I shook that off and showed my mate, and Sierra, around the town. I took them to a cookie shop in town. Melanie flushed scarlet red out of nowhere. Sierra laughed, “You ok, Ash?” She whispered, “They heard us! Oh my gosh… I talked about biting and licking a sugar cookie… and it was Xander!”
Sierra replied, “I mean you do plan to do that anyway. You’ve been fan….” She cut off her sentence and must have linked my mate. I linked Phil, “How the fuck can she link my mate?Melanie NEVER broke with Red Run.” He replied, “You know what I do.” I was going to murder someone was the other part of that.
Melanie playfully slapped her, “SAMANTHA!” Phil called, “No linking things like that, Sugar Lips. I definitely want to know the end of that sentence. Don’t you, cousin?” I replied evenly, “I’m sure I can figure it out.”
I whispered in Melanie’s ear, “You’re definitely free to bite or lick me anytime you want to.” She made a choked noise, and the smell of her arousal filled my nose. I added, “You better get your cookie, Lovebug, before I throw you over my shoulder and take you home.” She shivered and definitely not from fear.
Sierra grabbed her hand and walked to the counter. The whole while, Melanie was blushing. Phil linked me, “No one would believe me if I told them that YOU, Alexander Marcus Nathan Conners, threatened to carry a woman out of a shop in a sexual way. Not a fighting way.”
He scoffed, “People will doubt me, in fact, NO ONE besides Gage will believe me. If you’re going to say things like that, you have to warn your Beta cousin so I can get video evidence. Beta Dylan requires video evidence in situation likes this.” Oden snorted.
I rolled my eyes retorting, “She’s my mate. Of course I’ll say things like that to her.” Phil snorted, “You’ve spent twenty five years not talking to anyone like that. You’ve been waiting.” I emphasized, “FOR HER. I was waiting for her, and you know it.”
Phil chuckled, “Even before Oden was certain it was her, you didn’t really show interest in anyone.” I shrugged offering, “I’m like my mom that way. We are both more sensitive as Healers. I’ve wanted Melanie for over a decade though.” Now she was finally here and officially mine. All the waiting. Every single moment before this one didn’t matter to me.
All the loneliness I felt on holidays seeing my siblings in love and wishing for my own were gone. None of it mattered now. I had her, and I’d be damned if I let her go. Oden growled, “We will decimate anyone who tries. Ajax will be thrilled because she’ll be home.”
Yeah, they were going to be hurt too though. She’d missed a lot never coming home. She’d never even met her nephew. Our mates came back over with cookies. Melanie had sugar cookies, which didn’t surprise me.
When we left the shop, I popped us to restaurant nearby for dinner. Melanie’s eyes were wide with excitement. I pulled her chair as close to mine as I could then ordered for the table. The wine I’d selected was brought over.
I asked, “Have you had wine before?” Melanie shook her head, “Wine, no. I have not had wine before.” I laughed, “Evasive. Have you had alcohol before?” Melanie nodded, “Yup… for sure. A lot… probably more than… that’s not the point. Uhh the point is I’m a vodka cranberry juice kinda girl.”
Oden growled, “What did that mean?” I replied, “If you were a Beta’s pup and didn’t get a wolf I’d imagine you’d attempt to drink that pain away.” I didn’t like that she had, but I could easily understand the notion.
I was shocked that she didn’t come home though to try and figure out what happened. Maybe she was embarrassed? That tracked. Oden growled, “If the Supernatural Council did this then lied saying that we didn’t want her because of her lack of her wolf, and neither did her family, we explode heads.” I agreed, “Eventually, yes. Prior to that we torture them for six years.” He conceded, “I do like that plan.”
I playfully teased my mate, “You really like do like the color red.” Melanie leaned over and kissed my cheek. She blushed admitting, “I do. It’s my favorite color.” I knew that. We ateour meal enjoying conversation as a group. We blended well together, but that wasn’t surprising.
As soon as Melanie and I were done eating I was ready to go. I asked, “Do you want to get out of here?” Melanie laughed before telling me, “Samantha eats REALLY slow… for as fast as I talk... she eats the opposite way.”
I smirked, “That sounds like a Phil problem.” She touched my arm lightly. She giggled, “You’re so bad.” Her eyes told me she wanted to go though. Oden purred, “I do like that her emotions are all over her face but Freya said she did want to leave. They want to spend time with us.” I did too.
Sierra urged, “We are fine by ourselves, Ash. In fact, it sounds like a lot more fun that way. Go on and get.” Melanie blinked at her. Sierra waved at her, “You two get out of here.” Melanie flushed, “Are you sure?” Sierra practically pushed her out of her chair.
They clearly linked again because Melanie blushed harder. Sierra smiled, “I demand you two go back to the house. There’s no need to wait for me. Even though I maintain, I eat at a perfectly normal pace that allows my food to digest.” Melanie laughed and I took her hand.
She smiled up at me a little nervously. I asked again, “Do you want to get out of here?” I was praying to every god and goddess I knew the name of that she’d say yes. She smiled shyly and nodded. With that answer, we ran out of the restaurant. More than a few knowing looks were thrown our way.
There was live music playing when we walked outside. I spun her around, pulled her into me, and started leading us in a swing style dance. She laughed delightedly asking, “You can dance?” I winked, “I can do a lot of things, my Lovebug.”
I’d learned for her since I knew she loved to dance. My Uncle Aiden taught me all the different styles. I wasn’t a bad dancer due to my Fairy blood. I wasn’t surprised she picked up themoves and knew the style. Then she even started showing me moves. We were quite the duo.
People clapped when the song was over while we were both staring into each other’s eyes. Someone yelled, “If you don’t kiss her, I will!” Oden snarled, “ALEXANDER!” I growled and claimed her lips. MINE! She melted into me, and I couldn’t help but note how our bodies fit together perfectly.
I pulled away from her with great effort. I grabbed her hand and took us to a secluded area before popping us back closer to the house. Oden grumbled, “Pop to a bed. Why are we here?” He knew why. I challenged my mate, “Race ya back.” She giggled, “You’re on Xander.” Then took off.
I gaped for a half second. She really was FAST. Tristan and Jason talked about it all the time, but I thought they were exaggerating. Oden said, “Uhh we are going to lose if we don’t move.” I quickly took off after her. She actually beat me.
I looked over at her asking, “What are you? The Flash?” She answered, “Well, no… I’ve always been faster than most people. Plus, I follow your cardio training plans. Don’t you?” I couldn’t stop my smile or laugh. She gasped, “I mean… of course you do… that... wasn’t... I didn’t… I mean….”
I kissed her again. I really didn’t mind if this is what I had to do to calm her down. I pulled back whispering, “You’re funny and playful. You’re perfect.” Pain flashed into her eyes. She whispered, “I’m not.” I tilted her chin back up declaring, “To me, you are perfect. Come on.” We walked inside.
I sat down on the couch, and she followed. I asked, “So, how’s having a wolf?” She smiled, “I... it’s kind of weird having this extra voice in my head, but super cool at the same time. I keep almost answering out loud and sounding like a crazy person. I don’t know how sixteen year old’s do this and go to class.”
I laughed, “Oh yeah? Were you the brainiac in your class?” Melanie looked away, “I used to be.” Oden growled, “What doesthat mean?” I answered, “You know as I do that Ashley Griffen has a GED. I don’t know if Melanie was ever dancing at that high school.” He snarled in my head, and I felt exactly how he did about that.
I asked, “Why did you get a GED?” Ashley shrugged, “It was important to me. Black Path doesn’t really put an emphasis on education. They especially didn’t put one on mine. They were not thrilled that I got a GED, but they can eat lard.”
