Chasing Melody
FIVE

Dear Journal,

I won my training fight with a girl that has her wolf.

Beginners luck?

Maybe.

I don’t care I am walking on air at the moment.

On cloud nine,

Melody Hunter

The triplets are inside the house by the time that I arrive. I park my car in front of my home away from home and sigh as Trevin whimpers wanting me to open up the door.

My uncle had some business to attend to with my father back at the packhouse so I came here alone. Opening the door Trevin jumps out and runs up the steps and scratches at the door releasing a whine.

“Here we go,” I open up my door and jump out of the car avoiding using the step I head over to Trevin and open up the door for him letting him inside. I follow the sound of chatter and I am lead straight into the kitchen where the boys are raiding the fridge as my mother glares at them.

“I swear I feel as if you two were raised by wolves,” she snarls at them earning a laugh by the boys, are you being serious? They are wolves!

Hector and Carl look like identical twins with the exception of their eyes. Hector has a deformity in his right eye, there is a strip of brown in his green beautiful eyes, as for Carl he has brown eyes. They are the spitting image of what I think my uncle would have looked like at their age.

Then there is little Miss. Madison who is sitting at the kitchen table reading something off of her phone. She is gorgeous in my eyes with her big hazel eyes and long light brown hair that any girl would kill for. She is the same height as her brothers 5′7 but the boys seem as if they might hit a growth spurt sometime soon.

“Hey,” I look over at Hector and Carl’s backsides since they are still facing the fridge. Hector turns around and looks at me with half a sandwich sticking out of his mouth. He rips off a piece as he chews quickly and mumbles a hey back as he swallows his food returning his face back into the fridge.

“Aunt Melany, you’re out of ham.” Carl’s head peeks over the fridge door and his eyes land on me. “Melody!” He pushes past his brother and swallows me up, not literally, in a hug. His embrace is something that I am accustomed to since he has a habit of treating me special.

“Carl,” I give him a squeeze. Out of the three, he is the one that I have connected with the most.

“Hey Madison, I’m going up to my room if you want to join me?” I ask her not wanting to be rude but her face is glued to her phone screen. My mother wants me to get closer to Madison. This is a difficult task since we never seem to see eye to eye and we don't have much in common.

“Do you think that I will get better reception up there?” She says without looking away from her phone.

“Um, I’m not sure but you can try,” she sighs in defeat and finally looks at me. Her eyes widen a fraction but then she regains her composure.

“Let’s go.” She gets up from her chair and follows me upstairs we make our way to my bedroom and Madison leisurely walks to the corner of my room and drops into my beanbag and her face lights up. “Way better reception here,” she beams as her fingers dance on the screen.

“Okay,” I walk over to my bed and sit on the edge. Madison does not feel bothered by the silence she seems lost in her own world.

“Melody,” I throw my body back and my eyes roll back to my head looking over in Madison’s direction. “Are there any cute guys here?” I roll to my stomach and look at her perplexed.

“I thought you had a boyfriend back home,” that is something that I have heard my uncle complain about with every phone call he made to the house. He did not like that his little girl was getting so much attention from guys and especially someone who is not her mate. According to him, she is not allowed to replace him until she is thirty, good luck with that.

“I don’t consider Marc a boyfriend just a boy...boy toy. Someone to make my actual mate jealous when he sees me and wants to swoop me off my feet when he sets his eyes on me,” her eyes gleam over and she sighs as if she already met her mate.

“Well that’s big of you,” her eyes snap towards me and she breathes out a hiss.

“What?” Her tone is sharp.

“Using the guy for your own personal gain.” I shake my head, “Madison, what if this ‘Marc’ guy replaces his mate and what you’re wishing to happen to you happens to him instead. Stop using the poor fella and go out and replace your mate.” Her eyes narrow and she is not used to being told the truth or for someone to question her ways.

“I swear Melody Hunter you are such a drag!" She returns her gaze back to her phone and continues to bother someone else. I am about to say something when the doorbell rings.

“Melody, can you get that it must be Chase,” my mother yells from the kitchen and I groan lifting myself up.

“Chase?” Madison’s attention is on me as I tilt my head to the side. “Who is that again?” I get to my feet and give her a last glance.

“I don’t think we’ve ever mentioned him.” I turn on my heels and head to my door as I hear Madison stand I do not wait for her as I walk down the hall and down the stair as a light knock echoes in my ears. Jumping the last step I grab the door handle and pull the door open revealing a freshly cleaned Chase before me.

“Hello Melody,” he bows his head a bit and I hear the footsteps as I stare at him for a moment. I do not think I am ever going to be able to get over his constant mood swings.

One moment he hates me for running off, then he helps me when I get stuck and with training, and now he wants to be polite.

“Chase,” he gives me a half a grin as he raises his head a bit. I see that his eyes move past me and they open up a bit.

“Hello,” Madison’s voice is like a luring whisper.

“Hey,” Chase grins at her and I push the door open wider for him to enter, “and who may you be?”

“Madison,” I glance over at her and she is on the second to bottom step batting her eyelashes at him.

Are you serious?

“Madison," he takes a moment to mull things over, "pretty name for a pretty girl.” Gag! Is he being serious right now?

“Can you be any cheesier,” I mutter under my breath. There is an obvious attraction between the two but it does not appear as if they are mates. Madison walks down the steps and stands behind me.

What happened with I’m waiting for my mate bullshit!

“I thought you were dating Nacho.” I fight to keep my smile to a bare minimum.

“Who’s Nacho?” Chase looks over at me as I try hard not to laugh as I run the line in my head.

“Na-cho ass,” Madison gasps in surprise and Chase narrows his eyes in confusion and I can almost see the gears turning in his eyes.

“You’re so-” watch it bud you’re in my house, he takes a moment to think about his words, “immature.” Is that the best he got, I feign hurt as my hand clutches my chest and my lip pouts.

“Me! Immature? I’m appalled! I will rather be immature than a stick in the mud,” I roll my eyes and my mother pokes her head out of the kitchen.

“Dinner is ready,” she smiles at Madison and Chase but when her eyes land on me they narrow warningly, she must have heard our exchange.

“We’ll be right there mother,” I smile at her as sweetly as I can but I can feel Chase’s stare on me and the second my mother heads back into the kitchen I flip him off and head into the dining area.

The elongated table sits in the middle of the room with its massive size and I assume my aunt Angie set the table since everything is ready. I take my rightful place as everyone walks in.

My father smiles at me, “Hey sweetheart,” and he sits next to me.

My mother really outdid herself today. She made roasted chicken, green bean salad, mashed potatoes, steamed peas and carrots, and for dessert a peach cobbler.

Everyone is at the table my parents at the ends of the tables, as usual, I sit on right side Chase sits next to me and on the other side Madison, Carl, Hector, Angie, and Andrew are seated united like a family.

Everyone makes conversation amongst themselves and it seems like Madison is keen on keeping Chase’s attention on her. Asking if he will be attending the town’s high school, he graduated two years ago thank you, moon goddess. I do not think that I could handle having him in school with me as well as having him breathing down my neck when I am out of school.

“How’s school going?” Carl directs the question to me.

I love my Carl but when they come they always want to know how my life is. I don't want to let them or my parents know that I am miserable. That I spend most of my day mostly to myself. The wolves are scared of me and the humans think I am a freak.

“Great,” I smile brightly and hope that it seems sincere.

“Are those humans still giving you trouble?” Damn it, Carl.

Carl must be checking in with some of the locals around here because I was sure as hell have not told him about any human trouble.

Chase’s eyes widen. He is not allowed on campus and before I can say anything Carl continues, “because I can always register into your high school.”

I clear my throat, “Thanks but there’s no need. I can handle a human.”

“Just letting you know. If you need me I’ll be there.” I give him a sweet smile.

“So have you told Melody the news,” my mother says as she wipes the corner of her mouth with the cloth napkin as she stares at my uncle.

“What news?” I direct my attention to my uncle Andrew.

My uncle shoots daggers at my mother with his eyes and then sighs, “Your Aunt Angie and I are planning on moving back into back into Moonless pack territory.” My fingers are wrapped around the fork as I poke at my cobbler his words sink in and register in my mind.

“You’re moving back,” my uncle technically lives with my parent’s territory but all the way in the outskirts of The Crimson Moon pack territory far away from me. He cannot make his way down here much unless it is for business but if he lives here that means I can see him more often. “You’re not lying to me are you?” I do not want to get my hopes up just so that they come crashing down on me.

“We already bought the house,” my aunt Angie beams at me and I cover my mouth to keep my scream from escaping me.

“I can’t believe this,” pushing my chair back I stand up wanting to hug them but with my movement, it seems like Chase shadows me and stands up as well. “What?” I ask as I turn to look at him.

“It is customary to stand when a lady, especially a lady of your status, stands to help her out of her seat,” he recites as if he has rehearsed this.

“What do you mean a lady of my status? What am I? Queen Elizabeth or something?” I bite my lip knowing that my mother is not going to be happy with my outburst.

“Chase, drop it,” my mother looks at him as if telling him to stop talking while he is ahead and he nods slightly at my mother sitting back down in his seat.

“Is it safe to say that Chase is Melody’s shadow?” Madison looks at me when her question is directed to him.

“Yes, he’s like the fucken shadow ninja when I don’t need him but when I need help he happens to be nowhere near me,” I sit back down feeling his stare on me in utter horrification.

“Melody, watch your language,” my mother hisses at me but the snorting laughter that comes out of both my father and uncle grabs her attention.

“Alpha Hunter, don’t worry I know my mistake and I assure you that it won’t happen again. I will keep your daughter safe at all cost even if that means handcuffing her to my wrist I will do it.”

Handcuff? Kinky bastard!

“May I be excused?” Everyone’s eyes are on me, “I’m tired because of all the training we did today.”

“I thought we were getting ice cream later,” my uncle smiles at me and I look over at my father.

“Go,” he smiles at me and I nod enthusiastically.

“Kids want to get some ice cream with your old man?” My uncle asks my cousins and the boys shake their head saying that they want to check out my father’s game room instead. Madison says that she is too old for ice cream.

Who the hell is too old for ice cream?

“You don’t mind me joining you as well Mr. Lannister?” Chase asks.

“It’s Andrew and of course you can, any shadow of Melody’s is a shadow of mine,” I frown at my uncle, and I thought my jokes were bad.

I look over at Madison and it appears as if she wants to come now that Chase is joining us but I know that she now has to eat her words. I give her a smug look and she rolls her eyes heading back into the living room probably going to glue her eyes on her telephone screen.

“Come Melody and Chase.” My uncle walks over to the front door.

“I’ll drive,” the look of terror on both men’s faces makes me want to burst out laughing but I bite my tongue, this can be fun!