Twin Dragons: Dragon Lords of Valdier Book 7 (17 page)

He tenderly ran his fingers over her hair as
she lay quietly against Cree’s chest before he looked into his
brother’s eyes. With a nod, he turned and silently left the room.
He strode through the house to the back door and opened it. With a
whisper of a thought, he called to the two symbiots to come to
him.

“We will need a place to rest for the night,
my friends,” Calo murmured. “The bedding in the house is not fit
for our mate. She needs a place that is clean and where she feels
safe.”

The two symbiots stepped through the door
and shook as they looked around. Calo smiled as they shifted their
shape again. This time into that of the dog that Melina had enjoyed
so much. He knew they would search out the best place to form a new
bed for her.

She sleeps, brother,
Cree called out
silently to him almost twenty minutes later.

The next morning, the shimmer of early
morning light and the sound of birds chirping woke Melina from the
first decent night's sleep that she’d had in years. She blinked
several times as she stared up at the high ceiling before she
remembered that she was home.

Her fingers ran along the silky covers as
she turned her head to look out the window. She gasped when the
covers moved under her fingers. Sitting up, she pushed her hair out
of her eyes and gazed down at the thin layer of gold covering her.
She twisted to see that the entire bed she was on was made up of
the symbiot.

“What?!” She exclaimed.

“The bedding was not fit for sleeping on,” a
voice said from the door. “You needed to be able to rest in
comfort.”

Melina’s eyes swept upward to meet Calo’s
dark gold eyes. A blush rose, turning her cheeks a light pink when
she saw the flames burning in them. Pulling the thin veil of
symbiot up, she drew her knees up and bit her lip.

“I thought you and Cree would have left by
now,” Melina replied in a soft, husky voice. “You’ve brought me
home. The longer you stay here, the more dangerous it is for you
both.”

Calo stepped into the bedroom that was
across the hall from Melina’s old room. A low rumble escaped him at
her words. He curled his fingers into a fist before relaxing them
as he slid onto the bed to sit next to her. Wrapping his hand
around the back of her neck, he stopped her from pushing away from
him.

“You are ours, Melina. You are our true
mate. The one made for us,” Calo told her in a husky voice filled
with need and longing. “We will give you this time to say goodbye,
but know this you will not be staying here.”

“I…,” she started to protest, stopping as he
leaned closer.

“You are ours to care for and protect,” he
whispered, staring intently into her eyes. “We need you, Melina. We
need you with a passion that burns through our blood to the very
core of our soul. You complete us.”

Her eyes fluttered closed as he leaned in
closer to press his lips against hers. This was her third kiss and
the second in two days. Nothing prepared her for the rush of
emotions that swamped her as his fingers threaded through her hair
to hold her still. Her hands fluttered upward to his broad chest. A
low moan escaped Calo at the feel of her hands against his body. He
wanted to rip his shirt off so he could feel her fingers against
his skin.

Calo, we have company,
Cree called to
him.

Calo pulled away with a curse. He knew his
dragon was close to the surface when Melina jerked backwards as he
released her. His eyes were not the only thing that has begun to
change. He felt the scales as they rippled up his neck.

“You…,” she gasped.

“Cree says we have company,” Calo
interrupted in a rough voice. “Stay here.”

“No,” Melina said, grabbing his hand as fear
for both of men swept through her. “It… it would be better for me
to go. Where is Cree?”

“He was in the building behind here where a
transport was parked,” Calo said with a frown.

“Tell him to stay there,” Melina said,
rolling off the bed. “Both of you stay hidden. I’ll take care of
this.”

“Melina,” Calo started to say.

“This is my world now,” Melina said, shaking
her head. “It is best if I take care of this.”

Melina wishes to take care of whoever is
here,
Calo growled in frustration.
She says to remain
hidden.

For now,
Cree agreed reluctantly.

For now,
Calo repeated, rising so he
could remain close to Melina in case she needed him.

*.*.*

Harry Johnson stared through the dusty
windshield of his truck as he pulled up in front of Cal Franklin’s
house. His face tightened with concern when he noticed the light by
the front door was off.

“Damn kids,” he cursed as he picked up his
old baseball cap and put it over his bald head. “Always getting
into stuff they shouldn’t.”

He had been taking care of the place ever
since Cal and his granddaughter, Melina, disappeared almost five
years ago. The police had searched high and low after he filed a
missing person’s report on them after Cal failed to show up for
their weekly card game.

It was as if the pair had just disappeared
off the face of the Earth. Harry grunted as he pushed open the
creaking door to his truck. He came over every other week to mow
the grass and stopped by every few days to check on the place to
make sure that no one broke into it.

He had caught two of the little snots that
lived further down the road breaking the front window out a month
ago. If he hadn’t come by that day they would have wrecked the
place with the baseball bats and spray paint they had on them. One
look at the wrong end of his shotgun had scared the shit out of the
two and word had spread that he would shoot any bastard that came
on the property.

He reached inside for the gun hanging from
the gun rack behind the seat when the door opened and a slender
figure stepped out of the house and onto the front porch. His hand
shook as he slowly straightened. Disbelief swept across his face as
the familiar figure, definitely more filled out than what he
remembered, hesitated at the edge of the stairs.

“Mel? Melina?” Harry called out hoarsely.
“Melina?”

“Hi Uncle Harry,” Melina responded with an
uncertain smile.

“I’ll be damned. Where’s Cal?” Harry
demanded, slamming the door to the truck. “And where in the hell
have you been all these years?”

*.*.*

Melina shook her head and stepped down the
steps. She rushed forward, winding her arms around her
grandfather’s best friend. She had known Harry all her life. He was
the same age as her grandfather had been.

“Hush, child,” Harry said soothingly as he
stroked Melina’s back as she weep. “Where’s Cal, sweetheart? What
happened to you?”

Melina pulled back and wiped at her wet
cheeks. “I’m sorry,” she said, giving a self-conscious laugh. “I
can’t seem to quit doing this. I would have thought I didn’t have
any more tears left in me.”

“Melina,” Harry said, gripping her forearms.
“Where’s your grandfather?”

Melina gave Harry a sad look and shook her
head. “He’s… gone.”

“Oh child,” Harry said as her eyes filled
with tears again. “What happened? Where did you go? The police
looked and there was nothing? It was as if you disappeared off the
face of the planet. I even had my son looking for you.”

Melina glanced back at the house. Her face a
mask of uncertainty. She knew Harry deserved the truth, but she
couldn’t risk Cree and Calo’s lives.

Both men took the decision out of her hands.
Calo stepped out onto the front porch at the same time as Cree
walked around the side of it. Melina, seeing them in the light of
the morning and in a setting that was both strange and familiar,
knew immediately that Harry would recognize that neither male
belonged on Earth.

“What the fuck?” Harry breathed as he stared
at the two men in shock.

*.*.*

Harry grunted his thanks as he accepted a
cup of hot tea. It was one of the few things that Melina found in a
tin in the kitchen cabinet. She decided not to trust any of the
other things. Tea didn’t expire, or at least she didn’t think
so.

She blushed as Calo pulled out a chair at
the dining room table for her. Cree was silently standing to the
side with his arms folded across his chest. His eyes never left
Harry’s face. She could have told Cree that if he was trying to
intimidate Harry, it wouldn’t work. Harry didn’t give a rat’s
behind about what anyone thought or expected of him unless he
wanted to.

“Where’s your grandfather, Melina?” Harry
demanded.

Melina’s eyes flickered to the square urn on
the shelf behind Harry. For once, a sense of calm swept over her as
she looked at it. Her grandfather was no longer here, but with her
mom, dad and grandmother. At last, the tears didn’t come again.

Harry turned to see what she glanced at and
blanched. His eyes moved from the Urn to Melina before moving to
the two men standing silently behind her. Neither one of them had
spoken yet.

“Did they kill him?” Harry asked
bluntly.

“No!” Melina gasped in horror. “Calo and
Cree had nothing to do with Gramps’ death. It was a heart attack.
He just collapsed. There was nothing that could be done. If it had
been possible to save him, they would have. Their technology is so
much…” Melina bit her lip, afraid she had said too much.

“So much more?” Harry asked, sitting forward
and folding his hands in front of him on the table. “Where were
you?”

“You can trust this human?” Calo asked from
behind her.

Melina turned slightly in her chair and
nodded. “Yes, he is like family. I’ve known him all my life and he
was Gramps’ best friend.”

Harry scowled as he listened to Melina speak
in English to the male behind while the male spoke in a dialect he
had never heard before. He shifted in his seat and glared back at
the man on the right. The man kept playing with the knife at his
side while his eyes never left Harry’s face, a dark warning burned
in his eyes cautioning Harry to be careful about upsetting Melina.
If he thought he could make it, he’d have scooped Melina into his
truck and hauled ass as fast as his old truck could go.

“Then, tell him,” Calo said quietly. “But
warn him that you will not be staying.”

“I haven’t said I was going either,” Melina
said in exasperation.

“You are,” Cree growled in a low tone.

Harry watched as Melina rolled her eyes at
the other male. He didn’t know what the hell they were saying,
well, except for Melina, but it sounded like they planned on taking
her with them somewhere. His eyes narrowed on them. In truth, he
couldn’t tell which one was the more dangerous. He had a feeling
either of them could snap him in half if they had a mind to.

“I can’t handle this right now,” Melina said
in a low voice, tiredly rubbing her forehead. “Just, let me
think.”

“Melina, are you in trouble? You know I’ll
do whatever I can to help you,” Harry said, reaching out to grasp
her hand.

He didn’t let go even when the man fingering
the knife straightened from where he had been leaning against the
wall. Harry shot the man a dirty look. Knife or not, he wasn’t
going to let the light of his best friend’s life be taken against
her will.

“No, I’m not in trouble,” Melina said with a
sigh as she gripped Harry’s hand in reassurance. “Harry, what I’m
about to tell you is going to be unbelievable. Gramps and I… well,
we decided that maybe we shouldn’t tell anyone about what happened.
I knew he would tell you eventually if he was here. You were not
only his best friend, but family to us.”

Harry didn’t know what to say so he just
squeezed Melina’s slender hand in his. He waited as she drew in an
unsteady breath. Her eyes flickered to the window and she gazed
outside, as if she was lost in thought before she began
speaking.

“Remember the night we met you in town to
have dinner at the diner?” Melina began, turning to study Harry’s
face as she spoke. She smiled when he nodded. “That is the night
Gramps and I were taken. We had arrived home a little after nine
that night. It was a beautiful night, cold though…”

*.*.*

Cree and Calo listened intently as Melina
described how she and her grandfather had arrived home late that
night so long ago. She had jumped out of the truck and opened the
doors to the old garage so her grandfather could drive the truck
in.

She had waited for several minutes before
she went inside to see why it was taking her grandfather so long to
come out of the garage. When she entered, the door had closed
behind her, blocking out the little light that had been cast from
the light above the door. She moved to turn on the lights on the
inside the garage, but before she could a sharp shock had struck
her.

The next time she woke, she and her
Grandfather had been placed in a small room with several other
creatures. For the next two months, they had barely survived the
conditions on board the trader’s transport.

The lack of privacy was the least of their
concerns. It was the lack of food, the cold, and the fear that they
would be killed at any moment that prevented them from getting very
much rest. She and her Grandfather took turns keeping watch after
Melina was attacked.

We will find and kill this trader,
Cree told his brother.
I want to hear him beg for his life
before I kill him.

You are not the only one,
Calo
replied.
I wonder if this is the same one that took Vox’s
mate?

Cree’s dragon chuckled.
Kitty eat
trader.

Yes, if there is anything left of him
after Riley gets done with him,
Calo laughed.
Perhaps that
would be more rewarding.

“Gramps had his knife with him,” Melina
murmured. “He killed the creature. After that, the others stayed
away from us.”