Adeline greeted, “Melanie Jane McAlister, you’re here.” I answered, “I am.” Adeline snorted, “Just so you know, I’ve written the fake you several strongly worded emails about how you were being so brief in your replies to me.”
“I’m deeply annoyed that I was compelled to think that you just left without talking to me. Others, ok. Me? I was like ummm no girl. Then your emails were so weird. I see all that now. Heck, I thought it then too, but compulsions are bullshit.”
I jolted, “You… ummm… you emailed me?” Adeline said, “I’ve emailed you on and off since you left. Despite the fact your evil actress body double was brushing me off. I met her, you know? That bitch is lucky she died before I got over there.”
Her mate chuckled, “That woman is lucky because, as you suggested Melanie, I worked with Tank on my skills. He caught me up.” Tank and Ziggy joined us. Tank said, “He did. In fact, a lot of people that came to our pack asked specific people to help them.”
I picked at my dress on my hips, “Well… I knew you’d help and…I just thought Adeline would match… with him… which meant you’d definitely help and… you did… which I totally didn’t know… until I was told… just now.”
Adeline gasped, “Oh my god! You got WORSE at lying.” My jaw dropped. I stammered, “No... I didn’t… it would be hard to get worse… and…” Tank interrupted, “And yet you are.” I rubbed my face. Adeline laughed, “I love it. This conversation is so you. Now, I hear you’re getting married.”
I linked Cassie, “Can you conjure me two of the invitations to my mating ceremony.” She did and I handed it to Adeline and Ziggy. I said, “Yeah… and if you guys….all four of you… came… it would be great.”
“I mean… it’s just that… I… well you remember we talked about our mating ceremonies, and you were going to stand beside me… but I understand that… time has passed… you thought I was being rude… and I thought you were ignoring me... so, you don’t want to… and that’s…”
Adeline interrupted, “Is this your way of asking if I’d stand up with you at your Mating Ceremony?” I squeaked, “What? No… that would be weird… for me to ask, since… we haven’t talked in… gosh… years… oh god… I made this more weird… because I was asking…in a way….well…my way… but it’s silly so if you’d just come and…”
Adeline jumped back in, “Girl, I’ll be up there with bells on. I never got over our friendship. You are the best friend I’ve ever had. I told Ziggy that a million times. It’s why I never stoppedemailing you. I couldn’t let go of that friendship, even if were just pups. I asked the fake you to come back for mine.”
I gasped, “You did?! AND SHE SAID NO? THAT AWFUL WENCH!” Freya snarled at the end. I took a deep breath, “I’m fine… I’m totally fine… everything is fine… she is so lucky she’s dead. I have new skills she could never dream of… and I have connections.”
“People would’ve tortured her for me. How dare she say no! I would’ve said yes! And I totally…. didn’t hack cameras to watch your Mating Ceremony…over a grainy livestream….that’s not a thing….that I did.” Tank busted up laughing.
Adeline chuckled, “I believe all that except that you didn’t watch it. You clearly did.” Tank said, “She definitely did. I also think Ladybug means Cayden would’ve tortured that woman. Who I also met.” I asked, “Did she freaking meet everyone?!”
Ziggy scoffed, “If it makes you feel better, I punched her.” Everyone in the group whirled to her. I admitted, “I knew that… I just didn’t know why.” That got everyone’s head swirling back to me. Freya snorted, “Good job. The focus was off you.” Dang it.
I squeaked, “I mean… I totally didn’t know that you punched her… in the parking lot… of the airport….or somewhere else…that you could’ve punched her…that wasn’t specially the right place. Nor did I delete the footage… so you could not be charged with assault.”
“Because there was no evidence of any assault… and I didn’t provide an alibi with time stamped footage of you elsewhere in case charges were filed… which they weren’t. I didn’t know any of that happened. I had no clue you punched her….Nor did I provide a fake alibi…or delete airport footage… because that is crime.”
“I just couldn’t find a connection between you two. Not that I looked hard… or I would’ve found her darn stage name was my name… or not… since I didn’t do any of those things… andit totally doesn’t bother me that I don’t know why you hit her… since you don’t seem to know her.”
Tank started laughing harder. Adeline bumped me, “Damn. You got so much worse at lying. I think I really helped you with that skill.” I muttered, “You could help now.” Adeline replied, “The only way to go is up at this point, so maybe.” Freya agreed, “You are bad at lying, but it’s funny.”
Ziggy explained, “The fake you flirted with Tank and tried to kiss him as herself.” My jaw dropped and I blinked several times. Adeline growled, “That bitch was the Melanie imposter?!” Tristan agreed, “It was. She met me at the airport when I was waiting for Melanie when she didn’t show. Tank was in the truck outside.”
Tank said, “And it makes more sense now because I thought this random woman came up to me, but I emailed the fake Melanie too. I would send pictures of me, Ziggy, and Adeline. Once August joined us, him too.” August smirked at me. I knew, when we met, he would match Adeline.
Ziggy growled, “I thought she just showed up here. I actually thought she was stalking him because she came here so much because she was boarding flights. We thought you were on one but were told you weren’t. I told her never to come near my mate again and knocked her ass out.”
I hummed, “That’s actually… more than fair so, I get it.” Jared joined us and agreed, “It is.” My heart stuttered again in my chest. I whispered, “Hi, Jared.” He tapped my nose saying, “Hi, Ladybug.” I was going to pass out on the floor. Jared was such a big part of my formative years.
I cleared my throat saying, “So, I’ll guess you didn’t ignore me… or send letters saying I was just an annoying pup… and…” Jared snarled, “I would never say that. You are like a sister to me, but you’ve always been my friend.” I nodded, “Mmmhmmm.”
Addison came over, “Ok, dancing. Mel, you were dancing and you love that. Adeline is going to be in the wedding party, and Jared loves you. Ziggy is a badass and punched out the fake Melanie like we all wish we had. Tank is a good mate who doesn’t keep things from his mate. Fake Melanie is the worst and now we dance.”
I linked her, “Thank you… I was going to embarrass myself.” She led me back to the dance floor. Addison disagreed, “You weren’t. They love you, but I know you’d have thought you ruined Avery’s day if you started crying. I also know you don’t want to do that. I’ll always have your six, Melanie Jane.” I hugged her and kept dancing.
When we popped home Xander was all over me. He literally ripped my dress off me. When we finished, he fell asleep instantly. Freya groaned, “Why aren’t you going to sleep?” I was starting to get anxious.
I asked her, “Why did I schedule an appointment with Haley to talk about my feelings? I don’t like talking about my feelings… I keep them in a box… with the lid firmly shut… and I barely let it rattle when it tries to open.”
Freya sighed, “You were sad enough your sorrow called out to Cassie earlier, with Dalton defending Avery. You don’t have to fully open the door but maybe crack it and start dealing with some of your feelings.” I didn’t want to do that.
After several hours of tossing and turning with no sleep, I got up. I threw on some yoga pants and a hoodie. I went outside and danced for a while. I could sense people around me. Freya linked, “They are Hackura.” Of course they were…. and I knew that… so she did… or my wolf knew because she was a goddess.
I sighed and went inside and started cooking. By the time I was done… I was pretty sure I could feed several armies. I winced but I was still anxious. Freya sighed, “Lord above, I am tired. You should be tired.” I wasn’t though.
