Filed To Story: In the Shadow of the Past Luna (Lily & James)
“Yeah, oh. Now will you please sit down?”
Finally, Nick moved away from the door and sat back down on the couch.
“Where is James?”
he asked me as soon as he was seated.
“Tell me what else you know about the blackmail plot and then I will tell you.”
.
“I thought you said the Movement has wolves watching all of the council members?”
.
I paused before responding. “Do you think Nick is being sincere?”
I asked Jett.
“Yeah. Jenny probably had enough on her phone to fry us. If he did not want to be a part of the movement, he would have turned the phone over already.
“But what if he just wanted more information about what we were up to?”
“Alpha Randall or the werewolf council could have alpha-ordered the information out of us. I think Nick really does want to join the Movement.”
A part of me was not convinced, but Jett had always been a better judge of character than me. I decided to follow Jett’s instincts.
“We do have wolves following all of the council members. But it has put a tremendous strain on our resources, because we are having to do it around the clock for all six of them. We have been aware that some of the council members are likely compromised, but we do not know which ones or how many.”
Nick nodded. “I can help. Neil, Frank, and Ray have not been compromised yet, the other three have been. Stephanie, Sheila, and my mother believe Neil is the easiest one to sway of the three remaining.”
“Told you,”
Jett taunted me. “He can prove quite valuable to the Movement.”
“So now where is James?”
Nick asked.
“Hopefully with Lily.”
He looked at me shocked. “With Lily? Why?”
I stared at Nick for a moment, but he did not say anything. “Please tell me you are joking.”
Nick furrowed his eyebrows at me.
“Lily and James are mates,”
I reminded him.
Nick looked at me in confusion. “Yes, but they rejected each other. We were all there.”
I groaned yet again. This was going to be a long night.
(Lily POV)
I knew immediately when Derek Ab bott walked into the restaurant. No, it was not the look of both hope and fear on Charlotte’s face. Nor was it the way that the restaurant staff immediately ran to the front door of the restaurant and began fawning all over the male who entered. No, I knew immediately when Derek Ab bott walked into Bellizio’s because James immediately got his “fan-guy”
face on.
It was the same face he had when we took the tour of the Wolf Packers’ stadium and two of the human baseball players happened to walk by. They gave me hugs when they saw me I met them previously- and instead of getting jealous or possessive, James immediately mind-linked me begging me to ask them for their autographs.
Both players were more than happy to sign an autograph for James. But, instead of just signing a random piece of paper, they suggested that they sign baseballs. And instead of just picking any random baseballs to sign, they suggested that they play catch with James in the field, and then they would sign the baseballs they played with.
Seriously, I was glad that James was just 26 years old, because otherwise he seriously would have had a heart attack. The way that his face lit up was like a 5-year-old seeing Santa Claus for the first time. It was both heartwarming and a little creepy. They played for over an hour, and I practically had to force James to leave the stadium afterwards so that we could get back and changed for dinner with Charlotte and
Derek.
After that experience, it was easy for me to tell when Derek arrived because James’ face changed instantly.
Going into the dinner, I really was not sure what to think of Derek. My first interaction with him had not been pleasant… but he also met his mate while she was straddling another male, so I could not really blame him for his behavior. On the other hand, I had been a little uneasy when Charlotte told me how it went when she saw him at the event on Monday. He had basically repeated that he was not interested in having a “sl utty mate,”
but he said would be willing to give her a chance if she “brought her Daisy-like friend”
with her for dinner.
I did not like being called a “Daisy-like friend”
given who he was obviously comparing me to, but more than that I was unsure why he would make giving Charlotte a chance contingent on me going to dinner with them. It just felt… weird. But I was willing to do it, in part because I love Charlotte… and in part because I knew how excited James would be.
My uneasiness with Derek Ab bott did not wane any when he sat down at the table. Bellizio’s was one of the fanciest restaurants in town, and it had a strict dress code that fell somewhere between casual in wearing ripped jeans, a baseball hat, and a hoodie sweatshirt with his own signature logo on it.
I was internally rolling my eyes as we stood to greet him. Derek acknowledged all of us with a combined nod and took his chair next to Charlotte. I saw her looking at him hopefully, but he barely glanced at her.
Instead, his eyes were laser-focused on me.
“Who is this?”
Derek asked, nodding his head towards James.
“James Anderson,”
James replied, offering his hand for a handshake.
Derek ignored James’ hand. “Who are you?”
Derek asked.
James put his arm around the back of my chair, and proudly told Derek that he was my mate.
“Hmmmm.”
Seriously, Derek was behaving like the stereotypical spoiled celebrity. So far, his behavior did not seem to bother James though, so I kept quiet.
“I do not see a mark,”
Derek replied matter of factly.
At that point, I felt just a flash of unease from James, so I quickly jumped in. “Not every wolf immediately marks their mate. You and Charlotte are a great example of that. Many wolves choose to wait until their wedding days or ceremonies.”
“Charlotte and I are not a great example of anything.”
Derek responded coldly.
I saw Charlotte’s face fall, and that flash of unease in James quickly became a simmering sense of concern. (Total sidenote, having never been mated before, I have to say. Being able to feel James’
emotions as our bond repairs itself is really, really cool.)
Thankfully, after that initial awkwardness, we ordered dinner and the conversation at the table seemed to go okay. Of course, part of that may be because the conversation largely consisted of James asking Derek questions about himself. They talked about Derek’s favorite cars, Derek’s experience with other drivers; races that Derek had won; and a bunch of other things that went right over my head. Charlotte tried to jump in a few times, having spent hours countless hours researching him at that point. Derek was polite and tolerant with her, although not overly friendly.
very animated
James must have sensed my growing sense of concern, because in the middle of some very conversation about the differences in car engines, he suggested that we dance while waited for dinner to arrive. I immediately welcomed the idea.
“How are you doing?”
James mind-linked me as he pulled me close to him on the dance floor.
“Better now,”
I replied honestly. “I am just a little worried about Charlotte.”
“Yeah, her mate is a Grade A A&&hole.”
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?