Chapter 0063
(James POV)
I stare at the phone in disbelief. Dr. Hyder has just proposed that I meet Lily in Hawaii. Is that where she has been hiding this whole time? Well, I suppose there are worse places to hide.
It has been two long, agonizing weeks since my world imploded; perhaps I myself could benefit from some Hawaiian sun. Life certainly could not get any more complicated or confusing there.
Nor do I seem to be finding any answers staying where I am at. Since my world imploded, my mission to make sense of everything has run into a frustrating series of roadblocks and dead ends…. most of which seem to be caused by my own mother.
The roadblocks started on the night that I read through Lily’s file.
***FLASHBACK***
My mother continues to knock on my bedroom door, begging me to let her and Nick in. At first, I ignore her. However, the incessant knocking and begging eventually irritates me to the point that I relent.
When I open the door, Nick and my mother have worried, panicked looks on their faces. Actually, correction: Nick looks worried; my mother looks panicked.
My mother immediately snatches Lily’s file out of my hands. I am already done going through it so I do
not resist.
My mother studies my face, as though she is trying to figure out what it is that I now know. I am not sure what she is looking for or what she thinks that I have figured out, but she takes a deep breath and tells Nick and I that she has another confession to make. This one, she says, will help me understand what I have probably seen in Lily’s file.
I have to stop myself from openly rolling my eyes or mocking her. Just an hour ago, she assured me that she had told me everything. I guess truth is relative in her world.
I must be a glutton for punishment. Despite being overwhelmed with the fireworks that I have already seen tonight, I cannot help but be curious about what it is that my mother wants to confess now. I gesture to my mother and Nick to enter my bedroom. We all take a seat on my couch and side chairs.
My mother begins with an apology. “Please forgive me for not telling you this sooner, James. You have
to understand that Margie and Robert understandably wanted me to keep this a secret. However, after thinking about it some more, I think you both have a right to know.”
“Okay.”
+15 BONUS My mother then looks at Nick and I seriously. “Please do not tell Margie and Robert that I told you. They are embarrassed and ashamed, and I do not think it is fair to make them feel even worse about the
situation.”
“What are you talking about, Mother?”
My mother looks down at the ground and begins wringing her hands. “I know who Lily’s first mate was, and I know how she got hurt the morning of Stephanie’s memorial.”
My ears perk up. “Do tell.”
“Lily has been having an affair with a rogue off and on for years. The morning of the memorial, she snuck into the woods to meet him. It turns out that he was her mate, and that is one of the reasons that she had been drawn to him.” 2
“She is lying.” Luke mindlinks me.
“Of course she is. I saw the picture of Lily on the day she was born.. She had the mark of
Luke? You are back?”
Wait-
Luke does not respond, but his sudden appearance causes me to almost miss the rest of my mother’s
story.
“Somehow Lily discovered that her rogue mate was the one who killed Stephanie all those years ago, and that caused an argument between them. Lily felt really guilty about the situation, and she decided to reject him despite their years together. The rogue was offended and angry, so he beat her up before
accepting the rejection. That is why Lily was so badly injured and passed out before the memorial.
Realizing that you were her second chance mate must have been what awakened her wolf.”
Wow. Does my mother not realize that her story has more holes than swiss cheese?
“She does not know when you and Lily discovered that you were mates. You never told anyone,” Luke
reminds me. “She must think you only discovered that you were mates when you saw her at the memorial.
2/2
