Chapter 128
0128 (James POV) The meeting with my father was about as painful as you can imagine it being. I will not bore you with the details; I promise that you have already heard most of them. Luke and I tuned out half the meeting/ lecture ourselves. The only new information that I took from the meeting was that my father now believed that my irresponsibility” was causing my mother unnecessary heartache. He reminded me that Margie had decided that I would marry Sheila and make her pup my heir, and he said that one way or another, I needed to make sure that I fulfilled her wish. No, he actually went further than that. I believe his actual quote was, “It is the least we can do for her after all we took from her years ago. Sadly, he said that during a part of the lecture that I was paying attention to, and I literally had to bite my tongue to prevent lashing out at him. Somehow, in his mind, sins committed by my mother before I was born had become sins that he and I also had to pay for. 1 Unfortunately, my father did not stop there. He also demanded that I “fix my sh&t” as soon as possible. My father’s implicit request was clear but horrifying: he wanted me to make sure that Mary Beth’s pup was dealt with, one way or another. How, he did not really care. He just did not want there to be another pup out there that could challenge Sheila’s pup for the title of alpha and trigger the alpha challenge processes. (A legitimate first-born heir does not need to go through the alpha challenge process. An illegitimate first-born can, however, force a legitimate second-born into a challenge.) I mostly listened to my father, having lost interest in actually speaking with him. However, at one point, I did ask my father why-if the alpha challenge process was to be avoided at all costs- he was comfortable submitting Nick to it. (Nick was not a legitimate first-born alpha heir, so he would have to submit to challenges as well.) My father told me matter-of-factly that no one in this pack was willing to challenge Margie, and that meant no one would be willing to challenge Nick as well. I was incredibly bothered both by my father’s answer and by his bluntness. For years, Margie had run things behind the scenes. Now, ever since my mother confessed to what she did with Tyler, my parents had almost embraced the fact that Margie was the one in control. How were pack members supposed to respect an alpha who was letting his pack be run by the beta female? Alas. The only thing good that came out of the meeting with my father was that he made a minor concession: instead of marrying Sheila in two weeks, my marriage would be officially announced. Then, in two months on my birthday, I would marry Sheila. H ooray (not). My father promised to sell the delay to Sheila and Margie as a way to: 1) give me time to sort through the Mary Beth issue; and 2) give them extra time to make the wedding even grander and more elaborate. that I For my part, I simply rolled my eyes as my father announced his plans. I never agreed to marry Sheila or even show up to the wedding, nor did my father even bother to ask me if I would. It was clear that he thought I had no other options. It was also clear that he thought I was the same submissive pup had been all of my life… or at least the same angry but submissive pup that I had been the past six years. When my father was done saying all that he wanted to say, I got up and left. I figured I had better things to do than fight with this wolf that I barely recognized anymore. I suppose he has probably always been the same wolf that he is now, but the more I change and grow, the more I see him through new eyes. And I do not like what I see.. I was headed to Joey and Jessica’s house when Nick stopped me. “James, I really need to talk to you.” I raised my eyebrows. “About what?” “You need to marry Sheila.” Nick’s comments surprised me. Of all the ranked wolves, I had expected at least Nick to be on my side. He had been my best friend for years and I trusted him. “Wow. You too?” I asked, completely shocked. “Look, Dude, I get it. Sheila is annoying. I would not want to marry her either. But she is carrying your pup, which means you liked her at least enough to f&&k her.