Sorry, I haven't been updating regularly. I have a crazy schedule and multiple projects, sorry. Here is a brand new chapter.

Chapter 49

The bathroom was muggy. Melanie's skin was scalded slapstick red as she relaxed in the hot bath water. The mirror was fogged up. Isaac was at work which gave her some much needed time to herself. The brand on her shoulder was almost completely healed. The nightmares were almost gone too. They'd been replaced by ones that involved the darach killing one or all of her friends. Last night's nightmare included Stiles and Cora. Standing in the middle of the road, she saw the darach manage to flip the jeep they were in. Stiles was reaching out for her, choking on his own blood, right before the vehicle went up in flames. She tried to move but her feet were glued to the asphalt.

Melanie let out a restless sigh and laid her head back on the ring of the submarine tub and closed her eyes. All of it dissipated in the water. The nightmares The kidnapping. The whole mate myth. Nearly getting killed by an alpha pack. Nearly getting killed by the darach. High school. That time she jumped off a cliff. College. The earthquake. Her parents. Laura. All of it. Her mind was quiet. That never happened. The pulsing thrum of the hot water against her skin felt heavenly.

Her muscles, starting art her fingers and toes, loosened until her body felt like it wasn't even attached anymore. New thoughts waded into her mind. Ones that made her lips twitch with delight. Ones of her and Isaac lying in bed wrapped up with one another in a mixture of airy breaths turning into subtle snores. Their skin flushed and slathered in the sweet smell of sweat.

"You're more relaxed than I've seen in months."

Melanie opened her eyes and stared lazily toward the doorway, not moving her head. Her hair swirled in the water like Medusa's snakes. Isaac leaned against the door. His hands were tarnished with oil. She smiled, hoping he would join her.

"I am." She replied in a small voice. "Want to relax too?"

Her eyes rolled over the sight of him. She lifted her hand from the water and wagged her finger for him to come to her. His footsteps were heavy as he drew closer. He sat on the edge of the tub. Melanie watched as he touched her knee that peeked out of the water. His calloused fingers scratched along her leg as he slid his hand up along her thigh. Before going too far, he pulled his hand out of the water and started unlacing his boots.

She scooted forward when he climbed in then leaned back against him. She clenched her teeth tightly as he skimmed along her hips to her ribs and over her abdomen. She moaned, rolling her shoulders back into him, trying to meld into him. He kissed her ear sweetly..

"I can't wait to see you in your dress," he mumbled low. "And, I can't wait to get you out of it."

Melanie erupted in giggles.

"I'm nervous," she admitted.

"Why?"

"I've never been to a dance or any sort of school function." She frowned.

"Me either."

That made the anxiety dwindle. They would be awkward together.

"We'll be nervous and cliché together."

"And try not to burn the ballroom down?" she added.

"Well…I was going to…but fine," he joked lightly.

"If you're good tomorrow, you get rewarded," she sing-songed.

"Rewarded?" His voice piqued curiously.

"Mhm," she hummed.

"I am certainly curious and slightly offended that you say this like I'm an animal," he said.

Melanie turned to face him. She stared him down, her eyes heavy and playful. He hooked his fingers under knees and pulled her forward.

"You are an animal," she said. "I accept that."

The words rolled off her tongue in a low purr. She pressed her hands against his chest. His eyes thrummed that fuchsia color. She caressed along his cheekbone, entranced by them.

"I love you," she said.

He kissed her in response, biting her lower lip lightly. He groaned as she straddled him. Water splashed over the tub.

"What if I'm not good," he asked, breaking the kiss.

"Bad boys must be punished."

He grinned against her lips then kissed once more.

Isaac moved his fingers along the length of her spine, her neck down to her tail bone and over her back dimples. Her hair lay flared off to the side and over his arm onto the bed. The triskele behind her ear was visible; her stamp and claim to the Hale pack. He touched the tattoo. Melanie released a cool sigh over his chest.

He fell asleep comfortably with her limbs tangled with his own.

He awoke to blinding morning light. Melanie was gone. He sat up and looked around the room. He got dressed then padded downstairs. She wasn't there either. He scratched his head through his mess of hair. Upstairs, his phone rang. He bounded back up, taking the stairs two at a time. He knew who it was before even seeing the ID.

"Where the hell are you," Isaac barked.

"Hello to you to," Melanie chuckled. "I'm sorry I left without telling you. Derek said he had something really important to tell me and you looked like you were having a good dream. Derek is going on about Stiles."

"Stiles?"

"Yeah. It's kind of funny." Melanie laughed some more.

In the background Isaac could hear Derek shout at her that it wasn't funny. Isaac's eyebrows raised intrigued.

"I have to go. He's losing it. I love you and will see you tonight."

Isaac sighed and sat back on the bed again, wondering what he was going to do today.

"Should I worry about him? No, I don't need to," Derek mumbled, shaking his head. "What if he hurts her…"

Derek stared out the window at the abandoned area of town. There was a distant look in his eyes. This really was affecting him.

"Derek, darling," Melanie drawled out aggravated, "Cora is more likely to hurt Stiles, not the other way around. Have seen her claws?"

He looked at her, ready to protest then nodded in agreement.

"It's just prom," she reminded him.

"Prom is stupid. People get drunk and-"

"Have sex. Blah blah."

He glared at her. She shrugged nonchalantly.

"I'm sure they'll use protection like they probably do every time."

"Every time!?"

Melanie huffed loudly. She didn't believe that he didn't know they were having sex. His complete shock and rage said otherwise. His lips pursed together. Well shit, Melanie thought.

"You can't honestly think they're not screwing," she said.

"I'm going to kill him."

"Relax, sour wolf. You're not killing our punching bag. And if anything, we should be worried about somebody getting maimed or possibly killed."

"You think?"

"It's not unheard of around here. Something interesting and death inducing happens around here at dances so I hear. Plus," she stuck up her finger like Velma from Scooby-Doo, "have you ever seen Prom Night?"

She received a blank stare in response.

"Carrie?"

He shrugged shaking his head, clueless. Her jaw dropped. She looked around the room. There was a couch, a coffee table, the Italian dining table, but no TV. In the other rooms there was only a bed and a dresser.

"There is something tragically wrong with you for not seeing those movies," she replied sadly. "Anyway, death at prom."

"Do you think she'll show?" he asked, meaning the obvious serial killer.

"The darach? Maybe, but what can we do? Does Deaton have any ideas?"

"He says that all we can go off of now is context clues. We have to be alert. Anybody is a suspect."

Melanie's eyes widened, lighting up.

"What did you say?" she said.

"We have to be alert."

"No, context clues." She paced a few slow steps, staring at nothing in particular as she raked over all of the evidence in her head. It couldn't be so simple could it, she wondered. "I've got to go."

"Mel-"

She rushed out of the loft. Isaac wasn't home when she returned. She smirked. He must've gone to hang out with Scott and Stiles. He hung out with them a lot more than he liked to admit.

We're going to be playing tag a lot, she thought.

She went upstairs to her room. Everything had been put back in its place after the earthquake except for the vanity mirror. It smashed to pieces during the earthquake. The room had turned into more of an investigation room. She'd written on the walls. Every sacrifice was listed on the wall: their occupations, their family, how they died. She even had the natural disaster anomalies listed. Her desk was stacked with overdue library books. She searched through the stacks, flinging them aside that she didn't need. Her school texts were mixed in with them. She stopped suddenly at one. The cover was ripped in the corner..

"Heart of Darkness."

The front door opened downstairs, making her jump. She looked at the walls. There was still a philosopher, a warrior and three guardians needed.

"Mel?"

"Up here," she replied.

Danny came into the room and stopped by the bed. He seemed impressed and worried; only a feature that he could manage.

"Wow," he said.

"I'm just trying to figure it out. The darach is out for revenge. We're caught in the middle. Who is she getting revenge on?"

Danny looked at Melanie and snatched the book from her.

"Expecting answers from a fictional tale?"

"We live in an American fictional tale," she said.

He chuckled but didn't disagree and sat at the end of the bed. She watched the bland expression on his face furrow.

"Stiles's room looks like this. He has strands of yarn all over his walls."

"What are you doing here?" Melanie asked.

Danny tossed the book aside.

"I figured we could get lunch."

Melanie smiled. It had been a little while since they had actually hung out.

"Sure. I still have to pick up shoes anyway," she replied.

She had time to look at all of this later. She ended up picking out silver, four inch heels that strapped in a criss-cross style up her calf. Danny made a quip about what Isaac might say, making them both laugh. Halfway through lunch Scott texted him. Melanie snorted at his disgruntled expression.

"Scott wants all the guys to get ready over at his house." His face was etched with aggravation. "I told him I'm going to get ready with you guys."

"We have five hours." Melanie said. It's why she wasn't worried about not having shoes yet. This wasn't a wedding.

"I know," he said with a nod in agreement.

They went back to the house. Lydia called her twice before she finally picked up.

"There are four hours." Lydia gritted out. She sounded like that one girl from the movie about dying in seven days.

"And it will take me forty-five minutes to get ready," Melanie replied. "I'm sending Danny over with my dress, shoes, and other stuff, okay?"

"Mel, I-" Lydia stopped.

The line was quiet. Melanie looked at it wondering if ginger had hung up. She sounded disappointed that she wasn't over there right now.

"Hello? Ginger?"

"I wanted you to come get ready with us, your friends?"

Lydia's voice cracked. It didn't seem like it was hard to say for her, but she sounded upset. She was the kind of girl who had specific plans for prom and for all of them to have a good time.

"Okay," she replied. "Give me two and a half hours. I'll be there."

"Good," Lydia said sharply.

The phone went dead.

"You're sending me to the wolves alone." Danny said blandly. "You're a terrible friend."

"Cora's there. You'll be fine. You two can gang up on Lydia and Allison." Melanie winked.

"Just don't lose track of time. I'm coming to get you if you don't show up in two and half hours."

Melanie put everything to get ready: dress, shoes, hair pins, eyeliner, and mascara in one of Isaac's duffle bags and gave it to him.

"I'll be there." she assured him. "Go before the devil calls again."

He chuckled and headed out, leaving her alone to reexamine everything that had been discovered.

Isaac called a few times, trying to coax her into telling him about her dress and what she had in store for their evening. She ached to tell him but didn't.

She wanted tonight to not just be special. He had been so good to her through all of this. He didn't know how many times he kept her from jumping on the crazy train. After everything that took them to get this far, him breaking up with Allison, the fight he nearly got into with Drake, saying no to his proposal, though all she wanted was to say yes. He didn't break up with her.

Melanie wiped her watery eyes at remembering all of it. She cleaned the entire house, spreading out various colored candles. She didn't light them yet. It'd be her luck the house would burn down before they returned. The bedroom was sprinkled with the smell of jasmine. She puffed a sigh out to the side and scratched the back of her neck as she went through the checklist in her head. Romantic gestures wasn't a common act that she was used to, but being serious with Isaac meant that these might become normal.

After feeling satisfied with the The book still sat on the bed. Moving to pick it up she stopped at the sound of creaking from the stairs. She grinned. You're sneaky but not that sneaky, she thought with a grin. No matter how hard he tried, Isaac wasn't going to figure out her plans. He was going to pay for going this far.

"Isaac?" There was no reply. "Hey, you're not supposed to be here."

She jogged downstairs. The living room was empty. She tiptoed into the kitchen, but he wasn't there either. Her forehead creased with confusion. Hide and seek?

"I know, I'm not supposed to be here, but I just love surprises."

Melanie spun around startled. Her eyes widened and her lips parted with shock and terror.

"It's you," she said, her dry lips sticking together.