Filed To Story: In the Shadow of the Past Luna (Lily & James)
I scream out as I start to charge towards Lily.
I will kill her and then I will take my mate back.
“Do not take another step forward until I tell you to,”
James says in an eerie voice.
My feet freeze in place. I try desperately to move them, but I cannot. This time it is not shock stopping me; it is something else. Has James been made alpha already? If so, why did no one tell me?
my fated
“Understand this, Stephanie. Even if our parents had been right about us, EVEN IF you were r do mate, I would not want you. After all that you have done, after all the wolves that you have hurt, you not deserve to be mated to a ranked wolf, and you certainly do not deserve to be luna of this pack. You will, however, be getting your just rewards soon.”
With that, James turns around and continues to lead Lily to the stage.
I feel like I have been slapped hard. I look around and notice for the first time that everyone in the hall is staring at me.
Great, just great. There are almost 500 witnesses to my embarrassment. Where is my mother? Where is
Sheila?
I turn to walk away. To my relief, my feet allow me to retreat. I will go find my mother and find a way to fix this. I remember her telling me that if James refuses to forgive me for faking my kidnapping and having Jackson, she had a backup plan. It is time to find her and figure out what that plan is. Maybe the plan can help me get justice against Lily too.
I take about ten steps before I feel a strong grip on my shoulder. I turn around and find my brother Nick looking back at me. Oh, thank the Goddess. I immediately hug him and start crying into his chest. My tears are not my actress tears; these are legitimate tears of heartbreak like I have never felt before.
“Oh, Nick. Thank the Goddess you are here!!! Did you see what James and Lily just did to me?”
Nick nods. “Yes, I saw.”
“What is happening, Nick? Please!!! Tell me what is happening?!?!”
At first, Nick does not say anything. I look up at him, and he has a strange look on his face. There is sympathy and pain… but something else as well. I do not know what it is.
“Nick?”
I ask in confusion. “What… what is going on? What is happening?”
“What should have happened a long time ago, Stephanie,”
he says softly.
His comment does not make any sense to me, but before I can ask another question, I hear James’ voice, Nick gently spins me around, and I see James and Lily standing side by side on the ballroom stage.
“Good evening, everyone,”
James bellows into the microphone. “I am pleased to welcome you to tonight’s f festivities. The ballroom looks beautiful; there is no doubt that a lot of hard work has gone into making tonight a very special night. Please, before we get started with this evening’s agenda, join me in giving a round of applause to the all of the dedicated staff who have worked incredibly hard to make tonight so special.”
Most people around me begin to clap, including Nick.
am getting more and more confused. Why are we thanking staff members? We have never done that in the past. Is that a new thing? Why would we thank staff when my mother and I were the ones who made all the arrangements? The staff may have done the labor, but everything they did was our idea.
And what the f&&k agenda is James referring to? The only agenda for tonight was celebrating my homecoming and my engagement to James.
The clapping ends before I can make sense of everything.
“Now, with that, let’s move to the next stage of tonight’s celebration. I would like to begin by inviting a number of very special wolves to come forward.”
Special wolves? What special wolves? He and I are the only “special wolves”
supposed to be here.
A curtain behind James lifts, revealing a large box with seats in it. There are three tiers, each with around six seats in it. It resembles a human jury box or a makeshift orchestra seating area. This was not part of our plan. What is going on????
“Let’s start with the members of the werewolf council,”
James announces.
There is applause as they take the stage. James directs them to sit in a set of chairs on the other side of the box.
“Now, let’s bring up some other wolves that I know you all know very well. Margie, Robert, and Stephanie
Brogan, please take the stage.”
I do not move. No way am I heading, up to that stage unless someone tells me what is going on.
“Margie, Robert, and Stephanie Brogan, take the stage now,”
Lily says into the microphone. “You can take a seat in the jury box.”
Suddenly my feet begin moving against my will. What, is happening?!?!?!
Next, James and Lily ask Alpha Randall and Luna Jane to take the stage, as well as Sheila, and a half dozen other individuals that I know my mother has on her payroll.
I look at my mother in confusion. She looks worried.
“I do not know,”
she replies. “But do not worry. Whatever is going on, they will not get away with it. I got Neil on our side yesterday. We are going to be fine.”
I just got an idea for one of the last chapters, and I thought it might be fun to involve the loyal active readers into helping me with it. After all, isn’t the interactive part of this app and the ability to sometimes impact the story through comments one of the best features?
If you were one of the many victims, what questions would you have for Margie, Stephanie, Luna Jane, or Alpha Randall? s
What questions do you have generally that have not yet been answered? 4
Comment below and you may be surprised at how your questions/comments are used tomorrow.
(p.s. I know I keep underestimating how much longer this book will take to finish, but we are seriously at the finish line now, and the epilogues are already written.)
(Margie POV)
Almost as soon as I told Stephanie not to worry, guards secured silver cuffs to the wrists of everyone sitting in the box. To my horror, that included me. The cuffs were covered in fabric, so they did not burn. my skin, but they did prevent my ability to further mind-link.
In my head, I knew that I had carefully planned for all contingencies… but my gut told me that something. was very, very wrong.
Tonight was supposed to be about celebration. Stephanie and James would finally be reunited;
Stephanie would formally be announced as the future luna of our pack; and the official investigation into Stephanie and Sheila’s actions would be declared closed.
Just as importantly, tonight would be another very public demonstration of my power and influence. Slowly over time, pack members and our allies had come to understand who held the real control in this pack. With the council finally prepared to not only give Stephanie and Sheila a slap on the wrist, but also fully exonerate them and with the crowning of Stephanie as the official future luna— there would be no doubt left: I am the one in charge.
I liked it that way. It made me feel safe, secure, and important.
Indeed, had everything gone according to my plans, no one not even Robert’s parents- would ever again be able to say that I was a nobody or that I was unworthy of being Robert’s mate. z
However, soon after I walked into the ballroom, I knew something was wrong. And that “something”
started with my long-lost daughter Lily.
She was supposed to be dead. DEAD. I had paid big money to ensure it.
But no, she was here. On Stephanie’s and my special night. And not only was Lily here, but also she seemed happy. She was practically glowing. And wolves seemed to be falling over themselves to talk to her.
It did not make any sense to me. The whole pack hated Lily when she left, but now they like her? Sure, she did not kill Stephanie as we all thought, but she was still weak, worthless, and boring. Why are they flocking to her now?
I mind-linked Stephanie to hurry up and get down to the party. I figured that if the guest of honor arrived, people would be less interested in talking to Lily. Unfortunately, Stephanie said that she was having a wardrobe issue and needed a few more minutes. That meant that I was on my own to confront my b&&
ch of a daughter.
Fine.
I quickly stormed over to where Lily was. My plan was to drag her out of the ballroom and teach her a lesson. Without a wolf, there was very little she could do to fight me off. I could then hand her off to one of my employees to finish her.
Unfortunately, before I could get within twenty feet of Lily, several strong hands grabbed me and forcibly took me to one of the security rooms. These rooms were equipped with cameras, speakers, and video screens that allowed occupants to see and hear what was going on in the ballroom, but occupants could not be seen or heard. They also could not mind-link… just like the situation that I was in right now.
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?