Chapter Fifteen
After retrieving her birth certificate the previous night, Melanie and Talon had gone to bed exhausted. Talon woke up early to go to work and Melanie had been so tired, she didn't even wake up when he did. In fact, she didn't wake up until well after noon.
She made something to eat and then decided to take a shower. While she was showering, it occurred to her that she hadn't even looked at her birth certificate yet. She didn't know her parents names, or even where she was born. She resolved to fix that as soon as she got out of the bathroom.
She had almost finished showering when she heard the door to the apartment open and close, quickly followed by a loud thump. "Talon?" she called out. "Talon?"
There was no answer but Melanie couldn't blame him. She was sure that he simply came in, dropped something on the floor and went to sleep. She knew he hadn't gotten that much the previous night, or the night before. In fact, she wasn't sure when he last had a decent night of sleep. She finished showering and put on her underwear, then decided to peak out to see if he really was asleep.
As soon as she looked out the door, she saw that something was wrong. Talon was laying face down in front of the apartment door. She ran to his side and shook him gently while calling his name over and over again. When she got no response, she started to cry. She couldn't lose him. She just couldn't.
She knew she had to do something to help him and she reached into his pocket to get his phone. She started to dial 911, but remembered that she couldn't send him to the hospital – someone might figure out he wasn't human. But she had to do something. She opened up his contact list, searching for a name she recognized. Finally she found it. Sophia.
"You have some nerve calling me up after disappearing for five damn months! I swear, I'm going to murder you when I find you and – "
"Please," Melanie begged. She had wanted to hang up as soon as the angry voice answered, but she had to get help for Talon. "Please help!"
"Who is this? Nevermind. Is my brother in trouble?"
"Yes," Melanie said, barely holding back tears. "I don't know what happened. I think he collapsed or… I don't know. He's not moving!"
"Where are you? I'm heading over now." Melanie quickly gave her the address. "Okay," Sophia said. "Just stay calm. He's going to be fine. I'll be there in twenty minutes or so, okay?"
"Okay," Melanie said. She hung up the phone and then laid down next to Talon, stroking his hair gently. "Please be okay," she whispered. "I love you."
She remained at his side until she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Thinking it might be Sophia, she remembered she hadn't gotten dressed yet and rushed to fix that. She found Talon's clothes first and threw them on, not caring that they were far too big for her. Soon, there came a knock on the door and Melanie was glad she had gotten dressed.
When she opened the door, she found two people standing there, a man and a woman. She assumed the woman was Sophia. She certainly looked similar to Talon. She was tall and well built, with dark brown hair and eyes, although she was far more intimidating than Talon – she simply looked angry and ready to tear anyone apart.
The man was a little shorter than Sophia and a bit on the chubby side. He had blonde hair, and oddly enough, yellow eyes. Although he appeared much friendlier than Sophia, Melanie found his eyes unsettling.
"Haven't seen this in a while," the man remarked as he walked into the apartment and looked at Talon laying on the ground. "Thought he learned he needed sleep."
"As if he ever learns anything," Sophia grumbled.
"Wh… what's wrong with him?" Melanie asked, a little nervous around the two.
"Nothing," Sophia said.
"He's basically asleep," the man explained. "This used to happen all the time when he was a kid and didn't get enough sleep. He just passes out for a few hours. But he'll be fine."
"So… he's okay?"
"Yeah," Sophia said. "Don't worry about him."
"We could move him somewhere more comfortable," the man suggested. "One of you two want to help me with him?"
Melanie responded quickly, reaching for Talon's legs while the man took his shoulders. They lifted him up and carried him over to the futon where they set him down gently. Melanie scooted over to sit near his head and stroked his hair.
"As long as we're waiting," Sophia said, "why don't you tell us who you are and what you're doing with my brother?"
Melanie turned around and looked at her, then quickly looked at the floor. "I… um… I'm…"
"Sophia," the man said, placing a hand on her shoulder, "you're coming on too strong again."
"Like fuck I am! I haven't seen or heard from my brother in months and now I find him in some shitty apartment with this girl. So I want to know who she is! Damn it!"
"Sophia," the man said, a slight warning in his voice. "Let's go talk about this in the hallway, okay?"
Grumbling, Sophia walked into the hall, slamming it shut before the man could exit. He opened it and followed her outside, closing it far more gently than Sophia had. Once they were gone, Melanie turned her attention back to Talon, glad to finally have privacy. Being around other wolves was just too stressful for her.
"Please wake up soon," she whispered while stroking his cheek. She laid down next to him, trying to ignore the others just outside the door. She could hear the man's voice, but couldn't make out any of his words, unlike Sophia, whose words were a lot easier to make out. Still, Melanie did her best to tune them out.
After a while, the door opened and Melanie's head shot up. Sophia looked angry, but she didn't say anything. Instead, she stood in the corner and glowered. The man came and crouched down in front of Melanie.
"My name's Jason," he said, speaking softly. "I'm a friend of Talon's. I'm sure you've already guessed, but that's Sophia, Talon's sister. What's your name?"
"Melanie," she whispered, barely above a whisper.
"Nice to meet you Melanie," Jason said. "Sophia and I have a lot of questions, but most of them can wait until Talon wakes up. But some are a little more urgent. What has Talon told you about himself? Or about his family?"
"He said… about what?" Melanie wasn't sure exactly how to answer the question, and when she glanced over at Sophia, she just about forgot what Jason had asked.
"Did he say anything strange about himself? Anything out of the ordinary?"
"No," Melanie said, glancing back at Talon. Then, she finally realized what Jason was really asking her. "Or do you mean about the wolf thing?"
"Damn it!" Sophia said angrily. "First Lukas does it, now Talon! If one more damn wolf does this, I'm going to murder them!"
"Calm down, Sophia!" Jason said. "You're scaring her!"
"I'm sorry," Melanie said, holding back tears. "I… I didn't mean to make you angry. I didn't know he wasn't allowed to tell anyone about it."
"It'll be okay," Jason said. "We just have to be careful about humans finding out about us. You didn't tell anyone else, did you?"
"No," Melanie replied, shaking her head. "And… I don't know if it matters. But I'm only half human."
"What –" Sophia started to ask a question, but Jason held up a hand, and she stopped, but not without growling.
"What pack did you come from?" Jason asked. "Have you stayed in contact with them? Is anyone looking for you?"
Melanie shook her head, but realized that didn't answer his questions. "I'm not from a pack. I was…" She stopped short of telling them the truth about how she was raised, not sure if she should. She looked back at Talon, but he was still asleep.
"You were what?" Jason asked. Melanie didn't reply, trying to think of a way to explain to them without bringing up the hunters.
"Spit it out, damn it!" Sophia growled, stepping towards her.
"Sophia!" Jason shouted at her.
"I was raised by hunters!" Melanie blurted out, frightened of Sophia.
Jason and Sophia exchanged a look. "Okay, it's my turn," Sophia said walking forward and standing in front of Melanie. "Do you mean wolf hunters raised you? Why? Why didn't they kill you? Do they know where you are? Who you're with?"
"I don't know!" Melanie cried, trying to move further away from her, but having nowhere to go since Talon was right behind her.
"We need answers! Now!"
Melanie was too frightened to say anything and she found herself clutching Talon's hand. She wished he would wake up. She knew he would keep her safe and know how to answer his sister's questions.
"You're scaring her," Jason said, pulling Sophia away. "Look, these two have been here for a while. If the hunters haven't found them yet, they either aren't looking or at least aren't going to find them in the next few hours. Just back off."
"I don't like this," Sophia grumbled, returning to the corner. She only stood there for a brief moment before starting to pace around the room. "We wait for Talon to wake up and he'd damn well better give me satisfactory answers. If there's any chance hunters are watching him, we make sure he comes nowhere near the pack. In the meantime, we need to call Lukas and let him know what's going on. And go pick some damn food up. I'm hungry, and Talon's going to be when he wakes up."
"Yeah," Jason agreed, glancing back at Melanie. "But just one suggestion. Maybe you should go get the food and I'll stay here with them."
"Yeah, because I'm all scary, right?" Sophia grumbled as she headed for the door. She slammed it on her way out, and Melanie felt a little better.
Of course, Jason was still there. She would have preferred it if they had both went. Then she simply would have locked them out. She had the feeling they wouldn't have left, but at least she could have waited for Talon to wake up before speaking to them again. The only good part was that Jason wasn't quite as frightening as Sophia.
He made a phone call almost as soon as Sophia left, and Melanie was glad that he was busy doing that instead of speaking to her. She didn't really listen to what Jason was talking about, but she did hear mention of hunters. That told her all she needed to know.
"So," Jason said, putting his phone back in his pocket after the call. "You've been here with Talon the last few months?"
Melanie nodded, hoping that her lack of a verbal response would keep him from trying to continue the conversation. She really didn't want to talk to him or anyone. Talon had shown her that werewolves weren't bad by nature, but she didn't know Jason and had no desire to know him. She just wanted him gone.
"Well, at least he's been safe. It's a little weird that Talon never told anyone where he was. That's not like him at all. It's something Lukas – that's Talon's cousin by the way – might pull, but not Talon. We were all worried about him. Sophia doesn't really show it, but she was worried too. And a little angry that he never bothered to call her."
Jason paused for a moment, but when Melanie was silent, he continued speaking. "Sophia really isn't as bad as she seems. The big and scary thing is mostly just an act. As long as you aren't a threat to the pack, she's harmless."
"She seems to think I am a threat," Melanie grumbled.
"What? Oh. Um." Jason looked uncomfortable and averted his gaze to the floor for a moment. "Well, look, we really don't know anything about you. It's just when it comes to hunters, we have to be very careful. Sophia and I have to protect the pack. But as long as they're not tracking you or something, it shouldn't be a problem. We've had some recent situations with the hunters, so if it seems like Sophia's overreacting, that's why. Last time we had hunter problems, Lukas almost died."
"Talon mentioned that," Melanie mumbled. She remembered that day clearly. She hadn't been there when Lukas had been injured, although she did briefly meet him on her way out. Later, Talon had told her about the severity of the injuries.
"Yeah, he was there. That was about the last time I saw him actually. Then he vanished. We were a little worried that the hunters had found Talon again or something, but Lukas is really good at keeping track of their activities and seemed to think that wasn't the case. Still, we couldn't help but worry. I don't even understand why he's been out here all this time."
Melanie decided she was done with the conversation, suspecting that Jason was trying to get information since he kept returning to the same topic. Whatever he wanted to know, it could wait until Talon was awake. She really hoped that he would just throw them out, but she doubted that. They were his family, after all.
At some point, Jason stopped talking, and Melanie was glad for the silence, as awkward as it was with a strange man standing in the room with her. Melanie just sat by Talon's side, holding his hand.
The door flew open and Melanie jumped up and looked in that direction. When she saw it was only Sophia coming in, she calmed down a little. But it was Sophia, and Melanie didn't really like her presence in her home.
"Got food," she said, as she opened up a brown paper bag. She pulled out a large, tinfoil-wrapped object, glanced at it and then put it down in the kitchen. She grabbed a second one, caught Melanie's eye, and then tossed it her direction. "That one's for you. And this is mine." She pulled out a third foil-wrapped burrito.
Jason walked into the kitchen and looked in the bag. "Hey! Sophia! This better not be mine!" He pulled out a cardboard container. "Salad? And not even any meat?"
"Exactly," Sophia said as she unwrapped her burrito. "You've been putting on a little extra weight. And since it's my damn duty to ensure the health and safety of my pack, I couldn't in good conscience get you anything high in calories."
"But I like meat," Jason complained, an almost whiny note to his voice.
"You can have mine," Melanie said, standing up and taking a step towards the kitchen.
"Thanks," Jason said, smiling. He handed her the bowl of salad and she traded him the burrito.
"When you end up dying from a damn heart attack next year," Sophia grumbled, "just remember I tried to help. And I suppose I should start looking for your damn replacement now. Don't think anyone else in the pack can handle it. Probably going to need three or four damn betas to replace you. You're being really damn selfish right now, don't you think, Jason?"
"And you're exaggerating," Jason said before taking a bite of his burrito.
Melanie ignored the rest of their conversation and returned to Talon's side where she slowly picked away at the salad. She really didn't feel like eating anything while she was uncertain about what would happen to her mate.
Her mate.
A small smile crept on her face as she thought about him like that. It was the first time that she had really thought about him like that, and it felt so right. He belonged to her, and she to him. And nothing could change that.