I sighed, “Sometimes you having a Beta Father in law irks me.” He snorted, “Dylan is great.” I replied, “Yes, but he gave you Beta lessons and right now I needed you not to notice how I answer your questions.”
He replied, “I have Fairy blood and Beta lessons from my father in law. Answer my question. Is Ashley her name? I replied, “It is and it isn’t.” Wesley groaned, “You aren’t making any sense. Why do you need to meet with EJ? He will be thrilled you met your mate.”
I explained, “I can’t really talk about that. What I can tell you to do is up trainings. Keep practicing your own skills and your magic.” Wesley was instantly alert, “Alexander, what’s going on?” I gently said, “It’s complicated. This will not go over well. Hell, it’s not gone over well with me.”
He snorted, “We know. You’ve been so mad it’s insane. The ONLY reason none of us came to you was because Angela told us all that you were fine and not hurt.” I linked my little sister, “Thank you for having my six.” She answered, “Always. She’s so pretty! Blurry but pretty.” I chuckled, “She is stunning.”
I agreed with Wesley, “I was not physically hurt. Just know the things I have discovered are horrifying and rage inducing. They will not go over well with EJ, our dad, you, our entire family, or our allies.” Wesley made a face before agreeing, “Ok. I’ll up trainings. Are you ok?”
I smiled admitting, “I’m confused but happier than ever at the same time. I love her, little brother.” Wesley smiled, “Good. Now, I’m going to get Buttercup and Dylan. We’ll meet you in the gym.” I winced, “Dylan is here right now?” Wesley nodded, “I said he was earlier.” Right. He did.
Well, Dylan never met Melanie so it should be fine. Wesley left the room. Gage linked, “Where are you?” I quickly reviewed Wesley and Max’s other decisions. I couldn’t help the pride I felt. They’d done a great job so far. I replied, “I’m popping into my room. I’ll bring Melanie to the gym in a second.”
He sounded anxious, but that was probably because he was ready to start his search for his mate. I popped to my room and to my astonishment Melanie was reading a book from my Fairy charmed bookshelf, that was hidden.
I always made sure to put them up, so I wasn’t sure how she got it. I watched her walk over and put said book back on the correct shelf. I gaped at her. How the hell did she do that? I linked Oden, “She shouldn’t be able to see the bookshelf.”
Oden evaded, “People shouldn’t be able to do lots of things they can do.” I complained, “You have become increasingly unhelpful since we met her!” Oden snickered, “You’ll know soon enough and then I can explain it all.” Ok then. He was DAMN lucky I wasn’t a Beta wolf.
Gage entered the room and I shot him a look. He linked, “Hey, I gotta make sure she makes it to the gym, and you don’t claim her in your room.” I snorted, “You just want to leave.” He agreed, “I do.” Both of glanced at Melanie as she rambled about where to find his mate.
Gage linked me, “Which sister of the Gamma am I looking for?” I replied, “The only unmated one. His youngest sister. Her name is Abigail and she’s one year older than Melanie.” Gage admitted, “I hadn’t gotten around to talking to him yet.”
That wasn’t surprising since we weren’t their ally, but we were looking at talking to them. The son of the previous Alpha was doing things very differently from his dad. He had submitted the paperwork to be under Werewolf Council purview instead of the Supernatural Council within hours of his dad’s death. Which told me he had no lost love for the man. Not that I’d blame Alpha Granger. His dad was a dick.
Gage linked, “You realize if she’s right, we need to have a chat about who else she thinks goes together. Right?” I replied, “Not really. People have suspicions about mates all the time.” Gage argued, “But she’s practically certain I need to meet Abigail.” True. I replied, “Best of luck to you.” He left and I was certain he’d have news soon enough for me.
Phil linked me, “So, Sierra and I just walked in the gym and uhh….” I interrupted, “We will be right there and if this about Gage not being there, I know. He just left my room with a new plan for his destination.”
Phil replied, “Yeah, he told me he was going to your room. This is not about him since I obviously knew you’d see him. This is something that you are NOT going to like.” What the hell? I popped to the gym and nearly threw my hands in the air over what greeted me.
Phil sighed, “So, Claire is here.” She would try to ruin my first time bringing Melanie here. She skipped over to me blatantly ignoring Melanie. My eyes blazed in a second, but she ignored that sign. Oden growled, “She couldn’t ignore me ripping her head off.” I wasn’t saying no to that plan.
Claire touched my arm and revulsion filled me. Before I could do anything, Melanie did. Which had me grinning and my Warriors that were here staring at us all. I smirked. My cousin, Cory, linked, “Uhh what the fuck?! You brought a woman home?” I replied, “Say nothing.” He snorted, “I have so much to say. One being you’re lucky my sisters aren’t in here.” I knew that.
He continued, “Two, do you really want me to say nothing? Because I can tell you that woman is about to say something upsetting to the woman you’re proud of.” That had me on alert. Oden growled, “Nothing hurts mate again.” I agreed. Especially not in this pack. I wanted this brief visit to be perfect.
In truth, Melanie’s actions made me want to throw everyone out and claim her. EJ had been right at Angela’s birthday party. Your mate defending your bond was hot. Claire’s friends growled at Melanie, and I let them see my blazing angry eyes.
For her part, Melanie ignored them, but they all dropped their attitudes when they met my glare. Melanie threatened to rip off Claire’s arm. Phil linked me, “Could she? For me? It’s a minor favor that I believe that I am owed at this point for not messing up and calling her by her actual birth name.”
Oden roared, “CLAIRE IS NOT MY CHOSEN ANYTHING! YOU NEVER EVEN THOUGHT THAT! KILL HER!” Phil whistled, “Oh shit.” Sierra snarled, “WHAT?” She glared at me accusingly. I roared in rage and everyone in the gym stopped moving even slightly. My Warriors now looked pretty damn mad.
Several Warriors linked me at once, “Alpha Alexander, are you ok?” Clearly not. Liam linked me, “Alpha Alexander, we can get Claire out of here.” I replied, “Since when do you call me Alpha not in formation? You’ve known me my entire life. Besides, I can get her out. I could pick her up and throw her through the damn wall. Or I could RIP her head off THEN throw her into the wall.”
He whistled, “Ok, that was a reaction. I call all Alpha’s by their title when they are as angry as you are, in an apparent effort to defend the person who is clearly your mate beside you. By the way, she looks like her heart got ripped out by Claire’s statement of being your chosen Luna. You should fix that.” Like I needed to be reminded or made angrier. I ignored him now too.
Cory raised his eyebrows at me. I let Oden take over because I wanted Melanie to know this was not true. I’d never considered anyone but her mine. Wesley linked me, “Dude, I heard you yelling from out here and now the area hears Oden. The Warriors are practically hiding. What’s going on?”
I couldn’t answer him because my anger was all consuming with a need to rip Claire’s head off her body. If she made Melanie run from me, I would. Tingles exploded on my back as Melanie’s hands touched me. I whirled around and held Melanie close inhaling her scent.
Wesley said something but I could barely hear him. Dylan snickered, “Wesley, Wesley, it’s clear as day what’s going on. I’ve been trying to unteach you your Alpha tendencies. Alas, I appear to have failed.” Dylan trailed off when Melanie peeked out from under my arm.
He sucked in a breath and narrowed his eyes. I shot him a warning glare which made his eyebrows go through the roof. I put Melanie behind me because I wanted her nowhere near Claire. I didn’t care about the reason she was here. I was going to ban her from ever entering this pack after today.
Oden snorted, “Mom will kill her when she finds out what she claimed to be to us.” Yeah, or dad would. I linked Liam, “I want to know who told her that I was in the damn gym.” Liam answered, “Of course. We can find that out. Let’s just take breath.”
I retorted, “I don’t want to. I want to rip her head off.” Liam snorted, “Again that’s very telling in your reaction. Is this woman you brought here your mate?” I didn’t answer him. He sighed, “I raised partial Fairies so I can only surmise you’re not replying because you’d evade since it’s true. She’s yours.” I wasn’t going to answer him, and he knew it.
