Lily and James are finally marked! This means that we are officially on the home stretch. A lot of things will happen in upcoming chapters, including their return to West Mountain.
(Brady POV) I left Lily’s apartment and headed back to my hotel room. I felt rejected, lonely, and angry. It made absolutely no sense to me why Lily would reject me in favor of that a&&hole… much less how she could look me in the eye and tell me that she loves him. “She told you that because it was the truth. She does love him,” Kalen responded in our link. Kalen and I normally get along pretty well. Our first and only major fight had to do with Evelyn and my desire to sleep around. Unfortunately, I could tell that Kalen and I were about to have major fight # 2. “You are wrong, Kalen,” I growled through the link. “Lily is just confused. She can’t possibly love someone who has done the things that James has done and who has hurt her like he has. She is better than that.” “James regrets what he did, and he has changed. He has been working to become a better wolf.” I growled again. “I regretted my actions, too, Kalen. I also changed. And Goddess knows how many years I
(Brady POV) I took the shot in one fast gulp and then turned back to Charlotte. “You know that you are supposed to shoot shots, not sip them, right?” I asked her. She rolled her eyes. Even in my drunken stupor, I could not help but notice how pretty her eyes were. “I don’t normally drink whiskey,” she explained. “Ah. Then why now?” “I just rejected my…. I just broke up with my boyfriend.” I gave her a knowing smile. “Your mate. You just rejected your mate.” Charlotte looked at me like she had just gotten caught with her hand in a cookie jar. I smiled. “I am a wolf too.” She looked relieved. “Oh. Really?” “Yeah. You probably cannot smell my wolf that well right now because he is buried under a couple bottles of wolfsbane whiskey. I needed a break from all things Moon Goddess.” Charlotte nodded. “Don’t I get that.” “Wait… if you just rejected your mate, shouldn’t you be passed out in a hospital bed somewhere?” Charlotte shook her head. “No. My wolf is buried fo
“Deal.” **** I do not know how Charlotte and I managed to hold ourselves together in the hotel gift store, but either the hotel worker just wanted our money or we did an okay job of seeming not completely drunk, because the gift shop sold us three bottles of wine, two bottles of champagne, and three bottles of tequila. Charlotte and I then headed up to my room. Once there, I asked Charlotte what she wanted to start with. She picked the champagne. “Good choice.” I popped the champagne bottle, but my drunk self did not think about where the cork might go, and so it ended up flying into one of the mirrors, shattering it. Charlotte started giggling, which made me laugh too. I poured the champagne into a plastic cup and handed it to her. “You know, it is nice to meet someone who appreciates champagne. That she-wolf I told you about earlier? She actually told me that she prefers her mate to me because he likes beer, baseball, and pizza.” “WHAT?” I nodded. “Right? You show a g
(Brady POV) I woke up the next morning to the sound of my phone ringing. I groaned as I struggled to open my eyes, not wanting to wake up. “She smells amazing,” Kalen linked me. “What? Who?” “The she-wolf laying next to you. She smells amazing,” Kalen repeated. Uh-oh. I quickly sat up in the bed and looked around me. Not only was there a she-wolf laying next to me, but also both of us were completely naked. "She is beautiful," Kalen gushed. "She will make beautiful pups." I silently studied the she-wolf. Kalen was right; she was gorgeous. But why was Kalen talking about pups and not yelling at me for blocking him last night? He never took any interest in any of my one-night stands in the past. More importantly, who the f&&k was this she-wolf? I rubbed my hands down my face, struggling to remember. Then, suddenly, almost like an answer to my question, the memories of last night came flooding back to me. Charlotte. The she-wolf’s name was Charlotte. She rejected her
(Brady POV) My heart pounding, I called Evelyn. She answered the phone on the first ring. She was crying hysterically, which made it hard to understand her. However, from what I could gather from between her sobs, Sammy had been kidnapped from his room at some point between Evelyn’s fourth and fifth text messages to me this morning. Worse, the kidnappers left a note, which Evelyn agreed to text to me. The note said: “You have 48 hours to bring us the she-wolf. We no longer care if she comes dead or alive. If we do not get the she-wolf, you will never see your son alive again. We will be in touch about the transfer details.” Holy Goddess. The guilt for leaving Black Moon while my pup was still there hit me hard and fast. Had I been there, he would have been with me. And if he had been with me, he would not have been kidnapped. I let pride, emotions, and jealousy cloud my thinking. And even though it was none of Evelyn’s business, I really had been f&&ing another she
Now those wolves want Lily dead, but of course killing her has now gotten tremendously harder. In the hopes of getting leverage, they kidnapped Sammy this morning while he was playing in his room and they left that note. However, we intercepted the kidnappers before they left the pack with Sammy. Evelyn still believes that Sammy has been kidnapped, and the kidnappers’ bosses still believe that Sammy has been kidnapped, but he is fine. We have the kidnappers safely kept in the dungeons in Red River, unable to mind-link. We will keep them there until you return and the werewolf council is functional again.” I ran my hands through my hair as I tried to process what my father had just told me. What the f&&k. Evelyn was behind all of this? Or at least some of it? How? Why? “How did… how did you figure it out?” “It was all right there in front of you, Son, but you were too blinded to see it. Evelyn knew that the wolves who attacked the pack were after Lily. She either knew tha
(Lily POV) James and I were standing next to each other in this foreign-to-us hall, feeling confused, when we heard a female voice behind us. “It took you long enough. Come, we do not have much time.” We turned around and saw a beautiful woman —no, Goddess— standing before us. She was wearing a
(Lily POV) "Let me explain more," the Moon Goddess said. Before she could, I interrupted with my own question. I could not help it. The Moon Goddess’ words were re-opening old wounds and making me remember all my old insecurities about living under Stephanie’s shadow. “Are you… are you saying that I was your second choice? And that Stephanie was your first?” Feeling my distress, James quickly pulled me off of my chair. He then adjusted our positions so that I was sitting in his lap while he held onto me protectively. The Moon Goddess smiled at his gesture before she leaned forward, grabbed both of my hands, and looked at me with almost-scary seriousness. “I was worried that you might think of it that way, Lily. But, no, I am not saying that you were my second choice. I am saying that you were not who I originally expected to put into this position. That even I sometimes make mistakes.” “That sounds like the same thing.” “It is not. I love all of my children, and you ha
Author Note: The Inspiration Have you ever wondered where the inspiration for a story comes from? I know I have... and for this book, I promised you a while back that I would tell you. So here goes. I mentioned to a friend in passing that I wrote "My Mate's Wedding Drama." That one was written as sort-of a fun, funny project. Not very serious. Something VERY different from my day job. She asked me, "Is that some sort of therapy for you?" "Therapy for what? I don't need therapy." "Well, with your dad in town... and everything with your mom and sister...." "Oh.... Ohhhhhhhhhh...." And somehow that was literally all it took. Mated in the Shadow of My Sister was born. I feel sort-of disingenuous saying I wrote it, because it largely wrote itself. More often than not, the characters took over my keyboard as I typed, or they started yelling plot points to me in the shower or while I was driving. It was sort of a wild ride, to be honest. To get this book done, I have gott
I could not believe that they had done all of this for me. We spent the next few hours eating, dancing, and laughing. I did not think the night could get any better, but then it did. James pulled me aside. “Sweetheart, I don’t know if you noticed the colors of the decorations…” “They are beauti
(Lily POV) (A few months later) Something is up, but I do not know what that “something” is. What I do know is that everyone has been acting really strangely today. It started when James brought me breakfast in bed… that he had taken the time to cook himself. Then, after we had both eaten, he
When she did not say anything for a few minutes, I decided to go ahead and give her the message I was supposed to deliver earlier. “Evelyn, this may sound a little weird, but I had an opportunity to talk to the Moon Goddess several months ago.” “Because you are the chosen one,” she said, not lifting her head off of the table. Ok, it is definitely the jailhouse newsfeed. “Yes. She gave me a message that I was supposed to give to you when I saw you. I am sorry that I did not give you the message earlier, but everything sort of happened really quickly…” “What was the message?” Evelyn asked. Her head remained sideways on the table, but her tone was curious. “She said that you sometimes ask her a question when you pray. It is usually the same question, and she wanted to answer it for you.” Evelyn sat up. “What… what was the answer?” “Yes, she will and more.” Evelyn began smiling and crying at the same time. “I assume you understand the message?” I asked curiously. Evelyn nod
(Lily POV) After I arrived back at Black Moon, I met Charlotte for a quick lunch. We then headed to the dungeon visiting room together, where Evelyn was already chained to a table waiting for us. Like Stephanie and Sheila, she was being taken good care of, but she nevertheless looked awful. “How are you, Evelyn?” I asked. “As good as can be expected, being this pregnant and in here,” she sighed. “You wanted to meet with us?” I asked politely. “Yes, thank you. I know it may seem crazy for me to reach out to you after everything that happened, but my wolf trusts you. And Charlotte, Sammy talks so highly of you every time he comes to see me.” For the briefest moment, I half wondered if we were in the right visiting room. This was not the Evelyn that called me and Charlotte whores as recently as her trial. This Evelyn seemed very, very different. “What is going on, Evelyn?” Charlotte asked. Evelyn sighed. “This pup is going to be arriving soon, and I need a plan. I ori
(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 in the dungeons. That 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 Ste
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 mental 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 a
(Lily POV) It has now been five weeks since the pack and council takeovers. Since then, there has been a whirlwind of activity both inside and outside of the pack. 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-sexy 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 obser
“Yes.” “I discovered that I was pregnant. I came to your office with the pregnancy test. You threw $500 at me and told me to have an abortion. I want to know Alpha Randall… why you did do all that? I was not the first one or the last one who was raped. Today you have made it seem like your onl