Chapter 225
0225
(James POV)
Deciding that I was done with Brady’s bullsh&t, I lunged for him. It was not the fact that he accused me
of sleeping with Stephanie that bothered me. It was the fact that Brady was continuing to mock our
relationship, coupled with the fact that he continued to want to remind Lily about our painful past.
Whether his claims were true did not matter; it was his intent that bothered me.
“STOP IT! BOTH OF YOU!” Lily yelled just before I reached Brady.
I do not know if Lily meant to do so, but she used her alpha command -the same one that she had used
in Hawaii. I felt the weight of it even though it no longer worked on me. The command caught my
attention and brought me back to reality. Instead of giving Brady the punch he deserved, I reached out
and wrapped my arms around my mate.
“I am sorry, my love. He just went a step too far.”
Lily hugged me back. To my relief, she was not angry with me. She was, however, glaring angrily at Brady.
“What is with you, Brady? I do not recognize this version of you,” she said to him.
Brady did not say anything.
“Did you really sleep with Lily’s sister?” Charlotte asked me, trying to make sense of everything she had
heard. “Is that the big, complicated secret between you two?”
“NO!!!” Lily and I exclaimed at the same time.
“Brady does not know what he is talking about,” I added. “Lily is the only female that I have ever been
with sexually.”
Charlotte was taken aback. “Really?”
“Yes.”
“Wow. Wow! That is so sweet! Sq then…. what are the two of you fighting about? Charlotte asked.
I decided to wait for Brady to say something. However, when he continued to stay silent, I realized he was still under the alpha command.
“Lily, you need to release your command so that Brady can respond.”
“Oh. Sorry, Brady, you can talk.”
Charlotte turned to Lily in shock. “Wait, you are not an alpha. How do you have an alpha command?”
“It is a long story,” Lily responded.
“It is a long flight. Tell me.”
“Let’s get the guys settled first, okay?”
Charlotte nodded reluctantly and then looked back at Brady.
“So what were you two fighting about?” she asked again.
“Just debating which one of us was the biggest di ck,” Brady said bitterly, 15
“Not quite, A&&hole,” I retorted.
“What? You think anyone on this airplane actually believes that little ‘virgin’ story you just tried to tell?”
No one said anything.
Brady looked at Lily and then scowled. “Wait, Lily, you actually believe that?!?! You ACTUALLY, TRULY believe that you were his first??? Is that why you picked him over me??? The guy had she-wolves sleeping in his room on a rotation for years. And he threatened you with betrayal pains as punishment for killing
your sister. Your sister that he thought he was mated to.”
“Wait, what?” Charlotte said in surprise.
Lily looked at Charlotte. “I promise, Charlotte, I will tell you the whole story in a few minutes, okay?”
Charlotte again nodded, but I could tell she was getting frustrated.
“I am sure it is hard for you to understand, Brady, given your own history, but yes. Lily was my first, my
only, and she will be my last. Lily and I have talked about everything that happened. I am not proud of my
mistakes, but Lily has forgiven me. And unlike you, when Lily was willing to give me that second chance, I
took it. I did not need to sow my wild oats first. You are the one who rejected the so-called love of your
life not once but twice.”
“What are you talking about? I made ONE mistake. ONE. I was never given a second chance with
Evelyn. If I had-”
Brady paused, thankfully (I think) realizing that Charlotte was standing right there and his next words
might hurt her feelings.
“What I mean is, I made a mistake. But I did not reject Evelyn twice. I only broke up with her once.”
I looked at him skeptically. “No, you broke up with her a year before you discovered that you were mates.
decided to mate the two of you. At that point, Evelyn wanted to leave Andrew and be with you. That is when Sammy was conceived. But then you decided to reject her for the second time. It was only eight months later that you came to your senses.”
Brady paled.
“Are you sure about your timeline, James?” he asked me softly.
“Yes. Andrew and I were talking regularly back then. I remember how upset he was to find out that your and Evelyn were mated, as opposed to him and Evelyn. I also remember how relieved he was when she came back to him. And I remember him talking about the DNA test they did to confirm the pup was yours
and not his.”
Brady sank down in one of the seats and ran his hands through his hair. “I broke up with Evelyn only once, on the day of her 20th birthday,” he said quietly. “We had been together in a committed relationship up until that point. I was told she did not meet Andrew until months later.”
Charlotte looked at Brady and I in disbelief. “You mean… Evelyn was cheating on Brady with Andrew for a
year before they were mated?”
“I guess so,” Brady said in shock.
“Who was Andrew’s first mate?” Charlotte asked.
“I don’t know,” I responded. “I do not think Andrew knows. Andrew and Evelyn are chosen mates.”
“WHAT?!?!?!?!?”
“You mean you really did not know any of this, Brady?”
“No. I was told they were second chance mates.”
My heart sank. A part of me still hated Brady, but now
I felt incredibly bad for him. The look on his face.
reminded me of how I felt when I first discovered that half my life had been a lie.
To her credit, Charlotte sat down next to Brady and began rubbing his back. He seemed comforted by her
embrace.
Watching them, I linked Lily. “I hope they are second chance mates,” I told her.
“I think it is pretty certain that they are,” she linked back. “They just don’t know it yet.”
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