Chapter 218
0218
(Lily POV)
“Rise and shine, beautiful,” James said as he came into the bedroom and opened the blinds, flooding the.
room with sunshine.
groaned and put my pillow over my face. “Ten more minutes.”
James gently pulled the pillow away from me, earning him a low growl.
Now, let us back up for a second. Normally I am a morning person. I do not even bother to set an alarm clock half the time, because I do not need one. However, yesterday was not exactly a normal day. I quit my job at the girls’ home, fought with Brady, fully marked and mated with James, and met the Moon Goddess. Then, once we “got back,” James and I spent half the night talking through everything that we had learned and everything that we wanted to do.
Meaning, I had barely slept and I was physically and emotionally exhausted. I could not understand why James did not feel the same way. Instead, he responded to my growl by laughing at me.
“Come on, sweetheart. Our flight leaves in three and a half hours, and we still have to get you packed.”
I ignored him, choosing to cover my face with my blanket instead.
“Darling…
I groaned again. “How are you so happy this morning? You got less sleep than I did last night.
James sat down on the bed next to me. “Well, let me see… I woke up next to the most beautiful she-wolf In the world, who happens to be finally wearing my mark, and soon I get to take her home. Not only that, but together she and I will be able to kick some a&& and start righting some wrongs that have been allowed to go on for far too long. I think I have every reason in the world to be happy this morning, don’t
you think?”
I sighed as I realized that I was not going to win this battle; his sweet words were my undoing. I could not
be irritated with him when he said things like that. I stretched, sat up, and looked at him. I then reached
my hand out and rubbed his cheek.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” James asked me curiously.
“I am just taking it all in. Taking YOU all in. It has been a very long time since I have seen you look this
happy and relaxed. It reminds me a little bit of when we were younger.”
I
“Well, I hope my happy face is just as s**y as my grumpy face,” James teased, “because I have a feeling
I smiled. “All of your faces are s**y,” I responded honestly.
“Good answer. Now get up.”
I moaned yes, again- but I allowed him to pull me to my feet. After one very…um, “engaging”… shower, James and I packed up the apartment and prepared to leave. Thankfully, my apartment came mostly furnished, so I did not have to pack much more than my clothes and personal effects.
Soon, we were ready to go.
For a few different reasons, James and I had agreed to start by going back to Black Moon. Now that James and I had marked each other, being there was far less dangerous for me. In addition, Dr. Hyder had been working around the clock to improve security, and with our new powers- James and I could
help him identify the remaining weak links.
After the recent fight with Brady, we knew that being there could lead to some additional awkwardness.
However, all things considered, it was still the best option. We needed to be where Dr. Hyder was -he
had become not just my mentor, but James’ as well; we needed to get to the bottom of the remaining (
current) threats against me; and we needed to relay the Moon Goddess’ message to Evelyn.
Moreover, being at Black Moon would give us a little time to regroup with our allies and test out and learn
our new powers. This was really important to do before we started the showdowns with our parents,
Stephanie, Sheila, and the others at West Mountain.
Anyhow…
Once we had everything packed, James and I did a final check through the apartment to make sure that we had not missed anything. As I grabbed my phone off the counter, I realized that I had not heard from Charlotte since yesterday morning. She typically texted me at least a few times a day. I decided to send her a quick text.
Me: “Hey, Char. Just checking in. James and I are going to be heading out soon; not sure when we will be back. Are you doing okay? I did not hear from you at all yesterday.”
No sooner had I hit “send” than my phone began to ring. I showed the phone to James so that he could see the caller ID, and then l’answered it.
“Charlotte?”
“Hey… um…. I have a lot to tell you…”
Charlotte was speaking in a hushed whisper, and I also heard water running in the background.
“Why are you whispering?”
“Because I am in the bathroom.”
“And?”
“And it is not my bathroom.”