Chapter 11

Justin's POV

I watched as Melanie's face light up. She turned back towards Lilac and hugged her tightly. We began our walk ago towards Daemon's house, and slowly I fell behind. Too many thoughts running through my mind felt like I had a static TV on in my head. "Justin?" Looking up, I realized I had stopped walking altogether, Melanie was staring at me in confusion. "Whats up?" Melanie took a step towards me and brushed the hair out of my face. "Whats going on inside that head of yours?" Shaking my head, I grabbed her hand and held it. "Nothing that you need to worry about, little Mate." Melanie scrunched up her face and huffed.

"Don't lie to me, Justin. I can feel your emotions going through the link, and from what I can tell, something is going on." Sighing, I pulled Melanie close to my body and let out everything that had been building up. "I'm not that strong. You took care of two rouges by yourself. At the same time, I was out on the side. I was useless. I couldn't protect my mate. I have fucked so many things up that you should have never accepted me as your mate. I should be alone right now. I shouldn't be allowed to be happy after I hurt you that badly." Tears leaked from my eyes, and I couldn't stop them. Melanie pushed away from me, cupping my cheeks, she brushed away the tears as they fell. "Justin. Yes, you messed up initially, but you have told me time after time that you were going to make up for it. I believe you, and you are NOT weak. You were drugged and still managed to stay awake. You walked by yourself. They took you out first because you were the bigger threat. Nothing will ever change my mind. You were and still are the best thing that has ever happened to me." I pulled her tight against my chest. This would be one thing I will try my best at not fucking up. I got one more shot, and I will not ruin it.

Once we made it back to the packhouse, I gathered my men and prepared to head home. I sent one group back and waited for Melanie. She was hugging and saying bye to Lilac. I watched as Daemon walked over to her. Holding back a growl, I watched them, I was still having a hard time trusting him after what he tried to do, but if Melanie trusts him, then I have to. Eventually, Melanie walked over to me and smiled. Shifting, I lowered my front end to let Melanie on. Once she was secured, I took off running. It felt like I was flying. I pushed myself to my limit to get home faster. I wanted to just lie in bed with my mate.

The minute we reached the packhouse, I shifted and walked right up to our bedroom. As soon as I flopped onto the bed, a voice came through the pack link. 'Alpha, we need to gather the men and tell them about the peace treaty.' Sighing, I slowly got back up and headed to the meeting room. 'Meeting in ten minutes.' A chorus of voices agreed as I sat down at my desk. "I do not want to do this right now." Shuffling the papers, I gathered the information I needed then closed my eyes. "Well sadly, that's the life of the Alpha now, isn't it." Peeking up, I saw Melanie leaning up on the door frame. "And what are you doing, Mate?" Smiling, Melanie lifted the bag she was carrying.

"I'm going to train for a little while if that's okay with you, that is." Chuckling, I nodded, and then the room started filling with the pack members. Melanie giggled and walked out. "Alright, men, so we had made a decision today with another pack. Alpha Daemon and I have agreed with our packs. We will be creating a peace treaty between packs. Starting today, everyone will be respectful towards his pack and him. Got it?" They all nodded and started discussing some issues that needed to be in the treaty. I droned them out and stared out the window. When will this end?

Melanie's POV

I walked out of Justin's meeting, the smile still on my lips. As I reached the training area, I plugged my headphones in and opened my bag. Inside was a bow, some daggers, and throwing stars. Laying each weapon out, I started with physical training. After completing one hundred sit up and one hundred and fifty crunches, I decided it was time to start weapon training. Picking up the daggers, I began running through defensive moves then offensive. Next, I grabbed the throwing stars and started aiming at a tree, throwing the stars at a notch on the tree. I didn't stop until I had hit the knot in the same area with each star. Lastly, I picked up the bow and stretched out my arms. Once I was ready, I aimed at the same spot on the tree. Breathing in, I pulled back the string, and as I breathed out, I released the arrow. I watched as the arrow pierced the tree hitting it dead center of the knot. Picking up another arrow, I got ready again, but this time something stopped me. Over my music, I could hear a branch snap. Looking to the right, I saw a small brown wolf with one blonde eye slowly walking over to me from the tree line. 'Justin do we have a light brown wolf with one blonde eye in the pack?' I hesitated, keeping the bow pulled back, aiming the arrow directly at his chest, that's when I noticed the blood dripping down the front of him. 'Not that I know of Melanie, why?' Lowering the bow, I took a small step towards him, he backed up, and his eyes got wide. 'Because there's one standing in front of me dripping blood and badly hurt. I am going to try to get him to shift. It'd be alright to bring him back to the packhouse, right?' I could tell Justin was getting worried through the bond, but he still agreed. 'Just be careful little mate. If you need help, call for me, and I will be there in one second.' Focusing back on the wolf, I saw he had picked up my discarded jacket and limped behind a tree. Behind the tree, all I heard was shifting and then a loud gasp. Running over there, I saw that it was a young man. He had a large paw swipe in the middle of his abdomen and two more cuts on his chest. They were pouring out blood, but when I tried to walk to him, he held up his hand. "No, you need to run. There are men out in the trees waiting for you." As soon as he finished, a laugh started echoing throughout the woods. "Stupid dear Ace, you ruined the plan. I will take care of you once I have her in my grasps." Crouching down, I walked over to Ace and pulled back the bow, setting and arrow up, I listened. "Oh what are you going to, my dear? Do you think you can hit me? Even when I sound like I'm everywhere." He was right I couldn't pinpoint his voice, so I focused on the ground. I let Maddy through just enough I could tap into her powers. Feeling the ground beneath me, I felt for his footsteps. I waited till the hesitated, and that's when I released the arrow. I knew I hit my target when I heard a loud thump followed by screaming. Walking over to the sound, I peeked around a tree and saw two others surrounding him.

Drawing the bow back, I shot two more times, nailing both targets. Stepping out from the tree, I approached them, bending down, I looked at the first one I shot. "Why are you here?" He looked at his comrades wallowing in pain on the ground. "We were sent here by another pack." What? They are rouges. They don't work in packs. "By who, you are rouges. You don't work in packs?" He nodded and pulled out a picture of me. "We were paid a lot of money to bring you to the Alpha of Shadow Dark Fire. He told us to bring you to him alive." My father? Did he want me back again? Why can't he ever leave me alone? "Well, go tell my dear father that I am no longer his, and he cannot control me." He nodded and got up, picking up his friends, they limped away. Running back over to Ace, I made a mental note that we needed to up our board patrol on this side. Picking up Ace, I ran inside, rushing into the living room.

"JUSTIN!" You could hear Justin's Thunderous footsteps throughout the entire house. "Melanie, what's wrong? Are you hurt?" Shaking my head, I passed Ace off to Justin. I pushed him towards the direction of Calum. "We need to help him." Nodding, he called for Calum as we entered the medical wing. "We need help here, Calum. "Quickly!" Calum came bursting through the door and went into doctor mode. "What happened to him?" I looked over Ace's unconscious body lying on the table. "He was cut twice on his chest with I believe a knife and then was in wolf form when he got cut on his abdomen. I don't know exactly what happened. I found him like this." Calum was moving around his body and checking every small detail. I stood there, holding Ace's hand, not wanting to leave his side for a moment.