Filed To Story: In the Shadow of the Past Luna (Lily & James)
“WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!*
“Who else did you think James was?”
“Your boyfriend or some wolf you had a crush on. I don’t know. I did not really think about it.”
I shook my head. I think most wolves would have easily figured out the relationship between James and I during the phone call in which James got upset about the dress I was wearing. The fact that Charlotte did not put it together highlights the disservice her parents did to her by living a more unorthodox lifestyle.
in the human world.
“So what happened between you and James?”
Charlotte pressed.
“It is a very long story. We formally rejected each other, but we are friends now and
“You are not just friends with him, Lily,”
Charlotte interrupted, clearly not believing me. “Even I know that much.”
Irolled my eyes. “We are mostly still working that out.”
just friends right now. Who knows what the future might hold. We are “Is that why you came to Ravenswood?”
“Kind of. Not really. It is complicated.”
I could tell Charlotte wanted to ask me more questions, but I was far too tired to talk about it, so I went to the kitchen and grabbed my phone. I came back to where Charlotte was and started looking for information about Derek Ab bott. Within a few minutes, I found exactly what I was looking for. It turned out that one of the most powerful sports agents in the world -Miguel Santos- had recently opened a posh gym in Ravenswood. The grand opening v was Monday (the same day as James and Sheila’s wedding), but they also had a week of pre- opening events leading up to it to which multiple celebrities and athletes had been invited. That is likely why Sergio, Derek, and Cody had all been in town and at the bar last night. I showed my phone to Charlotte. “The blog says that Derek will be at the grand opening party on Monday. Maybe you could go and talk to him? I am sure the team owners were invited to the event, and you could either go with them or they could get you the invite directly.”
“Will you go with me?”
Charlotte asked. “I can’t; I am sorry. I agreed to work a double shift at the girls’ home. That is the day that James and Sheila are getting married, so I wanted to be distracted.”
“Your mate is marrying someone else on Monday?!?!!!?”
Oh, cr ap. I really am tired. I did not mean to say that last part out loud. “No. I mean, yes. But, no. But yes. It is complicated.”
“Un-complicate it.”
I “I am too tired. We can talk after I take a nap.”
Charlotte gave me a look, but she thankfully accepted my brush off and stopped asking questions. Instead, she began to scroll through the blog that I found about Derek. She started to read and click on various articles that had been written. She paused several times as she went through the information. She got excited each time she saw. something positive posted about Derek: -“Oh, look! Derek donated money to human cancer research!”
-“Look, Lily! He went to a children’s hospital and handed out replicas of his race car to the sick kids!”
-“He won the Grand Prix three times in a row!”
—“This article predicts that Derek will be the richest driver in the world within the next two years!”
Unfortunately, for each positive article, there was a negative one that upset Charlotte. And, of course, by negative, I mean any article that linked Derek to another female.
By the end of Charlotte’s internet sleuthing, that seemed to be her primary take-away.
“How dare Derek call me a sl ut when according to these articles, he has slept with half the models and actresses in the United States!”
“Charlotte, please calm down. The media does not always get it right. Please just go and talk to him on. Monday. Keep an open mind and make a decision from there.”
Charlotte groaned. “Urrrrrrrrrghhh. Fine. I will talk to him. Are you sure you cannot go?”
“I am sure. It is not my scene anyway. My type is definitely not-famous.”
Charlotte pouted a little, but continued to scroll through my phone. This time Charlotte was looking for more information about the grand opening party on Monday.
Suddenly, she froze.
“Um, Lily… you said that Daisy is living with some Antonio guy in Spain, right?”
“Yes, that is what they told me last night.”
“You might want to read this…”
Charlotte handed my phone back to me. On some entertainment blog-not the one I had originally been looking at the article talked about the gym opening and all the celebrities that had been invited. Then, almost in passing, the article included this paragraph:
“Rumor has it that Miguel Santos’ younger brother Antonio will also be in attendance. Antonio is the owner of multiple reputable -and not so reputable-exclusive strip clubs across Europe. Unfortunately, sources say that Antonio’s ever-recluse baby mama Daisy will not be in attendance, citing the need to attend a long-awaited family reunion on the West Coast the same day.”
What, the. F&&k
Surely this was just a coincidence. There had to be more than one couple named Antonio and Daisy that lived in Europe with a pup that was known to the sports’ community… right? And even if it was not, the family reunion that Stephanie/ Daisy was going to could be anywhere…
“Or it could be West Mountain,”
Rose linked me. “You need to alert James.”
I am so grateful for all of the love and support that this story has received! I cannot wait to see your reactions to the next few surprises I have in store for you!
Hint: the next chapter will be Stephanie’s POV!
I had originally planned to get the story done by mid-November, but it is already November 9/10 and I do not want to rush the end of the story just to meet that artificial timeline.
That doesn’t mean that I am going to drag this out, and it doesn’t mean the upcoming chapters aren’t going to be action packed (they will be!). I just want to make sure we have proper time for the happy endings we have been working towards.
I will continue to do daily updates, and hopefully write at least 2-3 chapters per day. I would estimate now being done just 2-3 weeks later than I originally thought. Maybe sooner, maybe a tiny touch later. But hopefully it will be worth it. I can see the rainbow at the end, and it is all fitting together nicely and closer than you may think (especially after the wedding…).
(Don’t be scared. You will like the wedding.)
Happy reading and thank you to everyone again for the love and support!
(Stephanie POV)
It is time for me to finally head home.
Believe it or not, I really miss everyone. I am looking forward to seeing my friends and family, including even my younger sister.
I originally did not intend to be gone this long. I just wanted a couple of years to be young and free before settling down and taking over my roles as James’ mate and luna of the West Mountain Pack.
I really do not know why the Moon Goddess allows werewolves to meet our mates at age 20. That is so young! Why would anyone want to commit to a lifetime of responsibility at that age, much less to having sex with just one person? The human way is so much better. Sure, some of them marry young too, but nowadays many of them wait until their late 20s and 30s or even 40s to get married. And even then, the humans who are good at keeping secrets can continue to stray forever. In contrast, thanks to the st upid mate bond, werewolves can cheat, but their partners will feel the betrayal; there is no such thing as being discreet. (Believe me, I know; Sheila and I did a ton of experiments to confirm.)
The closer that I got to my 20th birthday, the more that I knew that I wanted to take a “me-break”
before
James and I marked each other and I took on the pack responsibilities. I had started my luna training early, and I had worked really hard at it, so I knew that I deserved some me-time.
Unfortunately, I also knew that James and my mother would never agree to give me that time. James was a big believer in responsibility, obligation, and making his parents happy. Meanwhile, my mother was a big believer in trying to live her life through me, and that required that I be around her exhausting self all.
the time.
I ultimately decided that I had to find a way to steal a break for myself, and Sheila agreed to help me.
I developed a plan. A great plan, in fact. It would allow me to travel the world, meet new people, make a bunch of foolish mistakes, spend a ton of money haphazardly, and live by myself for a while. Then, when ! was ready, I would go home and be the luna my mother had prepared me to be.
It was a perfect plan.
But then I met the s**y, powerful Antonio from Spain. And all-my plans went to hell.
I met Antonio sort-of by chance, when I went to pitch his business partner some girls for purchase. I thought our girls would make a great fit for some of their exclusive, underground clubs. The girls were from my mother’s business, but my mother did not know about my trip to see Antonio’s partner; Sheila helped me arrange the meeting with the thought that I could secretly use the profits to fund my two-year
Antonio’s business partner got tied up with something else, and so Antonio ended up coming to the meeting in his place. It was lust at first sight. I took one look at Antonio, and I knew that I had to have. him all for myself. I did not care that he was human; he made up for it with his rugged good looks, his money, his power, his sex appeal, and the danger that oozed out of him. I guess there has always just been something about a bad boy that really turns me o on
As soon as I met Antonio, I decided to change my plans. Instead of exploring the world, I would explore Antonio. And, oh goddess, did I want to explore Antonio. With his Spanish accent, tattooed chest, and “f&
&k me”
eyes, it was hard not to.
I
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?