EJ cleared his throat saying, “Give us a minute, gentlemen. We have a lot of tenants, though I do not recall one with that legal name.” My big brother closed the door then asked Aaron, “If Melanie had identification that she was Melanie McAlister, they would have to leave her alone, right?” Aaron nodded, “Yes. If they didn’t, we could file harassment charges.” I conjured Melanie a license.
EJ opened the door declaring, “I’ve had my assistant check our electronic files. We do not have anyone named Ashley Griffen here.” The detective’s face went stony as he said, “Weknow Ashley’s here and she needs to go home.” Melanie walked into the room.
He pointed at her, “THERE! THAT’S HER!” I warned, “Don’t you dare talk to my mate like that.” He jolted looking at me. Melanie turned around to face him and I saw the recognition flicker in her eyes. My mate smiled sweetly asking, “Me?”
The detective tried to step into the house, but EJ blocked him. EJ warned, “Careful, detective. You have no warrant to enter this home.” The Warlock demanded, “Hand over Ashley and we will be on our way.”
Melanie said, “You must have me confused with someone else. My name is Melanie McAlister.” The detective scoffed, “You lying bitch.” Uncle Bjourn grabbed my fist before I could punch him. Melanie tilted her head and just looked at him.
The partner demanded, “Get over here and stop lying. Melanie replied, “I’m not lying. My legal nameisMelanie McAlister. This is my older brother Tristan McAlister… this is my other brother, Jason McAlister... my parents are around here somewhere.”
Drake rounded the corner announcing, “Right here, Ladybug. I don’t know who you think you are detective, but this is my daughter. She’s not missing or married.” Melanie frowned asking, “Married? I’m definitely not married.”
Melanie rambled on, “No one asked me to marry them… I’m not like… jewelry crazy… but I want an engagement ring… I also want to be asked… besides no one got a license… without me… that would be illegal… and it would not have ended well for them.”
Addison joined, “As someone from Nashville, I’ll tell you Ashley Griffen isn’t married either. Nor is she unstable. Do you all do your jobs? Or just take a fake file as gospel?” EJ chimed back in, “I’ll be filing a complaint with your superiors.”
The detective said, “People saying this girl Melanie McAlister doesn’t make that true.” Melanie took out her license asking, “How about this?” She showed it to him. He snorted, “It’s fake.” His partner took out a blue light and flashed it over her license and paled.
He said, “Smalls, it’s not fake. This girl is Melanie McAlister.” Melanie told them, “You could also google me. I used to win a LOT of dance competitions… my face is all over the internet… so… you could’ve saved on gas and stayed in Nashville.”
I finally spoke, “You will leave because if you continue to harass my mate, I’ll bury your department in lawsuits for fun.” They blinked at me. Gage hummed, “They don’t know who you are.” Phil added, “Yeah, you gotta say that part, cousin.”
I chuckled humorlessly, “How silly of me, my Gamma and Beta are right. I didn’t introduce myself. I’m Alexander Conners. Get the hell off my property and stay the hell away from Melanie.” I slammed the door on their faces.
Addison snorted, “What a load of shit. You’re not married, Mel.” Aaron confirmed, “She’s really not. I was worried they faked a marriage license with her signature; however, there is nothing for either Ashley or Melanie.”
Melanie sighed, “I would never let that happen… ever.” Addison snorted, “No joke. Drunk Melanie would’ve come for throats. Mel here literally told everyone she’d only ever marry her Xander. She said that sober and drunk. A lot.” Oden purred.
Melanie offered, “I could go with them, and you could follow to see who is behind it.” I grabbed her and slammed her into me. I snarled, “MINE!” No one spoke. Melanie said, “Umm… I know that… but that didn’t have anything to do with what I said? So… the going with them isn’t a bad plan.”
I disagreed, “Absolutely not. You are not bait, and they’d have to know we’d plan something. They have some plan, and I amnot losing you. I’m not exactly in a good place right now after the Ribbon experience.” Melanie paled and nodded, “You’re right.”
Addison gasped, “I’m sorry, just like that? He says no and you agrees? What sort of magical Fairy is he?” Melanie huffed while Oden chuckled. Aaron spoke, “I’ll take care of this, Melanie. They will not bother you again.”
My mate replied, “Thank you Aaron, but they aren’t cops. They are Warlocks from a Coven in Nashville. Tristan, you need to warn Dalton... they want Paige way more than they want me. They will easily go to Red Run and try their luck there.”
EJ snarled, “They won’t leave our borders. Are they affiliated with the police in any way?” Melanie shook her head, “No… not even kind of. It’s why they said they were detectives… they don’t have uniforms… or badges.” EJ nodded.
Phil said, “Yes, that’s why when people come to the door a Beta answers and asked for I.D.” I replied, “Well, maybe they just pissed me off and I didn’t think of that yet.” Gage said, “So, the moral of the story is you don’t answer the door.” I replied, “They were talking about my mate and I could hear them.” Phil groaned.
I popped Melanie to our room and crushed her against me. I kissed my mate hard. With great effort I pulled back and took a deep breath. “Ok, I do want to talk about us and our Mating Ceremony before we talk about what just happened.” Melanie blushed but nodded. I was going to get it all out there so she would believe that I truly did want her. I always had.
Interesting Meetings
Melanie held onto Xander tightly as they flew into the air. I couldn’t help but gaze around in wonder. Freya purred, “Mate’s wings are incredible.” My wolf was right. They showed his Wolf and Fairy side as well because… well... he had wings. There were gold spots for the Hackura too, like flecks of it.
That brought me back to it being my fault Xander had them in the first place. Guilt crashed in as we landed in a new treehouse. This one really looked like a space Xander came to blow off steam. It felt like this was a unique space for him.
That made me feel even worse. This had to be my mate’s place to go and relax and he’d shown it to me because of the situation. Freya sighed, “Of course mate showed us, he loves us. He could’ve flown us anywhere. He chose the destination because he wanted to be here with us.”
I couldn’t hold back my sobs anymore, this was all my fault. Why on earth did I think the Fairy Goddess would help protect Xander from this pain? Of course Azoney wouldn’t ever do that. She was the literal worst, along with Selene.
Xander didn’t deserve this. He definitely didn’t deserve to be thrust into what he saw. I somehow knew my mate had seen Trevor brand me and seen all the words he’s carved into my back. I didn’t know how I knew...but I did.
It must just be my intuition or something. Freya snorted, “Sure, that’s it.” My brain couldn’t even fathom her words at this point. I knew my wolf meant it had some other meaning, but I didn’t know what it was.
For once, I wasn’t going to ask either because my mate was in pain and it was my fault. I’d worked so hard to make sure he never felt pain, but this time I’d caused it. Freya disagreed, “You did not.” Why was the Fairy Goddess so horrid?
