When he left, I grabbed a note and found an old box to send to Ryan Bishop. I found his address in my mom’s address book. I went over to Peter and Chelsea’s house. There was a place to put mail to go out. I put my priority sticker on it. I had an account, so I just printed it out. He’d have to sign for it and I put my email in there so we could talk.
Robert yelled, “I see you, Melanie Jane!” I groaned and jumped off the porch and ran back to my house. He yelled, “Yeah, you better run.” A Warrior shouted, “Excuse me?” He replied, “Uhh, cause she’s grounded.” The Warrior hummed at him. Yeah, have fun with that one Robert.
Mrs. Dutton chuckled, “Pup, you are too busy for your own good. Go dance in your room and consider world domination.” I muttered, “I might have to actually take over the world, so people believe me about things.” The phone rang a few minutes later and I heard Mrs. Dutton answer.
She greeted, “Duncan, hello. Well yes, I am. She’s upstairs. Yeah, again. I know. I feel so bad for her. You should know it was bad this time. Consider linking your older brother. Well, she put herself in the dungeons and no one noticed. Alpha Peter found her down there.” She paused, “Yeah, Beta Drake was held back when they found where her scent led. Beta Female Sam was beside herself.”
She paused, “Honestly, I’ve never seen Ladybug lash out like she did tonight. She even threw all the cookies away in the house. There’s nothing you could’ve done if you were here. It was hard to watch, everyone felt bad.”
She scoffed, “Robert reported it, but I just don’t believe a word out of that pup’s mouth. His friends all backed it up with one adult saying they did see her headed in that direction. The thing is you know she’s a bad liar. It just doesn’t make sense. I’d bet my bank account she didn’t do it. Yeah, I’ll tell her youcalled. Good luck finding your mate this time, Duncan.” I closed my door and let my tears fall.
I whispered, “Some people do believe you, Melanie. Ryan Bishop is family to us, even though he doesn’t know you yet, he’ll help.” Great now, I was referring to myself in the third person. My hope really did lie with Ryan.
So of course he never signed for the package and the tracking number I got said it was lost in transit. It was just me against the mom monster cookies.
Everything Changed
Alexander is Twelve Years Old
Alexander was excited. I glanced at EJ and sent my uncle’s the fact we knew they were here in the bond. They sent their amusement in response. EJ linked, “So much for coming alone.” I replied, “We knew they’d be here.”
Honestly, Cassie should be here too. She was ready just like we were, but as the only girl besides mom in the Cambridge line, it wasn’t happening. My mom had argued with them repeatedly, but it just wasn’t sinking in for them.
Oden snorted, “That doesn’t upset us.” I replied, “If Cass was more upset about it, I would be too. She’s really fine with it and understands.” I just hated it for her. At the same I’m relieved. It made for some interesting feelings.
My dad sent me his feelings to focus and to knock it off. Oden linked, “Thor said mom is pranking everyone.” I linked EJ, “Ask Brutus about mom’s pranks.” He replied, “All he will say is that there are pranks.” I winked, “I think this mission should get dragged out. One must be thorough after all.” He grinned and we both chuckled.
My dad sent a warning that whatever mischievousness we were feeling needed to stop. My Hackura Uncles were basically shaking their heads at us. I feel like they understood the feeling better having grown up with my mom.
Our mission was fairly straightforward because EJ and I were simply observing today. We all knew this mission wasn’t a priority. From the files I’d read our family’s first missions tended to have something go awry that Uncle Bjourn or Grandpa Titus blamed themselves for.
It seemed to me like Aesir’s hand was in all but Uncle Harper and Uncle Gunner’s first mission. That was clearly foul play. The rest seemed like well timed warnings to stop things from spiraling out of control for our family. Because of that I was on high alert, and I’d told EJ to be the same.
I’m sure that added a level of pranks to my mom’s hijinks she was pulling. She’d had our bond close to her for weeks in anticipation of our first time out. She’d know we were prepared for everything to go haywire and have to step in more than just listening. I could tell my dad wanted to link us and check to see how we were doing, but he wasn’t going to.
Oden linked, “I’ll let Thor know we are fine.” I grinned because I truly loved my wolf. We’d been together all my life, which was unprecedented for Werewolves until me and my siblings were born. My cousins had them too, but we were the first.
I knew people were jealous that we’d had our wolves our whole lives. We had a link and bond with them most didn’t have for quite some time. EJ and I faded back the second someone came near the tree we were in.
The guy looked up and snorted, “Damn being the low guy on the totem pole.” He yelled, “I don’t know what the fuck kind of joke this is, but no one is here!” I sent EJ my confusion in the bond. Someone yelled back, “Well, the note we have says there are two men here listening to us.”
He scoffed, “Well, they aren’t.” I linked EJ, “Mom gets notes that appear out of nowhere and now those notes are trying to ruin our mission?” He snorted, “You know as well as I do who those notes are from.” I did because they were always from Alania Holloran.
The guy huffed, “I repeat, no one is here.” He muttered, “Damn notes appearing and making me work my ass off evenmore than these people do. I’m only here because they’ve got my girl. Now, I’m their fucking errand boy.”
I linked EJ, “We have to help him.” He reasoned, “We aren’t supposed to.” I asked, “Can you let this go?” He admitted, “Nope. I feel my Alpha and Hackura blood firing, but so does everyone else.” He was right about that.
I wished I could wall myself off to get this done like my mom could. I hated that ability she possessed more than any of my siblings. My mom and I had an empathic connection, so I could tell when it got cut off easier than they could. I could literally feel the walls snap into place.
Moments like this, I was jealous I didn’t have the ability like she did. I used to think it was a Fairy power, but I’d researched that at length in Faerie. I couldn’t find a single thing about it, so I’d asked a Fairy. They’d snorted and told me it’s not an inherited ability then all but ran away from me. I could’ve chased them, but that told me it had something to do with being a Fairy but not a power.
We were still faded back but I got down to follow the man running around. The guy in charge stared right past me. He asked, “Well?” The guy replied, “Like I said, no one is there.” He put a finger in his face warning, “Your girl loses a finger if you mess up.”
The guy stiffened, “I don’t even know what the fuck you do here! I still don’t know why you took her or why I’m here.” The man replied, “And you never will. Do what we want, and she’ll be free.” I linked EJ, “So, they are setting him up as the fall guy? Because I caught that evasion.”
He snorted, “Warlocks never understand Fairies always catch their evasions.” The guy sighed, “I just want my girl back.” The Warlock replied, “Then do what we are asking.” The frustrated man yelled, “I AM! I do everything you ask and all I get arehair and pictures! She hates getting her hair cut. She cries every goddamn trim and now…”
I nearly gasped out loud because that likely meant his girl was a partial Fairy. Oden growled, “We have to get her to mom.” I linked EJ, “I have to get her. Come with me.” He put a hand on my shoulder, and we walked away.
