Mated in the Shadow of My Sister novel Chapter 131

Chapter 0131

“Do not be sorry. Your little stunt bought me a couple more months. My father agreed to delay the wedding so that I could sort through the Mary Beth issue. Not that I would marry Sheila whether it was tomorrow or ten years from now. I assume that Mary Beth is at least a real she-wolf?”

“Yes… but she is my mother’s cousin,”

Joey replied. “So still your cousin too. That is fine. Where does she live?”

“Mexico.”

“Okay, well that is good. We have fewer contacts in Mexico. It could make it more difficult for wolves in this pack to track her down. Is she really pregnant?”

“No… but she sort-of looks like she could be.”

*JOEY!”

Jessica gasped. “What am I missing?”

I asked, clearly confused. “Mary Beth… is 63 years old,”

Joey said hesitantly. “Oh, Goddess. Seriously?

You could not think of anyone younger to pin a pup on?”

Joey gave me an apologetic smile. “Like I said, I panicked. My parents were just talking about Mary Beth the other day, so her name was fresh in my mind.”

“Goddess, Joey.”

I rubbed my temples. “Well, we will have to figure out how to deal with the Mary Beth issue later. That is obviously not the treason you mentioned. Tell me what the treason entails.”

Joey and Jessica looked down, again saying nothing. “Goddess!”

I exclaimed, getting frustrated. “Why is this so hard?

We already agreed that you would tell me what is going on. Just spit it out already!”

“Unless you want me to ask you to leave, Sir, I suggest that you do not yell at my mate,”

Joey said firmly. As annoyed and frustrated as I was, I had to appreciate Joey’s protectiveness. It takes courage to stand up to an alpha wolf-even one who is not yet alpha- and yet here he was, doing it. “Fine, look, I am sorry. But I am getting desperate here. I have been chasing riddles and trying to find answers for weeks, and every time I find someone who might have something useful to tell me, I run into nothing but roadblocks. I cannot fix anything if no one will tell me what is going on!”

“You have been trying to find answers?

“Two reasons. One reason is that the wolves who have been hurt the worst do not want to talk about what happened to them. It hurt them and their families too deeply. The other reason is that many wolves in our movement have lived in the pack for generations. If the werewolf council came in, they would likely eliminate the West Mountain Pack entirely and force us to either become rogues or join another pack. Wolves in our movement do not want to give up our homes and our lives simply because of the sins of a horrible few in leadership.”

“So you would prefer to overthrow your pack leadership?

I assume you mean violently?”

Jessica nodded. “Yes. Wolves in the movement are willing to fight for their homes and for what is right. At this point, war is almost inevitable, whether it comes from outside packs trying to come in and take our lands and our homes, or whether it happens from the inside.”

“When is this overthrow going to happen?”

“We are….. we are now hoping to avoid it. When we found out that you and Lily were mated, we came up with another plan.”

I stood up and took a deep breath. This was an overwhelming amount of information, and we had not even barely scratched the surface yet. “Wait… how many wolves are in this movement?”

I asked. “500,”

Joey responded. “500 wolves?”

“No. 500 families.”