Melanie sighed, “Sometimes… if the situation warrants it. I mean, you guys wouldn’t be able to open a portal… in view of anyone… and that could be hard. If you’re with K and she needs to go out, then by all means take a spare mask…. if you have the contacts and she wants you to go. We can talk about it. If we are acting quickly… well… I… you know about in the field decisions… so I don’t need to explain that.”
I jumped in, “My guard is here.” Melanie snorted, “I obviously noticed that… but that wasn’t your point. The problem with your Guard going is that they would guard me. That wouldn't exactly help with a mission.” Oden disagreed, “It would help me and my peace of mind.” I knew that.
I shrugged saying, “It’s something to consider. They will always be around you and Hackura Guards are some of the best trained fighters in all the realms.” My wife replied, “They are actually the best… in all the realms. No one else’s Guards are trained as extensively as the Hackura are. I mean … I don’t know that… It could be a guess.”
Uncle Bjourn snorted, “I’ll speak for the room when we say we all know that you do know that for a fact.” I wasn’t focused on that comment because I could tell my mate wasn’t going to consider taking my Guard with her.
Oden pointed out, “Egres got in with her when we fought the Werebengals. It’s a challenge to them now because they are here.” I knew they would be and they were just challenged, thank Aesir. That could break my way then.
Anyone who guarded our family would try to get to her. I could even make it game. Because I could tell my wife wasn’t going to willingly take anyone who was a Guard of our family out with her. Oden agreed, “That tracks since their goal would be to protect her.”
Micah jumped in, “So, we will get most of the information with this profile we have.” Melanie nodded, “Yes, I mean… if you’re watching it… which… you definitely don’t have to do all the time.” Yeah, they did and would.
Melanie continued, “We need to go over what you got out of Bankhead anyway.” Micah snorted, “Some really sick shit. What they learned from torturing what they considered the strongest out of the groups they had was disgusting.”
Dylan jumped in, “Can I just point out, they did not have ONE single Supernatural we didn’t know about? I, for one, am appalled by this. It’s like they weren’t even trying.” Lacy patted him on the thigh. I asked, “Did they have any potential targets listed?”
Micah’s eyes blazed in a second and I frowned. Oden growled, “I don’t like that. It’s going to be about Magnus.” Probably, considering Melanie felt reluctance and acceptance in our bond. I linked her, “Who do you think that is about?” Melanie answered, “It will be people in your family… but I’m guessing you know Micah’s reaction is about Max though.”
I growled. I asked Micah, “Is my brother on their list?” Micah answered, “Max, Wesley, Theo, and Maverick are on their list.” Micah glanced at Melanie adding, “So is the fact that this particular group in the Ring has tried to get Max and Maverick multiple times.”
“All attempts are catalogued as failed. In varying ways and I could guess which ones Melanie did. The thing I find odd is that the Hackura never knew about some of these attempts. Jacob and Aria are on the wish list and attempts too.” We all growled.
Uncle Bjourn asked, “Did you stop all of them, Melanie?” Micah teased, “I could literally tell you which ones she did and didn’t.” Melanie explained, “Hendrick stops the attempts on Aria. He’s been permanently assigned to watch over her threats and lets me know if he needs more manpower.”
Emmaline popped beside Melanie and hugged her. My Cousin said, “Well, I have to go thank Hendrick for watching out for my baby.” She popped away. Uncle Bjourn pressed, “And the other ones?” Melanie sighed, “Well… Micah mentioned he knows which ones are me… and as he has access to the reports… he would accurately be able to confirm which ones are me.”
Micah said, “But not who did the ones I know aren’t you.” Melanie reasoned, “I don’t give away who everyone is.” UncleBjourn asked, “Do you know whose we are trying to get at?” Sierra chuckled. Melanie pursed her lips clearly in thought.
Eventually my mate said, “Logically speaking… you’re asking about Maverick’s because they are so different, and we gave you guys the poison… because Xander asked for them.” I snorted, “You left them for my mom, not me.”
Melanie replied, “I mean… I put them in the box… that was black and white… I did not drop them off, though. The point is, Maverick has someone assigned to him too, but you guys haven’t met her.” Maverick perked up asking, “Her?”
Melanie nodded, “She’s… well… umm… I mean, I invited her to our Mating Ceremony… and she was going to come… but couldn’t. Which wasn’t her fault… she doesn’t like big groups of people. She prefers to be alone because she… ummm, that’s her story.”
Maverick blurted out, “My wolf has been anxious a few times, and I thought my mate was around. I just couldn’t get a scent or anything.” Hastein snorted, “Of course Melanie happened to assign your mate to your threats.”
Melanie flushed, “I… well… we don’t know that…. Yet… I thought you guys would be cute… and I thought that you could help her…. but it’s hard to get people together… when one is hiding… or changing their schedules.” My mate’s annoyance spiked. I barely noticed her eyes slide to Hastein.
That sent amusement around the bonds of those who had noticed. Melanie continued,” Maverick’s is easy to nail down though… because we can look at dates and things… to see… if my person was there when Magnus felt like their mate was near.”
Maverick asked, “Does she know she could be mine?” Melanie said, “I doubt it. She’s never been that close to you. She does think you’re… attractive. If that helps.” Sierra snorted, “There is absolutely no way she knows she’s your mate.”
Everyone turned to Sierra. My cousin’s mate continued, “You think she could know and stayed away, Maverick, but I’m telling you there is literally no chance Mel’s assigned woman has any inkling Maverick could be her mate.”
“She’s been dreading the day he meets his mate. In fact, she is the one who insisted she be in charge of keeping Maverick safe. Just took the file and set up all her alerts and watched them like a hawk. Not unlike how Melanie watches her Xander.”
Melanie nodded, “That’s true… and she’s good at those threats. Sometimes the group would say she poisoned people too soon… but I disagreed. She and I developed the poison together… so it’s logical we got to decide when it was time to use it. Plus, she’s super effective at protecting Maverick. So… there was no reason to tell her she acted too fast… fast is better than slow. That’s just obvious.”
Drake snorted out a laugh. Maverick agreed, “That’s very true.” Melanie replied, “I know… it’s other people who were slow to that particular piece of logic.” I asked, “And my brother’s probable mate didn’t back down to an Alpha?”
Melanie replied, “I mean… Caine never said it to her. Just me…. and I disagreed.” Uncle Aiden said, “So, this young woman is not a wolf. I would think she’d have sought out Caine’s approval otherwise.” Sierra said, “She doesn’t have a wolf, no.” So, my brother’s mate was a partial Werewolf then.
Gage said, “Phil, you need to explain to your mate evasions don’t work on this group of people.” Maverick agreed, “It was evasive. My mate’s a partial Werewolf then. What is her other half?” Melanie said, “We don’t know if she’s your mate yet… just that I’m positive you’d be cute together.” Sierra shook her head with a smile on her face.
Sam gently said, “Ladybug, you’ve always been right about people being mates when you said they were cute together.”Tristan agreed, “You have been. You are counting things into your factors that you shouldn’t.”
Melanie frowned, “What?” Tristan explained, “You’re factoring it into your data that you told me, Everly and I would be cute. Then you thought she was mated to Jase.” He growled that part. Jason sighed, “For fuck’s sake, we all know that was a lie. Everly has always been a sister to me.” Addison growled too.
