The entire group of I-Ops and their mates found themselves the guests of honor at a celebration. The natives went out of their way to thank them for all they’d done. It wasn’t necessary. Standing idly by and letting Krauss get away with murder wasn’t an option. Green shuddered to think of Krauss’s motives for getting rid of the tribes. It wasn’t as if they understood genetics or how to be international evil geniuses. They were simple in a way that left them appreciating life, their loved ones, and each day they were given. Krauss’s ability to put his thumb to the artery of the innocent sickened Green.
Innocent.
Green stared down at Melanie as she slept in the bed. Mosquito netting covered her nearly nude frame. Long strands of white-blonde hair fanned out around her in a halo-like effect. She’d left Green no choice but to yell at her to go and rest. Her dedication to helping the tribe was unrivaled. It was then he realized she was more than capable of loving and caring, she just didn’t know it. She’d worked next to him the entire day, seeming to read his every thought, so attuned to him that for a moment it was hard to imagine his life before she was in it.
Green’s shoulders had begun to ache midway through the day, and Melanie slid around him, rubbing the kinks away without him ever mentioning they hurt. She also stopped him throughout the day, insisting he replenish his fluids by drinking lots of water. The concern in her voice had been genuine and the love in her eyes unmistakable.
Pulling his sweat-soaked shirt off, Green debated going to the river to freshen up before crawling into bed with Melanie. His body ached to be near hers and he needed to sleep. She deserved better than to have a stinky man trying to cuddle close to her. He laid his shirt over the back of a chair, near a rather flimsy desk, and stared back at Melanie. He turned to head out but stopped when she whimpered.
“No, Elizabeth, I won’t leave him,” she whispered, still asleep.
Green’s chest tightened.
“I know he’s hurt me but I can’t go. Don’t you understand that I can’t walk away from him? He doesn’t think I know he spends his nights with me. I do. I wake feeling his arms around me and know I’m safe with him, that I can rest knowing Thad will be there until morning.”
She knows?
Green edged closer to her, afraid to try to wake her for fear of what it might to do her. He’d borne witness to her moving from plane to plane and saw what it took out of her. If there was even a remote chance that Melanie wasn’t dreaming, but was on the other plane, truly speaking to the portion of herself that was Elizabeth, Green didn’t want to chance ripping her from it.
“Elizabeth, I’ve never wanted a man to stay with me, to never let me go. I want that with Thad. I want him to look at me the way Lukian looks at Peren. The way Roi watches Missy. I can’t explain it. I just know I do.” Melanie shook her head slightly, still asleep. A smile spread over her face. “He told me he loves me today.”
“And I do,” Green whispered, pushing the netting back and sliding into bed with her. He kissed her temple and moved her hair to avoid lying on it. Her smell was intoxicating and the urge to taste her great. “I love you so much, honey. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the truth. I was shocked you were happy with the idea of being my wife.”
Melanie snuggled against him but didn’t wake. She skimmed her soft hand down his stomach and dipped her fingers down the front of his pants. Green’s cock responded by going painfully erect. He hissed as she wrapped her long fingers around his shaft.
“Melanie, honey, wake up.”
She didn’t. Instead, Melanie caressed him, stroking his cock as she pressed her body to his. His body was as starved for her as he was, but the idea of making love to her when she wasn’t awake didn’t sit well with him. He nudged her slightly and kissed her neck. “Wake up, baby.”
Melanie went rigid and for a moment Green thought she’d kick him out of her room. When she continued to stroke his cock, he relaxed and kissed her temple once more. “Hey, honey, I didn’t mean to wake you but—”
“It's fine,” she said, her voice sounding oddly like Elizabeth’s.
A chill ran over Green and he pulled Melanie closer to him. “Mel?”
“I want you in me.” She tugged on his shaft, her grip bordered on painful.
“Melanie? Honey?”
“Don’t you want me? I used to be good enough, Thaddy,” she said, this time leaving no doubt in his mind that she sounded identical to Elizabeth.
Green touched her shoulder gently and found it hard to breathe as the reality of it all began to sink in. Had the merger taken place? If so, did Elizabeth now control the woman he loved?
You love Elizabeth too.
He nodded as his inner thoughts filled his head. It was true. He did love Elizabeth, and according to her own words she and Melanie were one and the same, but Green knew better. Melanie felt different to him. She was her own identity, separate from Elizabeth’s, or at least she had been.
“Come on, Thaddy, don’t you want to fuck me anymore?”
His blood ran cold. Something was wrong. Not only did Melanie’s voice sound like Elizabeth’s, but she was saying things his Elizabeth would never have dreamt to utter. As gray eyes stared out at him in place of Melanie’s blue ones, Green gasped and grabbed her shoulders. “What the hell is going on?”
She licked her lower lip and smiled wickedly. “I’ve come back, Thaddy. I’m home. Now fuck me.”
He scrambled out of the bed, getting temporarily caught up in the netting as he did. “Where’s Melanie?”
“Only one could keep the body, Thaddy. Only one.” She held a finger up for emphasis. “Why don’t you look happier to have me back? Is it because you loved her more? You wanted to bite her, claim her as your life mate. You never had the urge to do that to me.”
“Elizabeth, please. I need to know Melanie’s okay. You’re not acting like yourself. Please.” He put his hands up and tipped his head. “I just need to know that—”
She stood quickly and eyed him like a snake about to strike. “You just have to know if your precious bitch is nearby. If she can hear what’s going on.” A sly smile crept over her face. “She is and she can, but I won’t let her up. Not just yet. I’m holding her place until—”
“I arrive,” a deep voice said from the other side of the room.
Green turned to find Ferdian there, leaning against the wall leisurely. He didn’t waste time talking. No. Green charged him, the need to tear his head off too great to resist. He swept out, letting his hands shift, claws lengthen, and the beast partially up. It felt like a truck hitting him, lifted him off the ground and slammed him back down onto it.
Ferdian laughed. “You are no match for me, Thaddy.” He put his hand out. “Come, Elizabeth. Bring me her body so that he may die knowing I took pleasure in both the women he loved.”
“Don’t you fucking touch her!” Green watched in horror as Ferdian drew Melanie into his arms and ran his fingers down her neck. “Melanie, no!”
She jerked slightly and, for a moment, he hoped to have gotten through to her on some level.
Levels. Planes. That’s it.
Closing his eyes, Green concentrated on Melanie. The thought of her blue eyes. Her smile. The way she cared for the tribespeople. The way she made his chest tight by simply being near him.
Melanie, I need you. I need to know you’re okay.
Something tugged at his consciousness and he blinked to find himself standing in the meadow he’d first seen Melanie and Elizabeth in together. It was dark and thunder boomed all around him. Wind whipped past and he caught the slightest flicker of blonde in the distance. He ran full force toward it, coming to a grinding halt as he found himself face-to-face with Elizabeth.
“Where is she?” he bit out, fury consuming him.
Elizabeth shook her head as tears filled her eyes. “I’m so sorry, Thad. I am. Jealousy consumed me and I did it.” She averted her gaze. “I weakened her to the point Ferdian’s magik could affect her.”
Confused, Green shook his head. “Why are you letting him touch her—you?”
“When I submitted to Ferdian, magikally, and let him begin to weaken Melanie from a distance, I also gave up my ability to resist his evil.”
“Are you here now to try to stop me from finding her?” He wasn’t sure what to say about Elizabeth giving in to Ferdian.
“No. I’m here to help you find her. This is the little bit of my essence that Ferdian hasn’t soiled. Once he has managed to change me completely, I won’t be able to stop myself from attacking Melanie’s essence, Thad.”
He drew in a sharp breath. “You’ll kill her? You’ll kill yourself?”
“Thad, I died long ago. The wall erected to separate our essences allowed Melanie to grow into her own person. I have been here to guide her when I can, but for the most part I remained hidden. It wasn’t until you came into her life that I dared to interact with her emotions.” She looked away, shame covering her face. “I was jealous of how quickly you took to her. How intense your feelings for her are. And the minute I sensed you fighting the urge to claim her, I forced Melanie to push power out and over you to prevent it.”
“Elizabeth,” he whispered, disappointed in her. “You were the only woman in my life until she entered it, and in the end she was you. At least a part of her was. How could you be—”
“Jealous that it would never be me having eternity with you? That it wouldn’t be me giving birth to your children, loving you forever?”
Moved by the truth in her words and the emotion on her face, Green went to embrace her.
She shook her head and put her hand up. “No, Thad. Your heart is big but I know the truth in it. You love Melanie as you have never loved another. The truth of the matter is, it was always she who was intended to be with you. I think I somehow knew that and that’s why I magikally pushed Tatiana from the ether to try for another child after Eadan. It’s why I forced myself to be part of Melanie. I knew she was destined to be yours, and part of me hoped I would be allowed to live her life—truly be yours.”
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
She cleared her throat and wiped tears from her cheeks. “You loved me as much as you could considering you were my true mate but I wasn’t yours, Thad. It’s rare but it’s been known to happen. Still, you mourned me for over sixty years. I gave up my immortality and thus, my ability to carry your children to term. Yet you blame yourself. Don’t apologize for that. What I do need is for you to fight for her. To refuse to give up on her.” She took a deep breath. “Claim her as soon as you can. It will give you more power to fight Ferdian. It will take many of you to bring him down, but it can be done.”
Green rubbed his face and sighed. “I’m going to lose her. I can feel it.”
“Dammit, Thad,” Elizabeth said sharply. “Pull yourself together and go to her. She’s terrified right now and doesn’t trust me to let me close to her. I can’t blame her. What you see before you is all that is pure, untainted by Ferdian, and it’s fading fast.”
“If we defeat Ferdian, will you still kill her?”
She gulped. “What is consuming my essence is pure evil. It will not rest until it’s vanquished from her, Thad. You have to hurry. Melanie’s weakened right now and the baby is too new to survive her current state.”
“Baby?” Green’s brow furrowed. “Lance didn’t get her pregnant. She can’t conceive with anyone but me.”
Elizabeth arched a brow and then smiled wide. “For a smart man, you seem incapable of thinking clearly when it comes to her.” She pointed at him. “You’re the baby’s father, Green. It’s nearing a week old within her.”
His heart hammered within his chest. “That’s why I’m having trouble reading her. Why I— Oh gods, she’s pregnant with my child.” He drew in a sharp breath and backed away. “No! I won’t lose her too. I won’t watch her die trying to give birth to my child.”
Elizabeth pointed to the east. “Thad, she was destined to be your mate, the mother of your children and the woman you love for eternity. She’s immortal. She’s powerful enough to carry your children to term and be with you forever. Find her. Claim her as you know you want to and protect her from Ferdian and from me. Go!”
He took no time in rushing off in the direction Elizabeth pointed. Within seconds, he found Melanie lying in a fetal position as wind whipped around her, tugging at her long blonde hair. “Melanie!”
She lifted her head slightly and looked at him. “Go away! You’re not Green. I won’t believe your lies.”
“Melanie, look at me. Really look at me.”
She did and her eyes widened. “Green?”
In an instant he had her swept up into his arms and cradled her close to his chest. “Gods, honey, I’m so sorry. I love you. I do. With all my heart.”
She leaned her cheek against his chest. “No. Your heart belongs to Elizabeth and I’m not her. I never will be.”
“I know that you’re not her and you’re wrong.” He held her close and began to run with her, unsure where exactly he was going. “I do love you. You’re my true mate. Not Elizabeth. You.” His gaze slid down to her midriff. “We’re going to be a family, Melanie.”
She clung to him and began to cry. “I can feel him, Green. He’s about to—” she sobbed, “have sex with me—with my body. I can’t control it. I can’t stop him.”
Anger tore through him. He growled and lost control of himself. The next thing he knew, he had set Melanie down and shifted into full panther form. In an instant he was back in the room in South America, on the floor, this time in shifted form. He looked over to see Ferdian shoving Melanie against the wall, lifting her flimsy nightgown over her hips and reaching for his own pants. He roared in cat form and pounced, catching Ferdian off guard and sinking his teeth deep into the man’s arm.
Green clawed out, ripping Ferdian’s upper chest open and knocking him away from Melanie. He went to strike again, this time to tear open Ferdian’s throat, but the man vanished into thin air. The smell of his blood lingered as the taste of it filled Green’s mouth.
Chapter Twenty-One
Melanie’s head spun and she fought to stay upright as she suddenly found herself pressed against the wall of her room. She looked down to find a black panther in the center of her room. Its mouth was covered in blood and it looked crazed. The sound of someone screaming caught her attention. It took her a minute to realize she was the one doing the screaming.
The door to her room burst open. Eadan appeared, looking ready to kill someone or something. His gaze went to the black panther. “You hurt her?” He raised his hands as the panther suddenly begin to shift forms, morphing into a man. Not just any man—Green.
A second before Eadan would have released his power, Melanie shot forward, putting her body in front of Green’s. “No! He saved me!”
Eadan put his hands down. “Saved you?”
“Ferdian was here. He tried to—” She glanced at Green, searching for the right words.
Green, seemingly unaffected by the fact he was naked, locked gazes with Eadan. “He tried to rape her.”
“He did what?” Eadan’s power buzzed around the room, no doubt searching for something or someone to destroy.
She ran to Green and he pulled her into his arms protectively. Shaking her head, she clung to him. “I couldn’t stop her, Green. I couldn’t stop Elizabeth.”
“Shh.” He stroked her hair. “I know, honey. I know.”
“What happened with Elizabeth?” Eadan asked, sounding lost.
Anger surged through Green and something deep within him began to build. Pushing it down, he focused on holding Melanie in his arms. His gaze slid to Eadan’s. “Unless you want to stay and watch me claim your sister as my wife, I strongly suggest…”
Eadan looked as if he was going to be sick. “I’m going! I’m not going far, so try to be quiet. I really do not want to hear anything!” He shut the door and Green twisted Melanie to face him.
Her blue eyes were filled with
unshed tears. “I’m going to claim you.”
“You don’t want me, Green. It’s okay. I understand. I—”
He growled. Running his hand up her back and into her hair, he tugged gently, forcing her gaze to stay locked on him. “I didn’t ask, Melanie. I’m telling you. I’m going to claim you. I’m going to sink my cock and teeth into you until there is no question in your mind that you, and only you, belong to me.”
He lifted her off her feet and carried her to the bed. He set her down, facing away from him, and kissed her bare shoulder. “Get on your hand and knees.”
She glanced over her shoulder and gave him a questioning look. The last thing he wanted to do was claim her after what Ferdian had just attempted, but he needed to protect her and claiming her would help. In truth, he wanted her as his mate and the beast within could wait no longer.
He moved up behind her, his cock hardening at the sight of her lush ass bent up for the offering. The tiny silk nightgown she wore, without panties, slid higher, exposing the globes of her ass. He fought the urge to growl.
“Don’t be scared, Melanie. I love you, and I know how scared of me you were when you saw me in shifted form.” He motioned for her to look ahead. “I’ll enter you and I’ll bite your shoulder. The combination of me taking your blood in the heat of passion and coming in you marks you as mine—as my mate, as my wife.”
Her eyes widened. “You’re going to shift into a panther and fuck me?”
A manly chuckle escaped him. “No, honey. My teeth will shift and possibly,” his gaze slid lower, over his cock, “another area may increase, but that’s all. Not full cat. I promise.”
Radar Deception: 2016 Anniversary Edition (Immortal Ops Book 3) Page 16