Filed To Story: In the Shadow of the Past Luna (Lily & James)
ur kiss continued to get heated./James eventually moved his hands to my waist, and then his fingers gently grabbed the hem of my shirt. He stopped kissing me just long enough to ask me for permission to keep going, which I readily gave him. I knew that I wanted more,
James gingerly removed my shirt. I felt James’ warm hands travel up my sides, moving closer and closer to my bra. As he did so, his kisses moved from my lips to my neck. As he gently sucked on the place that. he would eventually mark me, I moaned and arched my back, eager to feel more and more of his touch.
And then James’ phone went off.
“Ignore it,”
James growled as his fingers reached the snap of my bra. His lips traveled lower down by body.
Just before he reached where I was hoping he was headed, his phone buzzed again. And again. And again.
I started to pull away. “Ignore it, please,”
James pleaded. “It is probably just my parents or your sister or I don’t care who it is. Whoever it is can wait.”
I nodded, not wanting our moment to end. James resumed kissing my neck. I felt the lust overtaking every ounce of my self-restraint. Rose purred happily in the back of my mind. I reached for James’ belt, knowing I wanted us to take that next step.
And then my phone buzzed. And James’ phone buzzed. And both of our phones rang.
I gently pushed James back.
“I swear, I am going to kill whoever it is that interrupted us,”
James growled.
I smiled. “Let’s just see who it is. It might be important. If not, we can get back to where we were, I promise.”
James sighed as he moved away from me and reached for his phone. I got up and went over to mine.
“Mine was Charlotte. She wanted to confirm that we are on for dinner at Bellizio’s at 8 pm., Who was yours from?”
I asked.
James shook his head in disgust. “Your sister and Dr. Hyder.”
“What did they want?”
“Your sister wants to know where I am.”
“You told me she has been sending you messages like that since you left. Why do you look so disgusted?”
“Because she has apparently now decided that I left the wedding venue because I was torn between my feelings for her and for Sheila. She thought it would help me make up my mind if I knew that Sheila is a big sl ut. She also sent me a video. I do not dare watch it, but the frame makes it look like it is the video of Nick and Sheila.”
“Oh my Goddess.”
“Right.”
“Why would she send that to you?”
I asked, as I put my bra and shirt back on.
“Why would your sister do half the things that she has done? She is sick and twisted. I honestly do not know how you turned out as normal as you did.”
“Oh, I am messed up too, don’t worry. But I think my mother’s focus on Stephanie for the first half of my life and her absolute hatred of me during the second half sort-of spared me the worst of it. My mother. did not try to manipulate or mold me the way that she did Stephanie.”
James frowned. “I do not know if any of them are redeemable, Lily. All of them have done so many horrible things. Are you going to be okay if the Movement’s plans succeed and your sister and mother are given life sentences… or worse?”
I thought about it for a moment. “I do not know,”
I responded honestly. “But I would rather have them in a dungeon than out there hurting other people. What about you? How are you going to feel about your parents getting punished?”
James ran his hands through his hair. “I have thought about this a lot. Honestly, my parents may not have p personally done a lot of the things that Sheila, Stephanie, and your mother did… but they allowed it to happen. They were either criminally negligent or intentionally indifferent. Either way, my parents are just as guilty as the other three. If not more so. Your mother never would have been able to become what she became but for my parents’ help.”
I went over to James and hugged him. “Whatever happens, we will get through this together, okay?”
James wrapped his arms tightly around me, and I felt him nod against my hair.
“What did Dr. Hyder want?”
I asked.
“He sent me the address to send the chocolates to. He also wanted to know if I talked to Andrew today.”
“That is a weird question,”
I said, looking up at him.
“I know.”
“What do you think he was getting at?”
“I have no idea. But obviously I did not talk to
Andrew today. I have been with you almost every second since I woke up, with the exception of when I was in the bathroom or shower. In fact, I have not talked to him at all since I called him from Hawaii.”
“Do you think we should call Dr. Hyder?”
“No. Maybe it is nothing. Why don’t we go and mail those chocolates before the post office closes,”
he suggested.
“Okay.”
Just then, a thought occurred to me. “You know, after we go to the post office, we will have some time before dinner. Would you want to stop by the Wolf Packers’ stadium and take a tour?”
“Well, sure, I would love to. But aren’t they closed for the off-season?”
“Yes… but if you know the right people, you can still get in.”
“And you do?”
I smiled. “Yes.”
James immediately gave me that boyish, fanboy smile of his. “Lead the way.”
(Nick POV)
After Jenny left, I sat in my living room for hours, staring at the front door.
I kept praying to the Moon Goddess that Jenny would walk back through the door and tell me that it had all been a horrible misunderstanding. No, not just “it”
… everything. Specifically, I wanted Jenny to come back and reassure me that she did not really lie to me for years; that she did not really leave me; and that Stephanie and Sheila did not really do all of those horrible things to either one of us.
Unfortunately, the longer that I stared at the door, the clearer it became that the Moon Goddess was not going to answer my prayers. Jenny would not be coming back. My mate was gone.
Despite everything that Jenny had done and allowed to happen, it was a bitter pill for me to swallow.
At some point, I tried to drag myself to bed. However, I could not get comfortable, and I could not sleep.
??
I guess my body recognized that a part of my soul was missing.
Eventually, I glanced at the clock and realized that it was already nine o’clock in the morning. I decided that I needed to talk to someone. I knew that James was gone -do not get me started on that whole drama- and my father and Alpha Randall were busy dealing with the werewolf council. I had other male friends, but none that I trusted enough to talk about the Jenny situation.
Given all that, I decided to do what any non-self-respecting adult male does after having his heart broken, getting no sleep, and needing comfort: I decided that it was time to go and find my mother. 2
As I walked to the packhouse, I thought that -maybe, just maybe- my mother would pet my hair, make me something to eat, let me cry my heart out for a while, and say a few reassuring words. She had sometimes done those things for me when I was a young pup. Maybe, now that she no longer had to mourn Stephanie’s death, she would be willing to do those things for me again.
I could only be so lucky.
I made my way up to the beta suite. I was about to enter when I realized that the door to the suite was slightly open and my mother was not alone.
I pretty quickly realized that my mother was talking to Sheila and Stephanie.
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?