Remembering Melaina

by Maia Dylan

  Pepper nodded and Melaina tugged her into her arms, silently sending a prayer to a god she hadn’t really ever asked for anything to keep her baby sister safe. “Go, go now. Two minutes, Pepper, and then straight out. I’ll be right behind you.”

  Pepper nodded, drawing in a shaky breath, and went to the door that led to the east corridor. Melaina watched until she was out of sight, then doubled over. The pain in her side had nothing on the ache in her heart. Taking a few deep breaths to calm herself, she turned back the way she came. When she stepped into the reception area, she looked over at Rafael and slammed to a halt. The bastard wasn’t there.

  “Pepper.” Melaina spun and went to move in the direction of the east exit, but three armed guards stepped into the room, blocking her exit. Each of them carried a Glock, two adopting the cup and saucer method with their non-dominant hand under the butt of the gun. The one on the left had obviously had some training and had both hands wrapped around the stock of the gun. All three had their index fingers resting on the guard and not on the trigger itself. Amateur move, really.

  “I told you she’d be in here,” the one in the center said, a cocky grin on his face. “There’s no way she would leave without the redhead. Those dumb bastards are getting their asses kicked by those fucking shifters”—Melaina wanted to cheer at that, but remained expressionless—“but I knew when we couldn’t see her that she’d be here. Now, remember what the boss said. We put her down, and we put her down hard. But we don’t get to do it permanently.”

  Melaina stared at the three men as they spread out. They were no doubt looking for some type of simultaneous attack, but Melaina didn’t give them time to put it into action. She stepped into the one on the left that looked like he’d had some training. The first thing she learned was to take out the biggest threat. He only had time to widen his eyes in shock before she’d gripped the top of his gun with her left hand, ripping it down and away from her. She spun into him, slamming the side of her right hand into his windpipe. She had his weapon and was moving to the others before he’d even reached the ground.

  Spinning toward the man in the middle, she rammed her elbow into his nose, feeling the cartilage give away beneath it, and reached out with a hard side kick to the one on the right, knocking his arm. His shot went wild. The one in the middle screamed and dropped to his knees with a groan, his hands gripping his nose and catching the copious amounts of blood pouring from it. She stepped in and pressed the barrel of the Glock she’d taken from the first guy to the last man standing’s forehead.

  “D-don’t shoot,” the man rasped, sweat sliding down his face

  Melaina tilted her head as she stared at him. “There was only one shot taken here tonight and it wasn’t me who pulled the trigger. Besides, I thought you were here to put me down hard.”

  “On your father’s orders.” The guy dropped the gun and his hands rose in the air.

  “True, but you came after me. Hell, you came at me, no doubt thinking you all had a chance. I mean, there were three of you, right? And only one of me. But you came unprepared to actually see it through. Your trigger fingers were on the guard, which means you never had enough time to take the shot. Then you really fucked up by telling me you had orders not to kill me. Aristos must be really scraping the bottom of the barrel if he’s hiring amateurs. “

  The man’s eyes hardened. “We are highly trained a—”

  Melaina stepped in fast, slamming her elbow into his temple, dropping him in one move. “—assholes. Yep, highly trained assholes.” Melaina jumped over the man and ran for the east exit. She quietly opened the door and peered out into the car park. Pepper was nowhere to be seen, and neither was that bastard Rafael. Melaina cursed under her breath when she got nothing but a lightning-sharp pain through her skull and a silent void when she reached for Pepper. For the first time since she woke up that night with Weir standing over her, she had no clue what to do next.

  “Melaina!” She pressed her back to the wall, gripping her head in her hands at the pain as her father’s voice slammed through her mind. “If you make me have to come for you again, this time, I will kill you. But I will not stop there. I will find Pepper, and Parris, and Xanthe and I will kill them all. Slowly. Because of this bullshit tonight, I have already ordered the deaths of those two mongrels I found you with. They mean nothing to me, other than it pleases me to know that it will pain you to lose them.”

  Melaina breathed through the hammering pain her father’s intrusion caused. “Have no fear, Father.” She put every bit of the contempt she felt for the man into her tone. “I won’t be making you come for me. Xanthe is free of you. Parris is free of you. And now Pepper is free of you, so there is no one left that you can hold over my head. I am coming for you, Aristos. Make no mistake about that.” With everything within her, she pushed as much energy as she could manage along the bridge her father had built to her mind in order to speak to her. She grinned when a painful echo came back and she knew she’d scored a direct hit. She closed the bridge and reinforced her shields, making sure the bastard couldn’t do that again.

  Kyle and Grant were capable of keeping themselves alive until she could get there. They had to be. Melaina jogged to the car park. Using a rock, she smashed open the window of a Honda, climbed in, and hot-wired it. Parklands was located on the north side of Ogden, to the north of Salt Lake City. Her father had a house near the airport, and that had to be where he had Kyle and Grant stashed. He’d want them near in case he needed them for leverage.

  As soon as she was out of the grounds, she floored it. Although she believed both of them were more than capable of holding their own, she knew they were disadvantaged with those damn inhibitor collars. If she got there and some of Aristos’s men were trying to carry out his orders, then she was just the vengeful bitch to show them the error of their ways.

  * * * *

  Grant leaned against the metal table he was still chained to, his arms crossed over his chest, glaring at the open door to their room. He was sporting a few wounds that would probably scar due to the fact the fucking collar thing they wore kept his shifter abilities at bay, but his anger definitely drowned out the pain. Kyle stood on the other side of the room, blood sluggishly swelling from his own various wounds. His eyes were clear of pain but filled with anger. He held a Glock on the open doorway, waiting from the next dumb bastard to try and enter the room.

  Of the eight men who had first come for them, only three of them made it out of the room alive. It had started out evenly enough, but soon, the cowardly bastards drew weapons on them. Kyle disarmed one of them and fired, shooting one of their attackers in the arm. He ran out the other two right behind him. Now they had a weapon and things were even once more, but the rest of them were showing some sense and keeping well clear.

  “Who’s next?” Kyle asked, his voice harsh, his eyes never leaving the doorway. “You keep taunting us with the fact that Aristos has called for our deaths, and yet we’re still breathing.”

  “Still kicking the ass of every dumb fuck with the balls to come in here as well.” Grant sighed. “You know, Kyle, you should probably hand the weapon to me.”

  Kyle shot him a look. “Why the hell would I do that? I can shoot the pricks as they come in the door just as well as you can.”

  “I’m a deputy sheriff. Not only am I a better shot than you, but I won’t face charges like you will. I’d hate for us to survive this clusterfuck only to have to tell our mate that you will be serving ten to life.”

  Kyle scoffed, his eyes locking back on the entrance to the room. “That’s a risk I’m willing to take with the one bullet we have left. Besides, once our mate gets here, she’s gonna fuck all of them up and there’s not going to be anyone to press charges.”

  There was a sudden quiet beyond the door and Grant and Kyle shared a quick glance. The men out there had been arguing about their next move, trying to convince one another to take another weapon and enter the room, but now they seemed to have fallen into sil
ence.

  Then they heard a whispered question. “Do you think they are talking about the operative at Parklands?” There was a definite thread of fear in that question and it made his heart sing.

  Grant grinned. “Why, yes little man, that is exactly who we were talking about. Our mate, Melaina, and the operative you are so damn scared of are one in the same.”

  Another hesitation and another voice asked. “And why would you think she was on her way here?”

  “Because she told us she was,” Kyle answered, pride clear in his tone.

  There were more muted whispers and curses, all of them indicating that they should run and get clear. Grant almost sagged with relief when they mentioned the rest of the guards had left with Aristos earlier in the night. So it was only a few guards who remained outside the door to deal with.

  Grant’s thoughts were interrupted by an alarm sounding through the room. It was loud enough to be slightly painful but hadn’t shattered his eardrum, which was very possible given his and Kyle’s enhanced hearing. The ironic thing was that if they hadn’t been wearing those fucking collars they probably would have been in a bad way.

  Grant’s heart began to beat a little faster as he realized what that sound meant. Their mate had come for them. “Kyle?” Kyle looked over at him, an excitement gleaming in his eyes. “Our mate is coming in soon. Let’s make sure these fuckers can’t give her any grief.” Kyle shot him a bloodthirsty grin and then bolted for the door, sliding out through it on his knees, firing the last round with one hand and pulling the man closest to the door down to the floor with him with the other.

  Grant followed through the doorway right behind him and grabbed the guy about to leap on Kyle, turning and slamming him into the ground. Grant levered up with a growl and drove his clenched fist into the face of the man beneath him. Once, twice, and he pulled back the third strike when he saw the man’s eyes roll into the back of his head. Dropping the unconscious man back to the floor, he rolled off him and moved into a crouch.

  The sight of the barrel of a gun being pressed to his brother’s head had him stopping, the sound of their breathing harsh in the now quiet hallway. Someone had disabled the alarm. Kyle knelt over the man he had rendered unconscious, and his eyes blazed with rage. Grant knew his wolf was going fucking berserk at being in such danger and not being able to shift. When their gazes clashed, Grant read the look in his brother’s eyes perfectly. It clearly told Grant that Kyle was about to do something monumentally stupid and to hell with the consequences. Movement behind the man had Grant grinning and Kyle frowning in confusion.

  Grant held his hands up in surrender. “Dude, why don’t you take the gun away from my brother’s head? His skull is pretty damn thick, but I don’t think our mate would appreciate you putting a bullet into it.”

  Kyle’s frown transformed into a grin as he inhaled and no doubt caught the same scent Grant had. The scent of spice filled his lungs and had his body humming with arousal.

  The guard’s hard expression turned to one of surprise mixed with fear when he felt the cold metal barrel of the gun Melaina held against the back of his head.

  “He’s right, you know.” Melaina’s tone was calm, almost disinterested. “I would not appreciate that one bit. In fact, it would make me extremely cranky. Now, I have spent most of this night proving to your friends at Parklands just what a vindictive bitch I can be. Do I need to teach you the same lesson?”

  The guard swallowed audibly. “I don’t think you can kill me faster than I can pull the trigger. I’m as good as dead anyway, so why not take one of these dogs with me? Why don’t you drop your weapon, bitch, and then take your place on the floor, on your knees where you belong?”

  Twin growls erupted into the room, and the guard’s eyes filled with apprehension.

  Grant watched as Melaina’s eyes seemed to dilate and, despite the pinch of pain that bracketed them, she smiled. “You are not one of Aristos’s most trusted, obviously.” The guard’s eyes widened and he stared at his own hand in shock as it lifted the weapon away from Kyle. His breathing rate increased and turned to sobs as his hand moved without hesitation to press the weapon to his own head.

  “What the fuck!” he cried out. The guard’s entire body shook, no doubt in fear, but Grant would have bet big money on the fact he was straining every muscle he had to get that gun away from his head. Kyle moved away from the man, turning to face the guard and their mate as Grant pushed to his own feet.

  “Normally, at this point, I would get great pleasure from watching you shoot yourself in the head.” Melaina stepped around the guard and moved to stand in front of Grant and Kyle, and for the first time in a month, Grant’s wolf seemed to calm within him. “I would do that for two reasons. One because, as I said before, I am a vindictive bitch and two, you fucking deserve it.”

  Grant stepped closer to his mate. “And three, because we would all enjoy the hell out of it.”

  “That we would,” Melaina agreed, then took a step toward the guard, and he and Kyle followed, not wanting to let her get too close to the bastard. “But I need you to stay alive a little longer. You are going to give a message to my father for me. It’s fairly simple. He won’t need to come looking for me, because I am coming for him. I want you to tell my father that everyone has a day of reckoning and his is fast approaching. Do you understand?” Grant stared at the man’s eyes and saw them glazed slightly, his affirming nod coming automatically and his gaze never leaving Melaina’s. “Then, while you stand in front of my father, telling him that message, you will feel as if your throat has closed over. You will not be able to draw breath. You will be afraid, but resolute. You will not allow yourself to breathe another breath. Do you understand?”

  The guard nodded again and Melaina seemed to stare into the guard’s eyes for a moment, and Grant felt a pressure in the room building. Not exactly like Ty or Trent when they let loose with the dominance that made them Alpha, but similar. Then the guard dropped to the ground.

  “Ow, shit!” Melaina groaned as she reached up to grip her head between her hands. She would have fallen straight to the floor if he and Kyle hadn’t caught her to them.

  “We got you, Blue Eyes,” Kyle murmured and they took her to the floor gently, holding her between them, and she groaned and retched between them, the physical toll of the evening finally catching up with her. They waited until she had quieted slightly and slumped back against them before they moved. Grant slid her farther back so that she lay back on his right arm. Kyle scooted around to sit on her opposite side, pressing her between them. Grant felt one of the cracks in his heart that had appeared the night they lost her to Aristos heal within him.

  “Shh, baby,” Grant crooned softly, leaning down to press a kiss to her forehead and sending up a prayer of thanks to the gods above that they had their mate back and in their arms. He and Kyle murmured to her for a few moments before her eyes fluttered open and she looked up at them both, her blue eyes swimming with tears.

  “Hey,” she said softly.

  Grant smiled at his amazing mate. “Hey back. Thanks for coming to rescue us.”

  Melaina’s soft laugh had him sighing. “I don’t think it can count as a rescue if you both were already out of the room and there was only one guy standing in your way to freedom.”

  “I don’t know about that, Blue Eyes,” Kyle disagreed and he pressed a kiss to the hand he held clasped in his. “That prick had me by the short and curlies. If I had moved, he would have ended up shooting Grant. Either way, one of us would have been hurt, and with these fucking collars on, we wouldn’t heal the way we should.”

  “Come on”—Grant looked around at the bodies that lay around them—“I’ve had my asshole quota filled for like the next decade and want to get the hell out of this place.”

  Kyle stood up first and gently pulled their mate up into his arms. It scared the shit out of him that Melaina not only allowed it but sighed in contentment and dropped her head to Kyle’s shoulder. She was hur
t and more fatigued than he had suspected. Grant scrambled up off the floor and followed them down the corridor.

  “The car’s just outside the side entrance,” Melaina said quietly and the three of them started in that direction.

  Kyle pressed a kiss to her forehead as he walked. “As soon as we are safe, warm, rested, and healed after all of this shit, remind me to extol your virtues and tell you how in awe I am of you, and how damn proud I am to be your mate.”

  “Not to mention,” Grant added, “how fucking hot your badassness is when you go all kick-ass ninja on dumb shits like that guard back there.”

  Melaina laughed and lifted her head from Kyle’s shoulder to look back at Grant, and he felt his heart ache at how beautiful she was. “You should have seen me at Parklands. I kicked some serious ass and got not only my Pepper out of that hellhole, but your friends, too.”

  Grant grinned back at her, relieved to hear that Tomas and Diego were free, too. “Well, shit, Mel. If you tell me you have the keys to these damn collars we’re wearing, then I might just have to go to my knees and ask you to marry me.”

  Melaina’s eyes widened and she nibbled on her bottom lip. She must have tensed within Kyle’s arms because he stopped walking. “Melaina?”

  Grant stepped closer, lifting his hand to sweep the hair from her face. “It’s okay if you didn’t get the keys, baby. We’ll get these damn things off.”

  Melaina shook her head, then seemed to make a decision. “No, it’s okay. I was just a little surprised at how much I liked the sound of being proposed to by you two, and despite not having earned the right to even call you mate yet, it made me happy.”