Filed To Story: In the Shadow of the Past Luna (Lily & James)
(until the much happier epilogues)
(Lily POV)
It has now been five weeks since the pack and council takeovers. Since then, there has been a whirlwind activity both inside and outside of the pack.
of
Randall and Jane’s belongings were boxed up and moved to (separate) storage units, and James and I moved in to the alpha suite. Meanwhile, the belongings of my parents and Stephanie have also been packed up so that Joey and Jessica could move in.
All photographs and shrines to Stephanie have been taken down and repurposed, and the Steffie Garden has been given a very not-s**y new name: “Staff Break Room.”
Additional tables and benches have been added to accommodate the re-purposing of the space. Similar changes have occurred throughout the pack
The individual trials are well underway. My mother’s trial was first. I decided to recuse myself from any decision making related to her punishment, both because I am both her daughter and one of her victims. I also decided not to attend the trial, sending James to observe in my place.
The trial ended with the committee recommending that my mother spend the rest of her life in the dungeons without the possibility of parole. They also recommended that her wolf be freed, which James confirmed was something her wolf desperately wanted. I will do the freeing ceremony once all the trials are completed.
All of the money that my mother had hidden away has been seized, and we plan to distribute it to victims as restitution as soon as criteria can be developed to do so.
The trials for James’ parents will occur at the beginning of next week, and Stephanie’s trial will occur the week after that.
Interestingly, Stephanie has sent me a letter every day since the takeovers begging to see me. So far, I have refused to see her.
Charlotte thinks I am crazy. She came running up to me at the end of the party and told me that she was disappointed that there was no big showdown between myself and Stephanie, between myself and Sheila, and between myself and my mother. She practically wanted to drag me to the dungeons right then and there so that we could have those confrontations.
Thankfully, Jessica convinced her to back off a little bit. I think my perspective has been easier for Jessica to understand because she lived in the craziness with me for so many years.
Basically, the way I feel is this: I lived in Stephanie’s shadow for many years. Everything about Stephanie me, for years, the pack and I both forced to live and breathe nothing but Stephanie this and Stephanie that.
Given that context, for me, there really isn’t anything more empowering than caring so little about
Stephanie that a confrontation with her no longer matters to me.
It took me a long time to get there, but there was something about seeing Stephanie on that stage fumbling and shocked, pointing the finger at my mother and others, refusing to accept any any responsibility-
that took all the steam out of any desire I had left to confront her. She and Sheila reminded me of deflated balloons; now that the air had been let out, they were nothing but a sad, pitiful mess.
That does not mean that I want to allow Stephanie to get off without a punishment or that I want her to get another opportunity to hurt people; I will bend over backwards to make sure neither of those things happen.
But it does mean that Stephanie simply does not matter to me anymore. I think that is where the pack is too, and why they did not have many (any?) questions for her and Sheila.
In effect, from where I stand Stephanie went from sainthood to nothingness. It is the ultimate fall.
That sentiment may not make sense to outsiders or others who have not lived it, but it makes sense to me. Even without the closure that others think I should have….. even without all the answers…. the takeover night represented the ending of my first story and the beginning of my next.
Am I done dealing with the past? No. There is more work to be done and issues to be dealt with-
Including Sheila’s pup; Stephanie’s pup; my father; and Evelyn.
But for now I will take a short break from the drama and celebrate…. because tonight is an important night. It is both my mate’s birthday, and Brady and Charlotte’s pre-wedding bash.
(James POV)
If you told me a few months ago that I would be spending my birthday voluntarily enjoying a beer with
Brady Hyder, I would have checked you into a me ntal hospital.
And yet here we are. Joey is here too. The three of us are currently at the bar, watching our mates on the dance floor, taking bets on which one of us is going to cave and go to them first.
It is amazing how things can change.
It is also amazing how much I actually like Brady now… at least most of the time. Of course, it helps that our mates are such good friends. It has forced us to learn to get along.
Lily, Charlotte, and Jessica have all practically adopted one another. They are as close as any sisters that
I have ever met. I seriously do not know how they have found the time to socialize given everything that has been going on at both packs, but they have, The wonders of technology I suppose.
“So tell me again why you are getting married tomorrow? Joey asked Brady, pulling me out of my thoughts.
“Because Charlotte will not sleep with me again until we are married.”
“Again? So you slept with her once and it was so bad she won’t f&&k you again without a ring finger?
on her
Brady gave Joey the middle finger. “No, Beta, I made a st upid comment and she is punishing me. I’m tired of being punished; I know she is the one; and I’m not stupid enough to let her go. So… yesterday I decided to call her on her bluff. I suggested that we fly to Vegas after James’ birthday shindig and get married. She said yes, which I am pretty sure means she has been suffering as much as I have.”
I laughed. “I don’t know, Man. I am with Joey on this one. Ever since Lily and I first…. you know… I’m lucky if she can go 24 hours without it. No way could she go six weeks.”
Brady gave me a look.
“Too soon?”
I asked, tipping my beer at him.
“Too soon,”
he confirmed.
“When are you going to make an honest woman out of Lily?”
Joey asked me.
I gave Joey a mischievous smile. “Funny you should ask me that, because I got myself a little birthday present.”
I hade sure Lily wasn’t looking and discreetly pulled the ring box out of my pocket.
“For you?”
Joey asked.
I rolled my eyes. “You may want to lay off of the wolfsbane vodka, Joey. The ring is for Lily. Assuming she says yes, that will be my birthday present.”
“Oh, she will,”
Joey said confidently. “She looks at me the same way Jessica looks at me.”
“Speaking of weddings… have either of you heard from Nick lately?”
Brady asked.
“He texted me happy birthday this morning. I replied asking him how he was doing and he said that he has figured out where Jenny is, and he is on his way there. He seemed hopeful.”
A moment later, I caught Lily looking at me. I laid a $50 bill on the counter. “I lose,”
I said as I headed her way.
(Lily POV)
Another couple of months have passed, and the trials in both packs have finally all been completed. I am currently on my way to see Evelyn at Black Moon. I need to finally deliver to her the message that the Moon Goddess gave me, and she also wants to talk to Charlotte and I about her plans for her unborn pup.
Like all of the other trials, Evelyn’s trial is now over. She was sentenced to 25 years That in the dungor was a harsh sentence, but she did not lose her wolf. When I talked to Edy, she told me that she wanted to stay with Evelyn. She said that Evelyn had lost her way, but buried under all of the jealousy and pain, she really did have a good heart.
Interestingly, those sentiments were very similar to the ones that I received from most of the wolves that
I talked to. In fact, with the exception of the council member wolves that I freed on the night of the takeovers, the only other wolves who wanted to be freed from their humans were those belonging to
Stephanie, Sheila, my mother, Derek Ab bott, and Andrew.
I
I suppose in retrospect that makes sense, but I had been really unsure of Randall’s wolf going in. After everything that had come to light, I really did expect that Randall’s wolf would want to be freed as well. However, he told me that everything Randall did was done out of love for Jane. It was a twisted, blinding love, but love nonethesame. Randall’s wolf fully supported Randall getting a tough sentence for his crimes, but he still wished to stay with Randall and support him in the hopes that he could be redeemed.
4
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?