Mom snorted, “That’s Talia’s not a meek, pliable, evil woman who would do Ezra’s bidding with his son. Ezra wanted a womanhe 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 outloud. 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.”
Dylan disagreed, “MelAshley said it, not us. That’s my only critique of what you just said.” I answered Tristan’s question, “Yes, it is her. She told me just a few moments ago.” Tristan growled, “Damn it! We probably hurt her feelings.”
Uncle Bjourn realized, “The business and the woman’s name is an anagram. That’s how the Fairy King knew. Which means my little sister also knew it was Melanie.” Uncle Aiden practically sang, “I did see the piece of paper with a fascinating bit of information on it as to who was behind the Resistance.”
Dad muttered, “And you didn’t think it would ANY fun to drop that knowledge on us? How can that possibly be true?” Uncle Aiden replied, “I knew the girl in question would drop the information in a far more fun way, and I was right.”
“Plus, my sister would’ve been upset with me if I told you. In case anyone was curious, unscrambled the name is Melanie McAlister and the company name is for Mom, dad and T.” Sam started to cry while Drake rubbed her back.
Lux said, “So, Melanie runs it all. Damn. It makes sense, other than her age when it started.” Alpha Theo said, “It was right there in all our faces that Melanie was in the Resistance,and a damn cookie kept us from seeing it. This I don’t think we can blame the cookie on. This is crazy that a fourteen year old did that. Impressive but crazy.”
Tristan whispered, “She did it for us?” Everly told him, “Melanie loves you so much.” Uncle Aiden offered, “She did it to avenge you and protect my nephew. Along with the brother she thought was living.” Jason said, “Ladybug thought I disowned her.”
Aiden replied, “Not at first. It wouldn’t have mattered if you did though, clearly. Since Melanie did think eventually believe you had, and she still protected you quite fiercely. All of Red Run actually.” Mom snorted, “Melanie formed the Resistance to keep us all safe. Along with the innocents in the fucking forgotten packs.”
“My daughter in law had access we did not. When she lived here, she was kept out of things because she was a child. Melanie had to quickly realize down there no one was trying to help anyone. So, there wasn’t anyone to stop or suspect her of it. She used it to get revenge and protect the people she loves. It’s fucking brilliant because she had to know no one would suspect her as the person who runs it because of her age.”
Sam wiped her eyes chiming in, “Ladybug has always been this smart. I honestly wondered if she had started it. I just didn’t know how a fourteen year old could pull this off. I didn’t think she had the money to do it. I even checked our accounts and went back to when she left. Melanie never touched our money.”
Dylan threw out, “MelAshley fought in the undergrounds for money. That’s gotta be how some of the cash flowed in. I’ll also take Mason and Hendrick gave her the startup money for one thousand, MMSGAP.”
I acknowledged, “You’re right.” Gage snorted, “He knew he was right. We all did.” Dylan replied, “It’s nice to hear though.” EJ asked, “How long have you known, little brother?” Iexplained, “I just found out, which I feel like I said already. My wife was worried she’d blurt it out, which she did.”
I watched Melanie run out of the dungeon, shaking in rage. I knew she was so angry she needed to shift. I popped outside and joined her for a run. Dad linked me, “You know everyone wants to talk to Melanie, right?”
