Remembering Melaina

by Maia Dylan

  “Good,”—Kyle turned from the doorjamb and headed into the living room—“because I would have run you the fuck down, too. Except I would have used my truck. Go, be with our mate. Dinner will be in an hour.”

  Grant locked gazes with Melaina and stalked toward her. As he approached, he caught the sweet scent of the citrus soap and shampoo they had purchased for her from Xanthe’s shop, but beneath that, he caught the sultry spice of her arousal.

  “I will not ever run from you,” Grant promised as he reached her, sliding his hands into her hair, sweeping the silken strands back from her shoulders and then sliding them around to cup her beautiful face in his palms. “I will run to you and with you for the rest of my days, but I will never run from you. You have my heart, Mel. From the first moment I caught your scent, I knew that you were destined for Kyle and me. It’s our job to prove to you that we can be worthy of that gift.”

  Grant saw her eyes widen and felt her start to tremble against him, and she began to shake her head in denial but he stopped her from voicing it with his kiss. He pressed his mouth to hers, reveling in the shocked gasp she gave at being silenced in such a way. He gently slid his tongue along the seam of her full lips, gently coaxing them open. When she moaned and let her lips slide apart, he struck, sliding his arms around her back and pulling her tightly into his body, bending her slightly back so that her arms lifted to wrap tightly around his neck. Lifting her off the ground, he walked with her into the bedroom.

  He placed her on her feet at the foot of the bed without breaking the kiss. He devoured her and worshiped her with his mouth all at the same time.

  “Damn, woman,” he muttered against her lips, “I love kissing you.” He pulled back and began to strip his clothes off as fast as he could. “But I need to feel you naked beneath me and wrapped around me more than I need to breathe right in this moment.” He had just kicked off his shoes and tugged his jeans and boxers down to mid-thigh when he was distracted to the point of stopping.

  Melaina had just pulled his T-shirt up and off her body and now stood before him in all her naked glory. And glorious was exactly the word to describe her. Her pink-tipped breasts stood full and proud. The gentle sweep of her waist that led to the generous curve of her hips begged for his touch, and his dick throbbed at the sensuous and sinful image she made.

  He was so fucking lucky to call this woman his and so damn grateful that she had found the confidence to come to him and Kyle when they were in that motel room a month ago. She was his, he was hers, and in that moment, everything was perfect in the world.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “You need some help there?” Melaina couldn’t believe that smoky voice filled with sin was hers. From the way Grant’s dick twitched in her direction, he liked the sound of it. A lot.

  “Maybe, what did you have in mind?” The challenging look he threw her way brought her inner vixen to the game. Walking with a lot more sway to her hips than she ever had before, she reveled in the way his eyes darkened with need and a soft, continuous growl began to build within the room.

  When she stood directly in front of him, she whispered softly, “I’m sure I can think of some way that will help your…situation.” With a sly wink, she reached out and gripped his cock in her hand, squeezing the hard length of it as she stroked from base to tip. Grant’s growl bit off into a moan and he stood tall, letting go of his jeans and allowing his head to drop back on his shoulders.

  Melaina dropped to her knees before him and met his startled gaze when he looked down at her with a grin and a wink. “I’m pretty sure I know just what to do with this.” Grant smiled and opened his mouth to answer just as Melaina leaned in and took as much of him as she could into her mouth.

  “Fuuuck!” Grant howled, and Melaina felt a shudder roll through his body. Placing her left hand at the base of his cock, she used it to pleasure him with every move she made with her mouth. When she pulled off him, adding a tight suction to increase his pleasure, she dragged her hand up the length of him.

  When she got to the tip, she swirled her tongue around the sensitive head. Taking her steer from his curses, she continued to work him in and out of her mouth. When she felt him take a deep breath to steady himself, she knew he was steeling himself against the pleasure, wanting to remain in control and not let the bliss get the better of him, so she decided to add another dimension to the act. She lifted her right hand and gently cupped his balls, rolling them around in the palm of her hand.

  “Shit!” Grant hissed from above her, and she lifted her gaze to meet his, then almost lost her rhythm. His look told her he loved watching her take him into her mouth and that he was on the edge of losing control, which was exactly where she wanted him.

  She took her hands from him, helping him to slide from his jeans, and then placed her hands on the back of his thighs. She had read about this in a book once. The female allowed her lover the freedom to thrust into her mouth whilst she pleasured him. The author had captured the moment perfectly, describing how the male was awed not just by the act itself, but by the trust she placed in allowing him so much control over her.

  Melaina flattened her tongue and opened her mouth wide, tugging on the backs of Grant’s thighs to indicate what she wanted him to do. He gasped in shock, then growled in pleasure as his hands slid into her hair, holding her head as still as possible.

  Melaina balked for a moment in panic when Grant thrust forward, but he seemed to know exactly just how much she could take, because he held still at her limit for just a brief moment before sliding out with a groan.

  “Sweet mother of God,” Grant breathed, the sound loud in the quiet room. “Your mouth…feels good. Goddamn it! Your trust in me is so fucking hot. I have to fuck you, baby, now.”

  Melaina squeaked in surprise when, with a speed that surprised her, Grant had pulled himself out of her mouth, reached down, and lifted her from the floor. She spun when he urged her to, and he lifted her to kneel on the bed. His hand pressed gently against her back. “Lean down, sweetheart, show me heaven.”

  She laid her chest down against the bed and arched her back slightly. Her arousal and need for what was about to happen helped to dull the embarrassment that could have come with being in such a vulnerable position.

  “Damn, baby.” Grant’s voice shook. “Look at you.” The anticipation was building within her and not being able to see what Grant was doing added an element she hadn’t expected. She reached her arms out to the side and gripped the bed sheets, desperately trying to calm her breathing and her heart rate.

  When Grant suddenly licked into her as deep as he could go, she cried out, “Oh, God!”

  Grant growled. “Mmm, that has to be the best flavor in the world, and it tells me my mate is ready for me.” Melaina moaned, arching her back even farther when she felt the blunt head of his cock press against her. “Yeah, that’s it, let me take you.” Grant murmured sweet words as he pushed inside her, and Melaina groaned when she felt his hips bump against her ass. “You’ve got me, baby. All of me. Everything I am, forever.”

  He began to move in and out of her, slowly. The pace and angle of his thrusts rubbed his hard cock right over the sensitive spot within her that had her shuddering with each of his thrusts. In an embarrassingly short time, Melaina felt her orgasm rushing down on her. Determined not to fly into the blissful oblivion without Grant, she bore down on the feeling and started to push back against his thrusts, squeezing her inner muscles as he started to withdraw.

  From his shout and the quick jerk of his hips, she knew that he wasn’t as in control as she had first thought. After repeating her move another few times, Grant’s hands clenched convulsively on her hips and his movements became sporadic. With quick, hard flicks of his hips, he began to pound into her. Melaina tried to ride it out, and control her body’s reaction, but under such an intense sensual onslaught, she had no chance of withstanding it.

  Screaming Grant’s name to the heavens, her body flew into an orgasm that had her s
haking and jerking uncontrollably. Vaguely, she heard Grant shout his own release to the room, and her heart turned over when she recognized it as her name. When the grip of her pleasure released her, she collapsed against the bed. Breathing heavily, Grant eased himself down to lay on top of her, his body a comforting weight.

  “Mate,” he whispered as he pressed soft kisses to her shoulder blade.

  For the first time since they claimed her, Melaina’s heart didn’t ache at the word. Perhaps she was finally starting to let herself believe she was worthy of that title. And if that were the case, then potentially she was, in fact, worthy of these two men. God, she hoped so.

  * * * *

  Kyle looked down at his sleeping mate. She was so damn beautiful. He had no idea what he and Grant did to deserve such a beautiful mate, but they certainly weren’t going to question it. Melaina was everything he had ever wanted in a mate before he knew what he wanted. Her strength was formidable. Not just psychically or the fact she had the ability to hold her own against even the most seriously trained adversary, but her character. She was loyal to those she cared about and would do anything for them. Always putting herself and her needs last, which was a habit he was hoping she would be able to break.

  Melaina was their mate. It was Grant and his job to protect her, and meet any and all needs that she had. He was looking forward to years of meeting those needs. Years and years. And filling them all with as much love, laughter, and joy as he possibly could, in an attempt to make up for what she’d had to endure to get to this point.

  “What’s put that intense look of determination on your face?” Grant asked quietly from the other side of the bed.

  Kyle shot him a quick glance. “Just making a promise to myself to always put her first. She has always been the one to make sacrifices and we need to show her that she’ll always be first for us. Always.”

  “Agreed.” Grant sighed as he snuggled farther into Melaina’s back. “I don’t know what I would have done if we hadn’t been able to get her back.”

  “Oh, I know exactly what would have happened. We would have hunted Aristos and his cronies down until we killed each and every one of them. But we would have saved Aristos for last and kept him alive long enough for him to watch us eat his black heart, just like I promised him I would. Then we would have joined our mate in the afterlife.”

  “That sounds about right, brother.”

  Kyle lay quietly for a moment, reveling in just having her here with them in their house and in their bed. Something he was determined was going to become the norm very quickly.

  Grant lifted his head and looked at him over Melaina’s shoulder. “I meant to tell you earlier. Hunter called me earlier tonight.”

  “Did he have news?”

  “Not so much news as a theory. We know that Aristos has been taking those damn drugs himself. Hell, he came here and confronted Xanthe and made it through a town of shifters at the same damn time.”

  Kyle frowned. “Yeah, he did. Ty is absolutely livid that some chemical is responsible for masking our enemies. He’s got a few of his council friends looking into a counteragent that will stop that from happening.”

  “But in the meantime, we know the fucker has gotten stronger. That night in the motel car park, he battled Melaina and it took a lot out of her to best him.” Kyle growled low in his chest at that. He and his wolf hated thinking about that night. “Yeah, I feel the same fucking way. But what if the reason he’s waited to come at us, is because he’s been continuing those treatments?”

  Kyle blinked as his brain processed that. If he was still taking the treatments, then he was getting stronger. He would have been strategically waiting until he had the best chance to get the girls back. No, that didn’t feel right. He had manpower at his disposal and could have forced the issue. So why wait? Unless he—

  “Fuck,” he growled lowly, wanting to scream at the top of his lungs but not wanting to disturb his mate. “He’s not coming to take them. He’s coming to kill them. He sees them as competition now or one of his failures or, God, I don’t know, just because he is a sick, narcissistic bastard, but for whatever reason, he wants them all dead. That’s Hunter’s theory, isn’t it?”

  Grant nodded, his face filled with rage at the threat Aristos posed to their mate. “But we are not about to let that happen. We’re going to take the fight to him. Zane and Riley have reported that they are still in the property in the city. They’ll let us know if they make a move. And if that hasn’t happened by five p.m. tomorrow, my guess is Ty will call for us to take the fight to them.”

  Kyle thought about that for a brief moment. “To be honest, I’m surprised our hotheaded Alpha with the patience of a two-year-old hasn’t called for that already.”

  “I don’t think he wants to leave Faith and the boys. But come tomorrow, I think he’ll come to the conclusion that we simply cannot wait any longer. He’ll make the call and we’ll head out.”

  Kyle grinned fiercely, his body filling with bloodthirsty anticipation. “Grey River goes hunting.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Melaina stepped back from the heavy punching bag she’d been pounding on for the past thirty minutes, breathing heavily and wiping sweat from her face with a towel. Inhaling deeply she rolled her shoulders, stretching out the tight muscles in her arms. She hadn’t had the opportunity for a solid workout for a while, and when she saw the gym Kyle and Grant had built in one of the outbuildings on their property, she’d jumped at the opportunity to use their equipment.

  Kyle and Grant had both headed into town earlier that morning, checking in with their jobs and meeting with Ty and Hunter. They would be back around lunchtime, and the three of them would prepare for heading to Oklahoma City that afternoon. After waiting so long for Aristos to make a move, it felt good knowing they were finally taking the fight to him. Grabbing the bottle of cold water she’d left on the weight bench beside her, she removed the lid and slugged back half the bottle.

  She reached out to place the bottle back on the bench, but it fell to the floor when a white-hot pain exploded in her head. Crying out, she dropped to her knees before rolling onto her side into the fetal position, her hands pressing against her temples.

  “Kyle! Grant!” She automatically reached for them down their bond but found that something was blocking her from reaching it. Sobbing, tears streaming down her cheeks, she tried to make her way over to the table where she had left her cell phone.

  Another wave of pain rolled through her, and she dropped to the floor once more, wretching. “Does it hurt, kori?” Aristos’s voice sounded clear in her head. “I truly hope it does.”

  Melaina sobbed, the pain debilitating. She had no way of calling for help, and whatever Aristos had managed to do, she was helpless to prevent it.

  “Now that I have your undivided attention, there is something I want to show you.” The pain lessened and she was able to concentrate for a moment and an image popped into her mind. It was almost as if she were watching a video clip and recognized that this was similar to one of her own abilities. She could send images to a person if she concentrated hard enough, but she was never able to hold the bridge for long. Not a limitation that Aristos had, apparently.

  In her mind, she watched as Xanthe worked in her shop, helping a customer near the front window of the store. From the right-hand side of the image, a hand rose into view, holding a Sig Sauer P226 handgun equipped with a silencer. It was aimed directly at her sister.

  “Xanthe!” she cried out, her heart pounding so hard she thought it might actually burst. “God, please, please don’t. I’ll do anything,” she pleaded with her father. How the hell he had become so damn strong she would never know, but this was her worst nightmare come true, being made to sit and watch while one of her sisters was killed with no power to stop it.

  “Do you see now, Melaina?” her father screamed, “None of you have ever been safe from me. Your life and your death have always been in my hands. You were supposed to live
for me. Your loyalty should have always been to me, but you choose to protect my other three lab rats over honoring your father. You have no idea how much of a bitter disappointment you are to me.”

  Melaina embraced the pain in her head, letting it wash over her, and simply accepted it. She had been dealing with pain all her life, and she convinced herself that this was nothing more than what she was used to. “And that is probably my greatest achievement in this life,” she spat back, not allowing the pain to show in her voice. She wouldn’t give the bastard the satisfaction. “I would never willingly choose you over them.”

  “Well, isn’t it ironic that I am now giving you one more choice to make?” Melaina did not like the smug satisfaction she heard clear in his voice. “You have all done your jobs perfectly and given me the best abilities of all of you without the pain or side effects you all had to endure. Young Parris got the worst deal. We had to put her down before we could finish her treatments.” Melaina fought hard not to react to that one. Pepper’s compulsion still held strong on her father, and he believed Parris was gone. “I currently have one of my men holding a weapon on my darling little test subjects as we speak. You get to decide the order in which they die. Pepper and then Xanthe, or Xanthe and then the lovely Pepper?” True.

  “No! Leave them alone,” Melaina screamed down the link. “I’ll do anything. Please.”

  There were a few moments of silence and Melaina began to panic, but then the smug son of a bitch came back. “Then you will come to me. As I said, you are my biggest disappointment, but you have the one ability I have not been able to attain. If you agree to come to me and continue to work for me as you have, then I will allow those women to live.”

  Truth. Her father was telling the truth, and she suddenly realized the ability he had not been able to replicate. “Where?” There really was no other option for her.