Melody

9

Alexander was excited for the Halloween dance, it wasn't that he cared about the highschool dance, but Melody refused to tell him what her costume was going to be. All he knew was that she was going to try and make a corset. Everytime he thought about options for what it could be, his mouth watered and pants became uncomfortable. He couldn't help himself, she was his mate after all, and he had been waiting years to meet her.

He hated that he was lying to her right now about so many things. Who he really was, his age, how much he actually knew about her now. So many lies. Since the day she told him about how her father had walked out and abandoned Melody when he left his cheating wife, Alexander had called his mother and asked her to use his vast resources to try and locate the man. But Melody's father was very good at disappearing and wasn't likely in the country any longer. Her father really had just walked away from her.

It made Alexander so angry, how could someone just walk away from Melody like that? She was special, she deserved better. But he only grew more angry thinking about her mother who slapped her around now, the brothers she didn't feel safe around and the foreboding misogynistic step father. Alexander couldn't do much to help fix that situation yet, he wanted to come clean, to tell her everything and take her away from all this. But she was only 17, her mom controlled everything about her life until her 18th birthday.

Until then, he asked his cousins and their pack to be better towards Melody. He lied and said she wasn't his mate, just someone he wanted to be nicer to. Some bought the lie, some didn't but things at school did improve a little bit for Melody. Less open cruelty at least, and since the pack was so large they held a fair bit of social power in numbers alone.

Alexander wanted to do more, he wanted to tell her everything and move the two of them back home and start their lives together. But he couldn't do that, because he has been lying about his age. He was already 20, and taking advantage of a loop hole in education that until someone is 21 they can attend public school. Alexander had been taking random semesters all over the country, living in different towns, trying to find his mate since he tested out of highschool early.

This was his last year to try this, He didn't want to keep lurking around teenagers when he wasn't one anymore. At first he had been so elated when Melody had walked into the classroom and he had caught her scent and knew right away, his gamble had actually paid off. This stupid plan to repeat highschool as long as possible actually worked. There she was. In a grade 12 classroom. She was probably at most 17. She was human. Alexander had realised that he couldn't be in a relationship with her, not really, not now. He had been waiting years already to find her, and would have to wait to get her out from under her mom's control. Unless she asked him to help her. He just didn't want to make her feel like he pushed her into anything. She had to choose him.

He felt such regret that his first instinct had been to run away from her and hide for a year then try and find her again. But he was too scared to leave her alone, in case she vanished on him and he would have wasted his one chance. He had stayed because he was scared of not being able to find her when it would be easier for him to do everything he wanted right away. When he learned how hard things were for her, he had felt such guilt that he had wanted to leave her alone to face it all by herself. He had been an asshole, only thinking of himself. If he had left, he wouldn't have been worthy of her. He would have deserved to lose her.

This was how it was supposed to be. He was supposed to be here, right now, to help her. Fate was tricky like that, you had to accept it when it arrived or else you could ruin fate's plans. He was ready to accept the challenge. Only another year at most. Holding her hand is electric enough. I can wait. He assured himself.

His mother however, could not wait. She had been waiting for him to find his mate since he turned 16. Now that Alexander had told her he found her, she wanted them back home and sealed as soon as possible. Alexander loved his mother, but she hadn't had very much experience with humans. Since 16 was when a wolf matured and could find their mate, she didn't understand that a 17 year old human was considered a child, and that her parents could interfere and press charges if he tried anything now. Especially something like taking her across state lines.

Delicate balances all over the place. It was so hard when all his wolf wanted to do was get Melody underneath them one way or another. He wasn't even her boyfriend yet though, he had to take his time, make her fall in love with him. He knew now that she was easily worth the wait. In the meantime he could continue to encourage her to report her home situation to anyone who could help her.

If she had to move out of her home, then he knew his uncle could help things go so that she would be placed with a pack member. Then he could finally tell her everything. He didn't want to force it on her though. She had to want to leave her home, until then, he would do everything he could to keep her safe. If things got really bad he would make it happen whether she was ready or not to leave.

Alexander hated lying to her enough, he didn't want to have to force her out of her home on top of the many lies he was spinning right now. Even if getting her out of that house was what was in her best interest.