Filed To Story: In the Shadow of the Past Luna (Lily & James)
Three days later, I woke up in a hospital bed with my father glaring daggers at me. It turns out that Evelyn had woken up first, and she told my parents and hers everything that had happened. My father was more pi ssed at me than I had ever seen him before in my life.
My father’s reaction was everything you might expect. He did not want to be alpha for a second longer than he had to be. Because I voluntarily rejected my luna, he no longer cared to wait to transfer power until I had one. He told me that I would have to learn to live with the consequences of my own st upid mistakes, and that included taking on the responsibility of running the pack by myself.
My father ultimately arranged for the transfer of power ceremony to take place three days after Kalen recovered and came back to me. Once the ceremony was over, my parents moved to Red River along with my younger siblings, leaving me almost completely alone.
For the next six months, my mother would call and check in on me every so often. Sometimes she would also pass messages from my father. However, other than those random messages, my father refused to talk to me for almost six months.”
“What happened with Evelyn?”
I asked, hoping to get back to the main story.
Brady took a deep breath. “I did not see her again for eight months. At first, I thought that I was the one avoiding her. But then I realized that she was not even around for me to avoid. I tried to ask her parents how she was doing and where she was, but they were angry with me and did not want to tell me very much. I decided not to use my alpha command on them, knowing that it would only make things harder for me when Evelyn and I got back together.
Meanwhile, Kalen begged me multiple times per day to find Evelyn and take back the rejection, but I repeatedly refused. I knew that I had rejected Evelyn for a reason, and I felt like I needed to follow the plan. That way, when I found her, I could give myself to her completely and without any reservations.
About two months after the rejection, I implemented the plan. Kalen fought me the whole way. I had to put up really big blocks on him in order to sleep with the other she-wolves. But I did. I probably slept with at least one, sometimes two, she-wolves a day for three weeks.
Every last one of them sucked. None of them could hold a candle to what it felt like to be with Evelyn, and not one of those lays did anything to cure the huge hole that I felt in my heart. After a while, I realized that sex meant nothing to me without romantic feelings.
I also realized that I had made a huge mistake, and that I needed to get Evelyn back as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, I learned that she moved away shortly before my alpha ceremony, with the blessing of my father. She intentionally did not tell any of her friends or family members where she was going, because she did not want them to be alpha-ordered to disclose her location.
I spent the next several months desperately searching for her.
I finally found her by total chance at a pack in Canada that I had visited for a conference. When I saw
Evelyn, she was sitting at a table outside by herself, eating some sort of snack. I immediately went up to her, apologized, and begged her to take me back.
Unfortunately, it turned out that I was too late. Evelyn met her second chance mate, Andrew, three months after she left Black Moon. Andrew was a Beta at the Canadian pack that we were visiting.
And that was not even the worst part. The worst part was that Evelyn was eight months pregnant with son. Sammy was conceived on Evelyn’s birthday, which was the only time that we ever had sex without a condom.
Thankfully, my father had started to talk to me again and had come to the conference with me. If my father had not been there, I would have killed Andrew.
After a lot of begging and negotiation, Evelyn refused to take me back, but she did agree to let me be part of my son’s life.”
“Wow.”
That was all I could think of to say. Just… wow.
Brady sat up and looked at me. “Lily, I know how horrible I sound in that story, but you have to believ me. I have spent the past several years regretting what I did. I have worked hard to become a better wolf, and I promised myself that, if I was ever lucky enough to find love again, I would hold on to it an fight for it.
That is why I am unwilling to let you go. James deserves to lose you, just like I deserved to lose Evelyn. am a changed wolf now, and you are the very first female that I have had any real feelings for since
Evelyn.”
5
I frowned, not knowing how to respond.
“Do you have a picture of Sammy?”
I asked gingerly.
Brady nodded. He reached for his wallet and pulled out a picture of Sammy. It was a close-up of Brad alongside a beautiful female, who I assumed to be Evelyn.
My heart stopped as I looked at the picture.
“Brady, is this Evelyn?”
Brady nodded.
“Brady, she looks just like me.”
(Alpha Brady POV)
It has been two weeks since we returned to Black Moon. I am embarrassed to admit that I have been actively avoiding Lily since we got back. She has not tried to mind-link or come and see me, so she must be trying to avoid me too.
I am ashamed at how I acted towards her on the airplane. Lily did not deserve my anger or the silent treatment that I gave her at the beginning. She told me that she did not sleep with James, and I believe her. Even if she did, it would have been wrong of me to blame her. James is her Goddess-chosen mate. Even a broken bond is a strong thing; I know from my experience with Evelyn.
Even though I got past my anger about her night with James, I know that I only made things worse. between us when I confessed what had happened between Evelyn and I.
1
But, Lily asked and she deserved to know. I had dreaded telling her the story; even I hate myself after listening to it. However, I had hoped that Lily’s pure heart would help her see that I have changed; that I regret what I did in the past; and that I was redeemable. I had also hoped that she would see parallels between how James treated her and how I treated Evelyn. 2
The lesson I took from what happened with Evelyn is that sometimes regret is not enough to fix the damage in a relationship. Even if someone has changed for the better, sometimes, the scars of the past are too deep and too severe, and the only healthy way to move on is to close that chapter of your life and move on with someone else. And, of course, I wanted Lily to move on with me.
Unfortunately, I do not think that is the lesson that Lily took from my story. I do not know how I expected her to react, but I know that I did not expect her to become súddenly fixated on how similar she and Evelyn look. In fact, Lily really did not say much more after that.
I
When we got back to Black Moon, I immediately got slammed with work that had piled up while we were gone. It was a welcome distraction, but every night since we came back, I made time to go to Lily’s room at the packhouse so that I could talk to her and apologize. Unfortunately, every night, I have also found myself standing outside her door giving myself a hundred excuses about why she would not want to see me yet or why I should wait and do it another day.
Now that it has been two weeks, I know that I have waited too long. Tonight, I must force myself to finally talk to her. Not only do I miss her and want to get things back on track between us, but also we have received some intelligence indicating that our enemies are actively searching for her. I need to make sure that Lily is taking extra precautions.
again. Silence.
She does not answer. I try
I try to mind-link her, but the mind-link is not going through. She must have a block in place.
I try knocking on the door again, but all I get is more silence.
“Lily, it is me. I can understand why you do not want to talk to me, but please… I need to talk to you.
Please let me in.”
Silence.
It occurs to me that she may not be in her room, but it is 9:00 p.m. I do not know where else she would
I turn to one of the guards that I have placed in charge of keeping watch on her. He tells me that she has not come out of her room during his shift. I ask him when he last saw her, and his response enrages me:
not since the day that we returned. I mind-link the other guards who have been assigned, and they all tell me the same thing.
I almost fire all of the guards right then and there. Hell, I also almost punch the one standing next to me.
What in Goddess’ name am I paying them for? I cannot believe that Lily has been holed up in her room for two weeks and no one has thought to question it or inform me.
I mind-link the head omega to make sure that Lily has at least been receiving her meals. She tells me Lily has not had a meal at the packhouse since the day we returned.
Now I am not just angry; I am scared. I promised that my pack and I would protect Lily, and here we have completely let her down. I am going to be firing some wolves tonight, starting with every single security guard who was supposed to be protecting her. I pray to the Moon Goddess that nothing has happened to her.
This time, I try Lily’s doorknob. It is locked. I use my body to break the door down. Inside the room, everything looks quiet and normal. Well, everything except that Lily is not there. I check her closet and see that most of her belongings are gone.
I am becoming more and more frantic. Then, my eyes settle on a piece of paper on the bed. As I read the letter, what is left of my heart shatters.
“Dear Brady.
I want you to know how much I appreciate you, your parents, and your pack. I do not know what would have happened to me without your support the last couple of months. You have shown me kindness that
I have never known before.
I also want you to know that I believe you when you say that you have changed. What happened with
Evelyn happened a very long time ago. It does not have to define you. I fully believe that you deserve to be happy and find love again.
want
I know you me to be that new love for you, but I have no more interest in being Evelyn’s replacement than I had in being my sister’s.
More importantly, I do not think it is fair of me to string either you or James along. I never wanted to be part of a love triangle. My feelings are all over the place, and I do not think that is fair to either one of you.
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?