Flashback
Melanie was in the hotel with her mom. We’d had so much fun this trip. She hadn’t had a single cookie, and I loved it. She twirled my hair, “So, why haven’t we had any conversations about your crushes?” I frowned, “Because I don’t have any.” I held my Xander wolf tightly against me.
She prodded, “No boys have caught your eye?” I answered, “Nope.” Xander was a man by Hackura standards and had been for a while. She asked, “What about girls?” I sighed, “I like men, mom.” She cooed, “OHHHH men, huh? Here I was talking about boys.”
I blurted out, “I’ve thought about my mating ceremony a lot.” She grinned asking, “Have you? Tell me about it.” I sighed, “I have this dream about my dress, but I don’t think it exists.” Xander’s mom could make it though, if I told her about it. Mom said she conjured things all the time. Everyone did.
Mom urged, “Tell me all about it.” I grinned, “Ok, so it’s a two piece dress.” She chuckled, “You want to set your dad off already. I love it.” I said, “It covers way more than my dancing outfits so… he should be fine with it.” She hummed and smiled at me.
I continued, “The top would be a nude sleeveless top with a red lace overlay of flowers. The bottom would be on my waistwith a red band at the top and the skirt would be white.” She admitted, “I thought the whole dress would be red.”
I blushed saying, “Nope. The flowers would start at about my thighs and scattered throughout the bottom until the bottom where it just looks died red, but really it’s flowers.” I paused, “It sounds silly.” She argued, “No, it sounds beautiful and utterly you. Does this top show off your boobs?”
I flushed, “No. It wouldn’t be straight across like the bottom of the top. It would look like this.” I quickly drew it for her. She teased, “Is there nothing you can’t do? I didn’t know you like drawing.” I mean, I could somewhat draw.
I said, “They teach art in school.” She asked, “Do you want me to put you into art camps then?” I answered, “No.” I wanted to draw with the Conners. They’d be the best teachers anyway. She nudged me, “So, no boys for you then. Only men.” I nodded, “That about sums it up… really.”
She grinned, “I feel like that means someone has your eye. They aren’t mated, right?” I gasped, “Of course not! That… I… would never…He’s… ummm….” She clapped and exclaimed, “AH HA! So, there is someone specific.” I gasped, “You tricked me.”
She winked, “It worked, didn’t it?” I blushed. She told me, “Your mate is a lucky man. Anyone you like and give your attention to is lucky. Do you hear me?” I replied, “You’re my mom… so you have to think that.” She laughed, “No, I don’t. It’s just true. You have a beautiful mind and heart. I pray to Selene for Robert’s mate. The poor girl. Although, if he’s actually gay, it wouldn’t shock me.”
I snorted, “MOM!” She shrugged, “He’s so angry and I have to wonder if that’s not about himself. There’s no shame in who you love or who you are attracted to. I just hope if that’s his problem, he can accept himself. Now, having said all that I hate him andhope he chokes on his boogers.” I cackled, “His boogers?!” She winked, “No one hurts my pups and has me in their corner.”
I pointed out, “You’re his Beta Female… so you have to be.” She said, “I do not. Sharon deals with anything that has to do with him.” I asked, “Really?” She nodded, “And she hates it, but she thinks it fair that I don’t since he’s a bully. Who happens to have come after my pup.” She hugged me, “I never want anyone to hurt a single hair on your head, Ladybug. You’re my little girl.” I hugged her tightly wishing this moment would never end.
Flashback Ends
I admitted, “It’s not a real dress. It’s just an idea I had… or vision… or a daydream… definitely a day dream.” He chuckled, “I don’t care what it is. Your mom and I will make sure you get every single dream you want.” Why didn’t they understand they were making that school to be something bigger than it was?
Tristan grabbed me and we walked off. He said, “I’d rather take a punch then hurt your feelings. All of us would. We want you here. Period. End of story.” I asked, “Then why is everyone so determined I go to that school? It’s weird… right? It’s definitely weird.” He sighed, “It’s a little weird. I’ll look into it.”
I teased, “You look into so much though.” He winked, “I guess I do, but you’re my little sister. I’ll always have your back.” I replied, “Levi would say six.” He agreed, “Yes, he would because any Hackura would say they’d have your six.”
I sighed, “I haven’t seen him before or since I didn’t get to go to Xander’s birthday party.” He snorted, “Uh huh. You mean you saw him that day.” I frowned, “No, I met him that day.” He rolled his eyes, “Ladybug, you’ve met my best friend.”
I agreed, “Yes, because he came that day.” He waved me off saying, “Surely you met him before then.” I muttered, “No, I didn’t. I haven’t met a lot of people.” He snorted, “Alexanderdoesn’t count.” I argued, “He definitely does, but I meant other people.” He prodded, “Like who?”
I answered, “The Bishop’s.” He laughed, “Dustin and Aubree live around here so you’ll meet them.” I said, “Not them. Valerie and Ryan.” If I met him, I could get his number and call him about the cookies.
He said, “You’ve met Valerie, you just don’t remember.” I argued, “I have not met her.”
He shrugged, “She came to help mom out when you were born.” I disagreed, “I doubt that since I’ve never seen the picture of her holding me. There’s one of you and Jase, but not me… which leads me to believe I didn’t even meet her as a pup.” He frowned saying, “I’ll hunt down the picture, we have to have it.” We didn’t because it didn’t exist.
The rest of the week actually went by quickly. We had some Warriors get in a scuffle and they took on silver. Xander was on his mission and Haley wasn’t around either. They Warriors weren’t in danger of dying so Alpha Peter didn’t link Alpha Eric about it. They planned to link him once Haley was back.
This was the perfect time to test my chocolate to help silver poisoning. I went into the hospital with a book. A nurse spotted me. She greeted, “Hi, Ladybug.” I waved saying, “I’m just going to…” She chuckled, “Read to the unconscious Warriors. That’s good.”
I went to Mr. Dutton’s room first. Mrs. Dutton was asleep in a chair by him. I fixed her blanket and looked around. I quickly popped the chocolate in his mouth. It would dissolve quickly. I read him a chapter and went to the next person.
I hid in the hospital lab where they were running there labs. One tech said, “I’ll be damned. I ran it four times. It doesn’t make any sense but it’s true.” Someone asked, “What is?” He said, “The Silver levels on our Warriors blood panels jumpedlower than they should. Those doctors are going to be on our asses, but it’s true.” Yes! It worked.
When they huddled in a group to talk about it I snuck over and read the results. I just needed to up the dose and they’d wake up without needing to be healed. I left and went to find Tank. He was with Ziggy and Adeline. Adeline linked, “Did it work?” I nodded.
Tank groaned, “Oh god. What have you two done?” Adeline looped her arm with mine, “We have a project we need you to take us to the school to finish.” He sighed, “Fine.” Ziggy laughed and he drove us to the school.
Adeline and I went into the science classroom. I gave her goggles and instructed her on how to help. She whispered, “So, it really helped?” I nodded, “Yup. I heard them say it and I checked the results personally.” She gave me a high five. We left that lab and went to the other side of the school for the oven. Once the chocolate was done we found Tank. He raised an eyebrow at us but Ziggy kissed him and we left.
The next day I repeated my process. While I was reading to the last Warrior waiting for the chocolate to dissolve people started yelling. Mrs. Dutton shouted, “He’s awake! He’s awake! Thank Selene!” I did a little dance in my chair.
