The Alpha Enforcer and His Dancing Warrior

White Hot Rage Pt. 3

              Drake asked, “What’s on her back Alexander?” I sighed, “I was too angry to control myself….but that’s her decision to tell you.” T growled, “She didn’t tell you! The Ribbon showed you.” I nodded, “Yes it did. I won’t take her choice away in this though.” Sam asked, “Can you heal whatever it was?” I nodded, “If that’s what she wants...mom and I can….after her friend Paige helps us.” My mom gaped, “Exfuckingcuse me? I can take away scars….easily.” I sighed, “There’s magic involved with hers. The other reality Uncle Aiden told us that we’d need a witch to reverse the spell cast so the words wouldn’t get messed up.” Sam started to cry. Jason spoke, “WORDS?! As in plural?! AS IN MORE THAN ONE?!” He took off running out of the gym with Tristan on his heels. Drake asked, “Are they right?” I said, “Words do mean plural.” Elise was wiping away tears. An impressive roar rang out around the pack. Drake tensed. My dad hissed, “Oh fuck.” I frowned, “What?” Dylan cleared his throat, “If I may….interject….” My dad snorted, “As if it matters if you have permission.” Dylan smiled, “How right you are Saint God Alpha Prick….but you did not give certain men of beta blood the answers they wanted….but you are not the only one here with said information. There are plenty of prisoners who know the answers.” I shook my head, “The spell kept Edward and Jean from seeing the words. I doubt Melanie ever told Stephanie.” Dylan sighed, “You Conners men just LOVE to make me be serious. You have a new prisoner….one who was involved in hurting her….who would greatly enjoy hurting her brothers mentally.” 

            I hissed, “f**k!” Alpha Ezra. I popped to the dungeons. Two of my warriors were holding back a blood soaked Tristan and Jason. I turned. Alpha Ezra was now missing a leg. He was bleeding out. I quickly healed the area so he didn’t die, but I was not giving him the leg back. Ezra looked down, “But….my leg is still gone.” I laughed hollowly, “If you think I’m taking the time and energy to regrow a limb for you….You’re an i***t. I’m actually beginning to think you're delusional. My mate already broke your back. You couldn’t use your leg anyway. I didn’t hear that.” I turned to T, “It’s Mel’s choice.” Ezra snorted, “I already told him.” I sighed. T asked, “Is he telling the truth? Does my sister’s back really say, Curse, Family Killer, Freak, Ice Queen, Unwanted, and Trevor’s?!” Ezra laughed, “I have to hand it to the kid…..I didn't think he had that kind of creativity. Then again….your sister does have an ability to drive us all a little mad. I wanted to take her for myself, but she hated me the moment she heard my name. I should’ve taken her anyway. She’s a beauty.” I snarled, “Then we’d have had her back in a second and you know it.” Ezra sighed, “Yes….well a concealment spell was being worked on. You didn’t see the state of my pack or what was truly happening there. Trevor was clearly a poor choice to try and tame the wretched girl. She was mouthy and talked back constantly no matter what we did to her.” 

                Jason came forward and punched him in the face. He hissed, “What did you do?” Ezra smiled, “Why would I tell you everything all at once? She’ll never forgive you. We made sure of that.” I taunted him back, “You mean the rings she thought were her parents? Yeah…..we know about those. She doesn’t have them anymore.” Ezra frowned “No….they assured me even now knowing the rings weren’t her parents she wouldn’t take them off.” I shrugged, “They are full of shit.” Ezra laughed, “The McAlister’s still abandoned her and left her. Jason said awful things to her…..I helped craft some of the letters. No matter what we said about you though….she didn’t f*****g care. The girl clung to the idea that she was yours.” Fowler linked me, “Incoming.” What? Jason snarled, “I didn’t abandon her and I didn’t say anything awful to her! Ladybug IS Alexander’s...so there you have it.” Ezra smirked, “But she’ll always have those words in her mind. As far as what we did to her, the only we didn’t do was r**e her.” An angry voice came from behind me I recognized in a second, “Not for lack of trying. Jason, Tristan, Xander, don’t give him the time of day. It’s what he wants. Let’s get out of here.” s**t….Fowler meant Melanie was incoming. She turned to leave. Ezra snarled, “I’ll always be in your head little girl! You can’t escape the things you’ve done! They won’t want you once they know the truth.” Melanie spoke over her shoulder, “I’m not a little girl anymore. Shouldn’t you be asking about your son? You know...the one that lives around here. I’m sure you’re wondering why he hasn’t come to rescue you. It’s why you still have hope. You’re counting on him, but I remember everything Ezra. Including him.” Ezra paled, “You...no.” I told him, “Robert is in the Hackura realm. He should’ve listened to my warning about leaving Melanie alone.” Ezra started to sob.

            I grabbed Jason and T and popped up above the dungeons where Melanie already was. T immediately asked, “Is he telling the truth about your back?” I snarled, “I told you….that’s her choice...not his.” Melanie spoke, “Ezra often lies, but I’d bet he told you the truth. He wanted to hurt you.” T’s eyes filled with tears and so did Jason’s. Drake asked, “What does her back say?” Before I could say anything Melanie spoke, “She is right here. Don’t talk around me when I’m standing right here. It’s rude.” Drake pursed his lips, “Ok, you’re right. Ladybug, what does your back say?” Melanie asked, “What good does that do? Tell me one good thing that would come out of you knowing that. You’d all be guilty and punish yourselves...probably cry and look at me with pity.” My dad said, “Let’s move this conversation inside the house.” I grabbed Melanie and popped inside. I told her, “You don’t have to tell them anything you don’t want to.” She kissed my cheek, “Thanks for saying that.” I asked, “What woke you up?” Melanie snorted, “For a Beta…..it was an impressive roar of anger coming from Tristan. I knew it was him. I was worried.” 

            The rest of the group walked in. Elise squeezed Melanie’s hand when she walked by. My mom looked uncomfortable. Everyone sat down. Before anyone could comment further my mom stood, “I want to something perfectly f*****g clear. You have NO idea what you are asking right now, but I do. If Melanie is uncomfortable the topic is closed. Are we clear?” Everyone looked at her. My mom sighed, “I said are we f*****g clear? Because so help me god if ONE of you pushes it past the point she is comfortable I will banish your f*****g ass from this territory.” My eyes widened. She hadn’t done that in a long time. Once she accepted her fairy side…..she could banish wolves and fairies...technically Hackura. Wolves because she was the Luna of the pack at one point, and Hackura and fairy because those were a part of her. Jason sighed, “Fine.” I noticed Addison had shown up. Melanie sighed, “Why aren’t you guys off celebrating being married?” Addison frowned, “Well…..we were worried about you Mel. T called about the whole….Your Xander getting his wings and shouting incident. I wanted to check on you.” It hit me. Addison knew. All Melanie’s friends knew what was on her back. 

            Elise offered, “I stand by what I said to you in the meadow by the pond Melanie. Healing is what comes from the truth.” Melanie laughed, “Yes and no. Pain comes from the truth too. I think there is enough pain in this room. Particularly when it comes to me. None of you can look at me without a hint of guilt in your eyes. What happened to me, happened. It’s past. You can’t change it.” Sam whispered, “You shouldn’t have to bear that burden alone.” Melanie shrugged, “Plenty of people know what happened to me. If I want to find someone to talk to about it….there’s a pretty long list.” T sighed, “Your friends know then.” Melanie nodded, “Yes, they do.” Drake’s eyes narrowed, “It’s more than them.” Melanie nodded, “It is. Black Path as a whole knows. Ezra’s former pack knows.” EJ gaped, “Talia knows?” Melanie sighed, “Yes, she does. Not everything, but she’s got the basics.” No one said anything else. Drake asked, “What did they do to your back, Ladybug?” Melanie sighed, “Whipped me. Not infrequently, but you had to have guessed that already. Probably even before Ezra ripped my collar and you saw the top of my back.” I was honestly stunned that she answered the question. I glanced at Addison who didn’t seem surprised at all. 

            Her and Mel were giving each other meaningful looks. T asked, “Why are you telling us outlines of things but not telling us things?” Melanie said, “Trust is not something I don’t have a lot of anymore. What I do have is logical conclusions. Logically, Ezra’s aim is to hurt our family. You’re not going to stop going back to him for answers. He’s going to metaphorically make you bleed with each thing he gives you. So I’ll make you a deal. You stop going to him for information about me that’s just going to upset and hurt you….and I’ll tell you what my back says.” My eyes went wide. Jason said, “I want to see it.” Melanie was quiet for several moments then said, “If you, and I do mean specifically you Jason, give me your word that will not go to Ezra for information about what happened to me then I will show you.” Drake frowned, “Not all of us?” Melanie said, “Isn’t it bad enough to know the words themselves? You’d just torture yourself and that’s what Ezra wants. I don’t expect any of you to answer now. I want you to think about it, and I don’t want Tristan or Jason to tell anyone what Ezra told them.” T’s jaw clenched. It was silent for several moments then they nodded. T said, “We won’t say anything.”

            Sam whispered, “Ezra said you were in the undergrounds, but we policed those fights. You weren’t there.” Melanie raised an eyebrow, “No, I was not.” She didn’t say anything else. T sighed, “Oh come on….you’ve got to give us something.” Melanie stood, “No, I do not have to give you anything. You want to be sad and punish yourself for what happened to me. I do not have to give you the means to do so. It happened to me, not you. It’s my past and they are my problems to deal with. You don’t like it, then tough cookies.” Sam frowned, “We are a family.” Melanie frowned, “I haven’t had a family for years now, you can’t expect to waltz back into my life and think everything will be the same. I am not the same. I am trying, but you can’t just snap your fingers and make it better. I don’t see how you all knowing any of this makes it better. Do you think I can’t see how this hurts you? Do you think waking up and hearing T’s roar makes me feel good? Do you think knowing Xander was in agony makes me feel good?” She wiped tears from her eyes, “I hate it. I hate this. I hate them. Everyone who knows what happened to me carries guilt around. I was never the tool Ezra or Edward wanted me to be, and I’ll be damned if I’m your tool to punish yourself. Is it really so hard to see that I love all you? I’m hurt. I’m bitter. I’m really freaking angry, but I love all of you. I always did. That has never changed. This would be so much easier if I didn’t love you. If I could’ve just let myself hate Jason for the words I thought were his, or turned his back on me...GOD that would’ve made my life much easier, but I never could. We are family, and I get to protect you all too.” 

            Melanie took a deep breath, “I was going to try to seek out Jason before Xander came back from his mission to explain….that I did have a wolf… that maybe we could try to build some sort of relationship again. I was going to try then. Now...Now I just don’t understand this. Why do we need to keep perpetuating the cycle of hurt? Is it not enough that you know Xander was deeply hurt by what he saw? You all want to share in that type of pain? For whom? I don’t think it’s for me….which means it’s about you. I’ve been used to hurt enough people in the allied packs. I’m over it. I don’t want to hurt you. I want to move past all this and I’m trying, but I just don’t see how hashing it all out all the time does that...it just brings everything else back out when it could just remain in the past buried where it belongs.” Sam stood, “Ladybug, that’s not true. What happened to you does hurt us, yes. It shouldn’t have happened, but it did. Holding it inside hurts you, and that’s not what we want. No one wants you to have to keep your pain locked inside you.” I shrugged, “I put myself back together a long time ago.” Addison’s left eye twitched. I raised an eyebrow. Melanie said, “I’m going for a run.” She took off like a shot. I stood. My mom grabbed my hand, “Wait….let me go talk to her. I understand how she feels. Unfuckingfortunately.” She popped away. 

            Jason sighed, “Maybe it is about us and not her...fuck...I don’t know anymore.” My Uncle Bjourn spoke, “Wanting to know what happened to your sister is natural. I wouldn’t advise making her feel backed into a corner though. She believes what she just said, and I don’t think I’m the only one who caught the undertones. She’s willing to keep her pain inside to not hurt those she loves. I do sympathize with your position. We didn’t want that for Haley either, but you just have to let her adapt in her own time in her own way. I’m sure my little sister will suggest therapy.” Addison sighed, “It’s more than that, but you’re not wrong King Bjourn.” Jason asked, “What do you mean Ads?” Addison took a deep breath, “Mel didn’t always wear hoodies or things that covered her back at home. She’s embarrassed now because she’s here. Because she’s afraid it will hurt all of you. She’s not wrong either. Melanie has always….since I met her….kept things to herself that hurt her. Especially if she thinks it will hurt someone she loves. They wanted to break her, and she always says she put herself back together; however, it’s not true. They never managed to truly break her or she would’ve given up and given in to Trevor.” I snarled. Addison bit her lip and smiled, “But she never gave up on hope that Jason and her Xander would eventually come into her life. She was terrified and excited by the possibility. She just didn’t have a good life in Black Path. You already know they treated her as a pack slave. She wasn’t allowed to go to school. She took a hell of a beating when her GED arrived in the mail. She just dusted herself off and continued to fight for everyone but herself. She needs someone to fight for her.” 

            Addison looked directly at me when she said it. I told her, “She has someone to do that. More than just me if I’m being honest...but she absolutely has me.” Addison smiled, “Good. While we are at it…..she won’t say anything to you Alexander, but you should talk to her about wanting to have her Luna Ceremony and your mating ceremony. I know it hurts her feelings that me, Avery, Paige, and Si have talked about those things with our mates, but you haven’t yet.” I frowned, “I’ve mentioned that I want her to be my Luna and my wife.” I got hit on the back of the head with a rolling pin. I rubbed my head, “OW!” Mrs. Blanch came in front of me with her arms crossed, “I know your mother didn’t raise you to think mentioning something offhand was in any way actually discussing getting married. That girl has been convinced for four years you wouldn’t want her. Now, because of this hoopla witchy shenanigans….you can’t mark her….AND you haven’t even brought up the topic. Alexander Marcus Nathan Conners! I swear you boys know better. I see all of you looking with that confused look on your face….I should wallop you all a good one! She needs to hear that you want to plan the ceremonies...HELL you could start planning both ceremonies and the second she shifts….and you mark her….plans are all done. For the love of god, go talk to that girl and tell her you want to marry her and have a serious conversation about it. Not in the heat of the moment I want you to be my wife kind of deal. You’ve been moping around for eleven years over that girl then she’s here and you still managed to trip all over your feet. Honest to Betsy.” 

            I gaped as she left the room. Cassie sighed, “Alexander…..have you really not talked about it?” I frowned, “I mean...we are twice light bound. I’ve told her I want her to be my wife. To be fair, a lot of f*****g s**t happens every five seconds around here now.” Cayden snorted, “He’s right.” Cassie slapped his chest. She sighed, “Men. I agree with Mrs. Blanch.” Mrs. Blanch came back in, “I’ve told you kids….it’s Nana Blanch...none of this Mrs. business.” She left again after pinning me with a glare.” Cassie bit her lip, “I agree with Nana Blanch. You have a ring anyway.” I sighed. Jason jumped up asking, “You do?” I snorted, “Yes. I have a ring. I have had a ring for Melanie for a while. I want to marry her. That is obvious. I didn’t tell you before because I thought you all were keeping her away from me….Telling you hey I bought an engagement ring for your sister who I’m pretty sure is my mate….wouldn’t have gone over well in my mind. It’s still obvious I want her to marry me.” Elise whispered, “To you. Nothing about you and Ladybug has been traditional.” I threw my hands in the air, “If I could mark her, I’d already be married to her!” I heard a gasp. I turned back and saw Melanie standing there with tears in her eyes. She asked, “You would?” I popped to my mom who was behind her. I touched Melanie’s face, “Of course I would. I want to marry you. If you want to file for our marriage license and have a small ceremony before I can mark you, I’ll do it. I believe the humans say go to city hall and get married. I don’t care. I’ll do it. I don’t care that it’s not done. If that’s what you want…I’ll do it.”

            I heard someone crunching on popcorn. Dylan spoke, “He’s seriously MelAshley….them Conners boys don’t do the whole following the rules thing. They see tradition and chuck it out the window. Take Saint God Alpha Prick over there…..before his mating ceremony….receptions were not a thing. The glorious thing about it all is he believes his wedding day was the happiest day of his life. When in reality….it was the happiest day of mine….the explosion that was pink...GOD after DECADES upon Decades of his pricknesses….his ass was finally owned by a five foot three adorable fairy Hackura princes….who loves pink. Until he met her….the man NEVER had anything pink. In fact….Claudzilla….Satan please torture her soul forever…..had some flowers planted for him. Some of them were pink….she did not ask because she’s Claudzilla….anyway...he had the pink flowers dug up and they now reside in Blue Moon.” Melanie gaped at him and cautiously looked at my mom. The fury that hit me from my bond with my mom surprised even me. 

            My mom looked at my dad, “You are telling me there are flowers FROM CLAUDFUCKINGZILLA IN MY YARD! IS THAT WHAT IS BEING SAID TO ME RIGHT NOW? ARE YOU f*****g SERIOUS?!” Uh oh. My dad went to say something several times but no words came out. Dylan crunched on more popcorn then said, “And now SGAP is speechless….this is SUCH a day!” My mom whirled to face him and asked, “There are flowers here FROM THAT WRETCHED b***h?!” Dylan nodded gleefully, “A whole ass garden in fact.” My mom screeched, “EXFUCKINGCUSE ME!” Dylan smiled, “It’s on the north side….so you know…” My mom hissed, “So Eric could see the f*****g flowers from his f*****g office that is now my sons office and be reminded of her Claudzilla fake ass!” Dylan smiled, “I do believe that was the point.” My dad said, “I honestly….forgot about that.” Dylan spit out his drink. My mom hissed, “FORGOT?! YOU f*****g FORGOT?!” My dad said, “Angel, truly...I forgot. I didn’t honestly care what she did. It’s not even like she planted them herself. She was no more a gardener than my mother. She ordered the gardening crew to do it all.” My mom hissed, “Well, someone better alert the gardening crew….there’s a blank f*****g spot for them to plant s**t in and NOTHING that Claudzilla picked is afuckingllowed! Oh and my friend Dylan...you should warn Lucas his ass is about to get kicked and there will be a spot in his damn territory to re-garden too!” 

            She popped away. My dad yelled, “DYLAN f*****g FROST!” Dylan laughed, “I have been WAITING for years to drop that tidbit of knowledge….because I did notice that you forgot. Former Beta Caleb has always kept me from the ledge of that particular knowledge boom….but….alas...he is not here… oh look...there’s our goddesses version of a tiny tornado in the Claudzilla garden. GOD this is better than cable.” I linked Dylan, “You did that for Melanie. You dropped that information so the focus would be off her.” Dylan winked at me and replied, “It’s MelAshley but there’s always a method to the madness young moody mini King Alpha prick. Plus, it’s always fun to ruffle your daddio’s feathers.” I snorted. My dad hissed, “f**k me.” Dylan snorted, “Alas….none of the wolves who are into men…..wanted to test the Dylan waters. I’m beginning to think my last name of Frost...held you all back. I told you long ago our potential moment in the sun passed by us. We both have mates now and we have kids...you just embarrass both of us when you say such things.” If looks could kill Dylan would’ve dropped dead on the floor. His response was to throw more popcorn into his mouth. My dad yelled, “WES!” Wesley sighed, “Come on, father in law of mine.” Dylan giggled, “Yes, SGAP you are his father and I am his father IN LAW! WE ARE OFFICIALLY FAMILY! I GOT MY CONNERS BOY WITH ME! SING IT EVERYONE!”