I asked, “Hey… umm… is your wolf ok? Do you need…?” He groaned “Stop talking.” He took his seat. I pointed out, “That’snot really my forte and I’m pretty sure something is wrong and…” He shouted, “SHUT UP!” I sighed, “I was just trying to help you.”
Dax shifted into Torst. Torst told me, “I want to fight the Alpha Command for you.” I replied, “You don’t have to. Just come at me like we’ve practiced.” He emphatically stated, “You don’t deserve this. You are a good person. My human wants to challenge for the Beta position.”
I gently said, “But Caine and Dax aren’t ready. That’s not their fault. We just started working together two years ago.” He hummed and I knew he agreed. Torst and I fought. I pretended it was practice, so when it ended, I was really proud of him.
Edward snarled. Booker demanded, “Caine.” I laughed, “Edward, isn’t funny you’re relying on the son you insisted wasn’t trained yet?” Booker glared at me. I asked, “What? It’s funny… no… it’s ironic… that’s the right word.”
Caine got on the mats. Edward said, “You have to fight her.” Little did he know I fought Caine all the time. Another way he wasn’t like Alpha Peter. The only thing that ever got by him was people bullying me and I that’s because hid it from him. He always knew what was going on around the pack. He would’ve known if Dalton, Dakota, or Cooper were training with someone else.
I linked my wolf, “Some Alpha he is, right? It hurts to think… but it’s true.” I stalled remembering I didn’t have a wolf and yet again no answer came. Because I was wolf less. Caine came at me as tears filled my eyes.
We fought for hours. I was so proud of him. Buck called, “According to the rules, this is a draw.” Edward growled. He said, “There, you failed the challenge.” I snorted, “Good lord… read a book… any book. Draws don’t count against me. Only losing. Plus… fighting the future pack leadership doesn’t countagainst me… so really, I’ve already won. But you just continue on…knowing nothing… I guess.” He turned red in the face.
He asked, “Jean?” Jean was looking something up. I sighed loudly. Caine linked, “You are due for a break.” I replied, “I’d rather keep fighting. If my adrenaline fades… I’m kind of screwed… well…. no… I’d be fine.” I would not. He stared at me and sighed, “You suck at lying.” Yeah, I knew that.
He shifted into Spear. Spear linked me, “I don’t like this.” I reasoned, “Just pretend like we are training.” We fought each other for hours. Pride was swelling in my chest. Caine and Spear could fight like this because of me. Buck eventually announced, “This is a draw as well.” Caine shifted back and Addison brought him clothes.
Buck announced, “Black Path, your new Female Lead Warrior is Melanie McAlister.” I nearly choked with emotion because he’d used my real name. Edward snarled, “To outsiders it will be Ashley Griffen.” Buck inclined his head. Sierra, Mason, Hendrick, Addison, Dax, and Caine cheered but no one else did. Which wasn’t that surprising.
Edward snarled, “I cannot believe she won.” I retorted, “Because you don’t pay attention.” He stalked out and left. Sierra ran over to me. Buck told me, “We will meet up to discuss how this works now.” I asked, “Can’t you just give me the schedule… and…?” He cut me off, “I could if there was one. I did her job and mine.” I hummed, “Yeah, ok… we can meet up tomorrow and…”
He cut me off, “Next week. I’ll send out the announcement that you’ve won to the local packs. I’ll get the paperwork ready for the Supernatural and Werewolf Council. You need to heal.” I blew out a breath, “Fine. That is… nice. It’s weird… but it’s nice.” He snorted, “I have never been mean to you.” He walked off grumbling about how I needed to learn how to survive down here.
I sagged and nearly dropped but Dax and Caine caught me. Caine sighed, “Melanie, I’m carrying you to Hendrick and Mason’s.” I agreed, “Ok.” He carried me gently and when we got inside, he took me to a bedroom and laid me down on my side.
I looked around and asked, “What’s this?” Hendrick said, “It’s your room.” I started to cry, and they both laid down on the bed holding me like I was their pup. I didn’t feel like anyone’s anymore. I was in a fog, healing, and I could admit it. It was taking time, but the wounds were healing.
The words remained though. I was drinking a lot. I’d seen Kingsley and Angelique. They were worried but I did recall them being there while very drunk. Kingsley and Kayda took care of me. My friends were worried to leave me alone for even a second and it wasn’t unfounded really.
Buck was still putting me off because I wasn’t fully healed but he let me look at some of the paperwork. So, I was doing something. I’d been watching my emails, but Beta Jason hadn’t commented on the name Ashley Griffen or the news of a new Female Lead Warrior.
Caine hadn’t really let me near my other place. He was practically sitting on top of me, and I was nearly going insane from inactivity. We were all meeting today to discuss whatever they’d wanted to when I’d challenged for the Female Lead Warrior spot.
Caine cleared his throat, “You know how you’ve speculated that if the Ring gets someone of importance, they will throw a party?” Horror filled me. I ran to my computer asking, “Is it Xander? Did they hurt him? How could you just…?”
Caine cut me off, “We could because he’d deserve it for promising to reject you.” Dax nudged him and I burst into tears as fresh pain sliced through my entire being. Caine added, “It’s not him.” I cried, “Ok… who?” He answered, “Julianna and maybe Everly.” Everly.
I gasped, “Jason’s mate?! You can’t…” He replied, “We took a vote.” I snorted, “This isn’t a democracy! I run this… I started it and…” He cut me off, “Yeah, and you can’t go. You know that.” That was not a thing I knew.
He replied, “I’ve barely left your side since I found you.” I know that… because it’s how this plan got by me and I didn’t send anyone body parts to warn them! He growled, “You didn’t see how you looked and….” I whispered, “I was there, so… I do know what he did.”
He snarled, “Well, I should’ve stopped it! No one has ever been that hurt here. No one but YOU has ever been hurt that much. They always come after you, but not even they were this sick and twisted! It’s disgusting and vile.”
His first clenched, “I told my dad I’d kill him and Trevor if I saw them that day. I have never felt like more of a failure than when I found you guys. I was too slow to stop him from branding you with his name.” I shrugged, “You didn’t do anything wrong… you couldn’t have gotten there.”
He said, “Well, that doesn’t mean jack shit to me or my wolf. You had the idea about the Ring having a party and planned to expose and destroy that syndicate when they do. We can get them now that we are letting this happen.”
I argued, “Not at the expense of Everly and Julianna.” Caine retorted, “Well, none of us care for the fact that you probably plan to be the person caught by the Ring. Especially now.” I flushed red because he was right. He snorted, “Yeah, that’s what we all thought. You don’t deserve this.”
I whispered, “Slade killed my family because he was coming for me.” Pain lanced through me again. Caine asked, “Then why aren’t you with him? This story doesn’t make sense. My dad is a liar, cheat, and dirty rotten person. I don’t know the story, but I know it’s not the bullshit he told you.” I wanted that to be true more than I could say.
Mason said, “It’s not like they will really get hurt either. We will move in when the Ring hosts the party.” I reasoned, “You don’t know they won’t hurt them and…” Dax replied, “Sure we do. It’s too fast and they’d want to mock the allies.” Yes. They’d mock Jason and Xander and I didn’t like that.
Caine snorted, “Beta Jason deserves to be mocked and so does your Xander.” I winced, “That’s not true. They…” Dax replied, “Turned their back on you two years ago. They deserve this for that alone.” I cringed, “Everly and Julianna didn’t…”
Sierra replied, “Everly absolutely deserves to get kidnapped for the shit she said to you. She blamed you for her mating going a certain way. She refused to invite you to their mating ceremony. I maintain it was because you would’ve mentioned that she and T liked each other. She didn’t talk to her mate about you attending the funerals. She deserves to be kidnapped. They aren’t going to hurt her.”
I disagreed, “Out of those prisoner options, Everly is more likely to get hurt. Julianna is part of the…” Hendrick sighed, “Promised Siblings Family, we know.” I asked, “ILYX, what’s the probability of Everly being hurt in this plan?” ILYX answered, “Ninety-Eight percent.” I choked out a sob.
