Melody's POV

After Alec and Ashton's meeting, the rest of the weekend seemed to go by rather quickly. Especially since my brothers decided it was best to keep me occupied at all times. In other words they babysat me the entire time. They included Chris in their scheming. At all times during the weekend one of those jerks were attached to my hip when I wasn't sleeping or going to the bathroom, but that did not stop Mason from attempting to follow me into the bathroom, or all ten of them from attempting to have a sleepover in my room Saturday night. The word attempt is slightly problematic, since they did sleep in my room. There were too many of them to try and shoo out of my room and quite frankly I had no energy to even try and persuade them to leave me alone.

So on Saturday night after putting on my  night clothes I went downstairs for a bottle of water and when I came back my room was infested with overprotective butt holes. Ash and Mase had taken up either end of the queen size bed, leaving the middle of the bed for me. Xander was lying across the foot of my bed, Dylan was seated on the armchair in the corner of my room, a blanket draped across his torso. Jace, Hunter, Greyson, Austin, Liam and Chase had all found themselves a place on the floor where they had cocooned themselves in sleeping blankets. They somehow managed to form a fortress around my bed.

As soon as they saw me enter the room with a bottle of water, they screamed,

"Sleepover sis,"

While Hunter said, "Aww, I wanted some water too."

Which caused Xander, Ashton, Mason and Chase to throw their respective pillows at his face. As my mouth hung open on the floor. It was an unintentional invite for flies to enter.

"Ouch! What was that for?" Hunter asked after all four pillows hit him square in the face after each other.

"For being you," mumbled an irritated Austin.

From there everyone ignored Hunter's childish moaning and groaning about how he was being abused. Xander muttered about how overdramatic Hunt was under his breath, he muttered it so quietly that no one heard him as the rest of them bickered about who knows what. My brothers both jumped off of my bed and opened the duvet cover for me. Overcoming my shock I walked over to my bed. Once I had settled in, and they had sufficiently tucked me into the bed they kissed my forehead before taking a side of the bed themselves. Both of them decided to lie on top of the duvet. Which meant they had restrained me underneath the duvet.

Being surrounded by my entire family it didn't take me very long to fall asleep. When I woke up on Sunday morning, everyone had cleared out of my room at some point. Probably when they each had to go on their respective patrolling of the territory. I stumbled out of bed like always and got dressed, I meandered down the stairs and bumped into Chris as I entered the kitchen.

My forehead made contact with his chin and instantly my head started swimming.

"Ouch," I whimpered, rubbing my forehead with my left hand and squinting up at Chris.

I took one look at Chris and decided that I must have still been asleep, so I took my right hand and rubbed the sleep away from my eyes. When my eyes came back into focus I found Chris still standing in front of me, in his workout clothes.

"What are you doing here on a Sunday?" I asked between a yawn, still tired even after all the sleep I had gotten.

In response Chris shrugged, "Can't I visit my best friend?"

I gave him a pointed look because I know Chris likes to spend time with his parents over the weekend, since he doesn't see much of them during the week. On that note I need to go visit Chris's mom, I haven't seen Mama P in a while. I'm in for an ass whooping for staying away for so long, that thought makes me shudder.

"He was on parole with us an hour ago, so we're treating him to breakfast." said Chase from the stove where he was flipping pancakes like a pro. A job that Mason and he always get stuck with since they are the better cooks in the house.

Taking a seat at the kitchen counter I replied, "But he has food at home too, or he could go down to the pack house for Sunday brunch."

As I finished my sentence Chris plopped down on the seat next to me.

"I could have, but I decided to come and spend the day with my very ungrateful best friend. Maybe I should just go home and tell mom I've been kicked out of the Alpha's house." Chris said, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly.

Everyone in the kitchen froze. The pancake Chase flipped in the air and landed on the floor. Hunter's surprisingly silent search in the fridge stopped and the orange juice Mase was pouring on the opposite side of the counter started overflowing causing a mess all over the kitchen counter. All of us just stared at each other, eyes wide and mouths hanging open. Shit.

At that moment, Ashton, Jace and Greys decided to walk into the kitchen. All three stopped in the entryway noting the silence in the room.

"What happened?" Sighed out Ash.

Recovering from his shock, first Mase answered, "Chris told us he was going to tell Mama P that he's been kicked out of the Alpha's house..."

Jace and Greyson immediately tensed. Whereas Ash tensed then he turned his attention over to Chris and raised an eyebrow.

"Who banned you from the house this time?" Ash asked.

"Mel," Chris replied.

"Oh no, Ash I swear I did not say those words, I just asked why he was here. Don't let him tell Mama P anything!" I said in a panic.

You see Mama P and my mom were best friends, they grew up together in the same pack, and found their mates on the same day when my dad and his top three ranking warrior wolves were touring the continent in hopes to find their Luna. Whereas my mom fell pregnant with Ash almost immediately after she found my dad, Mama P and Uncle Carson struggled to fall pregnant. The only pregnancy they shared was when they were expecting Chris and I. Mama P kind of filled the gap when my parents and aunts and uncles passed away in the attack years ago. Mama P was always an extra maternal figure, and now she's kind of our only maternal figure and she does not take any nonsense from any of us. Not even from Ashton and he's the Alpha. 

Instead of helping me like a good big brother Ash chuckled.

"You're on your own here little sis." He said, grabbing a bottle of water.

"Don't forget all of the ranking wolves are having a meeting today to discuss our involvement in the New York Territories Packs Council and the role our pack will b e playing." Ashton said as he made his way out of the kitchen.

"Aww man, do I have to go to that?" Whined Hunter, still digging into the fridge.

Instead of answering him, Ash continued to exit the kitchen, so our beloved Beta responded nonchalantly shrugging his shoulders,

"Well, you are one of our Delta's but if you prefer to skip the meeting, be my guest. We'll just have to give someone else the title."

That caused Hunter to stop his search for food and to turn around to glare at Mason before he grabbed something from the fridge and stomped away like a child. I watched with a smile on my face as he stomped away.

"On that note, here's some breakfast kiddos," Chase said, placing two stacks of pancakes in front of Chris and I.

"I have to get ready for the meeting," he said, messing up my hair on his way out.

"Chris-" Mase started.

"I know, body guard duty starts." Chris cut him off rolling his eyes as he stuffed his mouth with pancakes covered in sticky sweet maple syrup.

Mason shook his head and walked over to me, he kissed my hair and said, "Don't get yourself into any more trouble now."

And as the mature young adult I was I stuck my tongue out at him. All thee while Chris snickered before he started chuckling. Chris and I continued to devour our pancakes. A few minutes later after Chris had inhaled all of his pancakes, mind you his stack was double the size of mine he turned to me as I put my fork into my mouth. The pancake and maple syrup melted on my tongue.

"So, what are we doing today?" Chris asked.

With my mouth full of pancakes gooey goodness I turned to Chris and said, "Whatcha mean we?"

"That's disgusting, Mel," Chris said, scrunching up his nose.

I shrugged and turned my attention back towards my delicious breakfast. Which caused Chris to sigh and pull his phone out of his pocket. While I ignored him as I finished eating Chris typed away on his phone, probably messaging someone.

Once I finished my meal I asked, "Who are you texting?"

"Someone..." he trailed off, his focus still on his phone.

"Ewww, are you texting one of your hook ups?" I asked scrunching up my nose like he had done earlier.

Instead of responding to me verbally he shrugged, pocketed his phone then asked me, "What are we doing today? I have an appointment at three thirty."

"An appointment," I drawl, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah. An appointment."

"Ugh you are so gross." I say shuddering.

"It's normal human behaviour, I'm sure your big brothers do it t-"

"I don't want to know about what my big brothers might be doing with other people!" I shriek out, cutting Chris off before he could finish his sentence.

I rose to place my plate in the kitchen sink, and Chris shrugged again.

"What are we doing today, Mels?"

"If you must know, today I am going to plan what songs to sing at my next concert, then I'm going to rehearse all of them. None of which excites you, so be gone peasant." I say cheekily shooing Chris away.

"Nah, I think I will stick around and keep you company. I can practice playing the guitar as you do all the boring stuff. And me, a peasant? Oh hun, don't mistake me for you," he says dramatically.

From the kitchen we made it to the basement. My music room is situated in our basement, next to our home gym. And the music room is set up like a mini studio, plus the walls are soundproof so I can sing at the top of my lungs and not bother anyone.

I took a seat at the desk by all the recording equipment and Chris made himself comfortable on a massive pouf in the opposite corner of the room next to the guitars and the other instruments. Ignoring his presence, I start figuring out what songs to play at the next concert. The one where I will have to reveal myself to Alec. As his mate. Shit I think as I gulp. Time to grind.

. . .

1 hour later

"As fun as this has been, Melody I'm going to go now. You've been so busy figuring out your song schedule that I haven't even heard you sing today!" Chris groans, dragging his hand through his hair.

"Hmm,? I question.

Which causes him to groan in annoyance, and I smirk at that. So I spin my chair to face my obviously annoyed best friend. And I kid you not, the man looked like a huffing cartoon with his arms crossed over his chest.

Smiling teasingly I ask, "You have better things to do Chris?"

"As a matter of a fact I do," he replies, huffing out his response.

"Your appointment get moved down?" I asked with a raised brow.

He tersely nodded, still relatively annoyed with me.

Spinning my chair back to the desk I get back to work, "Well, enjoy your better things to do," I tell him sarcastically.

Standing up abruptly Chris replies with, "I will enjoy doing someone don't you worry," as he begins to leave the room.

"Eww, Chris TMI." I cry out as he continued his way to the door.

"You'll live." he mutters.

"See you tomorrow," I call out as he slams the studio door closed behind him.

Only he doesn't respond. The jerk. I will get him back for that tomorrow. Maybe I will ignore him tomorrow like he ignored my greeting today. Trivial I know but sometimes a girl has gotta be a little petty.

I return my focus towards smoothing over the last details of the show. When I managed to finish that I started recording the songs so that I could listen to them later and see if I'm happy with them or if I need to make a few changes. Like changing the temp of the song or changing the notes I was singing. This is going to take a long while I thought to myself as I threw myself into more work.

...

A few hours later 

I finally finished recording all twenty songs I prepared for my next show. And I am currently quite happy with how they turned out, maybe I should listen to them all when I don't feel like dropping dead. Ugh. I rubbed at my eyes hoping to remove my sleepiness, but to no avail. I feel dead on my feet. I slump into my seat, completely worn out. I sigh in relief when I realised I completed everything I wanted to do today. Yay. When I check the time on my phone I almost fall out of my chair. It's freaking 6pm already.

My stomach rumbles in hunger as someone knocks on the studio door.

"Hey kiddo, we're about to have supper, come on up." Chase says as he opened the door.

I slowly made my way upstairs and managed to eat before I fell asleep at the dining room table, completely worn out. As I dozed off I felt the conversations around me go from relatively loud to quiet whispers. When the murmuring stopped, I felt someone lift me up and take me upstairs. They tightly tucked me into bed and kissed my forehead good night. But I was too far gone in dreamland to respond.

Literally I awoke on Monday feeling groggy. I scratched my eyes and attempted to get out of bed. But I must have become an uncoordinated zombie sometime during the night because my legs got tangled in my bedding and I fell to the floor with a big thump. I grumbled when I finally managed to get up successfully before I could start my morning routine. Ugh Mondays...

After completing my routine I hastily got dressed. My Monday outfit consisted of: washed out jeans, a sleeveless white ribbed tank, and a teal boyfriend shirt to wear over the tank top. I completed my look with some accessories and a hint of makeup. Then skipped downstairs and headed straight to the kitchen. Food. This zombie needs food. Not brains. Nope some real food.

I walked into the kitchen humming. Which only later during the day did I realise was abnormal. It was not common for me to be humming in the morning. In fact most mornings I wouldn't even call myself civil. But after my zombie state all I wanted was some food so  I got the milk out from the fridge and made myself some tea. All ten of the guys in the kitchen stared at me in shock. When I eventually noticed their confusion over my steaming up of ceylon, I placed my cup down on the kitchen counter and I tilted my head in confusion.

"Your humming in the morning..."  said Austin trailed off  slowly like he was choosing his words carefully, then he added as an afterthought, "You  don't look as grumpy as usually do in the morning,"

"Who are you and what have you done with my little sister?" Ashton asked in a mocking tone.

"Yeah," added Mason.

I rolled my eyes at them. There goes my morning getting better.

"Just because I happen to be in a good mood this morning doesn't have to mean anything." I said.

"Uh huh, sureeee," drew Liam out sarcastically, "You're only in a good mood today because you're seeing your mate today." he finished smirking.

Right now I'd love to wipe that stupid smirk off of  his stupid  face. I blush slightly, my jaw clenching subconsciously in annoyance too. Ash and Mason tense turning their attention from Liam to me as his words sink in.Their overprotective brother side have just turned on thanks to the very unnecessary help of dumb old Liam. Nope scratch that, actually all the males in the kitchen have gone into overprotective mode. The other seven, all of them excluding a still smirking Liam, cross their arms over their chest, puff out their chests and glare at me. Well, I'm only assuming that the glare isn't actually targeted at me, but at my mate who is not present. There goes my appetite.

Instead of answering them I finish my tea and grab an apple. I feel each one of them staring at me expectantly as I scroll through TikTock watching cute videos of cats and puppies. Yes, I am a werewolf who likes little kitty cats. Once my tea is done, I toss the apple in the air once before grabbing my car keys and escaping the kitchen filled with overprotective males.

I hear Hunter yell as I make it to the garage, "Don't do anything stupid, Mel!"

Ignoring him, I get into my car and race off to the hellhole, school.

. . .

When I eventually arrived at school, because I decided to take a detour to get a meal since I refused to suffocate on overprotective male energy, I saw a white BMW i8. I instantly recognized the car because it's the only thing on my wish list this year. The car is so cool. I absolutely love the sleek design with the blue detail.

I instantly picked up on my mate's scent and I smiled internally happy and relieved that I remembered to spray myself with masking spray. Phew. A crisis averted. That would have been a lot of unnecessary drama for a Monday.

I headed straight to my locker. Ava was by her locker. Which just so happens to be right by mine. I immediately noticed Ava's slumped form and dejected expression. I straightened my shoulders, my entire body humming in concern for my new friend. I hide my worry and walked up to her and greeted her,

"Hey Ava," I said softly with a smile on my face.

"Hey Mel" says a defeated looking Ava, her skin far paler than I thought it was from afar.

"Ava, are you okay, you look like you're gonna pass out?" I asked worry seeping through my voice.

"I'm fine, just a little tired," she replies, biting her bottom lip nervously. She's lying. I've only known her for a little while but I know she's hiding something from me. I see Viola nod in my mind's eye, completely agreeing with me.

"Help friend," She says, nudging my head towards Ava in my mind's eye.

"Come on Ava, tell me the truth. You know you can tell me anything." I tell her giving her all of my attention. I blocked everything else out, which is why I did not notice her brother coming up behind her.

"F-fine," she stutters, "I will tell you,I found my mate this weekend and he rejected me. He rejected me to be with another. " she says venomously while closing her eyes as pain crossed her face, her hand going to her heart as she massaged over the area.

"You what... And he did what?" asks a furious looking Alec through clenched canines.

Oh shit.