“Dorin can you take her and keep her in your room,” Lily asked, and he nodded mutely glowering at the blonde.
“Xavier must have done something to her,” Chris argued, and Lily shrugged.
“It’s possible but like this we can’t let her free. Talk to her if you want, maybe you can get our Lacy back. I tried, I really did, but you can see the result but be careful she is dangerous,” Lily told him and Chris looked hesitant but nodded, following Dorin.
“I need to rest,” she told Bianca and James, walking towards her hotel room and she collapsed on the bed no longer able to stand. She buried her face into the pillow, resisting the urge to start crying. She hated to cry.
“Are you okay?” James asked, entering the room.
At first, she wanted to tell him to get lost but she realized that she was treating him just like Lacy treated her. Honestly, since she met him, James hadn’t really done anything, besides biting her, that would warrant that she treat him like that. “I am not even near close to okay,” she replied through the pillow. She didn’t want to end up like Lacy; she thought as she slowly and painfully rolled onto her back. “How about you take a seat James,” she told him tiredly, and he sat down, looking, even more, concerned. “I owe you an apology,” she started, and he looked at her confused. “Seeing Lacy today made me realize how disastrous holding onto a grudge can become. I’ve been holding one against you for fifteen years,” Lily explained.
“I kind of figured after Hunter told me about how your childhood was and that the alpha didn’t let you stay at his house when I was there. I had no idea or I wou-” he told her but she interrupted him.
“Or you wouldn’t have let him but you didn’t know, and I didn’t want you to know. It was much easier just to hate you” she explained, staring at the ceiling. “It was so easy to blame you for all my problems instead of just facing them, but it’s got to stop. I don’t want to end up like Lacy. I don’t want to become a hateful person that mistreats all those around her because she feels wronged by the world,” she continued.
“I really don’t see you as becoming that type of person,” James told her as he got up from the bed to lay down beside her. A playful smile crossed his face suddenly. “Though I’ll agree if this means you’re going to hitting me every time I try to be kind to you,” he suggested with a hopeful expression that made Lily laugh. She groaned and held her ribs that throbbed with pain.
“Yes, James, it means I won’t hit you when you don’t deserve it,” she told him, wincing as she tried to adjust herself. James immediately, with surprising gentleness, helped her roll over on her side. “Thank you,” she said closing her eyes, trying to thinking of anything other than how much her heart ached. He scooted over next to her, wrapping his arm around her and nuzzling into her neck. Part of her enjoyed the feeling of his caring attention but made her feel incredibly guilty; he was the one Lacy wanted.
James kissed her neck softly while his hand rubbed small circles on top of her stomach. Though she wanted to turn over a new leaf, she wasn’t going to go that far. She grabbed his hand, stopping him and swatted at him with the other. “James you’re still not getting any,” she told him with a small smile.
“Damn,” she heard him mumble, and she laughed again, wincing with the pain it caused.
A little disappointed that Lily still didn’t want to be intimate with him, James buried his face in her hair breathing in her scent and feeling his muscles relax almost instantly. His life had changed completely since that night in the woods, and now he couldn’t imagine life without her. He no longer suffered nightmares about his time with Xavier. When he was with her, a calmness and relaxation came over him that he’d never known in his life.
Even the beast was content and at peace when Lily was around, so much so that James almost felt like a normal werewolf. She was the type of woman James always wanted in his life. She was passionate about life as she was in making love. She was feisty and witty, always keeping him on his toes. She was incredible in her manner to continue being an overall good person, a person who knew how to smile and enjoy life, no matter what life threw at her.
After about an hour of lying there and watching her sleep, James gave Lily a quick kiss on the cheek and got up from the bed. Quietly he left the hotel room and the severity of the situation they were now in hit him like a cinder block. What the hell was going on? He walked towards the vampire’s room. He just couldn’t believe it. Lacy was working with Xavier and betrayed her own family? If someone would have told him that yesterday, James would have knocked their ass to the floor and demand, they stop lying.
James remembered the first day he met Lily, her and Lacy running through the alpha’s house like they were five instead of two grown women. They were best friends, and more like sisters, even he saw that after a few days. With a sigh, he knocked on the door when he arrived. Chris opened the door looking dejected. “Hey James, how’s Lily?” he asked, stepping to the side so James could enter the room.
Lacy sat in a chair her hands still wrapped in silver looking at Chris with a disgusted expression. “She’s fine, she is sleeping and healing now,” he told the other werewolf grabbing a chair and sat down.
“Can you… watch her? I need to take a breather,” Chris asked him with a pained tone.
“Of course man, take as long as you need,” James replied, watching Chris walk out of the room with his head hanging to his chest.
“Finally, I thought he’d never leave,” Lacy sneered then her face, which was twisted in disgust, changed to the Lacy he knew. Feeling curious James got up moving his chair towards her and a smile appeared on her face. “Hey James,” she said with a sultry tone.
“What’s going on Lacy? Why did you do this? I thought you would be one of the few people who would understand the damage that Xavier has done?” he asked her and she chewed her lip looking bashful.
“What he’d done? Look at yourself James, you’re perfect. Have you ever thought of what your life would have been like if he never changed you?” she asked him.
“Constantly,” he told her frowning.
“What is it you imagine James? You’d just be another wolf, probably my stupid brother’s beta, stuck in some dull monotonous nine to five job, with some just as boring mate that would never fully understand your potential!” she stated with a snarky tone making him frown more.
“Yes, what I got is much better Lacy,” he replied back with sarcasm. “I’m a monster that has to keep himself continuously in check. I don’t have a home, family, and barely make enough money just to keep a hotel room for the night,” James explained with annoyance. How could she think he was better off?
“I would gladly go back and change things if I could. I would’ve been able to grow up with my family around me! I maybe would’ve been your brother’s beta; it would have been an honor for me. I wouldn’t mind having a nine to five job that would allow me to not only have a roof over my head but a home, and I am sure Lily and I could have gotten to a better start than we did,” he continued.
Lacy’s face twisted in disgust as soon as he said Lily’s name. “You can’t be serious?” she snapped, and he growled at her quietly. Lacy looked at him with a sweet expression leaning over running her fingers over his knee and he resisted the urge to slap her away from him. “James she hates you! She doesn’t love you! She is always insulting you, hitting you, and giving you dirty looks,” she told him, moving her hands up his leg and giving him a lustful look that made his skin crawl.