“Honestly, Amanda, you must be mistaken,” she said at last, when they had been walking quite a long way. The USF campus was huge and they seemed to be almost in the center, near a tall stand of bushes that ran the length of a field. “Where did you park by?”
“Oh, there’s no mistake.” Amanda suddenly stopped and dropped Melli’s arm.
“Huh?” Melli looked around, frowning. “What are you talking about? I thought you said there was someone waiting to talk to me.”
“There is,” a new voice said—a horribly familiar voice that sent a chill right down Melli’s spine.
There was a rustling in the bushes and a tall form stepped out.
“There is someone waiting for you, Melli-baby,” Jason Sykes said, grinning at her. “But maybe we could do more than just talk.”
Thirty-Two
Liosh stared having a bad feeling about Melinda almost as soon as he picked up the pizza—which admittedly, smelled delicious. He paid but he could hardly keep his mind on the large flat box in the front seat behind him.
The worried feeling about Melinda was growing and he wished he either had a cell phone like hers or that he had brought his Think-me so he could call her. Once they were bonded, he would have no need of such devices, but they weren’t bonded yet, which made Liosh feel vulnerable in a way he didn’t like.
When a Kindred set his sights on a female and knew she was his fated mate, he liked to bond her as soon as possible. Also, Liosh had been biting Melinda to inject his essence—a sure sign to his body that they would and should be bonding soon. Being away from her without the all-important bond established made him feel anxious in the extreme.
“It’s fine,” Liosh tried to tell himself. “Melinda is fine and you’re getting all worked up for nothing.”
But despite his reassuring words to himself, he couldn’t get back to the dorm fast enough. He pushed the shuttle-car to the limit and was greatly tempted to just fly back—it would have been so much faster. But that kind of thing was frowned upon, especially in the city. The humans were very proprietary about their air space and Tampa International Airport wasn’t that far away.
Reluctantly, Liosh kept to the ground but the minute he got back to the huge building on the USF campus that housed Melinda’s dorm, he grabbed the large, flat box and ran inside. The elevators were too slow, so he took the stairs—three at a time—and arrived back at her floor, panting a little, in no time.
Liosh didn’t know what he had expected to see—the dorm door broken open and everything a mess inside with obvious signs of a struggle? There was none of that, though. The door was firmly closed and everything in the hallway looked peaceful.
Feeling foolish for being so worried, Liosh knocked on the door and called Melinda’s name.
No answer.
Frowning, he turned the knob and found that the door was unlocked—which it absolutely was not supposed to be. Melinda had locked the door when he left—he was certain of it because he had stood there and listened for the click before going.
He pushed open the door, calling her name.
“Melinda? Talli? Where are you? If this is a game, it isn’t funny!”
Again, no answer. Liosh looked everywhere for her, the pizza box forgotten on the coffee table, but she was nowhere to be found. He sniffed deeply—he didn’t smell any scents but his own and Melinda’s, and there was no sign of a struggle—so then, where was she?
He didn’t know but the bad feeling had returned and intensified, like a lump of ice in his belly.
Melinda was missing and he had no idea where she had gone.
Thirty-Three
Liosh retraced his steps, following her scent. It was somewhat obscured by the strong smell of the pizza but luckily Melinda had gone down the elevators, not the stairs. So once he was past the dorm, he was able to isolate her scent and follow it exclusively.
It led him down into the lobby where it was mixed with all the other various smells of students—sweat and take-out food and perfume and after-shave and vending machine snacks and every other damn thing, Liosh thought in concern and irritation. Luckily, he was extremely attuned to Melinda so he was able to pick out her sweet fragrance among the cacophony of other smells and odors.
As he followed it, he noticed another familiar smell entwined with it. Frowning, he stopped in the middle of the floor, lifted his head and inhaled deeply. Some students who were trying to get by shot him dirty looks as they walked pointedly around him, but Liosh didn’t even notice. He had isolated the other scent and knew who it belonged to—Amanda Brannigan.
Now why in the Seven Hells would Melinda go off with her? The other female wasn’t even nice to her and had said many hurtful things to Melinda.
Still, Liosh knew his mate-to-be’s pure, innocent heart. Possibly Amanda had tricked Melinda into going with her in some way. But for what purpose?
Nothing good, that’s for damn sure! muttered the voice of instinct in his head.
Liosh agreed with it. Keeping his head lifted to follow her scent—which was several minutes old—he continued on out the door and into the night.
Melinda, wherever you are, I’m coming for you. Please, just be safe, Talli!
Thirty-Four
“Wh-what do you want?” Melli hated the waver in her voice but it was a wonder she could talk at all. Being faced with her attacker all these years later was like a slap in the face. No—it was more like someone had punched her in the gut, she thought distractedly. She could feel everything from the waist down tightening up and turning to ice as Jason Sykes took a step towards her.
“What do you think I want, Melli-baby?” he cooed, giving her that I’m the big man on campus, aren’t you lucky I’m paying attention to you? grin he had always used in high school. Well, until he’d gotten what he wanted from her and thrown her away like a used tissue, that was.
Melli still felt frozen. All she could think was that Amanda had brought Jason here to apologize for what he had done.
But some things just can’t be forgiven.
“I’m going,” she said, her paralysis breaking abruptly. She pointed a shaking finger at Jason. “I don’t want to hear your apology—I just want you to leave me alone and never come near me again.” She turned to Amanda. “I know you don’t know it, but what Jason did to me was way worse than teasing me about my weight like you and the rest of the popular girls did. You shouldn’t have brought me out here to meet him—especially not at night.”
She started to go but Amanda grabbed her arm.
“Oh, and what exactly did he do to you, Melli-the-belly?” she cooed. The nice, “I’m-so-sorry” look had been wiped off her face and there was a mean kind of enjoyment in her eyes.
“Never mind,” Melli said sharply, trying to pull away. “I just want to go back to my dorm now.”
“But not until I get to spend some time with you, Melli-baby.”
To Melli’s horror, Jason Sykes was suddenly right in front of her. How had he gotten there so fast? He seemed even bigger than he had in high school and his grin held the same mean enjoyment that Amanda’s did. But it was also tinged with something else—lust.
Melli remembered that look on his face during the attack. The vicious, grinning enjoyment she saw on his All-American features as he hurt her so badly she cried and begged and screamed and bled.
“Shut up, you little slut!” he’d said, slapping her as he continued his assault. “Shut up or I’ll give you something to cry about!”
“L-leave me alone,” she said, raising her chin, trying to be brave and shut out the past. “I told you, I’m not interested in your apology.”
“Who said I wanted to apologize?” Jason Sykes asked, his grin widening. “Maybe I just want to see if your pussy is still as tight as it was back in high school.”
“What?” Melli took a step back, only to find herself yanked forward again by Amanda, who still had her arm linked through Melli’s.
“Now, Melli-the-belly,” she said, laug
hing a little. “Is this any way for you to behave when you see an old friend from high school? Why don’t the two of you kiss and make up?”
“Leave me alone!” Melli yanked at her arm, trying to get away. “You don’t know what he did to me!”
“Oh, yes I do.” Amanda’s eyes flashed. “Who do you think put him up to it?”
“What?” The admission caught Melli completely off guard. She stared at Amanda. “But…why?” she asked, feeling bewildered. “Why would you…would you do that to me?”
Amanda grinned at Melli meanly.
“Maybe just because you got on my nerves. You were always such a goody-two-shoes—such an innocent little virgin—or we were all pretty sure you were. After all, nobody wants to fuck a fat girl.” She jabbed Melli in the ribs with one bony elbow. “So I bet Jason fifty bucks that he couldn’t find out if you were a virgin or not.”
“And I took the challenge because I always did like tight pussy,” Jason sneered down at Melli. “Even if it is attached to a fat chick.” He laughed—a coarse, awful sound she remembered from the attack. “All I had to do was bring the bloody sheets with me to prove it and Amanda here had to pay up.”
“Yes, I did,” Amanda sniffed. “That particular bet cost me a sweater I really wanted at Macy’s because I didn’t have enough money go buy it before it was taken off sale.”
Melli’s head was spinning and she felt like she might throw up. She remembered now how Jason had stripped the sheets off the bed when he was finished with her. She’d assumed at the time that he wanted to hide the evidence of what he had done. But now it seemed clear he had only wanted the sheets to win a bet.
“Fifty dollars?” she heard herself saying as she looked between them. “That was all I was worth? You paid him fifty dollars to rape me?”
“Rape? What are you talking about?” Jason Sykes demanded, glaring down at her. “You consented, Melli-baby—remember? Not only that, you loved every minute of it! Bet you’ve never had it so good since, huh?” He grinned and did a little bump and grind with his hips that nearly made Melli puke.
“Get away from me,” she said to both of them. “Leave me alone—I don’t ever want to see either one of you again!”
“I don’t think so.” Jason was suddenly looming over her, much closer than he had been before. “I think we’re gonna have a little high school reunion, Melli-baby. Right here and now. Of course, you’re not a virgin anymore but I bet I can still make you scream.”
Melli wanted to scream right now—wanted to open her mouth and shriek at the top of her lungs. But fear seemed to have stolen her voice. All she could do was whisper, “No…no, please!” as Jason Sykes took her by the shoulders and pushed her to the cold ground.
“There you go.” Amanda was looking down at her in satisfaction. “See, I told you the person I brought would be happy to see you, Melli-the-belly.” She put her hands on her skinny hips self-righteously. “This ought to teach you to go running around with that boyfriend who’s too good for you and being snotty to your old friends from high school!”
Melli licked her lips.
“You…you were never my friend,” she whispered harshly.
Amanda frowned.
“You know, I was going to go and give you two some privacy. But just for that, I think I’m going to stay and watch.” She grinned at Jason. “You don’t mind, do you big guy?”
“Hell, no,” Jason grunted. “I like having an audience. Makes me fucking hot, baby.”
“Then I’ll stay.” Amanda put her hands on her hips and leered down at Melli. “Does it feel good, Melli-the-belly? Let me know when he puts it in, okay?”
“No. No!”
But though she was trying to shout, Melli’s voice came out so low even she could barely hear it. She wanted to say more—wanted to fight and scream and kick—but her body seemed very far away from her now. In fact, she almost seemed to be floating above herself and looking down. Dimly she could tell that Jason Sykes was trying to pull down her shorts but the fact that she was so completely limp was giving him some trouble.
“Damn it, don’t just lay there,” he grunted at Melli as he yanked. “Come on, Melli-baby—scream for me! I’ll never forget how you screamed in high school—best fuck I ever had.”
“And this will be the last breath you ever draw,” a deep, growling voice said from behind him and Melli saw a pair of red, glowing eyes in the shadows. “Because when I am finished with you, you’ll be fucking dead.”
Thirty-Five
Liosh had never gone into Rage before. But of course, he had never been in love before, until he’d met Melinda, either.
He had heard other warriors describe the feeling of going into the berserker-type state when a much-loved female was threatened. He had heard them speak of how a red curtain dropped over their vision and the overwhelming, burning fury that filled their entire body as the instinct to protect turned into the undeniable urge to kill and maim and rend and destroy until nothing, nothing was left of the attacker and the beloved was either safe or avenged.
Nothing he had heard could compare with the actual experience.
He rushed at the male who had Melinda on the ground, knocking him off her and locking his arms around the other male in a punishing grip as they rolled in the cold grass together.
“Hey…hey, let me go!” The other male was struggling but there was no hope of escape. From what Liosh had heard, not only had this male been the one who had raped Melinda so many years ago he had also been intent on repeating the crime.
Such a male did not deserve to live and Liosh fully intended to make sure that he didn’t see the sun rise tomorrow.
The other male was big and strong but he was no match for a Kindred in Rage. In short order, Liosh had him flat on his back on the ground with both hands locked around his throat.
“Hey…man…let go,” the male who must be Jason Sykes gasped, his eyes bulging from their sockets.
“Yeah, let him go!” Amanda Brannigan called, from a safe distance. “You big creep! I’ll call the police—I swear I will!” She held up a cell phone in warning.
Liosh was past caring about any of that. Melinda was still lying limp on the ground, her shorts half-way pulled down and a vacant look in her lovely blue eyes. She had been hurt—maybe hurt so badly that she might never return to him.
Liosh would kill to avenge her.
“Wasn’t…gonna hurt her,” Jason Sykes rasped. He was pawing at Liosh’s hands, which were still fixed firmly around his throat.
“No, you were only going to rape her…again.” Liosh’s voice was very cold, which surprised him, since he was so angry he could barely even see the male beneath him. His fangs felt long and sharp and brutal in his mouth and his whole body was flooded with the Rage—a fury so deep nothing but blood could end it.
“Wasn’t…gonna…” Jason Sykes denied. “Hands…off, man!”
“All right,” Liosh agreed equably. He removed his hands…
And promptly leaned down to rip the male’s throat out.
Thirty-Six
The spray of arterial blood looked black in the shadows. Some of it fell on Melli’s face and somehow that brought her back to her body. She didn’t want anything of Jason Sykes on her—not even his blood.
Her hand came up to wipe at her forehead and she realized she could move again. Not only that, but there was chaos going on around her.
Not far away from her, Liosh was bent over something on the ground and ripping at it like some kind of animal. The side of his face was bloody and for a moment, he reminded Melli of those nature documentaries you see about lions on the African savanna. Liosh looked like they did when they pulled down an antelope and ripped it open to feed on it.
The startling thought seemed to bring her back to herself a little more. The numb feeling she’d had began to fade, though Melli wished it wouldn’t. Being numb was so much more comfortable—so much less scary.
She became aware that a girl was screaming somepl
ace close by. At first she thought it was her, but then she realized it couldn’t be, because she still couldn’t seem to speak. Looking to her left, she saw Amanda Brannigan on the phone—screaming and shouting that this was an emergency, that a man had been attacked for no reason, that the big bastard was killing him and there was blood everywhere!
Blood everywhere, Melli thought. Even on me.
Looking down at herself, she saw that the blood had indeed sprayed on her. It had made a pattern of dark droplets on the skin of her upper thighs which were exposed because her shorts were halfway pulled down.
Melli pulled them back up reflexively. She had a vague memory of Jason Sykes fumbling with them while she floated above her body looking down, but she didn’t think anything had come of it. Mainly she thought that, because he still had his jeans on—they weren’t even unzipped. She could see that from where she was, though Liosh’s big body was obscuring him from the waist up as he leaned over to rip and tear with his fangs which had grown monstrously long and sharp…
His fangs…oh my God, his fangs! For some reason the sight seemed to trip something inside her brain. Melli blinked, feeling more awake—more there somehow.
His fangs, she thought again. He’s using them to rip out Jason’s Sykes’ throat!
Suddenly everything began to make sense and she remembered…
Remembered even though she wanted so desperately to forget.
Thirty-Seven
The chiming of Jodi’s phone broke the extremely awkward silence between herself and James and Vorn.
James had come home on time and Jodi had been quick to let him in when she heard him at the door. She had already decided she would tell her fiancé everything—it was the only right thing to do.
But before she could get even the first sentence out of her mouth, Vorn had come from the spare room and stood there, glaring down at James like a thundercloud about to break.
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