Valentina shimmered us back to my place. I asked, “Where are the pictures?” She showed me and I broke down. Addison held me and petted my hair. I cried, “It’s like a physical representation of myself.” She asked, “How?”
I explained, “The cabin used to be such a joyous and fun place and now it’s broken and shattered. Just like me.” I knew it made them mad, but it was how I felt.
After that, things continued on as they had, for the most part. Xander emailed me now… but me as Ashley, which… I still couldn’t believe. It gave me hope for a better future. One thing I couldn’t forget was the visual of how that cabin perfectly portrayed how I felt. I put a picture of it in my desk drawer.
My weird schedule of life continued. Time passing by meant very little to me at this point. Days blended together. Charles hadjust come into town a few weeks ago and it had been nice to see him.
I was pissed that Alpha Peter didn’t call after I saved him. That note literally told him who I was, and he didn’t even call to yell at me, let alone say thank you. I’d destroyed the gym I bought across the street from my secondary place after that lack of acknowledgement. It upset me on a very high level.
I was trying to calm down, so I was sitting at her computer, doing pack paperwork. I refused to do it in that supply closet that Edward had given as a test to me. Buck was using his office, but Edward wouldn’t let me use it with him. Even though it was more convenient. He was still being obnoxious over the Trevor ordeal.
My computer went off and I paused. I groaned, “Of course Ezra can’t be a decent human being! AHHHH! Why can’t Alpha’s do good things anymore?” I called Tao and he answered. “This can’t be good. Ezra is being weird about Talia being my fated mate. What’s going on?”
I replied, “He just put Talia’s name on those he’s giving over to Hunters.” He snarled, “I’ll kill him.” I winced, “Umm so maybe you could… your mate will be in danger… but we started training recently and… I sort of… ok I have a backup plan.” He growled, “What is the plan?”
I explained, “I’ll be there and kill that Hunter group coming in and get Talia to Black Mountain. Ezra will NEVER look for her there. She’ll be safe and then when you’re ready you’ll take over with her at your side.” He took several deep breaths.
Talia whispered, “It’s a good plan, Tao.” I had not realized they were together but her being there would help me. He growled, “MINE! I don’t want to be away from you.” She soothed him, “It will be a drop in the bucket of the time we’ll have together. With you here partial Fairies can be in our pack, just like Ashley said. We can be a pack people want to join.”
She paused admitting, “Being away from you will feel like there’s no air for me to breathe in, but I won’t risk your life. Or the dreams we have for what this pack will look like. You knew your dad didn’t like me.” Tao growled, “Swear to me that you will save Talia, Ashley.” I pledged, “I swear an oath to you no harm will befall her.”
I added, “You’ll just have to… pretend to be angry… when she doesn’t return, and they say she’s dead…. Also, be an actor when her pack link break. So, taking a swing at Ezra… would be expected and…” He snorted, “Alright. We are in. Keep her safe.” I promised, “I will.” We hung up and I began to plan that.
My computer beeped again. I grumbled, “Be nothing. Just be nothing…I do NOT have time for you to be something.” I looked up and shoved the paperwork off my desk. I wanted to throw everything I could get my hands on. I heard the elevator ding and smelled Sierra coming.
I growled, “STOP TRYING TO KILL MY MATE! WHEN WILL YOU PEOPLE LEARN! I KILL YOU ALL FIRST EVERY TIME! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! YOU ARE SO FREAKING ANNOYING! HOW MANY TIMES MUST I TEACH THIS PARTICULAR LESSON?!”
Sierra said, “The computer can’t yell back, Mel.” I glared at her. She said, “I’ll call everyone.” I told her, “Don’t bother. I need to beat some people up, and you have a meeting with your dad.” Sierra sighed, “Yes, the lovely monthly meeting where he tells me to just accept whoever he wants me to mate with.”
I grumbled, “Then punch him in the face, and say eat dirt!” Sierra snorted, “You get so testy when people come for your Xander.” I yelled, “Because they always come for him. Do they think I have nothing better to do with my time? I don’t… BUT THEY DON’T KNOW THAT!”
Sierra snickered as I got dressed. I put on all my Resistance gear, spraying myself down to hide my scent. I strapped myselfdown with my guns, knives, and a rifle the came back out. Sierra hummed, “You don’t need all that.” I glowered, “Yes, I do.” Sierra nodded, “It’s such a bad day to be a Bounty Hunter.” I walked to the elevator and punched the button.
I rambled, “Bad day to be a STUPID Bounty Hunter. I’ve killed countless of them at this point, thinking they can kill my Xander. As if I’d even let them get close enough. Oh, he’s traveling. Let’s get him. Because he couldn’t pop or portal away. Or melt our brains… no… of course we are smarter. We are so smart we got caught by a teenager…a genius teenager…but still. Freaking morons. Just give up! This is the definition of insanity.”
Sierra called as I got in the elevator, “We all know that, Mel.” Yeah, well someone should tell the Bounty Hunters that. I called, “Tell everyone to get ready to extract Talia.” She huffed, “Ezra just had to be a dick.” He really did, but that didn’t surprise me.
I muttered, “Someone really needs to tell the Bounty Hunters the definition of insanity.” I gasped, “That’s it! I can tell them. Yes. Perfect!” I had a whole plan to get my message across because SOMEONE was going to listen to me today. It was happening.
I walked to our holoport and stepped through. I easily found the first soon to be dead Bounty Hunter. He grunted, “Hey, this is my bounty.” I snorted, “It’s your nothing. Haven’t you heard of the Resistance?” He paled and I quickly slit his throat. I ripped off his shirt and in blood wrote: Insanity. On his chest.
I found the next one and snapped her neck. I’d killed several of them when I found a group. Perfect. I tapped the buttons on my watch and scrolled through the weapons list. I picked the grenade and my watch produced it.
I threw said grenade into the building. No one came running out of the building though after it went off. I muttered, “Surely, they weren’t all standing in the same place. I went inside anddiscovered they were in fact gathered in the same spot. They were all blown to pieces. Whatever. I could work with this.
I grabbed some body parts and took them outside. I lined up all the body parts and wrote on them in their own blood. I laid them out in an order, so the blood read: Insanity: defined as repeating the same action over and over and expecting different results. LEAVE HIM ALONE! The last body had a resistance circle.
I sensed a change in the wind. My instincts practically screamed at me that someone was coming. I quickly ran and climbed a tree watching the area. I grabbed my sniper rifle, looked through the scope, and saw the head of Xander’s guard, Egres.
I took my finger off the trigger. I watched as another member of Xander’s guard, Gordon, appeared. They both looked at each other and got on their phones. I nearly called them tattletales, but they were doing their job.
They were really close on my tail this time, but I was happy they were so good at their jobs. It kept Xander safe… so… we were all the same team, which they clearly knew. Because they were usually the first on scene after I’d killed people for my mate.
King Bjourn came through a portal, along with Alpha Eric. I ached to run to Alpha Eric and practically demand he be an Alpha of worth. I bit my lip hoping to see pride in his eyes. I wanted an Alpha’s pride back in my life so badly.
I nearly fell out of the tree leaning forward but saw that he was impressed. That was practically pride, and my blood hummed with recognition. He was supposed to be my father in law and he was an Alpha. It totally counted.
They looked at each other for a while before they started talking. Alpha Eric commented, “So, yet again, it’s for Alexander.” Everything was for him… obviously. Was that notobvious? I mean Laxenread… I didn’t kill Ariena yet, but I was trying… I’m super busy and I did hurt her… so… I’ll get her eventually. I killed Bounty Hunters for him… a lot. It was basically a full time job.
