Mated in the Shadow of My Sister novel Chapter 177

Chapter 0177

(Stephanie POV)

It feels really good to be home.

It also feels really nice to see evidence of how much everyone missed me. I love how many of my pictures and mementos are hung everywhere. If I knew that I was this loved and this missed, I would have come back years ago. While I was gone, Sheila told me some of what the pack did for me, but her

descriptions really did not do it justice.

For her part, my mother was so happy to have me home that she immediately demanded that the pack

host a large welcome-home banquet in my honor. Alpha Randall and Luna Jane were not happy with the

idea -Luna Jane even had the audacity to complain about how much money they had already spent on

Sheila’s cancelled wedding- but they eventually relented.

We would have held the banquet this Friday, but the werewolf council is making life difficult, so we

decided to delay the banquet until James’ birthday. That timing should give the werewolf council plenty

of time to get out of our hair, and it will also give James and I plenty of time to reconnect. I have the

perfect dress in mind that will allow me to show off the mate mark that James will give me before the

event.

Speaking of the werewolf council, they are really annoying me right now. They have placed Sheila and I

on house arrest, and they have also started to sniff around and ask a ton of questions. I really do not

understand what they are doing or why they are punishing me

I mean,

are

Thankfully, my mother thinks that the council investigation will be over soon. The council consists of seven members chosen by the Moon Goddess herself. As far as anyone knows, only six members a currently alive, and my mother has sold girls to three of them. All we need is to be extra friendly to one of the other three and we will have a majority voting in our favor. They will still have to punish Sheila and I somehow-you know, to keep up appearances- but my mother thinks the punishment will be a slap on

the wrist and then we can move on.

In the meantime, I just have to wait. My mother suggested that I keep myself busy by going ahead and moving my belongings into James’ room. She also thinks that I should begin to re-decorate the room to match my style. I think that is a great idea, and I plan to start working on that tomorrow.

I would have done it today, but Luna Jane got angry when she saw me checking out James’ room earlier. She told me that it was James’ room and I did not have any right to be in there. She also told me that I had “some nerve” waltzing in after all this time, and that she has no idea how I can hold my head up high

after all that I did.

I really do not understand what her problem is. James and I are mates and we should sleep in the same room. I wonder if she is just angry that I have a pup and that I slept with a human. If so, she needs to mind her own business. The only one who should care about my past sexual history is James, and my

mother reassured me earlier that the mate bond is powerful and makes you forgive almost anything.