Filed To Story: In the Shadow of the Past Luna (Lily & James)
“Look, Son, I will lift the alpha orders regarding Stephanie,”
my father offered. “The orders regarding Lily will remain in place.”
“I did not ask you to lift the alpha orders regarding Stephanie. I asked you to lift the alpha orders regarding Lily.”
*James, I have been talking to Margie -“
“So what, Mother? Why do I care if you have been talking to Margie? Why does Margie always get to have so much control over what happens in my life?”
“Let her finish,”
my father growled. “No one gets to disrespect your mother and my mate in this office, no matter who they are.
I rolled my eyes. “Fine, whatever. Do share, Mother. What wonderful insight did Margie have about the situation?”
I asked sarcastically.
My mother looked at me with exacerbation. “When did you become such a sn otty a&&hole, James? We did not raise you this way!!!”
“Oh, I don’t know, Mother. I think it sort of happened on its own. The funny thing about grief is that it makes you a little grumpy at times. Well,….that and sexual frustration.”
I winked at my mother for added emphasis. My mother’s jaw dropped. She did not know what to say.
I that I was pushing my knew limits right now, but I could not bring myself to care. I just stared at my parents, waiting for one of them to speak.
Finally, as I expected, my mother broke.
“Look, James…. Margie and I have been talking about what happened at Stephanie’s death anniversary memorial. As you know, the behavior of you and Lily was out of line and embarrassing to everyone. It took the attention away from where it should have been, which was on Stephanie. Because of that, it is important to Margie -and therefore to your father and I- that Stephanie’s birthday memorial be even grander and more special than normal. We need to show a united front at that event.
It is in just two months from today. If you want to talk about everything with Lily, we can do that after the event. Until then, Margie and I agree that your focus needs to be on Stephanie.”
I chuckled bitterly. “Seriously, Mother? You want me to spend the next two months focused on someone has already died? I have already focused on Stephanie for the past six years! How much more focus does it take to put on a memorial? Besides, I am not an event planner. Let someone else do that!”
It felt weird to think about Stephanie as “someone who has already died”
… and it felt even weirder to say it out loud… but it also felt sort of good. Stephanie was the love of my life, and I miss her, but I am so tired of pretending like we are living in an alternative reality.
“Margie wants you to give a speech. Not just a speech, but a grand speech,”
my mother said softly. I could telle was almost embarrassed to say it out loud.
“What? Why?”
“She thinks the pack needs proof that Stephanie is still important to you. That you still care about her.
Your little stunt at the death anniversary called that into question.”
“STEPHANIE IS DEAD, MOTHER!”
My mother gasped.. “James! How dare you!”
“How dare I what? How dare I acknowledge the facts? Weren’t you and Daddy Dearest telling me just a month ago that it was time to move on, marry, and produce an heir? Now you are telling me that I have an obligation to give a speech -no a ‘grand’ speech- at what has to be the FOURTEENTH or FIFTEENTH
remembrance event that we have held for Stephanie in six years? Don’t you realize how crazy this sounds?”
“James! One more rude word out of you and I will send you to the dungeons for the night,”
my father growled. “I have already warned you that tone with your mother. I will not warn you need to watch u you again.”
I took a deep breath and put my hands over my face.
“What do you want me to do?”
I said in a defeated voice.
“Give the speech. I know it sounds a little over the top, and it probably is, but you have to understand how much Margie is suffering. If it will make her feel better, please just do it for her,”
my father responded.
I did not say anything for a few more minutes. A part of me thinks that the mere fact that I am considering this shows just how out of touch with reality I have become. I do not even know what normal is anymore.
Finally, I made a decision.
“Fine. I will give the GRAND speech about Stephanie. But on two conditions. Number one, you lift the alpha orders. Not just the ones about Stephanie, but all of them. And number two, you tell me where Lily is.”
(James POV)
I look at my parents in disbelief. “What do you mean that you do not know where Lily is? I thought your sealed the borders after Lily left the hall?”
“We did, Son. And we sent guards out looking for her. There was no trace of her. They looked everywhere.”
the very minin
“How that can be, Father? You saw how injured she was! At she had a broken leg and a broken arm. She was literally limping as she left the event hall, and she had the rejection to deal with on top of all of that. She doesn’t even have a wolf! How far could she possibly have gotten?”
“I do not know what to tell you, Son. We tried to find her, but we could not,”
my father said sadly.
“How long did you look?”
I asked accusingly.
My father looked away. An alpha never looks away from an uncomfortable conversation, which means the answer really bothers him… and which means that the answer is going to really shock and offend me.
“Two days.”
“TWO DAYS?!?!? YOU HAD YOUR MEN LOOK FOR TWO DAYS?!?!?!! WE LOOKED FOR TRACES OF
STEPHANIE FOR SIX MONTHS, AND THAT WAS AFTER WE CONFIRMED THAT SHE WAS DEAD AND
HELD HER FUNERAL! HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY GIVE UP AFTER TWO DAYS?”
My father continued to look away, not saying anything.
“You two are always so worried about what Robert and Margie think. Well, what about this? What do they think about the fact that you gave up the search for their only other daughter AFTER JUST TWO DAYS????”
“It was Margie’s idea,”
my mother said softly. “She thought… she thought it was better that we all just try to move on.”
“WHAT?!?!?! No, there is no way that that is true. This is the she-wolf who insists on celebrating
Stephanie’s death anniversary and birthday every year. She is the one who turned the packhouse into a practical museum dedicated to Stephanie’s memory. She is the same one who you just got done telling me is insisting that I give a ‘grand’ speech to the pack at Stephanie’s birthday memorial so that I can
I reassure her and them that Stephanie is still important to me.
There is NO WAY that Margie was okay with you giving up the search after two days! What if Lily is out there, dying? What if someone kidnapped her? What if… what if she is… what if she…”
“Relax, Son,”
my father cut in. “Lily is alive, that much I am confident of. We would have found her body or evidence if she was not. Like you said, she could not have gotten far on her own. My best guess is that she got help from someone.”
“Who?”
“I have no idea.”
I ran my hands through my hair, and began to pace back and forth in the room.
“Why are How can they be okay with not knowing where their daughter
Margle and Robert okay with this?
is?”
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?