Filed To Story: In the Shadow of the Past Luna (Lily & James)
“Help me here. What are you talking about?”
“Margie has had a number of security guards on her personal payroll.”
“What? Why? With what money?”
Joey handed me my coffee mug. “If your head is spinning already, I recommend we get back to that part of the story. Those questions will open an entire Pandora’s box of issues. I took a sip of my coffee and then just stared at the cup. “Okay, let’s go back. So you somehow kidnapped Dr. Hyder, and then what?”
“We brought him back here, in the trunk of my car.”
“I bet he was thrilled.”
‘ “He was… scary. And he became even scarier when he saw Lily lying unconscious in the guest room bed. At first, he thought we had done something to her. Once he realized that we were mostly trying to help her, he calmed down quite a bit. He was still really scary, but he was also really protective of Lily. He got her stabilized, and then after the search parties were called off by your parents, we used our network to sneak Dr. Hyder and Lily out of West Mountain Pack.”
I sighed. “Okay, I guess that makes sense so far. So now tell me why wolves are so upset that they are ready to violently overthrow pack leadership.”
Jessica stood and began pacing. “Everyone has their own reasons, their own stories.”
“Tell me some of them. I need to know.”
“I do not know if you have realized it, but Margie has always been a little bit… off. I do not know if it is me ntal illness or pure evilness or just isolated bitterness and hatred, but there is something really wrong with her. As I understand it from our parents and others that are older than us, she has always done… things… but pack members could usually avoid her wrath if you avoided her triggers and stayed out of her way However, when Stephanie began her luna training, it became harder and harder. And then, when Stephanie died, it was like all bets were off.”
“I do not understand. Give me some specifics. “Did you know Margie hates Luna Jane?”
Jessica asked me. “Margie does not hate my mother. They have had some troubles in the past, but they are still best friends.”
“No, they aren’t. At least not where Margie is concerned.”
I gave Jessica a questioning look. “For years Margie has regularly and intentionally undermined Luna Jane with staff. For example, say Luna Jane was planning an event, and she directed staff to order red napkins and white roses. As soon as Luna Jane walked out of the room, Margie would contradict all of Luna’s instructions. She would change the napkins to pink and the roses to yellow. It was all little stuff, but it was consistent and calculated.”
“Staff never told my mother?”
“Oh, they did at first, but Margie would ‘remind’ Luna Jane that Luna Jane had actually wanted the pink napkins and yellow roses, and Luna Jane would immediately refent. It was like Luna Jane felt powerless to say no to anything Margie wanted. Staff eventually stopped asking Luna Jane and just started doing what Margie wanted.”
“And you know this because?”
“Because some of those early staff members are part of the movement.”
“Surely you are not saying that pack members are willing to overthrow pack leadership because of the color of napkins and roses.”
“No, of course they are not,”
Jessica confirmed. “But you have to understand that when staff witnessed that sort of interaction between Luna Jane and Margie, it conveyed a very clear message about who was in charge, And it became very clear that Margie was never to be crossed.”
“And?”
“And with Margie in charge, wolves got hurt. A lot of them.”
“Again, I need some specifics.”
“Let’s start small,”
Joey suggested. “After Stephanie died, as you know, Margie wanted Stephanie’s memorial pictures hung up throughout the pack, at all of the businesses and in all the major buildings.”
“Okay.”
“And at first, most wolves were fine with doing that. Many had no idea how evil Stephanie really was. They understood that Stephanie was our future Luna and that we needed to respect her memory.”
“I am not sure where you are going with this.”
“It was fine at first. But as time went on, pack members wanted to take down the signs and the memorials. They had products that they wanted to advertise, or they had their own loved ones that they wanted to remember,”
Joey continued. “Okay…”
“But Margie would not hear of it. She made it clear that anyone who moved or removed their tributes to Stephanie would be severely punished.”
Jessica reached for Joey’s hand. “One couple in particular lost their 5-year-old pup in a car accident a couple of years ago.”
“The Hoffman Family?”
I ask Jessica nodded. “As you know, they run a sandwich shop about ten minutes from the packhouse. After their son died, they blew up his picture and put it on the counter by the register, where they previously had Stephanie’s picture. They did not remove Stephanie’s picture entirely, they just moved it to a nearby gallery wall. Margie came in some days later and saw that Stephanie’s picture had been moved. She demanded that it be moved back. The Hoffmans were grieving and upset about their pup, and they refused Margie’s request. They said they would honor their son any way they saw fit. Three days later, three guards on Margie’s payroll came to the shop at 10:00 am in the morning, just before they opened for lunch. The guards said that they had orders from the packhouse to torch the entire kitchen of their shop. The Hoffmans had to sit back and watch their entire livelihood burn up, while guards held them back. It took them months to re-build, and they received no compensation or help from the pack to do so.”
I clutched my chest as I remembered hearing about the fire. I had no idea that it had been set intentionally, much less at Margie’s order. “This is what you call starting small?”
I asked in disbelief. Jessica and Joey frowned. “Yes. Are you sure you want us to keep going?”
I shook my head. “No, I am not. But I do not think I have a choice at this point. Please, continue.”
(James POV) My meeting with Joey, Jessica and their surprise guest… ended up taking hours. HOURS. That is how much information that they had to share with me. Who knew, the wolves who had the most answers and who could help me the most had been right under my nose the whole time. If I thought that my world blew up the night that I read through Lily’s pack file, I was wrong. My world. really blew up tonight. I left the meeting feeling numb, not knowing where to go or what to do.. My heart and my head were in complete shambles. I wanted sleep, but I did not dare go home. I desired justice, but I knew I had to play my cards slowly and intelligently. I craved Lily, but I knew I had a lot of work to make myself worthy of her. I desired peace, but I knew that would be illusive for a while. Not knowing what else to do, I left Joey and Jessica’s house and began walking around our territory almost aimlessly. I walked past businesses, homes, buildings, and parks. I saw Stephanie’s pictures and mementos plastered almost everywhere. And, for the first time, I noticed small pink squares. F&&k, there were so many pink squares. How had I never noticed them before? How had I not noticed everything before? To think I had worried in the recent past whether West Mountain Pack could accept Lily as my Luna. Goddess, how st upid was I? I had no idea that I had been asking completely the wrong question. Of course, West Mountain Pack would accept Lily; many pack members already saw her as their protector. and their potential savior. The question that I should have been asking this whole time was whether West Mountain Pack could ever accept me as their alpha. Sadly, this remained an open question. Lost in thought, I found myself headed towards my waterfall as last night’s revelations continued to replay in my head. ****FLASHBACK**** “Go ahead, tell me more.”
I said to Joey and Jessica. “I am ready.”
“What would you like to know next?”
Jessica asked. “Lily. Please tell me how Lily is involved in all of this.”
Before Jessica could answer my question, we heard a couple of knocks on the back door. Joey yelled at whoever it was to come in. My eyes widened curiously as I watched their guest walk in. “Dr. Miller?”
“James.”
I looked at Joey and Jessica. Neither looked surprised to see him. “I mind-linked him,”
Joey explained. “Why?”
“Because I am the one who started the Movement,”
Dr. Miller answered for Joey. He sat down on the opposite end of the couch that I was on. “I thought I could give you the most answers.”
“Wh-why?”
“You do not want answers?”
Dr. Miller asked in mock sarcasm. H I shook my head as I silently wondered if all werewolf doctors were sarcastic a&&holes. “No, I mean why would you be the one who started the movement?”
Dr. Miller sighed as Jessica handed him a cup of coffee. “It happened purely out of necessity. Treason and removing your parents from power were the furthest things from my mind at the beginning. I had patients and families who were struggling to cope with some of the things that they had experienced, I put together a weekly group that could share experiences and support one another. That was all it was at the beginning, and the group started off very small; just a few families. Over time, however, more and more wolves came forward asking for help or wanting to share their stories. The larger the group became and the more consistent the stories were with one other, the more obvious it became who was responsible. That in turn led to an increasing amount of anger within me and within the group itself. Eventually, there was a joint realization that the best way to support group members was to take care of the problem. And that meant eliminating pack leadership. Hence, the birth of the Movement.”
I ran my hands through my hair. “I thought… I thought you were my father’s friend. I know he has always Even as I asked the question, I suspected that I knew the answer. Still, I needed to hear Dr. Miller say it. Dr. Miller sighed again, but this time he did so out of clear annoyance. “James, your father was my friend. For a very long time. In some ways, I still consider him a friend. I went to high school with him, your mother, Beta Robert, and Margie too. I was there when they got married; I was there when you, Stephanie, and Lily were born. But sometimes our friends are not who we think that they are. Sometimes they hide parts of themselves from us. Sometimes they hide parts of themselves from themselves as well.”
“Just spit it out, Dr. Miller,”
I urged in frustration. “I am not interested in the riddles. I have gotten enough of them from Dr. Hyder.”
Dr. Miller glared at me. Thankfully, his glare was not half as intimidating as Dr. Hyder’s. After a moment, Dr. Miller continued.
“I did try talking to your father, James. And not just your father; I tried talking to ALL of them. Everyone in pack leadership. It did not help anything. Whether your father respects me or not, all those conversations ever did was yield strict alpha orders that prevented me from talking about things that should have been talked about. Things that NEEDED to be talked about.”
I put my hands over my face. “Look, I apologize for questioning you. It… it is just a lot of information to take in.”
Dr. Miller’s look softened. “I know.”
Dr. Miller then looked at Joey and Jessica. “How far did you get?”
“We told him about the movement, the Hoffmans, and the fire. That is about it so far,”
Jessica replied. “Did you tell him about the pink squares?”
Dr. Miller asked. I wrinkled my eyebrows. “Pink squares?”
“I guess I will start there,”
Dr. Miller responded. “After the Hoffman fire, no one else dared to move or remove Stephanie’s photographs or memorials. However, leaving them up felt like a form of betrayal towards the Hoffmans. The Movement wanted the Hoffmans to know that there were pack members who cared about them and stood behind them, even if we could not be public about it. So, someone came up with the idea of a silent protest. Small pink squares were added to the corner of Stephanie’s pictures and memorials. Nothing flashy, nothing distracting. Just a small, pink square. You should know that not everyone who has a pink square on t their memorial is a member of the movement, but everyone who has a pink square on their memorial is a supporter of it in some way.”
I thought about all the memorials that I had seen. I could not remember seeing any pink squares, but I also had not been looking. “Can we go back and talk about Lily?”
I asked after a beat. “I am struggling to see how she is connected to any of this, and “And you are worried,”
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?