Chapter 4

Melody’s POV

The entire school day did absolutely nothing but drag on unnecessarily. Thankfully I managed to make it through my very first day, without drawing an excessive amount of attention towards myself. Except for in advanced math. Ugh. Stupid Mr River. But all in all I’d say today was somewhat of a success. Just making it through one day is an achievement. Now how many more until this nightmare finally ends?

I may or may not have considered breaking out into dance when the final bell rang. Staring blankly at a clock watching the seconds go by, is tedious. It’s home time, finally! I can go home and annoy my brothers a little bit and do nothing. That sounds absolutely amazing after this long day. But I can only do nothing and procrastinate for so long before I have to do the devil’s invention, homework. Stupid homework, couldn’t teachers not give us homework. I mean there’s only so much time during the day I want to dedicate to their subject in the first place. School is for work, home is for relaxation. It’s not my fault they’re incapable of completing their syllabus at school.

Chris walked me from our last class to my locker. Once we got there he leaned against one of the lockers next to mine while I organised my life and threw my books into the locker. Good riddance you unnecessary extra weight. Then I finally closed my locker and sighed out in relief. From there we took a slow leisurely walk to the parking lot. On our walk Chris and I complained about school, and joked around. When I made it to my car, Chris stopped me before I could get inside and asked if he could come over. Instead of answering him I gave him a deadpan look before nodding at him, I didn’t have the energy to answer his rather stupid question. What can I say, it’s been a long day, and it’s not over yet.

So we got into our respective cars and ventured onto my home. Only I realised that I really had no energy since I drove home a lot slower than I usually would.

. . .

When we eventually made it to my house, I parked my car in its usual place and Chris parked his next to mine. Since he practically has his own demarcated parking spot too. We walked into the house and came face to face with all of my brothers and cousins standing in the living room. Looks like they were waiting for my arrival. They must have wanted to know how today went. Ugh. I think they saw my face and decided it was better not to ask, however that did not change the fact that they all shared both confused and concerned looks.

I guess I didn’t need to explicitly explain that my first day was rather terrible, they could simply pick up on that by my facial expression. Or rather the lack of facial expression I was wearing. I’m hoping they decide to ask why a little later, I really don’t want to get into the intricacies of today. But then I think about it, knowing them they’re not going to give me breathing room and will pester me about today anyway. It’s their way of showing that they care. After all they are my obnoxiously overprotective older brothers and cousins.

Once they remove their focus from me, they see Chris standing behind me. I stand back and watch each and every one of the eleven of them do their weird bro-hug thing while I simply roll my eyes at their antics and head to the kitchen. I make my way to the fridge and take out a bottle of water that I almost immediately start drinking.

The crowd obviously follows me into the kitchen. Where each of them finds a spot to either sit or to lean against something. Ash and Mase are leaning against the kitchen counter positioned in the middle of the kitchen directly opposite where I’m standing by the fridge. Chase and Austin are standing in the entryway into the kitchen. Xander, Greyson, Hunter and Liam take up four seats at the kitchen counter. Jace leans against the stove and Dylan leans against the pantry cupboard. Chris ends up being the odd man out and stands in no man’s land somewhere in the middle of the kitchen. Silence washes over us for a few minutes, but I know that they are all silently observing me, waiting for some kind of reaction out of me.

Then Jace decides he’s had enough and breaks the now awkward silence between all of us, “Mel, are you okay kid? You have this distant look in your eyes, like something is deeply troubling you. But you also look like you are on the verge of bursting into tears.”

Everyone else in the rook nods their heads in agreement with Jace. None using their words afraid that they may just set me off. Then Mason decides to ask a question, one that I feel incapable of answering without bursting into tears like a freaking baby.

“You were thinking about the attacks again, weren’t you?” he asked, looking extremely worried.

I couldn’t even manage to mutter out a yes or a yeah, so I shut my eyes really tight and gave them all a single nod. Which is all Mase needed to know before he decided to engulf me into one of his big hugs. His chin resting on my head.

He whispered in my ear, “What happened is not your fault.”

Then he sighed.“You need to stop thinking that it happened because of you.”

I just nodded in his chest and he gives me a tight squeeze before letting go so that he can see my face. After seeing that I absorbed his words and that they simply didn’t go into one ear and out of the other he shares a smirk with someone behind me, I assume it’s Ash and then suddenly I find myself in the middle of a massive group hug.

“Guys...Need...Air.”

Hesitantly they broke up our little group hug and all muttered a light, “sorry,” before giving me rather sheepish smiles.

I laughed them off while waving a hand and said, “It’s fine you guys know I love you.”

Greyson, my cousin, suggested watching a movie while ruffling my hair. Everyone was quick to agree and we made our way to the home movie theater. With there being so many of us, a home theater made sense, a typical quaint, cozy tv room wasn’t going to work for all of us. Especially considering that we all love to watch movies together, I guess it could be considered our bonding time. Although it might also simply be a perk of having high ranking family members, cough cough, Ashtons Alpha privilege is showing, cough, cough.

The home theater consists of four black walls, those little circular ceiling lights that we dim or completely switch off. About eight black leather recliners and four loveseat couches all facing the one wall completely covered by a tv screen.

After everyone found a seat for themselves and a few arguments later we finally managed to decide on what movie to watch. We decided to watch a Disney movie. Which, believe it or not, was rather typical of us. I absolutely love Disney movies! They are so cute. I openly admit to being a little child stuck in an adult’s body. Although I’m sure my big brothers would simply argue that I am a child, they’d use my small stature and short height to “prove” their argument. But they would forget that they might as well be children stuck in adult bodies too, considering how they all act 99% of the time.

After approximately ten minutes into the movie Ashton decided to interrupt our movie with his obnoxious voice. I should have seen this coming when I noticed him turn his head from the tv screen to face Chris. Practically giving Chris all of his attention and completely ignoring one of my very favourite movies. If we weren’t watching a movie I’d huff, cross my arms over my chest and pout. Like the little drama queen I am.

“Chris, did any guys by any chance attempt to talk to my little sister?” He asked, redirecting his attention towards me.

In hindsight I should have considered this question. I think that this conversation may be partially my fault. Only partially, I refuse to take on any more responsibility than that. Now, let me reintroduce my family. My very overprotective family.

Unfortunately for me, Ashton’s question manages to get everyone’s attention. Which means the movie is nothing more than background noise now. Since everyone is now staring at Chris waiting for his answer. I think some of them may even be at the edge of their seats.

“Nope,” answers Chris, popping the ‘p’.

I simply roll my eyes at them all and their antics. They are impossible. I genuinely don’t understand why they couldn’t just ask me that stupid question. It’s not like I would have lied to them. Even if I did manage to lie to them they would be able to tell. I mean we have lived together for nine years. We can read each other like the back of our palms. Plus I may or may not be a pretty bad liar.

After his answer everyone turns their attention back to the movie. Mind you, their little “conversation” caused us to miss my favourite part of the movie. So this time I do huff, cross my arms over my chest and pout like a big baby. Sometimes I forget how overprotective they can be. I mean they were completely okay with me and Chris being friends. But I guess Chris is considered family, because I grew up with him and my brothers practically watched both of us grow up. They trust Chris. Apparently more than they trust me.

That’s probably why my brothers don’t mind him being my best friend, plus they trust him to protect me when they’re not around. Making Chris my official unofficial guard. Why is it that I can’t seem to get away from overprotective guys?

After the movie Chris decides to head home so I walk him to the door. We hug each other and say bye. I watch him get into his car. Not long after entering his car he rolls down his window and says.

“See you tomorrow Mel.”

I watch as he speeds off in the direction of his house while I stand leaning against the front door.

I’m not exaggerating when I say he speeds off. Both of us love speed. If an officer saw Chris leaving our property he’d undoubtedly get pulled over. Luckily for both Chris and myself we can easily blame getting pulled over on the fine that generally accompanies that on my cousins. The ones who taught us how to drive, by taking us to an illegal race the second time they put us into a car.

This has led to Chris and I always racing each other. He’s going to get home in five minutes driving the way he is.

I decided to be a good girl and do my homework. Me being good this is a very rare moment. I think I’m still going through that rebellious teenage stage. After doing my homework Jace walks into my room.

“Do you want to go for a run?” he asks with hopeful eyes.

I nod in agreement and a smile breaks out onto my face. We make our way outside to meet up with the others. We all go behind separate trees to strip out of our clothing before shifting.

I quickly undress and hastily fold my clothes and place them at the bottom of the tree before shifting. I imagine Viola coming forward in my mind’s eye, see myself changing from human to beats as my nose turns to a snout, my fur sprouts and my tail forming. I then start to feel my bones bending and breaking so as to accommodate my wolf form, ignoring the pain that comes along with shifting, I close my eyes. When I open them, I’m no longer a petite human girl, in her place is a big majestic pure white wolf. I trot out from behind the tree into the little clearing and wait for the others to shift.

Once all of us are in our wolf forms we take off on a sprint. Not before they all surround me to avoid anyone noticing a white wolf. This is how we run whenever I come along with them. It’s this or a cover myself in mud, which is not my favourite thing to do. Rolling in mud is fun in the moment, cleaning your fur afterwards, not so much. Which is why I generally prefer to stay at home while they run.

I might have forgotten to mention that our house lies in front of a forest. So it’s easy to access if we need a run. It also makes sense for when we have pack meetings. Even though we don't have the pack meeting at our home, it’s normally by the pack house, Which is approximately five minutes away from our home, at werwolf speed.

The eleven of us run for an hour or so. Letting our wolves enjoy the control and the freedom for a little bit.

“Let’s head home, we’ve been out for long enough.” says Ashton through our mind link.

His wolf on high alert, in case we come across an unwanted visitor on our pack grounds. This is part of the reason I usually stay back, I don’t like that they all have to be on such high alert when I’m around. They can never actually let loose and enjoy their run. They’re too worried about my safety and wellbeing.

So the eleven of us head home, each of them flanking my wolf. Completely blocking anyone else’s view of me once more. After the run I took a nice long relaxing shower. Then I slowly climb into my very cozy bed.

I’m mentally and physically exhausted. It’s been a seriously long day.

“Oh bed, you have no idea how much I have missed you.” I mumble in my pillow.

“Someone’s gone a little bit crazy.” says Viola

I have no energy to reply so I simply block my annoying wolf out. Then darkness consumes me and I’m in my dream world.