Chapter 6 Out in the Open #6
Lux and Harrison growled. Lux snarled, “Who did that to him? Who spelled my uncle?” Beta James asked, “Lux, why did you come?” Dylan whispered, “I know that you know the answer, my buddy Beta James.” Lux answered, “Melanie said my dad might need me, so I came.”
I answered Lux’s question, “Ezra did it. Rather he had it done by the Ring and a bad Coven.” Lux snarled. Harrison growled, “That bastard has wanted my uncle’s territory my entire life from what I can remember.” Lux ground out, “He’s wanted it longer, Harrison.”
Dad put a hand on Alpha Theo’s back, but he didn’t say anything. There were decades of friendship between them, so I trusted dad to know what to do here. Alpha Theo turned to look at Lucas and the two men stared at each other.
Alpha Theo eventually said, “I have blamed you for my brother’s murder all this time. When in fact, you saved Aaron when no one else could. I’m not saying we are ok, but I will no longer advise my son not to be in an alliance with yours.”
Lucas nodded, “I understand your feelings. I am so sorry, Theo. I have been sorry since I had to act against Aaron. He was one of my best friends and it physically hurt me to do it. It was just a string of erratic behavior, and he refused to give Felicia back to us. She called me and begged for help. I never wanted to fight Aaron, but I had to protect my pack member.”
Alpha Theo nodded. Oden informed me, “Their wolves are actually talking for the first time since that day.” Well, then maybe they would be ok with each other in a few centuries. Dylan announced, “I’ll organize the barbeque with my good buddy Beta James!”
Alpha Theo snorted, “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” Dylan somewhat pleaded, “But think of the pack members between our groups who haven’t met. More mate options for them have hope to see the light of day. YAY!”
“More importantly YAY for Dylan who would be responsible for throwing the next mate’s day! It’s MY moment to shine! Don’t take this from me, Alpha Theo! Don’t be LSGAP and his no fun fuddy duddyness.” Alpha Theo rolled his eyes.
Melanie and Ezra drew our attention back, arguing how she was the Ring’s perfect revenge. Cayden snorted and linked me, “Not only is he dead wrong, but he’s dead wrong at the top of his voice.” Yes, he was. Gage linked, “Shut the fuck up.” I didn’t reply.
Melanie taunted Ezra with how wrong he was.
Oden snickered, “It’s happening. Mate’s going blurt it all out.
Freya wants to take over and tell him. She is very upset at how he’s speaking to her human, and she hates him for the role he played in locking her away.
” I couldn’t say I blamed Freya or Melanie there.
I didn’t think Oden was wrong either because his words implied that even if Melanie managed not to say it, her wolf was going to.
Micah snorted, “Did Ezra really just say Melanie wouldn’t dare to give us information?
She literally gave it up the second she had an in with us.
Hell, Mel barely waited for Cayden to agree to her terms. She even gave us something before he agreed.
This dolt actually said she wouldn’t dare. Has this guy met Melanie?”
Gage said, “Yeah, no. All of them are stupid because there was no way in hell Melanie should’ve been near a meeting if a supposed Hackura was there.
Anyone with a quarter of a brain would realize that she’d jump on that chance for something.
Even if they thought she was working with the Hunters, they had to wonder if she’d ask for help. ”
Drake argued, “No, they made her think people hated her. Melanie has always worried she’s too much and too direct. We always told her that wasn’t the case, but she still felt that way.” I snarled, “That’s not true!”
Tristan said, “Yeah, well there were teachers, peers who insinuated otherwise, and Mel even thought at one point that’s why we wanted her to go to New York at one point. Melanie doesn’t think she makes friends easily. Black Path hating her for being right would have cemented that.”
“It would be easy for someone who didn’t understand Melanie, to think she’d run from a Hackura instead of to them. Thankfully, because she desperately wanted their acceptance because Alexander has Hackura blood.”
Phil said, “I mean, it’s still faulty logic. I’m not saying I pieced it together, but they saw her. She wasn’t backing down. They had to be concerned Melanie was friends with them. It wasn’t a secret in the pack.”
Mom interjected, “The Ring doesn’t like to admit when they are wrong.
They craft their realities and make people’s actions line up to them.
In their minds, Melanie was taking longer to break down, but they had small victories.
We know that’s not true, but they will never admit that.
Even if they suspect now, until they have it thrown in their face they won’t believe it. ” Idiots.
We listened as Melanie countered every point the man who embodied evil for me now made. Ezra’s face was turning red with anger, and he lost it when my wife mentioned Talia. I asked, “What exactly does he hold against a Warrior’s daughter?”
Mom snorted, “That’s Talia’s not a meek, pliable, evil woman who would do Ezra’s bidding with his son. Ezra wanted a woman he could control with Tao. The man is smart enough to realize he didn’t really have Tao in hand like he wanted.”
Phil said, “Yeah, I’m sure Ezra approached Talia when Tao first found out she was his.
Talia refused to be his toy, so he wanted her killed.
” That actually tracked. God, that guy was sick.
Gage said, “I know that’s true because Abgail has been talking to the Gamma Female of their pack.
They swapped pack stories, and that one was mentioned. ” We all growled.
Ezra figured out Melanie was in the Resistance. Wesley snorted, “I think it physically hurt him to ask that question.” Alpha Theo growled, “Good. Ezra knows nothing of pain yet, but he will.” I said, “Don’t worry, the bombshell behind the answer will hurt him more.” EJ asked, “Huh?”
Mom laughed, and so did my Uncle Aiden. Uncle Bjourn groaned, “God, I hate when Aiden knows things before we do. He’s so obnoxious about it.” Dylan shouted, “HOLD THE FRONT DOOR?! What’s happening? And why don’t I know?” I simply glanced at him.
Dylan squealed, “WAIT! Is this the thing that I think that I know? Could I be right? Because GOSH that’s juicy! What am I saying? Of course I’m right. I LOVE BEING ME! I can’t believe I’m going to be right. I thought that was out there as a thought.”
Gage said, “Oh god. I think we were right, Phil.” Phil inclined his head but didn’t say anything. Dad asked, “Right about what?” Dylan hushed him, “SHHHH, LSGAP. My show is getting good, and I’m in the right room for the epic freak out of things I thought I knew.”
Dylan raised a glass to himself saying, “I’m so good, I surprise myself sometimes. Truly, I’m the unspoken genius of our generation. Drake was the spoken one of his, but I’m the one that was in the core group. Ya’ll just don’t admit it.”
Lacy cooed, “I do.” Lucas said, “So do I.” Dylan whispered, “It’s LSGAP that won’t admit my street and book smarts out loud. He secretly knows it’s true, but he’s holding onto the fact that he’s also secretly a genius. It’s just that I’m so much younger and he’s a whole generation older than me.”
Dad groaned, “You missed the damn cut off by a fucking year, Dylan. Besides, those are human decisions on where the age cut off is.” Dylan shouted, “AH HA! You admit you’re an old fogey and I’m a mere youngster.” Dad rolled his eyes.
Melanie wanted Ezra in a clown nose. Dylan shrieked, “Someone do that for me please! We can call him Bobo the Clown. YES! This is his new nickname. Ezra deserves it for the things he has done and more.” My mom snapped before I could.
Cayden linked me, “Your mate is going to blow up at him.” I agreed, “Yup. Oden told me Freya is going to if Melanie doesn’t. I can tell you that Melanie is nearing detonation level though.” Cayden snorted, “You can’t blame her.” I agreed, “I don’t.”
Micah linked, “The implosion of the jaw dropping information seems imminent.” I replied, “You are a very smart man. That’s probably why you’re mated to my brother.” Micah smirked at me. I linked EJ, “Get ready.” EJ asked, “For what?” I smirked at him but didn’t answer.
Dad linked me, “What’s happening? You feel proud and your mom practically feels victorious. Aiden is smirking, Dylan is talking about crazy theories, but that doesn’t narrow anything down. Dylan always has crazy theories.”
Mom linked me, “So, Melanie told you.” I answered, “She did.” Mom smiled before admitting, “That’s a good thing.” I chuckled, “Since my wife is about to blurt it all out, I agree. It is at least nice I have the heads up.”
Melanie shouted at the top of her lungs that she ran the Resistance. A collective gasp filled the room. Dylan said, “For the record, I thought I was cuckoo for Coco Puff’s but I wasn't! I was right! Hot damn I’m good! Even I doubt my genius sometimes, but I am just too good!”
Phil sighed, “I actually had a brief thought and pushed it aside as crazy.” Gage chimed in, “Damn. We both thought that was a crazy idea we floated around.” Phil nudged Gage saying, “We were right on the money, thinking we were insane.”
Dylan advised, “Around these here parts you two, we hold onto those crazy, out there couldn’t possibly be true thoughts. Mostly because they always turn out to be true. The impossible always happens around here. Despite LSGAP’s best efforts.”
Tristan said, “Wait a damn second.” Dylan cooed, “I will wait forever for your reaction to this bombshell. It’s gonna be good.” Tristan rubbed his temples saying, “This whole time, we’ve been saying we are pissed at the person behind Ladybug, and it was Ladybug?! That’s what we are saying.”