Filed To Story: In the Shadow of the Past Luna (Lily & James)
Me: “Does she?”
Lily: “Yes. She whines for him every day.”
Me: “Is Rose the only one who misses us?”
Lily: “If I told you that I sort-of miss you too, will it give you a huge ego?”
Me: “Absolutely.”
Me: “But I am happy to confess that I miss you, too, Lily.”
Lily: “I miss you as well, James.”
I can feel my heart bursting through my chest. Lily: “So… did you know that the Wolf Packers baseball team is owned and coached by wolves?”
Me: “Really? Isn’t that… a bit. literal?”
Lily: [laughing out loud emoji] “Yeah, it is.”
Me: “Are any of the players wolves?”
Π Lily: “No. Just the coaches and owners.”
Me: “Where did you learn this information?”
Lily: “I have my sources.”
[winking emoji] Lily and I continued on that like for the next thirty-five minutes, chatting about various things, until I finally had to go downstairs to meet my father. I cannot tell you how good it felt to communicate with her, and to know she is thinking of me and missing me just like I am her. Despite everything, I could not help the huge smile on my face as I made my way to my father’s office.
(James POV) The meeting with my father was about as painful as you can imagine it being. I will not bore you with the details; I promise that you have already heard most of them. Luke and I tuned out half the meeting/ lecture ourselves. The only new information that I took from the meeting was that my father now believed that my irresponsibility”
was causing my mother unnecessary heartache. He reminded me that Margie had decided that I would marry Sheila and make her pup my heir, and he said that one way or another, I needed to make sure that I fulfilled her wish. No, he actually went further than that. I believe his actual quote was, “It is the least we can do for her after all we took from her years ago. Sadly, he said that during a part of the lecture that I was paying attention to, and I literally had to bite my tongue to prevent lashing out at him. Somehow, in his mind, sins committed by my mother before I was born had become sins that he and I also had to pay for. 1 Unfortunately, my father did not stop there. He also demanded that I “fix my sh&t”
as soon as possible. My father’s implicit request was clear but horrifying: he wanted me to make sure that Mary Beth’s pup was dealt with, one way or another. How, he did not really care. He just did not want there to be another pup out there that could challenge Sheila’s pup for the title of alpha and trigger the alpha challenge processes. (A legitimate first-born heir does not need to go through the alpha challenge process. An illegitimate first-born can, however, force a legitimate second-born into a challenge.) I mostly listened to my father, having lost interest in actually speaking with him. However, at one point, I did ask my father why-if the alpha challenge process was to be avoided at all costs- he was comfortable submitting Nick to it. (Nick was not a legitimate first-born alpha heir, so he would have to submit to challenges as well.) My father told me matter-of-factly that no one in this pack was willing to challenge Margie, and that meant no one would be willing to challenge Nick as well. I was incredibly bothered both by my father’s answer and by his bluntness. For years, Margie had run things behind the scenes. Now, ever since my mother confessed to what she did with Tyler, my parents had almost embraced the fact that Margie was the one in control. How were pack members supposed to respect an alpha who was letting his pack be run by the beta female? Alas. The only thing good that came out of the meeting with my father was that he made a minor concession: instead of marrying Sheila in two weeks, my marriage would be officially announced. Then, in two months on my birthday, I would marry Sheila. H ooray (not). My father promised to sell the delay to Sheila and Margie as a way to: 1) give me time to sort through the Mary Beth issue; and 2) give them extra time to make the wedding even grander and more elaborate. that I For my part, I simply rolled my eyes as my father announced his plans. I never agreed to marry Sheila or even show up to the wedding, nor did my father even bother to ask me if I would. It was clear that he thought I had no other options. It was also clear that he thought I was the same submissive pup had been all of my life… or at least the same angry but submissive pup that I had been the past six years. When my father was done saying all that he wanted to say, I got up and left. I figured I had better things to do than fight with this wolf that I barely recognized anymore. I suppose he has probably always been the same wolf that he is now, but the more I change and grow, the more I see him through new eyes. And I do not like what I see.. I was headed to Joey and Jessica’s house when Nick stopped me. “James, I really need to talk to you.”
I raised my eyebrows. “About what?”
“You need to marry Sheila.”
Nick’s comments surprised me. Of all the ranked wolves, I had expected at least Nick to be on my side. He had been my best friend for years and I trusted him. “Wow. You too?”
I asked, completely shocked. “Look, Dude, I get it. Sheila is annoying. I would not want to marry her either. But she is carrying your pup, which means you liked her at least enough to f&&k her.
“She is not carrying my pup, Nick.”
Nick rolled his eyes. “Fine. Tell yourself that. The thing is, Dude, you are not getting any younger. Your rejected your second chance mate; there is no such thing as a third chance mate. You are going to have to take a chosen mate at some point, and it might as well be the mother of your pup.”
“You have no idea what you are talking about, Nick. I am not marrying Sheila, period.”
I turned to walk away, but Nick grabbed me by the upper arm. “Do it for my mom, James. Please.”
I i I looked at him in disbelief. “Why does your mother care so much about who I marry? And why should I care what she thinks?”
“My mom has lost not one but two pups. Do you have any idea how hard that is to go through? Most of us will never lose one pup, and she has had to deal with the loss of two. “What is your point, Nick?”
1 “My mom has suffered enough. She deserves a little bit of happiness and a little bit of peace. Maybe she is coming on a little strong, and maybe that is why you are pushing back like you are. And if that is what it is, I get it. I understand. But please, she really is coming from a good place. She wants to protect the pack, and she wants to protect Stephanie’s memory. You marrying Sheila will do both of those things.”
“I have a mate, Nick. If I marry anyone, it will be her.”
“Stephanie is dead, James. I am sorry to be so blunt, but you need to accept it. You cannot keep holding out for her to return, because it is not going to happen.”
I shook my head. “I meant Lily, Nick. My mate is Lily.”
Nick recoiled in disgust. “Lily would never be half the luna that Stephanie would have been and that Sheila will be.”
“Lily is your sister, too, Nick. Or did you forget that?”
I asked him angrily. “Lily stopped being my sister the moment she got Stephanie killed. I will never forgive her for what she did.”
“Lily had nothing to do with Stephanie’s death. You need to pull your head out of your a&& and re-think everything that you have been told and everything you have believed. I know I am partly to blame for Nick scoffed. “I hope wherever Lily is, she is dead. I hope her death was five times more painful than what Stephanie went through.”
At that point, Luke took control over my body, launched himself at Nick, and punched him in the face. YOU WILL NEVER TALK ABOUT LILY LIKE THAT AGAIN. IF YOU DO, I WILL KILL YOU.”
Luke immediately gave me back control, and apologized to me for taking over without my permission. However, I was not upset with him. He did exactly what I wanted to do. Nick rubbed his cheek and looked at me with both shock and anger in his eyes. “I am done playing nice, James. Let me just lay it all out there. I love my mother, and I will fight for whatever it takes to make her feel happy and at peace. For whatever reason, you marrying Sheila will make her happy. If you will not prioritize my mother and her-feelings, I will not prioritize yours. “Meaning?”
“Meaning if you do not marry Sheila, I will go to the werewolf council and report what your mother did 27 years ago.”
I laughed sarcastically. “You really think they will care about something that happened that long ago?”
“There is no limitation period on murder,”
Nick snarled. “Your mother killed Tyler, and I am a witness to her full confession. Marry Sheila, or be prepared to have your mother spend the rest of her life in a council prison.”
“Have you ever thought that maybe that is exactly where my mother belongs?”
Nick ignored my comment. “Think about it, James, I will give you two weeks. You will stand on that stage with Sheila and announce your marriage, or I go to the werewolf council.”
I smiled angrily. Nick, my (now former) best friend and (now former) future beta, was black-mailing me in order to support his psychotic mother. “Fine, Nick. Threat received.”
I then turned and walked away. It was time for me to go to Joey’s house and finally start getting some answers.
(James POV) The walk to Joey’s house from the packhouse normally took about 15 minutes. I was so upset after the conversation with Nick that I made the walk in just 7 minutes. I felt ready to get the answers that I needed and leave this pack once and for all. At this point, I was not sure that a single soul in this pack was worth sticking around for. I knocked on the front door. Jessica answered the door, and she looked surprised to see me. “James, I “I assume Joey is here?”
“Y-y-yes. What are you doing here?”
“I would like to talk to him. And you.”
Jessica gestured for me to enter. She then gestured for me to go ahead and sit on one of the two couches. Joey came downstairs, and the two of them sat next to each other on the other one. “Sir? What are you doing here?”
Joey asked. I shook my head. “You cannot really be surprised that I am here. I mean, with Mary Beth’s pup and all, we are going to be family soon,”
Joey rubbed his neck. “About that, Sir…”
“Why did you do it, Joey?”
“I am sorry, Sir; I just panicked.”
“But why? You have been acting strangely since we left for Hawail. I want to know what is going on.”
Jessica and Joey exchanged looks, “Tell me.”
“You are our future alpha, James. We just want you to be happy,”
Jessica offered. “Bullsh&t.”
“We do not like Shella,”
Joey said. “And?”
“And that is it. We do not like Sheila. End of story.”
I rolled my eyes. They were not going to make this easy on me. Fine. I was ready to play the long-game. I took my shoes off and propped my feet up on the couch. “What… what are you doing, James?”
Jessica asked. “Getting comfortable. I can tell the two of you are hiding something, but you do not want to tell me what it is. I am not leaving until I find out what, though, so I figure I might as well prepare to wait.”
“You cannot just walk into our home and talk to us like that. You are not alpha yet,”
Joey stated firmly. I smirked. “No, I am not. Would you like me to link my father? I have a feeling he would like to hear what you have to say as well.”
Joey and Jessica both paled. “No! Please do not link him!”
Jessica begged, suddenly panicking. She had tears in her eyes. Whoa.. I knew they were hiding something, but I did not expect the reaction to be quite that extreme. “Start talking,”
I responded simply. I watched as Joey and Jessica looked at each other once again. I could tell that they were mind-linking. They were very obviously worried about something. I sighed. I sat up and tried again, this time using a much gentler voice. “Look, I do not know what you are hiding, but you do not need to be afraid to tell me. Whatever it is, it cannot be any worse than half the sh&t that I have found out the past several weeks. I am not going to link my father. That was an empty threat. In case you could not tell from the interaction you watched earlier today, we are not exactly getting along well right now. I am here because I am trying to get answers, and I know that you have some of them.”
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?