He sighed, “I never thought I’d live this long without my brothers. They were both older. I was the miracle baby, you know?” I did. He was sixty years younger than Magnus. Even more so than my Grandpa Ragor.
I asked, “What was Uncle Magnus like?” No one talked about him or his family really. He laughed, “He was the one who got stuff done. He’d tell you all about the cleanups. Hell, he’d probably jump on my thoughts and come back with an answer in hours. He was such a lady’s man. Gods, I miss him.”
I reached out and squeezed his hand. He smiled at me, “I wish I was more like him. We need him. Now, with all this Fairy light sharing mojo I’ll be around even longer.”
I asked, “Don’t you want to be?” He chuckled, “I do. I love seeing the new generations and I still have my role in our family.” He advised Uncle Bjourn. He admitted, “I just miss my brothers. If your Aunt Myla goes, I’ll follow.” They’d been together so long that was understandable.
I conjured us whiskey. He chuckled, “Strongly consider digging into the files.” I nodded, “I will.” He chuckled, “Your Uncle Magnus would’ve slapped you on the back head with the files and ordered you to read them.” That would be helpful since I didn’t even get a direction on the files other than ‘clean up.’ Which was a shit ton.
I left him and went to the gym. I was there where my squadron arrived, so I ran with them. I put them through drills before Cayden arrived. We worked on formation before Idismissed them for the day. Cayden said, “I hear you missed Cheyenne leaving?” I groaned, “Fuck. I forgot. I’m a bad friend.”
He said, “You are not. They came by unexpectedly.” They had. Normally, if they scheduled a visit, I was better about being around. I told him, “I have a lot on my mind.” He asked, “Anything you want to talk about?” I admitted, “I don’t know.”
I turned to leave then asked, “Did you hear about that chat room?” His eyes narrowed, “Yeah, I had some interesting conversations about it before they were cut off.” I asked, “With?” He answered, “A source of mine.” I asked, “How was the conversation cut off?” He replied, “By her friends.”
I jolted, “You think you know the fighter in question?” He hummed, “I don’t have any proof.” I urged, “Take Cassie and talk to your source then you’d have proof.” He inclined his head, “Maybe said source is incredibly jumpy about your family.”
I frowned, “Why?” He shrugged, “I do not know. It’s weird.” I replied, “At this point everything is weird.” Oden sighed, “I miss mate.” I did too. I wanted to go home and watch her dance. I waved to Cayden and popped to my room. I locked the door then opened my laptop.
Since Micah had put a backdoor into Jason’s computer for me, when I needed to see Melanie I could. I didn’t watch their calls because they seemed off. She was stiff and not like herself. Besides, he deserved the privacy.
When she danced though, she came alive. It was like she was a whole other person. Oden agreed, “She is. In the videos she’s stiff and robotic. Her moves are nothing like that when she dances.” I joked, “Yeah, she like two different people.”
Once I’d thought they were different people, but I was being crazy. I’d had some cookies and calmed down before I made a fool of myself telling anyone that. Oden snorted, “Yeah, we would’ve had to explain how we knew that and how we got the videos.”
I would evade because I wasn’t giving Micah up. He’d been nice enough to do this for me and I was certain he knew what, rather who, I was watching at this point.
I queued up the new video and watched Melanie dance. It took my breath away every time. I touched the screen, “She seems sad and angry.” Her movements told me she was too. I got up and followed her movements pretending we were dancing together.
Her anger came through loud and clear. I wondered if class had gone poorly that day or something. I touched the screen again saying, “I would destroy anyone who upset you.” Oden growled, “Her movements have been sad or angry a lot lately.”
To be honest, most of the dances were hauntingly heartbreaking. It was as if she was being driven by sadness. I told him, “You know we think she misses home.” He agreed, “Yes, but not coming home now is no longer proving a point. She’s hurting herself. We have to do something.” I asked, “What can we do?” He growled, “Something.” I closed my eyes and rubbed my face.
I took out my phone and called Jason. He answered, “Hey, Alexander.” I greeted, “Hey, how’s your day going?” He replied, “Fine, I guess. My call with Melanie was…” He trailed off. I asked, “Was what?” He snorted, “Cut off. Again. I haven’t talked to her more than five minutes at a time since she left.” Oden growled.
EJ linked, “Why are you mad?” I replied, “I’m fine.” He snorted, “Gosh, if only that was what I’d asked. You were concerned and now you’re raving pissed.” I grunted, “I’m on the phone.” He growled back but didn’t reply.
I asked, “Do you think she’s sad? I’m worried since you said she got homesick a lot. I mean, I know we all think she’s proving a point staying away. I just worry that she’s hurting herself more in the process.” He sighed, “Yeah, her dances lately. Gosh, sinceshe’s left… they’re sorrowful.” I knew that but I couldn’t exactly say so.
I offered, “I could send you money for a surprise ticket for her home.” He snorted, “I can pay for her ticket. You know what? It’s a good idea. I’ll send her a ticket with no dates. She can come when it works in her schedule. She needs to come back and it’s clear in her dances. She was never this sad before. T went with her the most to dance in the fields here and he said that.” She never danced in fields now, that I saw. She was always in the practice rooms or the auditorium at her school.
He admitted, “It’s breaking all of us down, Alexander. Dad gets sick.” I asked, “He what?” He snorted, “Yeah, we just brought him home from the pack hospital. He was throwing up.” I growled, “Jase, what the fuck?! I would’ve healed him.”
He admitted, “I didn’t know about it. Mom and dad kept it under wraps.” I asked, “What’s wrong with him?” He replied, “The doctors think the grief of thinking he ruined our family is getting to him because there’s nothing actually wrong with him.”
I argued, “He didn’t ruin your family.” Jason snorted, “I agree with you. He just believes it’s his fault Melanie won’t come home or be normal with us. She’s so brief when we do get to talk to her that it cuts us all. I think it’s because she’d run home if she stayed on the calls talking to us longer. Plus, that damn school, I swear it’s evil.”
I growled, “Why?” He snorted, “Because they’ve changed her entire personality. Got her some damn manners coach or whatever. They didn’t like her rambling. They didn’t like this or that. They hang Julliard over her head. It’s like they know the minions in her brain can’t handle rejection. She has to be the best at everything she does.” Oden purred, “She’s amazing.”
He quickly growled, “But we can kill all those teachers.” Yes, I could. Jason continued, “She’s just so busy and I worry they’ve taken the joy out of it for her. There used to be a lot of happydances. Her movements held hope I just don’t see anymore. You know?” I did but I couldn’t tell him that.
I urged, “Send her the ticket then.” He agreed, “I definitely will. Thanks for calling man.” I replied, “You are one of my best friends.” He agreed, “And you’re mine. If she shows back up, I’ll bring her to you.” I jolted asking, “Really?” Oden declared victory, “YES!”
Jason agreed, “Of course. It’s your idea.” I heard Tristan yell, “Jason!” He muttered, “And that just might get her home. I gotta go.” He hung up. I asked my wolf, “What might get her home?” He puffed up feeling ten feet tall, “Maybe it’s meeting us.” I snorted, “Sure.” He hummed, “It could be.” I went to argue but he was right.
Logically, most people wanted to meet someone in our family. Oden grumbled, “Except Cayden’s source.” Yeah, except her. Back to Melanie, though. Our family was popular. I was her brother’s best friend and a good fighter. Oden snorted, “We are a world renowned fighter.” It’s true.
My mom popped into my room and squealed, “You signed up to do the cage fights this year!” I asked, “I what?” She snorted, “I’m in charge of the signups for the Hackura games. Here is your schedule for tomorrow.” I had not signed up for this. I took it and smiled at her. She said, “I know you’ll win!” She hugged me and popped away.
