Page 6 of Fated Moons
“What are you suggesting then, honey?” her mother asked.
“An official statement from me.” Her father arched a brow. “After I’ve had a chance to speak with Jackson.”
“Auntie Alley isn’t going to approve,” Amanda said.
It had been nearly twenty-two years since Reed Jackson stepped into the ballroom at the Regency during a gathering of covens from across the country, honoring the royal family. She shivered, remembering thepop, pop, popof the gun. Then, the screams filled the room as her father and mother jumped on her and her sisters, dragging them under the table. Twenty minutes later, they were shuffled out of the room. It wasn’t until the trial that Amanda had seen the images captured on film of her uncle falling to the ground, and her aunt hurling herself over his bloodied body.
Then their grandmother screamed as she covered her mouth, dropping to her knees, and Amanda’s beloved grandfather tried to pull both his wife and daughter off his son, only to collapse and sob next to Armand’s dead body.
“She doesn’t have to approve,” her father said, chewing on the end of his pipe, something he only did when he was anxious about something. “Amanda, sweetheart, please call your agent and set up a meeting with Jackson and his people.”
Oh boy, this should be interesting.
2
“No way. She can’t be my co-star. It will be a bigger media shitstorm than if one of my ex-girlfriends took the role.” Jackson Ledger paced in the producer’s office at Media-Max. Paul Ricter had called him three weeks ago, begging him to take the job.
At first, seeing the deep, romantic element, Jackson thought it was too far outside his normal genre, but after reading the script, he knew in his gut that this was the role that could put him back on the top of the industry. It checked all the boxes. It had action, drama, suspense, a moral dilemma, and most important, a strong romantic element, something that had been sorely lacking in his previous roles.
Paul had kept Jackson’s name out of the press until they found the perfect lead actress. Now that Lady Amanda Windsor had been cast, Jackson wanted to march himself down to the federal paranormal prison and strangle his father with his bare hands.
Jackson had hated his old man long before he’d been arrested for murder. Reed Ledger had a taste for whiskey, women, and guns. Not to mention the old man verbally and physically abused his mother. Jackson had been too young to doanything about it, but he swore he'd take him out the day he was big enough and strong enough to take on his father.
But Reed decided to kill a royal witch family member. His father claimed they’d cast a spell on his family years ago, which was why Reed had been a failure his entire life. It was total bullshit. Reed was a womanizing drunk who blamed the royals simply because they’d fired him from their employment after he stole from them. He wished he could understand why his mother had stayed and had more children with his father, but her only explanation had been that wolves mated for life and Reed had been her fated.
One therapist he spoke with during his adolescence said that often abused women felt trapped and feared that if they left, it would just get worse, or maybe the abuser would start to take it out on the children. None of it ever made sense, but his father was in prison for life, and his mother and younger siblings, no matter the shame, were better off without that bastard.
Except, his father’s legacy followed him wherever he went. Even Jackson’s Oscar win had been tainted when a gossip entertainment show ran a piece about his father, focusing on his father’s past transgressions and not all the things Jackson had accomplished despite being the offspring of an outcast wolf who had done the unspeakable.
No one blamed Jackson, but people seemed to enjoy reminding him in subtle ways of the stock to which he was born. His own pack had shunned him and his family. They had made it impossible for them to live in the way a wolf was born to roam the planet. It got so bad, they moved across the country and became packless wolves. It didn’t help their mental health, much less the way they were viewed in society.
It had become a lonely existence.
Thanks to Titus and his family, Jackson at least had a pack he could now run with. They accepted him and his siblings.
But it still came at a price.
Fated Moons.
He swallowed. The image of Trask’s vision filled his head. Ever since the wolfairies had been conceived and born, both Trask and Chaz had reminded Jackson of the Legend of the Fated Moons. Trask’s visions had not changed. They were still hazy at best and they told Jackson to live his life. That when the universe decided the time was right, whatever the truth in the visions were would be revealed.
Being cast alongside a royal witch set his blood on fire. He pushed away the crazy thoughts filling his mind. Just because the Legend of the Princess and the Wolf had come to fruition in the form of Chaz and Daphne didn’t mean anything. Or that Trask was really the great Toldar. Of course, Trask had always known he was Toldar, so had he also known five years ago about Chaz and his brothers and who they would become? That Cheryl, Chaz’s sister, would become the queen of the wolfairies?
Jackson supposed anything was possible.
Including that he had a fated mate.
But he was thirty-two years old and he’d yet to find her anywhere. Not that he wanted to find a mate. Much less be bound to someone in such a way that it impacted the world.
“I can’t believe of all the actresses out there, Amanda has to be the one for this part. She’s a two-bit actress. A soap star, at best.” He swallowed the bitter taste of his words. He didn’t believe that any more than he believed he deserved to be treated poorly because of who his father was. He’d seen some of Amanda’s work and while she was stuck playing second fiddle or given roles that never truly gave her the ability to shine, she had talent. That was an unmistakable truth.
He chose to ignore the fact that he’d watched everything she’d ever been in, including the soaps. It was like driving bya crash and you had to slow down and look. He couldn’t stop himself if he tried.
“You need to see her final audition tape. Lamin went bonkers over it, she was so good. And you know Lamin, he’s never satisfied. He finds faults in every performance.”
“Heidi would have been perfect had she not turned out to be a psycho-crazy bitch.” That was only partially true. Heidi wasn’t a horrible actress, but she lacked the depth this role demanded.
Even Jackson could admit, if only to himself, that Amanda could pull it off.
