Filed To Story: In the Shadow of the Past Luna (Lily & James)
When the guards opened the door and we were called to the stage, we all knew that something huge was about to happen. Robert and Randall tried to resist going to the stage, but I did not. I was genuinely curious about what was going on, and I trusted my son for the first time in a very long time.
Once we took the stage, things started to happen very, very quickly.
When the request was made to remove Randall from his alpha position, I could feel Randall next to me becoming extremely angry and upset. He clearly wanted to say or do something, but for some reason he did not.
When Stephanie realized that she had been lied to and James was not her mate, a part of my heart broke for her… even though I knew that I was partly to blame. I had been so angry at her for faking her death/
kidnapping that it never even occurred to me that she was sort-of a victim too.
An even bigger part of my heart broke for Margie when everyone learned that Sheila’s pup was Robert’s. I had been prepared for a lot, but I honestly never saw that coming. Margie was my best friend, and she never told me that Robert cheated on her. I thought she told me almost everything, but I was obviously wrong. I started to wonder how many other secrets Margie had kept from me.
Next, while everyone else focused on what was happening between Margie, Sheila, and Robert, I found my eyes glued to James and Lily. I saw the tender moment that they shared while everything was going on around them. It made my heart ache, because I knew that had things gone my way, James and Lily would not be together right now. Instead, James would be married to Sheila and raising Robert’s pup as his own. What a f&&ing fool I was.
Before I could fully process those feelings, the fight began between the councilmembers, James, and
Lily. At first, I worried that James and Lily had taken on more than they could chew. But if they had, they did not seem to realize it. Their confidence never faltered, and neither did the confidence of the three alphas that were apparently standing with them.
I felt disgusted when Member Brown began talking about Lily going home and lying on her back. I wondered how such a disgusting male had ever been selected for the council.
And then it was revealed that Lily was the chosen one. At that point, time stopped. Almost literally.
For a full five minutes after Lily revealed her identity, the only sound that could be heard in the entire ballroom was that of heartbeats. Some relaxed, others beating really fast. Lily and James seemed to be appreciating the silence. I do not think a single wolf on the stage -except for the two of them- had any color left in their faces, including myself.
Just before I began to seriously worry whether one of us might choke on the fear that was now pulsating
“As the Goddess-chosen leader of the werewolf council, I hereby accept the alphas’ request for an immediate, public meeting to discuss alleged wrongdoing at West Mountain Pack.
Before we begin that meeting, however, I will first address the makeup of the council. The alphas are correct that the council has been compromised. As you all know, the Goddess has given me the power to remove and replace compromised members, and I intend to do so right now.”
Lily turned on her heel. “Member Brown, why don’t we begin with you. Please, have a seat… unless your would prefer to lay on your back.”
Suddenly, Margie stood up. “What are you doing?”
she screamed. “You are lying! How can a wolfless ore like you be the chosen one? You are weak and disgusting!”
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Lily turned and glared at her. “Sit down and be quiet, Mother. We will deal with you in a moment.”
It was clear that Lily used an alpha command, because Margie immediately sat down and no further noises came from Margie even though you could tell from her lips that she was still trying to talk. I silently wondered if Dr. Hyder was going to have to administer more medication to keep her calm.
You are not the chosen one!”
Stephanie suddenly yelled, taking over for Margie. “You cannot be!
Everyone has told me that you are wolfless and weak!”
Lily rolled her eyes and sighed. “Does anyone else here seriously doubt me?”
she asked.
Most in the ballroom remained silent, but there was grumbling from a few… including especially those seated in the box. That grumbling must have been enough for Lily, because before our eyes, she transformed into the most beautiful wolf that I have ever seen. She was a bluish-silver color, and on the right side of her rump she had a large black crescent moon symbol.
Her wolf walked up and down the stage, pausing to loudly growl in the face of each of the council members except for Stoller and Sampson. Afterwards, she went back to her position next to James. He rubbed her fur and then removed his suit jacket and shirt. Lily transformed back to her human form and slid James’ shirt on while James put his jacket back on.
“Anyone else continue to doubt me?”
she asked.
No one said a word.
“Good. Now let’s have some fun. We have wolves waiting to talk to everyone in the boxes, so let’s be quick about it.”
(James POV)
I cannot tell you how satisfying it was to watch Lily put Member Brown in his place.
Judging from the wet spot that formed in the middle of his pants after Rose made her appearance,
Member Brown was well aware that he was not going to be “Member Brown”
for very long. And indeed, he wasn’t.
Once Brown was sitting down again, Lily forced him to publiclyse his prior dealings with Margie. He confessed that:
He had been obtaining females from Margie once or twice a year for five years.
The females Margie provided for him were used for “f&&k the virgin parties”
that he liked to host for his buddies.
-At the beginning, he just watched. However, after his mate died, he started to actively participate.
-At the end of each party, Margie gave Brown the option of either “purchasing”
the girls for a longer visit or returning them for use by others.
Brown became especially attached to the last female that he purchased from Margie, and she has been living in a cage in his home for the past eight months.
Margie threatened to “repossess”
the female -i.e., help her “escape”
– unless Brown made sure that Stephanie and Sheila were exonerated and that he would support James being forced to mark and marry Stephanie.
Margie was careful to always deal with Brown by phone, because this avoided him being able to alpha- command her. However, Brown admitted that he never considered using an alpha-command on her regardless. He liked Margie, and he appreciated that they seemed to share the same values.
When Brown’s public confession was over, Lily placed her hands on Brown’s head so that she could talk to his wolf. After she was done, she somberly announced that Brown would no longer be a member of the werewolf council. She also made the difficult decision to free t his wolf.
You might wonder why the decision to free Brown’s wolf was difficult for her. It was actually something that we had talked about at length prior to leaving Black Moon. Separating the human and wolf counterparts of a werewolf is essentially the equivalent of separating two parts of a single soul. It is not something to be done lightly.
After talking it through with Dr. Hyder and I, Lily decided that she would only do it only as a last resort, side has been actively suffering as a result of the human side’s choices; AND 3) the wolf wants to be freed from his or her human counterpart.
Unfortunately, Brown’s situation met all three of Lily’s criteria.
The actual freeing his wolf involved Lily placing her hand on Brown’s heart and chanting a brief prayer to the Moon Goddess. It was physically painful for both Brown and Lily, and it required a lot of Lily’s energy. Nevertheless, once it was done, it was done. Brown’s wolf was able to return to the spirit world with the Moon Goddess; arrangements were made to rescue Brown’s caged female; and Brown-the-human was escorted to the dungeons to wait a more formal trial in a few weeks.
The overall process was then repeated for Member Herman and Member Merrill. Their stories were remarkably similar to Brown’s, at least in the sense that they purchased females from Margie and were later blackmailed to do what she wanted. Herman’s “quirk”
was that he liked females who could “take it rough”
; Merrill’s quirk was that he liked the females to be underage. Both of their wolves were desperate to be freed, and Lily quickly made the same decisions she made with Brown.
That left us with Member Neil Bloch. Before he even sat down, he began protesting that he had not done anything. He seemed pretty convincing….until Nick came forward and played two audio recordings.
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The first recording had Margie telling Nick that she had recently discovered that Neil had an obsession with LGBTQ po rnography. She asked Nick to offer Neil à deal: that he (Nick) would make a personalized video with Neil in exchange for Neil helping Margie. The second audio had Nick proposing the deal to
Neil; Neil saying that he had previously talked to Margie and agreed to it if she liked the male she found for him; Neil approving of Nick’s “casting”
in that video; and Neil and Nick discussing schedules.
You may wonder why we chose to play the recordings instead of using an alpha order to command Bloch to confess. Truthfully, we did both, and doing both was really important.
Playing the recordings publicly would do three things. First, it would help demonstrate that the alpha orders were not forcing anyone to say untruthful things, just in case anyone (Margie, Sheila, or Stephanie) tried to make that claim. Second, it would demonstrate that Margie herself really was the one on the phone directing the trafficking, as opposed to someone impersonating her. Third, Lily wanted to see how my parents and Robert would react to the audio, because that would give us a very big clue as to whether they were redeemable.
I listened to the audio recordings in between the meeting with my father and tracking down my stuff, so they did not surprise me. They did, however, shock and horrify my mother. I could tell that my father and Robert disapproved of the contents of the recordings, but their faces were largely unreadable beyond that. For their part, Stephanie and Sheila looked like the recordings were no big deal. Margie, on the other hand, looked like she was ready to kill someone… or rather, multiple someones.
When it was all over-and we clarified for the audience that Nick was working with us and never intended to actually do what Margie and Bloch proposed- Lily surprised all of us. She removed Bloch from the council -there was little way around that- but she did not remove his wolf, because Bloch’s wolf was not ready to give up on him yet. Bloch would still have to face a trial in a few weeks, and would likely spend a significant amount of time in the dungeons, but Lily strangely held out hope for him.
With four members of the seven-member council removed, Lily now needed to replace them. Believe it or not, this was the part of the evening that Lily had been most nervous about. She knew right away who she wanted in three of the positions. Each of the three had proven time and time again that they believed in doing what was right, even when it could potentially cost them personally, and both of us trusted them.
The problem was that Lily was not sure if the wolves she had in mind would accept. Being a member of the council was not a full-time job, but it included heavy responsibility, a decent amount of travelling, and involvement in situations that were often drama-filled and dangerous.
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?