by Mikayla Lane
He was stopped by the small hand that gripped his own. He looked down into pale blue eyes, shot with specks of silver as Melina spoke to him.
“You can. I know you can. I believe in you. You just have to believe in yourself. Please… stop him.” Melina said with tears in her eyes, before she blinked and looked away, letting his hand slide from her own.
Disc grabbed her hand before it slipped all the way out and drew her eyes back to his own. “I will believe in anything, even myself, if it will help me find him and ease your mind. I will do my best child. I promise you that.”
Reven stood and shook Disc’s arm in a warrior hold. “Thank you my friend. Anything you can do is appreciated.”
Disc nodded at Reven, Jax and Grai before he left the room. Grai was the next to stand. He couldn’t resist placing a hand on the adorable baby who was mate to his special son. Her two-toothed smile at him, melted his heart.
He looked at Reven, then Jax. “I must go. I will keep you updated on what we find out. If there is anything else that we need to know, don’t hesitate to contact me at any hour.”
He looked directly at Melina. “You are a very brave girl, and we are all very proud of you.” He looked like he wanted to say more, but instead walked out of the door.
Now alone in the dining room, Jax looked at Melina. “Well, let’s get eating, so we can hit the gym!”
Melina just nodded her head and picked at the food on the plate Reven had set in front of her earlier. Although everything looked and smelled wonderful, she’d lost her appetite and no longer felt like eating.
The ancient one had been right. It was time for things to be revealed, and she was supposed to start with allowing Jax and Reven to see what she was capable of. It scared her to death.
She’d never told anyone anything about what she could do, and she was afraid that they would be frightened of her and would reject her if they knew. The ancient one had assured her that wouldn’t happen, that Jax and Reven loved her and Bayla and would not fear her. However, a part of her was afraid that Lara was wrong.
As if she knew her thoughts, Jax leaned across the table. “Hey, I don’t care if your head can spin around on your shoulders until you can speak from your back. It will not change anything. You’re still a little girl, our little girl, and you’re staying with us.”
Melina gave a small smile to Jax, hoping the woman would feel the same way after she saw what she could do.
*****
Jax and Reven tried to speak only with their eyes and hand motions, unwilling to let Melina possibly hear them through the Shengari’.
They were both pissed off that the others were going after the bastard who betrayed the girls and not them, but they both knew that they needed to stay with Melina right now. She needed them, and they weren’t going to let her down.
The two warriors felt a little overwhelmed and out of their depth with the emotional situation. Her more than Reven, Jax thought with a new respect for the man.
He was like a rock. He stayed strong no matter what was being thrown at them. He seemed to know when to encourage, when to cuddle and when to be strong with the girls. And her, if she were honest with herself.
She’d relied on him more often than she’d like to ever admit. At least to him anyway, she thought. Then it dawned on her; he'd shown none of his normal arrogance since they found the girls.
“Maybe you’ve finally stopped looking for a reason to be angry at him.” Her beast, Ritan added, much to her irritation. Jax didn’t feel like another lecture right now.
“You don’t look really hungry, so why don’t we just head to the training room?” Reven suggested, hoping it would cheer Melina up. It didn’t.
With a defeated sigh, Melina stood. Jax and Reven followed suit, and Reven led them to the door, towards the gym. “You may not believe us, little one. But there is nothing you can show us that will make us not want you with us.” Reven told the girl as he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder as she walked beside him.
Jax knew Melina didn’t believe him by the sad way she shook her head and knew there was nothing they could say that would change the little girl's mind. They were going to have to prove it to her.
She tried to think of every weird thing she’d ever heard of and tried to add in Melina’s camouflage ability. Jax figured if she went through all the possibilities before they got to the gym, then she wouldn’t be too surprised by anything that Melina did. She had no idea how wrong she would be.
Melina stopped in front of the closed gym door. “Wait. We need the other place. The one that looks like a real place, with real things. The other place you train.” Melina said, looking up at Reven and Jax.
“How did you know about that place?” Reven asked, knowing she was referring to the urban training center.
“Lara told me. It’s the best place to show you.” Melina said, not the least bit excited over the idea.
Reven and Jax looked at each other in confusion for a moment before Jax shrugged her shoulders. “Ok… I see no problem with it. If anyone’s training we can ask them to pause.”
With the talk going through the Shengari’ about Melina and the traitor, Reven had no doubt if anyone was already there they would end up being an audience. Their curiosity resonated through the energy path resoundingly. He couldn’t really blame anyone; he was just as curious as they were.
Reven led them down several more hallways and levels until they reached the urban training center. Without a pause, he opened the double doors and entered the control room. He nodded at Niklosi and Balduen before they turned back to watch their teams in the simulation area.
“Give them a minute and they’ll be done.” Niklosi told Reven before he gave a smile and wink to Melina. He didn’t want the child to think he was angry with her for the knife incident. He felt better when she gave him a small smile in return.
“Ok, they are done!” Balduen said as he turned to Jax and Reven, before giving Melina a smile.
Niklosi kneeled down to her level. “You know we’re really curious how you did that in the restaurant and what else you can do. But I understand if you don’t want us to watch you, and we will respect that.”
Melina looked at the nice man and sighed heavily. No matter how deep she dug into his energy, she couldn’t find any anger in him at her for what she had done to him at the diner.
“You and him can stay.” Melina said, nodding at Balduen.
“Are you sure?” Niklosi asked, not wanting to upset the girl.
Melina nodded her head as she watched the people in the rooms below them, file out. Lara was right, Melina thought; this area was perfect for her to show them.
It was set up like a partial city block at an intersection. There were stores and apartments, which could all be seen from the control room as all the buildings had no roofs. The second story had no outer walls, ensuring the view would not be impeded from where they stood.
Melina knew when the others had left the training center below when Reven turned to her. “Are you sure honey? This can wait.”
Melina nodded her head nervously. “I need to do this.”
Jax handed Bayla to Reven and went to follow Melina down the stairs to the street below when the little girl turned sad eyes to her and shook her head.
“Stay here. You’ll be safer. Use the dummy things.” Melina said cryptically as she went out the door and down the stairs to the fake streets below.
When Melina reached the center of the intersection, Reven pressed the speaker button. “Just let us know when you’re ready little one.”
They watched in silence as Melina wandered among the fake pedestrian’s scattered randomly along the sidewalks before she walked into the first store.
It was set up as a convenience store, with all the usual aisles and things you would find in one, including two civilian dummies. Melina stood near the counter and nodded her head.
“I’m ready. Put it on expert.”
Balduen looked at Jax an
d Reven before he pressed the button that would begin the training simulation on their expert level. The four adults held their breath as the Relian popped up behind the counter with a knife at the throat of the cashier behind it.
Melina disappeared for a second before the screen popped up with the flashing “Direct kill” banner, denoting that Melina had made an instant kill of the Relian even though none of them had seen how.
Seconds later, the banner flashed again as the Relian in the stock room was taken out, and the other dummy human saved. Before they could determine the method of that kill, the screen began lighting up almost continuously as Melina made her way through each and every room along the block until she stood panting in the middle of the intersection again.
“What the fuck just happened?” Balduen asked, unable to fathom the information scrolling across the screen in front of him when he never saw the girl actually hit anything.
“Best time!”
“Most kills!”
“Most direct kills!”
“One hundred percent kill rate!”
“Most humans saved!”
“Least amount of collateral damage!”
“New Number one team!”
“You’re fucking kidding me.” Niklosi said in shock as he stared at the single child who beat every team they had and broke every record. By herself. Without a weapon.
Jax looked at Reven before tearing open the door and running down the stairs to Melina. “Are you alright?” Jax asked as she leaned down to put her arm around the out of breath girl.
Reven leaned down with Bayla to try to look in Melina’s face and assure himself she was ok while Balduen and Niklosi went into the store.
“Reven… Jax, you need to see this!” Niklosi shouted from the store while Balduen whistled loudly.
“Are you ok?” Jax asked Melina again, uncaring what was in the store until she knew the girl was alright.
Melina stood slowly and nodded her head. Reven could feel her nervousness and put his arm around her. “I don’t know what you did, but I am damn proud of you! I have to see how you did it though. Can you show me?” Reven asked with a smile.
Melina nodded her head again and led them into the store where Niklosi was grinning from ear to ear, and Balduen was laughing near the back of the store.
“She used a windshield wiper as a fucking missile through his head! A wiper from the rack!” Niklosi said as he pointed at the wiper driven through the right eye of the dummy with the knife to the cashier’s throat.
“Back here she drove the leg of the potato chip display rack through his femoral artery! Am I right?” Balduen asked Melina, incredibly impressed with the child’s improvised weapons and deadly accuracy.
Melina nodded her head, and Balduen whooped in excitement. “Damn girl you have some awesome skills! I’ll never look at a windshield wiper or a damn chip rack the same again! I have to see the rest!”
“Wait for me!” Niklosi said as he jumped the cashier’s counter to follow Balduen to the second floor.
Jax and Reven looked at the leg of the chip rack sticking out of the dummy’s groin and shook their heads in amazement before glancing back at the windshield wiper.
“I’m with them; I have to see the rest.” Jax said with an excited grin before she ran after Niklosi and Balduen.
Reven laughed at her and gave Melina a big smile. “I’m just as excited as they are, I just don’t want to jostle Bayla by running after them.” Reven said with a laugh as he led a reluctant Melina up the back stairs to the apartment above.
He couldn’t help but be impressed at how the place didn’t look disturbed at all, even though he knew there were four Relian dummies that Melina had to have killed.
The first kill was in the kitchen. The civilian woman and even the wine bottle in front of her on the counter wasn’t moved. However, the Relian next to her had the corkscrew of the wine bottle opener protruding from his jugular.
The next kill was in the living room, where the remote control was barely peeking out of the throat of the Relian laying by the couch.
The one in the bedroom was strangled with the belt of a robe, before the neck was snapped. The last was killed in the bathroom by having their skull crushed by the toilet tank lid.
The rest of the tour went the same way. Each kill made by a normal, everyday item that was found in the vicinity of the kill. A weapon of opportunity. Each required an agility and innate skill that left the adults in awe of the talented child.
Reven and Jax couldn’t help but think of all the times Melina could have killed them before they could blink and hadn’t. Even after being betrayed by one of their own, the child had given them a chance and trusted them. They felt humbled.
Jax pulled Melina into a bear hug. “You are such an amazing girl! I could not be more proud of you.” Jax allowed that pride to bleed through her energy so Melina would have no doubt she was telling the truth.
Catching on to what she was doing, Reven did the same and allowed his pride to be felt by the small, but incredibly deadly child.
“Pride hell! The kid is brilliant! We need to start putting our teams through that and see how they do! You never know when you’re going to be in a situation where you need your brains because you don’t have a gun, and we need to be prepared for that.” Balduen said in all seriousness. He was beyond impressed with what the child had done. He’d never seen anything like it and wanted very much to learn.
“For once, I have to agree with Baldy. I want to try it myself. We need to remove the weapons she already used though, so we can’t cheat.” Niklosi said excitedly, challenging Balduen to do it with him.
“Oh, you’re so on! Wait! Melina, you’ll come in behind us and pick who was best right?” Balduen asked, not wanting Niklosi to be able to cheat.
Melina nodded with a shy smile while the two warriors ran to pull the weapons out of the dummies and reset the simulation.
Chapter Thirteen
Jax sighed and put her aching feet on the coffee table. She felt like she had spent the last fourteen hours training when, in reality, she’d done nothing but spend the day with the kids. How the hell can I be so tired? Jax wondered as she smothered another yawn.
“Here.” Reven said as he handed her a short glass.
Jax sniffed it and quickly gulped down the burning liquid before handing him back the glass. “More.” She croaked as he grinned and went back into the kitchen to grab the bottle of whiskey and another glass.
Jax put her feet down and leaned forward when Reven sat across from her. She watched as he filled both glasses before putting the bottle on the coffee table. He handed her one glass and lifted the other to his lips and swallowed it as quickly as Jax had.
The part of her that just refused this whole mate business, took it as a challenge. She grabbed the glass from him and downed it before refilling it. As if staying a drink ahead of Reven was the most important thing for her to think about right now.
Reven narrowed his eyes and refilled his own glass. He knew it was stupid, and he knew it was only a way for Jax to escape her worries and fears for Melina. However, right now, doing something they were both familiar with, even if it was childish, seemed to feel more comforting. For both of them, he thought before he swallowed another shot.
He knew it would take more than this one bottle of whiskey to get them drunk. Even though the hybrid’s metabolisms weren’t as fast as theirs, it was still fast enough to prevent Jax from getting drunk.
Even so, the slight buzz they would feel wouldn’t be a bad thing, Reven thought as he refilled their glasses before he leaned back against the chair cushions.
“How can I feel this tired when I didn’t do anything today? I don’t understand it.” Jax complained as she fluffed the pillows behind her before leaning back with a sigh.
Reven chuckled. “You were a parent today.”
“Yes, that doesn’t explain why I’m so tired when I didn’t do anything.” Jax argued as she drank another shot.
Reven chuckled again. “You’re looking at it wrong. How many times did you lift and carry Bayla today? How much does she weigh? Multiply it. How many times did you squat down? Pick up a dropped toy? Change a diaper? Just the day to day care of a child is a workout. Just not the kind you’re used to thinking of.”
Jax thought about it and even multiplied her guess of how many times she lifted Bayla that day and was pretty surprised. If she added in all the squats and other activities, she could now understand why most mothers looked haggard and worn out. Her respect for those women grew.
“Yeah, you have a point.” Jax admitted grudgingly.