Chapter 236

Chapter 0236

(James POV)

I took a step back from Andrew.

“It did not have to turn out this way,” I told him sadly.

Andrew glared at me.

“You spent years pretending to be something that you weren’t,” I continued. “You acted like a loving,

devoted husband and father. You acted like someone who really cared about others.”

“I did what I was supposed to do,” Andrew replied coldly.

“No, what you were supposed to do was actually BE the male that you were pretending to be. Imagine

how different your life could have been if only you had tried…. if only you ACTUALLY cared about

someone other than yourself.”

“Would it have gotten me any further?” he asked bitterly.

T

“I don’t know. I would like to think so. But I do know this: if you made different choices, you would be

going home to your mate and family tonight. Instead, you will likely spend the rest of your life in the

dungeons.”

“My choices were taken away from me the moment that the Moon Goddess decided to punish Stephanie.

The Moon Goddess didn’t Stephanie and

ven care how her punishment impacted me. She just punished

Ignored me,” Andrew said angrily. “Now my own cousin is turning his back. I hope you have thought about

how our mothers are going to react when they find out what you have done.”

I ran my hands down my face.

I

“I will deal with our mothers. I have a lot to talk to mine about anyway.”

I

“So that’s it? You are going to just lock me up and walk away? Treat me as though I am nothing?”

“WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?” I roared in frustration. “YOU OFFERED WOLVES HUNDREDS OF

MILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO KIDNAP MY MATE SO THAT YOU COULD STEAL HER FROM ME! YOU TRIED

TO HAVE HER DRUGGED! AND EVEN AFTER YOU DISCOVERED THAT HER MATE WAS ME, YOU HAD

YOUR OWN STEPSON KIDNAPPED SO THAT YOU COULD ARRANGE FOR LILY TO BE KILLED!!”

Lily stepped forward and put one hand on my arm and the other on my chest. I pulled her closer to me

and kissed her temple.

“Oh, give me a F&&ING break, James! You would have done the same thing if you were in my shoes and

you know it.”

“NO!” I yelled. “I would have been happy for you. I would have congratulated you. I would have thanked

the Goddess that you were the one having to take on the responsibility and not me. AND I SURE AS HELL

WOULD NOT HAVE LET YOU SPEND SIX YEARS MOURNING THE DEATH OF SOMEONE THAT I ALWAYS

KNEW WAS NOT YOUR MATE|||||||”

You are such a liar, James. I knew Big Daddy should have had Lily killed in Ravenswood instead of trying

to abduct her first. If he had, we would be in a very different position right now.”

“Forgive me, Lily,” I said via mind-link. I removed my arm from around her body and punched Andrew

directly in the gut. Twice.

The punches successfully knocked the wind out of him, but after about thirty seconds he was spewing

nonsense again.

“Feel better, James? I hope you know that I will be telling our mothers about everything that you have

done to me today.”

“Do you really think they will care? That they will defend you?”

“You think they won’t?” he asked smugly.

I sighed. Sadly, with our family, Andrew could be right.

trial. I

“Fine. Have it your way. Tell them whatever the f&&k you want, but you will have to wait until your tria

am sure that Dr. Hyder and Alpha Brady will agree with me that you should not be allowed visitors or

communication in or out until then.”

“You have no basis to restrict my communications with the outside world. It is inhumane.”

“Oh, you are wrong, Big Daddy. I have every basis in the world.”

I turned to Dr. Hyder. “Can your guards take him to the dungeons now? I got everything we needed from

him ”

Only moments later, guards came into the office and escorted Andrew out. As they did so, I quickly jotted

down the names of the guards and other traitors that Andrew had been working with. I handed the list to

Dr. Hyder. His eyes got a little wider when he recognized some of the names.

After Andrew was escorted out of the office, and after Dr. Hyder and Brady made arrangements to secure

the other traitors, Lily turned to me.

“What did you see?” she asked.

“Why don’t you sit down, Lily.”

“Was it that bad?”

I frowned. “Sit down, okay, sweetheart? I will tell you everything.”

“You are scaring me, James. Does this have to do with Stephanie?”

“Yes, in part. Stephanie is Andrew’s fated mate.”

“What?!?! How does he know that? Does she know that?”

“Please, Lily, sit.”

It took some more prompting, but finally, she did. I kneeled in front of her and took her hand. I knew what

I had to tell her was not going to be easy for her to hear.

“Alex described how they found out about Stephanie being their mate, and why Andrew became obsessed with Evelyn and then you. From the way that Alex described everything, Luke and I are pretty sure they discovered that Stephanie was Andrew’s mate because of the wrinkle or wave that the Moon

Goddess created when she started making changes.

Then, a later wrinkle allowed Alex-but somehow not Andrew- to find out that the Moon Goddess had selected Stephanie’s sister as the new chosen one. Alex also received a visual of what you looked like. Alex shared the details about you with Andrew on the day that they saw Evelyn at the ski lodge, and he

has regretted it ever since.”

“Wait… back up… what do you mean by the Moon Goddess making changes?” Dr. Hyder asked.

I turned to him, realizing that we had not told Dr. Hyder about that part of our meeting with the Moont Goddess. “It is a long story, but basically the Moon Goddess originally planned for Stephanie to be the

chosen one. She changed her mind when Stephanie started to make some of the choices that she made. But changing things lead to consequences, and one of those consequences was apparently Andrew finding out much more than he was supposed to know.”

“I am confused. If Alex told Andrew that the new chosen one was Stephanie’s sister, then he knew that

the chosen one was me. But Evelyn made it sound like Andrew got her and I confused.”

I squeezed Lily’s hand. This was going to be the hard part.

*Andrew confused you and Evelyn because Stephanie has two sisters.”

Lily jumped up. “What… what are you saying, James?”

“Evelyn is your half-sister,” I said softly.