Page 86 of The Alpha and His Childhood Sweetheart

Mom:No, she texted Drake and Sam using lots of emojis and capital letters.

The capital letters sounded like her, but Melanie didn’t often use emojis. I started to cry, feeling sorry for myself. I was happy for her, but Alexander walked out dejected. I could tell EJ’s siblings had started to come into the room. I couldn't look up though. He told them Alexander would be ok, but I didn't knowif that was true. Alexander might not be ok any time soon. I wasn’t going to wait. I texted Melanie.

Me:Hey Ladybug! I heard congrats are in order. I knew you’d win.

Ladybug:Thanks!!! I’M SO EXCITED!

Me:Really? I thought you weren’t sure if you wanted to do this.

Ladybug:It’s a great opportunity. I just need to be on my own right now.

Me:The bracelets are amazing.

Ladybug:It’s no big deal.

Me:How can you say that? They are game changing

Ladybug:It’s just jewelry, Elise.

I frowned. Rhea linked, “That didn’t sound like her at all. Not a rambling thought one to another in the whole exchange?” Rhea was right. Plus, how could she say it was just jewelry? I ate a cookie on a platter in front of us and relaxed. She was just excited. That’s all this was.

I found Alexander the next day and handed him Mel’s hoodie. He looked up at me confused. I explained, “This one has her scent. I’m sure it’s long gone on the one you have.” He hugged me and whispered, “Thanks, Elise.”

I’d gone to Red Run later that day to get my car and took a walk. For the life of me, I couldn’t remember the drive home. I just got there. I shrugged it off though because I had a lot on my mind. EJ was wrong about Melanie getting back to normal.

In fact, her responses were less frequent. She’d sent me her schedule, so I knew she was really busy. We’d skyped a couple times, but it was only for a few minutes before she had to run off. It had been weeks, and she was still off. Her responses weren’t like herself.

The Omega, Karina, that made the peanut butter cookies we loved was probably exhausted. I was practically eating my feelings out with them all day every day. I knew Melanie was mad at her family, but she shouldn’t be upset with me.

Everyone kept saying it would get better. I always thought that maybe they were right after eating my weight in Karina cookies. They were all lucky these cookies existed. Rhea reasoned, “Maybe fourteen years of not being believed took their toll. Plus, she is on her own for the first time. She’s also clearly being run ragged by that school in my opinion. There is no downtime in her schedule.”

I was pissed at that school too. She was only fourteen and they’d basically told the McAlister’s they couldn’t visit. I couldn’t focus on that, so I threw myself into what my mate and I had been working on with Alexander.

We had a plan to see if there was anything amiss at the scheduled underground event. I didn’t think there would be. They didn’t seem to know anything at these events. I was about to go downstairs when my computer rang signaling a video call. It was Mel.

I pulled it up greeting, “Hey, Ladybug!” Melanie smiled, “Hi, Elise! I just had a few minutes and wanted to say hi.” I smiled admitting, “I’m glad you did. You’ve seemed a little off lately.” She sighed, “I know. It’s just this whole thing with never being believed.”

I reasoned, “They know it was a misunderstanding now, and they feel horrible. The next time you come home, you’ll get to meet all the allies. You know I've always believed you about crossing the border.” She hummed but didn’t say anything. I winced because my head started to hurt as I thought about how much Melanie didn’t like awkward silence.

I asked her, “Is that a new necklace? I’ve seen you with it every time we’ve talked. It’s not your usual style.” Melanieshrugged, “Yeah, it’s new. I bought it when we got here. I’m trying out new things. As for the border thing, I do know you believed me. I was still punished for things I never did.” There was a smile I didn’t understand on her face.

I frowned, “Why are you smiling about that?” Her face quickly changed, “I’m not smiling about that. Tiffany just came in with a new dress. We are going to practice routines. I gotta go. Bye, Elise! Talk soon.” She shut her computer before I even said bye. She still wasn’t herself.

I took several deep breaths and rubbed my temples. I gathered myself and went to join EJ. I had to put Melanie’s strange behavior behind me. I needed to focus on our pack and our plan right now. I walked outside silently with EJ lost in my thoughts. We loaded up in our cars.

Dalton linked, “Why are you in a haze?” I answered, “Just Melanie stuff.” If he noticed I knew that meant I needed to get in the game. Rhea began getting hyped up in my head. By the time we parked, I was ready.

When we walked in everyone was staring at us. I glared at several admirers whose eyes were on EJ. They quickly averted their gaze when they saw mine on them. Rhea sighed, “Everywhere we go people want what is ours.”

My gaze landed on Micah. I looked away quickly because EJ hadn’t told me he was coming. We watched the fights. This wasn’t my type of thing, but I could see why the fighters got into this. They were paid well if they won. Plus, as supernatural’s, we had a lot of extra energy that humans didn’t have.

I saw Levi Cambridge get in the ring. I got my mate’s attention. Both Alexander and EJ leaned forward in their seats. They looked ready to jump up at the first sign of trouble to fight by Levi’s side. Rhea snorted, “More like help whoever their cousin is fighting.” No joke. That’s who would need the help, but they’d never offer it.

I linked Dalton, “You might want to get T out of sight. Levi is in the ring.” He told me, “We’ve all moved outside. They knew us.” Huh? I knew they knew our group, but the Conners faces were well known. Mine was because I was always with EJ. They shouldn’t know my brothers or their Beta yet.

Unsurprisingly, Levi won his fight easily. When we got home no one had learned anything. They knew all our faces. Jason pointed out that was odd, and I agreed. They shouldn't have known his face just his name. This was weird. Knowing my brothers wasn’t a stretch but still strange. We kept trying despite all that but got nowhere.

The weeks flew by quickly. When I found out Melanie wasn't coming home for Christmas, I called her myself. She answered, “Hi Elise, I only…” I cut her off, “Let me guess, you only have a few minutes. I’ll make this quick then. Why aren’t you coming home for Christmas?” She opened her mouth to say something.

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