(Lily POV) James laughed as he responded to a text on his phone. He then put the phone down and climbed into bed next to me. We were currently staying in a hotel about 25 minutes from West Mountain Pack. The hotel would act as our base of operations until we executed our final plans. “Was that
I went over to his house after I got off work. I knocked on the door, but no one answered. But I heard screaming from inside. To make a long story short, Joey’s dad was wasted drunk and angry. I guess Joey’s parents were heavily in debt and they were afraid that they were going to lose their hou
(James POV) It was finally show time. Again. Was I nervous? I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t… especially after what happened last time. However, things were different than before. The last time that we were on the cusp of taking over the pack, I knew that I loved Lily, but I did not kn
(Alpha Randall POV) At 6:25 p.m., I kissed my wife and headed down to my office to meet our disappointment of a son. I did not know why I agreed to meet with him, much less why I was making an effort to be on time. Timeliness was important to me, but it was not important to James. I knew I woul
“Did you hit your head while you were away, Son? I am the alpha of this pack until I say otherwise.” “No, you are not. You are not fit to be alpha. You have not been for 26 years, when you relinquished control to Margie. Too many pack members and wolves have been hurt because of your selfishnes
(Stephanie POV) I am soooooooo excited. Today is the day that I will finally be reunited with James, experience the mate bond, and be officially introduced to the pack as their future luna. My nails and toes are perfectly polished; my hair has been trimmed, highlighted, and styled; and I have been waxed to ensure that I have exactly zero body hair below my neck. I am also wearing one of the two beautiful dresses that I purchased for today. We told everyone else that they should dress business-formal, but I opted for pink sequins for both of my dresses. I am the star of the party, and the star of James’ heart, and I want to make sure that I stand out. Yes, pink is a little juvenile and a bit overdone, but it is my favorite color and one that I know will help remind James of our wonderful past together. Speaking of James, I am annoyed that I have not seen him yet. I was really hoping that we could have some private time together before the party. A fresh mating mark would have been
**** I ended up having phone sex with Antonio. It was exactly what I needed after those text messages with James. But now it is time to head down to the party. Sheila and my mother were already there; I sent them down without me so that I could focus on Antonio for a few minutes. I walk into the ballroom and am immediately impressed by how beautiful everything looks. Pictures of me, and me and James, are artfully displayed on the walls and on every table. The place is dripping in crystals and flowers and elegance. The omegas and my mother truly outdid themselves. I had expected to have people flocking to me as soon as I walked in, but to my surprise, only a few people do. Thankfully, the few who do call me "Luna Stephanie," which makes me feel good. I look around for my mother, Sheila, or James, but with so many decorations and so many wolves here, it is hard to spot them. As I am scanning the room, my eyes land on what appears to be a crowd of people surrounding someon
(Stephanie POV) As James continues to approach, my heart beats faster and faster in my chest. James is wearing a dark gray suit with a black button-up shirt and a black and silver tie. Antonio taught me a lot about suits over the past few years, and James’ suit is obviously custom and expensive. He exudes power and authority. Just as importantly, James looks incredibly hot in it. I mean, James was always good-looking, but this older version of James is just… wow. Greek gods have nothing on this version of James. Had I known that James would grow into this, I never would have left. Hell, at this point, I don’t even want a threesome anymore. If James can f&&k as well as it looks like he can, I will not need anyone else. Suddenly I feel like forgiving Sheila for sleeping with him; if Sheila’s mate looked like this, I would not have been able to resist him either. As James gets closer, I am surprised that I do not smell anything unusual, but I tell myself that it is probably just bec
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