. The rogues were long gone before we got there. I knew you had not killed Stephanie with your own hands, but if you had not been out in the woods fooling around with a boy if you had not asked Stephanie to rescue you everything would have been different. Stephanie would still be here.”
“And she would be your mate? Lily asks quietly.
“And Stephanie would be my mate,”
I confirm without thinking.
“JAMES!!!!”
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?