Mated in the shadow of my sister by lady gwen
Chapter 271

Chapter 0271

(Lily POV)

Another couple of months have passed, and the trials in both packs have finally all been completed. I am currently on my way to see Evelyn at Black Moon. I need to finally deliver to her the message that the Moon Goddess gave me, and she also wants to talk to Charlotte and I about her plans for her unborn pup.

Like all of the other trials, Evelyn’s trial is now over. She was sentenced to 25 years That

in the dungor

was a harsh sentence, but she did not lose her wolf. When I talked to Edy, she told me that she wanted to stay with Evelyn. She said that Evelyn had lost her way, but buried under all of the jealousy and pain, she

really did have a good heart.

Interestingly, those sentiments were very similar to the ones that I received from most of the wolves that

I talked to. In fact, with the exception of the council member wolves that I freed on the night of the takeovers, the only other wolves who wanted to be freed from their humans were those belonging to

Stephanie, Sheila, my mother, Derek Ab bott, and Andrew.

I

I suppose in retrospect that makes sense, but I had been really unsure of Randall’s wolf going in. After everything that had come to light, I really did expect that Randall’s wolf would want to be freed as well. However, he told me that everything Randall did was done out of love for Jane. It was a twisted, blinding love, but love nonethesame. Randall’s wolf fully supported Randall getting a tough sentence for his crimes, but he still wished to stay with Randall and support him in the hopes that he could be redeemed.

4

Randall ultimately received a sentence of 25 years in the dungeons. He was also demoted to the rank of

Omega.

Jane received a very different sentence. By the time her trial was done, Jane had served roughly 60 days in the dungeons. Given the extreme remorse that Jane had shown, coupled with her limited knowledge of what was happening, the council and I agreed that 60 days was a sufficient amount of time served in the dungeons. However, we also gave her 1000 hours of community service and demoted her rank of Omega.

Since being released, James has been unwilling to visit Jane, and Jane has been unwilling to visit Randall. I fully support the decisions that both of them are making, but a part of me hopes that their family can eventually reconcile. I will not push James to do anything he is uncomfortable with, but I do want to gently bring up to James the possibility of reconnecting with Jane after she has successfully completed a decent chunk of her community service hours and started to prove herself again.

With respect to Stephanie and Sheila, the council recommended the same maximum sentence as the one. that my mother received: life in the dungeons without the possibility of parole, and removal of their

wolves.

When I went in to free their wolves along with my mother’s, it was a pretty somber experience. By the time I went in to see them, all three had spent a decent amount of time in the dungeons and it showed. They were well taken care of in the dungeons, but they still looked like a fraction of the females that they

used to be.

For a minute, I started to feel sorry for them….. to the point that I even started thinking about various books and care packages that I might be able to send them to help ease the boredom. Thankfully (or not), those feelings quickly died when each one began to feed me compliments, play up the sympathy card, and try to guilt me into agreeing to release them early. It was an unfortunate reminder that I had the

power to remove their wolves but not their demons.

With respect to Margie’s employees, each received between 5 and 15 years in the dungeons, depending

on their level of knowledge and involvement.

Derek Ab bott was a bit of a special case, because he absolutely needed to be punished, but it is difficult to make a celebrity in the human world disappear for years without bringing unwanted attention to the werewolf community. We ultimately decided to free his wolf and then use some of the information his

wolf gave us to have Derek brought up on criminal charges in the human world.

It takes much longer for a case to go to trial and be tried in the human world than ours, but we have been

watching the case carefully, and we currently anticipate that he will end up serving between 15 and 20

years in a human jail, when all is said and done.

I think that just leaves me with my father to update you on. His case was perhaps the most unusual of

them all. My father tried to avoid the trial by pleading guilty and stipulating to the maximum sentence on

the condition that he be housed in the dungeons along with my mother. We had to repeatedly explain to

my father that it did not work that way.

My father then tried a different tactic: he confessed to knowing everything that my mother did and to actively participating and helping her. The craziest part of this confession was that it was not true.

When I talked to my father’s wolf, his wolf explained that my father knew some things but not many. He

knew, for example, that my mother was abusing me, but each time he would talk to her about it, she

would promise to stop and he would choose to believe her. Similarly, my father had hints that my mother

and Stephanie were doing horrible things, but he did not have exact deals and he readily accepted every quasi-rational explanation that was given to him because it was easier than dealing with the truth.

Ultimately, the council and I agreed to give my father his requested maximum sentence. However, unlike

my mother, my father’s sentence allowed him the possibility of parole. And, because I am probably far

softer than I should be, I agreed to have him housed in the cell next to my mother’s.

I should probably also tell you two other things about that last interaction with my father.

First, at the end of my conversation with his wolf, his wolf tried to reassure me that my father really did love me. “Unfortunately, he just loved Stephanie and your mom a lot more.” I wish I had not been told me that last part, because it hurt. A lot. Suspecting it and knowing it are two different things.

Second, I did not tell him about Evelyn being his daughter. I actually planned to tell him, but I changed my mind at the last minute. Given that he would be in custody for possibly the rest of his life-and given that Evelyn would be in custody for the next very long chunk of hers- I did not see the point.

Moreover, telling him could only cause more pain… including for me, should he decide to make more of an effort with her than he has made with me. I know thinking like that is selfish, but I guess even the

chosen one isn’t perfect.

Perhaps one day I will change my mind, get past my own selfishness, and tell him about Evelyn. Perhaps that will be the same day that I decide to go and visit him again… although I do not see that happening

any time soon.

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