Filed to story: In the Shadow of the Past Luna (Lily & James)
“It is too late to change your mind, Jane.”
“This is our son’s happiness that we are talking about, Randall! It is never too late!”
“You did not care about James’ happiness two days ago. Why now?”
“I did too care about his happiness! I just did not know how awful Sheila and Stephanie are. Hearing them fight… hearing them talk about what they have done… that was hard to listen to. It made me realize that we have been forcing James to make all sorts of horrible decisions. And I do not want to do that anymore. 1
*James rejected his fated mate. We did not do that; he did that on his own. He needs a replacement luna. There is no reason that it cannot be Stephanie.”
“Did you seriously just say that? ‘THERE IS NO REASON IT CANNOT BE STEPHANIE?!?!?!? Seriously, Randall? There are a thousand reasons that it should not be Stephanie. James deserves to be with his fated mate. He deserves to have the kind of love that you and I have enjoyed!”
“Lily is gone, Jane. Gone. She is not coming back.”
“We can help James find her, Randall! And we can help him try to repair the relationship between them!”
I pleaded.
“NO!!!!”
Randall screamed at me. “Lily is probably out there somewhere dead. You know as well as I do that Margie put a bounty on her head. James already went through the pain of losing Stephanie. It weakened him and his wolf. We will not put James through the agony of searching for Lily, just to be e on.”
disappointed or hurt. It is better for him to move
“The trackers never found Lily’s body, Randall. She could still be alive, just like it turns out that Stephanie
“We do not know that they never found her, Jane. I ordered the trackers to never tell us if they did. I did not want that weight on my conscious.”
I looked at my mate in horror. “What? How could you do that? How could you be so callous? And how can you care so little about our son’s happiness?!!?!!?”
Randall walked away from me and went to the window on the opposite side of the room.
“I care about his happiness, Jane. But I care about mine too. James has never had a relationship with his fated mate. He will not know what he is missing. He will learn to be happy with Stephanie, just like he was happy with her in the past. I, on the other hand, will not be able to move on.”
“What are you saying, Randall?”
“When Margie came to talk to me about Stephanie moving into James’ room, I originally told her no. She tried to guilt me into agreeing, just like she always has. When that did not work, she upped the ante. She told me that if I did not cooperate, she would turn you into the werewolf council for murdering Tyler. Nick made the same threat to James two weeks ago, that is why James agreed to marry Sheila.”
“What?”
“There is no statute of limitations on murdering a pup, even an unborn one. If Margie goes to the werewolf council, they will be able to force an admission from you. Nick has also agreed to testify that you confessed to him. If the council finds you guilty of murdering Tyler, they could give you either a life sentence or the death penalty.”
I felt tears starting to well up in my eyes. “Well, maybe I deserve that.”
Randall whirled around. “NO! I will not lose you, Jane. It will kill me if something happens to you. James to you, I will not survive it.”
My heart dropped. Fwas willing to sacrifice myself for the sake of my son’s happiness… but was I willing to sacrifice Randall’s life as well?
“Well, we threaten to go to the werewolf council with all of her sins,”
I suggested. “We have been looking. the other way for years. If she wants to play hard ball, we can play hard ball back.”
m not s
Randall shook his head. “She now has friends on the council, Jane. Powerful friends. I am council would go against her. They might be more likely to go against us than her.”
sure the
No. This cannot be happening. How did we let things spin so far out of control? How did one mistake that I made all those years ago create such a big mess?
I should have dealt with all of this 27 years ago. Perhaps if I had listened to my wolf and admitted my wrongdoing then, none of this would have happened.
“There has to be something we can do, Randall. We cannot let Margie control us anymore! Our son should not have to pay for our mistakes. I have let him pay for too many years. I do not want to do it anymore.”
“I do not know what else we can do, Jane,”
Randall said in frustrated tone of voice. “I will not lose you. I cannot lose you. And I meant what I said… marrying Stephanie could bring him happiness. Your are just guessing that it would not. James being with her could be a win-win for all of us. It would solve a lot of problems.”
No. I did not want to accept that.
“What about talking to Robert?”
I asked in desperation. “He is a reasonable guy. He has been friends with you forever. Maybe he can talk some sense into Margie.”
Randall sat down in a chair and put his head in his hands.
“Don’t you think I would have already tried that?”
“You did?”
“Yes, I did.”
“What did he say?”
“He cannot help with Margie, Jane. He has his own problems.”
“What do you mean?”
“The werewolf council forced Sheila to see a doctor this morning to confirm her pregnancy and how far along she is.”
“And?”
“And given the timing, Robert believes the pup is his. He suspected it before, but now he is fairly certain.”
(Lily POV)
“Do you still have feelings for Brady?”
James’ question surprised me, although I know it should not have.
I reached over and grabbed his hand.
“Yes, but—
James gently pulled his hand away from me, stood up, and ran his hands down his face. He then walked over to the window and looked outside. I could practically feel his hurt and his fear.
I stood up and followed him to the window. Placing my hand on his arm, I tried to explain.
“James, 1
James did not turn around; he just kept staring out the window. “It is my fault, Lily. I know that. I am the fool who let you walk out of my life. I am the fool who made a million mistakes when it comes to you.”
I sighed. “Yes, James, you did but
James walked away from the window and away from me. He sat back down on the couch. Now I was starting to get annoyed.
I followed him to the couch. “James, please let me
“Lily, please stop. I cannot take it. I do not want to know the answer to my question. I am sorry I asked.
Please, forget it.”
Uuuuuuuurrrrrrrggggggghhhhhh.
“JAMES OLIVER ANDERSON! STOP INTERRUPTING ME AND JUST LISTEN TO WHAT I HAVE TO SAY!!!”
James looked at me with wide eyes.
“You just used your alpha command on him,”
Rose linked me.
“Good,”
I linked back, although I was surprised that I had been able to do it. I still have not mastered how to do the command yet. “He needs to stop getting in his own way.”
