I snorted, “It’s trippy.” Xander chuckled, “That it is. Sleep, my little Dancing Warrior. There will be plenty to talk about in the morning.” I grumbled, “Or we could not talk about it and say we did.” My mate chuckled which said we were talking about it. I snuggled into him and let myself drift off into sleep.
Getting Out Some Anger
Alexander drank his whiskey as the guys filtered out onto the porch to join me. This whole day had ended up being a complete shit show. My mate didn’t even get to have her moment at the Blue Moon party for the first time. Oden offered, “She can next year.” Yes, but it should’ve been today.
A portal opened and Cayden stepped through. I nodded to him as he sat down beside me. I snapped him some whiskey. I asked, “So Cayden, how was your day? Mine was both horrible and amazing.” Cayden threw back his head and laughed.
Cayden answered, “I tried to get your mate’s grandparents on her mom’s side back to the party. It didn’t work.” I noticed. Cayden continued, “Personally, I’m just holding onto the knowledge that Hastein, Hugo, Arvid, and Louis will be back soon.”
“Maybe we will be lucky, and Gabe will be back soon too. I will promptly be extremely busy when someone explains what the HELL has been going on here to them. They will be pissed that no one bothered to update them. Actually, ALL your cousins will be pissed no one at least sent them a coded message.”
I snorted but Cayden was right. Hastein and the rest of my cousins would be mad. In fact, I knew several of them were paying close attention to my bond. That meant they’d noticed and when I checked all their bonds with me, they were annoyed no one had called.
To be fair, all of them knew I thought Melanie was mine. I’d imagine Louis would give me shit for not calling him immediately after the times we’d talked about Melanie together. I shrugged, “I’ll take the hit with them. We’ve just been so busy since Angela got me to Mel, but I should’ve sent them a message. I have talked about her with them often.”
Cayden snorted, “Oh, please. None of them will blame you. You found your mate, and it’s the girl you’ve wanted for a long time. They will understand you had other priorities. It’s the rest of us who are royally screwed.”
Jason laughed, “Not me. I don’t know have any of their numbers.” Cayden snorted, “Sure. That matters to a pissed off Royal Hackura. That’s a thing. We listen to excuses. You do know Levi and he could’ve given you their numbers.” Jason snorted.
Tristan laughed, “Don’t look so worried, little brother. They will definitely direct their anger in house first. I sense a lot of morning runs for the army. There are definitely long runs in all their futures. They’d just better hope Hastein doesn’t hold a grudge and do something to get them back once he’s King.”
EJ snorted, “He won’t wait that long. H and Hugo will have something cooked up shortly after discovering it all.” Jason said, “As fun as this subject is, I’m changing it. Someone snap me another whiskey and maybe pinch me.”
I did so. Jason snorted, “My sister is the white freaking wolf. I would not have seen that twist coming in a million years. Hell, I didn’t see any of the twists with Ladybug coming, but that one?” He whistled, then sighed.
Cayden snorted and took a drink of his whiskey. My brother in law said, “There is a lot to unveil when it comes to your sister. I have to say, none of us were prepared for any of the things that have come out. The only one I knew was that she was in the Resistance. I just couldn’t prove it.”
I snorted, “Agreed. I definitely had ideas about how all this would go, and none of it has matched the picture in my head at all. Except I did get to take Melanie to one of the places I have on my list to take her. So, yay me. I’ve got one whole thing, and she was screaming in agony when I took her there.”
EJ offered, “You’re in the Ribbon. So, you can fix it for other versions of yourself and Melanie.” I snorted, “My life was fine. So, I’ll be fixing her fucked up life after she was kidnapped. Which I had no clue about. My own mate was kidnapped from under my nose, and I didn’t have a single clue.”
EJ sighed, “There has to be a reality where you show up before it happens.” I shrugged. Gage said, “It does suck, but EJ is right. You’ll go to ones where you get her home faster. Or it doesn’t happen at all.” Phil said, “I’ll bet there’s one where she gets to Julliard. She got in, according to Sierra. Twice.”
Tristan growled, “Those fuckers took dancing from her.” Jason snorted, “They took everything from her. Ladybug didn’t have us to have her back when she stood up to Alpha’s. The Kyle’s would’ve backed her up. Have we got ahold of Uncle Duncan?”
Tristan replied, “No, his Alpha said he’s out of town and we haven’t linked him because we can’t. Which is bullshit.” I agreed, “It is. Considering what happened to my mate. Just link him.” Tristan argued, “I know he’s ok.” I would link Duncan if I was them.
I scoffed, “The fucking Ribbon. My mate’s life is so messed up we are in the Ribbon.” I downed my whiskey and snapped myself another. Tristan said, “I get it. That’s my little sister.” Jason sighed, “Ditto.” Gage reasoned, “She’s here now though.”
Cayden added, “All of us can say things about where we messed up. I’ll tell you right now, the meetings, and the looks people give her is all going to get on her nerves.” Tristan snorted, “How else would you propose we handle talking about my sister being the white wolf?”
Cayden raised an eyebrow, “Without her. Mel will undoubtedly have her own plan. You make yours. All this is too much for someone in her position. Melanie is used to being in control and having people looking to her to make plans. She isused to people staring at her, but not for any of the reasons you all do.”
I cringed, “He’s right.” Tristan replied, “I’m fully aware of that. I know my sister.” Micah added, “Plus, Melanie hates the attention. Of all the things your sister has wanted since I’ve known her, the top one was to be normal.”
“She wanted to be loved by the man she believed was her mate. Melanie thought her love for Alexander was unrequited. In fact, it went further than that because she thought he hated her. She desperately wanted to be normal though. Melanie wanted to have a wolf and go for a run with her friends.”
I glanced over asking, “Do you know if she went to the high school dances? I was thinking I would organize one for her, but my mate shuts down when I talk about school.” Micah cringed so Max put his hand on his shoulder.
I growled, “What?” Micah sighed, “I would hang out around the town trying to get information about Ashley, who we now know is Melanie. For all Black Path’s faults, not one SINGLE person messed up and called her Melanie.”
Micah shook his head muttering, “I wish to god they had. I was listening for things Cayden and I could use. Particularly to see if we could connect Ashley to the Resistance. I heard one of the wolf less girls talking about a dance when Ashley was fifteen.”
I questioned, “What happened?” Micah sighed, “She had a GED. So, I knew Melanie didn’t go to school. I found out she was actually Addison’s plus one.” EJ said, “None of that is bad so far. I’m sensing a not so fun but coming.”
Micah sighed, “But Mel never made it inside. A group of guys jumped her and shot her with a paintball gun, ruining her dress. Melanie told her friends to go have fun and went home. The group I’d been listening to realized I was listening to them and stopped talking after that.”
“I did not get the sense that was the end of the story. Given what we know now, I wonder if they whipped her or something for standing up for herself. Or claiming she caused a scene, or some other stupid shit.” I growled.
