The Alpha and His Song

Confusion Pt. 2

Malachi snorted, “What did you do then to get them out of that room?” She smiled, “I caused an explosion…with his favorite car. He named it and everything he loved that car. I keyed it too because I hate him. I tell myself he saw the words douche canoe somehow. It makes me happy.” I snorted, “You’re diabolical.” She smiled, “I know.”

Keith linked me, “Are you busy?” I answered, “Not yet.” He told me, “Prince Delmar is on our s**t list. He wants Odette. He’s nicer than Luke but f**k them and their plans.” I disliked that I was right. I snarled, “SHE’S MINE!” Channing linked, “We are marking her. Make plans. MINE!” I agreed, “I’m all over it.” I sent off several texts to get things moving.

Melanie asked, “You’re so angry I’m about to choke on it.” I growled, “I’m sure you know why. What do you know about Prince Delmar?” Melanie answered, “Drat. I was hoping he wasn’t the Luke replacement. Clearly, he is.” Malachi snarled, “What? We were right? What am I saying. Of course, we were.” Melanie looked confused.

Valentina snorted, “Mel…” She groaned, “UGH! I will tell you more because we need to get going and get back. Prince Delmar is a dichotomy. He was the son of a light clan King and Dark Clan Knight’s daughter. The Merrick’s attacked and destroyed the light King’s clan. His mom grew up in King Wymore’s clan. When the attack was imminent she sent her newborn son, Delmar to him. His song was her best friend growing up. He’s actually the first born child to someone from a dark clan and light clan. He has both natures and he’s supposedly learned how to embrace both sides of himself. When his clan was destroyed by the Merrick’s, King Wymore’s wife, Queen Asriel, insisted they adopt him. The Merrick’s didn’t know until he was much older because all the other clans agreed to keep it a secret. They want Odette because they are worried he’s planning to overthrow them.”

I growled, “Great. That’s just f*****g great.” Melanie said, “He will be disappointed, but since you are marking Odette he would let her go. The light in him will care about that. Marking is sacred to all supernatural’s. Claiming someone who hadn’t met their song and saving her from Luke is very different from claiming her when she’s mated.”

I asked, “So, we don’t need to worry about him.” Melanie frowned, “I didn’t say that. Just because he can’t claim her doesn’t mean he couldn’t have her in their kingdom to help him. We will have to meet him and see.” I frowned, “You are black and white on everything.” Melanie nodded, “Yes, he wouldn’t have marked her until she asked. He wasn’t going to let her leave, but his practices are much better than the wolves in the forgotten packs practices. I don’t agree with their methods, but they aren’t as bad as the Merrick’s who are wholly evil.”

Malachi asked, “But they are dark sirens?” Melanie said, “Yes, but dark and light aren’t how we would view them. I’ll explain later because we need to go.” I nodded, “He can’t have her.” Melanie snorted, “Of course he can’t. Caspian wouldn’t let him have her. He’d have a harder time getting her back, but actually…Well, he might not have the problems he thinks he will if the thing that I think I know is actually true.” Malachi laughed, “I have so many questions.” Valentina snorted, “Join our club. We never make sense of half of what she says until everything is all together with a nice little bow. She just gives us more questions.”

Melanie muttered, “People always say that when I talk. We have to go though. Come on.” Valentina shimmered us to a field. I said, “There’s nothing here.” Melanie snorted, “There’s a giant prison right there.” Malachi disagreed, “No, there’s not.” Melanie said, “Ok, fine. You can’t see it but trust me it’s there. You guys get back here as soon as you have the prisoners. I’ll distract them.”

We walked to the barrier. She muttered, “Good thing this won’t take long, or you guys would’ve killed my time frame. Xander gets testy when I do that.” Malachi and I both laughed. He linked me, “One of the most dangerous men of our generation and she calls him testy.” I snorted, “It does seem to be a lackluster word for him.” Malachi snorted, “No joke.”

She pulled us through a barrier that nearly brought me to my knees. Malachi was on his. He groaned, “God, that hurt.” Melanie whispered, “I’m so sorry…I didn’t know that…” Malachi cut her off, “For my mom, I would go through hell. Let’s go get her mate and the fairy.” I whisper yelled, “WHAT?! Ashton’s alive?” Malachi nodded, “Odette saw him.” Melanie said, “Don’t take your mask off until we shimmer back to our facility. Ok?” Malachi sighed, “Fine.” She ran off in the opposite direction of us.

Malachi followed me as I stuck to the shadows to get to the prison. It wasn’t heavily guarded, but that wasn’t surprising. No one but a goddess wolf could see the place. I held up five fingers to Malachi. He nodded. He detected five heartbeats too. We heard a loud boom. Yelling ensued, “What the f**k was that?!” All five guards ran out, and we went in. Once inside we sensed two more heartbeats. Malachi snorted, “Those fuckers thought of everything even cloaking their heartbeats until you’re inside. Assholes.” I agreed.

We followed them down. We saw Ashton first. He needed a haircut. Malachi linked, “I’ll get his cell open; you get the fairy.” The fairy snorted, “My name is Prince Melphor, not the fairy. My brother is the ruling prince of the earth territories.” I snorted, “Apologies, Prince Melphor. We are here to save you though.” Prince Melphor sighed, “Thank god. These iron cuffs are killing me. I long to be on the soil again and feel the earth. It’s so dull here.” Ashton snorted, “I actually agree with him.” Prince Melphor winked at him, “I’ve entertained you for decades, my friend. You’d have gone insane without me. I think we’ll have to have a daily call or I won’t know what to do with myself.” Ashton agreed, “That’s probably true.”

Malachi and I breached their cells in under a minute. Prince Melphor asked, “How did you breach the ward? We can because we are brought in and out, but no one else should be able to.” Ashton said, “They have to be in the resistance.” Prince Melphor laughed, “I realized that when I saw them. I must say, I am a sincere fan. You give our captors and their constituents such fits. They aren’t with the ring, but you know the occasional odd job is done. You all have them running circles around themselves and I’d love to bless your land for it.”

I said, “Ok, then. That…sounds interesting. We will explain how we got in later. Let’s move.” I picked Prince Melphor’s cuffs and threw him over my shoulder. I ran to the barrier. Malachi wasn’t too far behind. Prince Melphor said, “A hood member. How fascinating.” I snorted, “I could be a vampire.” He laughed, “And resist my blood this long? I don’t think so. I’m full blooded Fae royalty.” Annoying man. Melanie ran over to us. She grabbed us and yanked us through. People were yelling. They knew Ashton and Prince Melphor were gone.

I smelled blood. I turned to Melanie, “Dear god, don’t tell me you got hurt.” She snorted, “No, but they are down a guard. I didn’t like him, and he was trying to screw up my timeline. I’ve been linked three times already.” Ashton snorted, “You could’ve killed all of them.” Prince Melphor said, “Here, here.” Valentina shimmered us back to the facility.”

Malachi ripped his mask off. Ashton gasped. He held Malachi’s face. Malachi said, “I’m…” Ashton said, “I’d know you anywhere. You have your mother’s eyes. Let me look at you.” He stepped back and clapped Malachi on the shoulder. He wiped a tear away, “You look good. Strong. How many siblings do you have? Melphor said you had five.” Malachi said, “I have six. Little Immy wasn’t planned.”

Prince Melphor interjected, “I told you he had two biological siblings.” Ashton waved his hands, “My Joanie will see them all as hers, and so I do. I can’t wait to meet them. I hope that’s not weird. I’ve been living on Prince Melphor’s stories he knew of you all. I know you have your dad’s, but I hope we can be friends. What’s your full name? Melphor didn’t know any middle names.”

Malachi answered, “Malachi Ashton Miller.” His eyes teared up and hugged him. Malachi said, “I hope we can be friends. We’ve all heard stories about you from mom, dad, Grandma Theresa, and your parents. They insisted they be in our lives. They said it’s what you would’ve wanted. My Uncle’s were looking into you on a mission.”

Prince Melphor snorted, “We know. They got close. Heart of gold, Ashton here told me they would only leave if they met their mates or had a pup on the way. He didn’t want them to jeopardize that.” Malachi nodded, “Uncle Tyrion met his mate, and she went through her heat. When they got confirmation she was pregnant my mom, Grandma Adel and Grandpa Nestor Dubberly went to Alpha Chase. They said you wouldn’t want them to risk their mate or unborn pup. They had no idea you were alive.”

Ashton waved his hand, “I wouldn’t have wanted that. I made choices that day if I didn’t that could’ve helped me. They said they had your mom, so I had to reject the pack. They thought I was dead, and I didn’t mark Joanie. I had a big plan for her that evening. I never blamed anyone. I was more touched that your Uncle’s were out there looking into my death.”

Melphor snorted, “He was. He’s an annoyingly good person. He’s rather cheerful too. A bit murderous when it came to his Joanie. I cannot wait to meet this girl that has captivated his attention so much all he thought about was getting back to her. His Cupcake. It’s sickeningly sweet. She’s got to be something. Hopefully, she has a teaspoon of skepticism in her because this one, he has none.” Ashton smirked and shoved him playfully.

Melanie said, “Ok…so we should go because I have thirty seconds before my ten minute mark is up. Man! If we weren’t talking we’d have been back in seven minutes. That’s a record!” Valentina rolled her eyes, “You and your records.” Melanie snorted, “They weren’t ring level protected. It was child’s play. I thought it would be challenging. I’m kind of disappointed in the harpies.”

Valentina snorted, “No one else could see the building.” Melanie said “That’s not true, King Aiden could see it. He just hadn’t worked out how to get in yet. He was probably looking for the charm.” Prince Melphor smiled, “Promised siblings. If their damn mother hadn’t kept it from them their whole life then Prince Arion would’ve been around, and they would’ve been strong enough with all three to bring it down. To think how powerful King Aiden would be. Just remember this in thirty years when he’s even more powerful. That would’ve been closer to the power he could have now. That wretched b***h. King Fenilton was the only good thing about her. Spiteful shrew.” Melanie snorted, “Agreed.” She injected him with what I assumed was Laxenread. Valentina shimmered us back in.

My dad linked me, “Is that….?” I replied, “Ashton Dubberly? Yes.” My dad was gob smacked. The whole room was. Even Eric. I felt that was the feat in and of itself. Ashton’s first question was about Joanie. Who promptly burst into the house after Immy popped her to the border. Their reunion had the whole room wiping tears away. Even the Sargasso’s and they had little context for the situation.

Odette handed a picture back to Joanie. Keith linked, “Noooooo! The prisoner where she was talking about Matt. The fated mate was Joanie. The prince was telling her that she did artificial insemination to be a mom.” I snorted, “At least there’s no way we could’ve figured that out without more words. We thought he was dead.” Keith replied, “True.”

It turned out Prince Melphor was Olivia’s dad. Hello can of worms. Malachi linked me, “Is this what the scary techy Luna feels like all the time? It’s kind of an addictive feeling. I like it.” Of course, he did. He had beta blood and he was getting a lot of answers right now. After nearly causing an earthquake finding out Olivia didn’t have a nice life, the earth fairy prince calmed down.

Malachi linked, “The scary techy Luna definitely gave him a shot of Laxenread.” She had. I saw Alexander by Ashton. His healing light enveloped them as Haley’s light enveloped Melphor. It didn’t take them long so at least that was good. The ring prisoners sometimes took hours. I guess harpies took better care of their prisoners.

Emmett announced we had an unknown fairy on our borders. Everyone noticed Immy flinch, but few caught that Haley did too. Uh oh. This is what Haley was helping Immy with. My dad linked me, “I need a heads up here. What was that with Haley?” I replied, “Immy has been working with Haley on something. That’s all I know. Well, Emmett said Malachi thought that Immy had met her mate and didn’t tell them.” Chase winced, “That’s good. Hold on. I’ll ask Matt why Haley wouldn't just tell everyone.” Because the fairy had links to the O’Toole’s. It was the only reason Haley wouldn’t at least bring Aiden into it.

I shot a glance at him and Eric. Both looked like they knew that too. The Hackura’s eyes in the room were already blazing. This was good. Odette looked pale so I linked her. She knew. Whoever this fairy was Odette had met him.

Everything felt like it went into fast forward when Annie and Kreed popped in with the fairy. Emmett linked me, “Don’t even say it….” Aiden did though. Immy popped in front of him which had everyone stalling their reactions. Haley was a second behind her which brought the anger of the room back up. Odette broke free from me and went over to them. No, that was not good.

Channing snarled, “Get her back.” She wasn’t coming though. Caspian snorted, “Sirens are stubborn. She’s not going to move.” He looked almost bored, but I noticed his hand was behind his back. He had a weapon ready to throw. The Conners had all shifted besides Nathan. My family had too. When Haley said to shift back they did one by one.

Odette and the O’Toole were comforting Immy. I linked Kreed, “Did he tell you his name?” Kreed answered, “Sean. He was going to pop away until he saw Annie. He stalled for a second. I didn’t think it was because of Immy.” No, he thought it was because Annie was beautiful and he knew she had fairy blood.

Sean had been meeting with Immy, and he came closer to the pack because she’d missed their meet up. That was nice. I tried to get Odette back again. She refused. She said Sean was a good guy. So, she had met him. She just had no idea the conflict going on with the O’Toole’s and us. Channing offered, “Immy does.” That was true. If his aura was dark she would’ve told us.

Immy explained that Sean was her mate. She’d felt alone until Aunt Haley helped her. They seemed to have some running Romeo and Juliet joke. Inside jokes.. great. When Haley actually admitted she’d helped them the room was practically ice it was so cold. Who knew anger could simmer this cold?

I linked Keith, “I always thought anger made the room warm.” Keith snorted, “Not this group. I’m actually cold. Me.” Arion appeared. He was too complicated to explain to Odette right now. Keith linked, “Who did she take to meet with them do you think?” I snorted “Immy. Clearly.” Keith nearly laughed out loud.

My dad linked, “Tell me it wasn’t you. Tell me you didn’t keep this secret too.” I replied, “It’s Immy. That’s obviously who she means. I had no idea Immy met her mate. I only knew Malachi thought she had, and that she was keeping a secret. That was all I knew.” My dad snorted, “Thank god. Your come to Jesus meeting would be so much worse if you’d kept this too.” I wanted to wince.

Odette was confused why Haley shouldn’t go alone. She made good points, then I realized they’d known Sean for months. Caspian outright laughed when everyone turned to Melanie. It was so clear she knew Sean too. She was so comically bad at lying, I felt a little sorry for her. Alexander was not amused. Apparently, Sean helped Melanie set up things to rescue Odette. Well, damn. Now I’d be on his side too. I watched the looks on Sargasso’s faces. They agreed with me. The Conners faces had transformed into a mix of reluctant acceptance with a whole lot of caution.

Now, Haley was in trouble. I was certain Dylan had competition for his fairy show. Haley clearly entertained the Sargasso’s. The more explanation Odette got about Haley the more confused she was. No one would have cared if Haley had gone….Well, they would’ve. They would’ve had plans to back her up though. She went in alone and without backup. It could’ve gone really badly if this was a setup.

Of course, Haley had a plan. She’d set everything up including meeting with Aiden and Eric. Her Hackura family did not seem to like they were left out. Blade looked furious. Which meant the rest of her guard would be pissed at her too. She made good points, but I didn’t think anyone was going to articulate it right. The problem was the lack of backup and knowledge beforehand. I linked my mom, “Maybe you should help her out and explain why they are upset.” My mom snorted, “I have done the same for people in the shroud. I know when she met them. She told me to come after her if she didn’t contact me in a certain time frame. She did. She came to me because she knew I’d give her the space needed to get this job done.” I replied, “You could say that.” My mom said, “She’ll say it if it needs to be said. They should trust her a little bit more at this point. I’m sure Miley had directions too.” She had a point.

Arion was yelling about his bleeding heart siblings. He wasn’t wrong. They needed him to balance them. Joanie chimed in. Immy had confided in her in a way. Joanie looked ready to tear people apart for making her pup cry. Channing snorted, “She’s technically not a pup.” I replied, “Wolf or not Joanie would call Immy her pup.” Channing agreed with me. Joanie called them all her pups. Ashton looked at Joanie with love, lust, and pride. Lots of people were getting marked today.

I turned back to see Odette. Her eyes were tearing up as she looked between Joanie and Immy. I felt her longing and hurt in my chest. If only she knew how many members in the room were looking at her the same way. Channing told me, “I told Tatum.” Odette looked around the room, and there wasn’t anyone who wasn’t moved by the look on her face as she looked at her family. Even Lux had made an appearance. I linked him, “When did you get down here?” He snorted, “Around the time you shimmered in with a supposed dead guy. You miss a few hours with this group and it’s just spiraled into weirder things.” Fair enough. I replied, “Said the Siren prince Alpha wolf to the Alpha/Hood.” He shot me a look. He was marked too.

I linked Odette. She was really moved by this whole thing. Sean declared his love. Poor bastard. He had no idea how her family saw Immy. His story was rough though. That means there were more O’Toole’s out there that could be brought to safety. They were breeding for numbers, but not doing it very well. It calmed back down marginally until Arion started yelling again. Damn it. I was kind of sad we didn’t grow up around him too.

The families were breaking up to talk. Damn. My come to Jesus was here. My dad linked me, “Odette can come over later, but I doubt you want her to know you killed all those people just yet.” No. I would like her to have some more supernatural lessons before we jumped into the fact that I was a professional killer in wolf and human form. Channing snorted, “She’d take it better than you think.” I told her we’d be back.

We ran back to our house. I sat down. The Millers had a lot to discuss from Ashton’s return to Immy’s mate so they weren’t here with us. Emmett growled, “WHAT were you thinking? Throwing that first murder on the resistance pile. You KNEW they would know it wasn’t them. They could’ve come for you.” I replied, “It was a calculated risk. You would die for us too.” Emmett growled, “Oh no. No, you don’t get to pull that. You’ve been doing things in secret. I do things you don’t know about yet, but Colton, Malachi, and dad hell sometimes even Uncle Heath, Joe and Uncle Cameron know.”

Uncle Ollie snorted, “What am I? Chopped liver.” Emmett rolled his eyes, “Him too. You did all without a single one of us knowing a damn thing.” I pointed out, “Which is kind of impressive if you think about it.” He glared at me, “Don’t point out accurate facts when I’m mad at you. Yes, it’s impressive, but you could’ve been hurt. You do not do this without us from now on. I need to know these things. We are supposed to work together.”

I shrugged, “I thought it’s all I could do to help the family. Lisa had me thinking I was useless and embarrassing. I was good in the shadows though. She didn’t know about that so she didn’t know I was helping.” Emmett growled, “I want what that first s**t you killed had on Alexandria.” I snorted, “He was obsessed with her. If he couldn’t have her no one could kind of s**t. I have it all.”

Emmett sighed, “It stops.” I nodded, “Fair enough. Do I still get to go out with the resistance? Now, that I’ve been out with them? It’s fun.” Emmett snorted, “Of course it is. Not that I could stop the scary techy Luna from doing her scary techy things and involving whomever she chooses, but you WILL give us a heads up. A link, a call, text, I’ll settle for smoke signals here. We can’t have this. It won’t work ruling the pack together. You were never meant to be in the shadows. Your place is with me in the light. The Silver Blade can still be utilized just as our monikers are. It’s why we have them. I want a list of all the murders you put on the resistance pile.” I nodded, “I have that. I can get it to you.”

Emmett sighed, “It stops.” I nodded, “Fair enough. Do I still get to go out with the resistance? Now, that I’ve been out with them? It’s fun.” Emmett snorted, “Of course it is. Not that I could stop the scary techy Luna from doing her scary techy things and involving whomever she chooses, but you WILL give us a heads up. A link, a call, text, I’ll settle for smoke signals here. We can’t have this. It won’t work ruling the pack together. You were never meant to be in the shadows. Your place is with me in the light. The Silver Blade can still be utilized just as our monikers are. It’s why we have them. I want a list of all the murders you put on the resistance pile.” I nodded, “I have that. I can get it to you.”

My dad growled, “Great. This ends. We have secrets in this family, but not our entire f*****g lives. You have this whole other life we didn’t know about. You were careless with your life, and that’s not acceptable. You got marked by your mate and didn’t tell us. Did you really think we wouldn’t like her?” I shrugged, “I just couldn’t have you not like her. I just got everyone back, and it felt like it could be taken away. Every time I almost confided in Emmett….” I trailed off realizing that Lisa always interfered. How did she know?