Oden said, “Mate is surrounded by serious magic. I’m pretty sure….” Before he could finish. Beta Malachi was popped in by his sister, Annie. Malachi said, “I’ve been filled in by a seriously interesting Beta group text. Not Katie…” He shook himself, “I mean Odette’s kidnappers are on the phone. They want to talkover the ransom with Keaton. Someone told them she’s your mate.”
Keaton growled, “How? No one knew.” Sierra snorted, “I bet Melanie knows.” I heard someone from Yellow Hills mutter, “Everyone knew, it just wasn’t announced. He hid it very badly.” I growled, “Track Melanie’s watch right now!”
Sierra winced, “I wasn’t kidding when I said we don’t know how.” I yelled, “MICAH!” Micah sighed, “Sierra, now would be a great time for those instructions so I can track Melanie down.” Sierra pulled them up on her watch and sent them to my brother in law.
I asked, “How do I talk to Melanie on this watch?” Sierra sighed, “Mel went dark. You can’t talk to her.” Dylan cleared his throat, “I bet he can. MelAshley looovvvvessss him.” Sierra’s motivations told me that Dylan was right.
Keaton shouted, “Enough! Someone pop us back to our territory so I can get my mate back.” Grandpa Nathan agreed, “He’s right.” He muttered, “My daughter I haven’t even met, who is not eighteen, has a mate. This is some shit.”
Mom scoffed, “Oh for god’s sake, there will be no fucking pouting. Odette has a mate who is a great fucking man. All five of you Conners boys wipe that look off your face.” Dad kissed the side of mom’s head and she popped them away.
I quickly popped after them. There was a girl who was clearly my aunt sitting in the room on the other end of the video call. I knew without asking who Odette was. Our side filled with growls as we looked at her face. They’d hit her. Oden roared, “OUR AUNT?! HOW DARE THEY!”
Odette whispered, “Ke…” My Aunt was slapped before she finished saying her mate’s name. I snarled with several others. Keaton threatened, “Do that again and I’ll take off your hand before I rip you apart piece by piece.”
Ok I had to admit, I liked an Alpha swagger on Keaton. Emmett grabbed his little brother’s shoulders. Odette cried, “I’m so sorry.” Keaton told her, “You have nothing to be sorry for. This wasn’t your fault.” A man demanded, “We want two million dollars.”
Dad agreed before anyone else could, “Done.” Odette gasped and asked, “What? Just like that? For me? Are you serious? Is he serious?” The man smirked saying, “Yes, he’s always serious. That man is Alpha Eric Conners. Which means the price just jumped. Now it’s twenty million.” Odette’s face fell.
The man continued, “We didn’t know Alpha Eric Conners cared. We were only told about the Daniel’s boy.” Keaton growled, “I’m not a boy, and I’m an Alpha.” I watched Odette who smiled softly. I linked EJ, “A girl who didn’t know about Werewolves is now not surprised and is smiling the man she believed was her boyfriend is an Alpha wolf. Something is very strange about that.” EJ nodded.
Dad agreed again, “Fine. You give us Keaton’s mate back, and you can have twenty million dollars.” Odette whispered, “Oh my god. That’s… he’s… for me? I’ll never be able to pay him back.” Dad assured her, “You don’t need to pay me back.”
Odette gaped at him. Mom was keeping Grandpa Nathan in a chair out of the camera frame. They were clearly linking. Phil linked me, “Your mom thinks Odette could realize he’s her dad. She doesn’t think they should meet this way. The focus needs to be Odette getting home. That’s why Alpha Theo has Lux out of frame too.” I nodded.
My eyes narrowed on a woman getting closer to Odette. No one was paying attention to her though. I linked EJ, “That woman is palming something. Are they really about to try a jail break? SON OF A BITCH! My mate is there and has a plan.” EJ replied, “Your mate always has a plan.” An angry howl rang out from their side.
Someone yelled, “It’s not possible! How did you let a wolf get past our borders? What is wrong with you?” I took a step forward. Oden linked, “That’s what I was trying to say. I thought it felt like Freya was in wolf form.” Sierra smirked.
I linked EJ, “The wolf is going to be Melanie.” I watched the woman I’d been monitoring hand Odette something my aunt had clearly been expecting. Malachi muted the computer. I said, “I think it’s clear what’s going on. Melanie pulled Odette to the white wolf’s plane, they have a plan.”
The door at the other end of the room flew down and Freya filled it, snarling, ready to fight and take on a room of fifty rogues. Alone. Again. Odette was now free and took off running for the opposite door. Of course my mate told my aunt to get out and leave her behind. Of fucking course she did.
Odette looked back towards Freya. The conflict was clear on her face. Keaton yelled, “Run!” Malachi reasoned, “She can’t hear you, Keaton.” Freya barked a clear order. Odette turned and ran out of the room as my mate launched into an attack.
The End
Epilogue
Five Years Later
Alexander woke up and reached for Melanie, only to find her side of the bed was cold. I frowned, because I’d really thought my wife would still be asleep. Melanie had just finished her heat and we’d both fallen asleep at the same time.
I linked my mate, “I thought we’d gotten over this hurdle of you waking up without me. Particularly right after your heat ends.” Melanie replied, “Umm…. so you… need to focus.” I snorted, “I am focused on the right thing, my mate.”
Melanie said, “Your hunting game is today. So… you do need to focus.” I smirked knowing that I was hunting Trevor, his friends, Ezra, Edward, and Jean with my family today. The fake Ajax would be hunted as well. He’d ended up evading us for a while, but we finally got him and we learned his real name.
We were going to blood eagle them if I felt so led after this ended. My Hackura family had told them this was the end because they could lie. I wasn’t sure they deserved to go to hell just yet. I linked my mate, “I can’t focus if I don’t see you.”
Melanie answered, “Your mom is going to take me to the Hackura realm. I’ll be there.” I frowned. Someone knocked on my door before coming inside. I greeted, “Hello, big brother.” EJ urged, “Let’s go. We gotta go to the feast before the hunt. Plus, someone is going to have to air out this room. Jesus, that’s a smell.”
I snorted, “I don’t know how mom came up with these rules for this hunt.” EJ smiled, “I don’t know either, but it’s fun. Let’s go.” I asked, “Have you seen my mate?” EJ stopped thengroaned, “No. Dear god please tell me you have. Ladybug didn’t run off into some big mess again, did she?”
I shrugged saying, “I don’t think so. How much trouble could she possibly get in? We went to sleep three hours ago.” EJ snorted, “We are talking about the same person, right?” I groaned then linked my wife, “Are you in trouble or going off somewhere where I need to be?”
Melanie’s annoyance and hurt hit me when she answered, “No, I’ve gotten better at telling you when I do that…. and you know it.” She wasn’t wrong. I apologized, “You’re right, you have. I’m sorry.” Melanie sniffled, “Ok.” I felt utter horror.
I looked at EJ in shock. My big brother asked, “What? I said, “I think my wife is crying because I asked if she ran off.” EJ raised an eyebrow. I asked, “Oden?” Oden said, “Freya is saying they are tired. Hell, mate feels tired in the bond. Melanie is crying though.”
