Twin Dragons: Dragon Lords of Valdier Book 7 (18 page)

“What happened? How did you survive?” Harry
asked, oblivious to the conversation that Cree and Calo were having
between them. “Did you have to live like that all this time?”

“No,” Melina said, pulling her hand out of
Harry’s and folding them in her lap. She silently wished she had
the Teddy Bear to hold onto as she remembered everything that
happened. “No, the trader sold us to an insect like species called
the Antrox that ran a mining operation on an asteroid. We were
there until the mine was abandoned.”

Harry jumped when a set of large golden
creatures suddenly walked into the room. One of them was carrying
something in its mouth. He froze when one of the creatures turned
to gaze silently at him. It opened its mouth and yawned.

“What the fuck?!” Harry hissed out in a
hoarse voice.

Melina giggled as Cree’s symbiot dropped the
Teddy Bear on the table next to her. She couldn’t resist turning
and wrapping her arms around it. She buried her face against the
golden symbiot for several seconds as warmth flowed through
her.

“Thank you,” she whispered, tenderly
stroking the smooth surface before pressing a gentle kiss between
its eyes. “I love you, too.”

The symbiot rubbed against Melina before
settling down to lie on the floor next to her chair. She turned and
whispered to Calo’s symbiot when it nudged her. She stroked her
fingers through the wavy mane before she turned back to look at
Harry, who was sitting across from her with his mouth hanging
open.

“They really are sweethearts,” she said,
pulling the Teddy Bear into her arms.

“Yeah, I can see that,” Harry muttered as
Cree’s symbiot gave him a sharp-tooth grin. “Just another farm
animal. How long were you on that mining asteroid?”

“Four years,” Melina replied. “Gramps and I
were the only ones left. Well, except for a baby Pactor I named
Hobbler because she was born with a deformed front foot. They used
Pactors to pull the mining carts. I guess it was easier to use them
than to use machinery for some reason. I never understood why.
Gramps convinced the trader, then the Antrox that I was a crazy boy
who wasn’t right in the head. The fact that I was good with the
Pactors was a bonus. No one wanted to mess with them because they
can be as difficult as Bruno, your old mule, could be and they
aren’t the most pleasant smelling creatures either.”

“So, how the hell did you end up with them?”
Harry asked, jerking his head toward where Cree and Calo stood.
“And how long has Cal been gone?”

Harry felt like kicking his own ass when he
saw tears fill Melina’s eyes. The twin growls of disapproval coming
from the two men behind her made him wonder if they were going to
save him the opportunity.

It amazed him when Melina glanced over her
shoulder and shook her head at the two men. As if a light switch
had been turned from on to off, their posture changed from one of
ready to kill to concern. He swallowed at the tender look in both
their eyes. There was some serious chemistry going on between the
three of them.

“We were down to the last few days of food
and water. The replicator I had found had finally died, as well.
Gramps didn’t say anything, but I knew by the sections that he had
closed off that the air was slowly becoming contaminated. We were
about to search the mines for left over materials again when the
alarms sounded and warriors from the
Horizon
landed. Prince
Creon Reykill, of the Valdier, is married to a human woman. He
promised to return Gramps and me, only… only Gramps… Gramps didn’t
make it. He died a little over a week ago. He hadn’t… hadn’t been
feeling good. He refused to see the Doctor on board. I think
because of me. He was afraid that they would find out I was a woman
and… Harry, it’s all my fault! Gramps wouldn’t seek help because of
me, I just know it.”

Melina buried her face in the Teddy Bear as
soft sobs escaped her. He watched as both men immediately went to
her. The one that had been fingering the knife was like a different
man as he tenderly picked Melina up in his arms as if she weighed
no more than the Teddy Bear she was clutching. His heart swelled
with love as she turned her face into the male who was cradling her
against his heart.

Harry stood on the front porch looking out
over the long drive leading to the main road. He rubbed his hand
tiredly over his face. Sorrow pulled on him as he thought of what
his friend and Melina must have gone through the last few years.
Their life had never been easy. Hell, both he and Cal had been in a
damn war, but this was beyond anything they had been trained to
handle.

He turned when the front door opened and one
of the men stepped out. He turned back to look back over the yard.
He had an alien at his back and a… WTF in front of him making sure
he didn’t go anywhere. Since he didn’t know what the golden
creatures were called, he decided WTF pretty much was the perfect
description of them.

There were times in life when he really
missed the fact that he had quit smoking and this was one of them.
Hell, pipes weren’t all that bad. Not when you compared them to
things like aliens, traders, Antrox… a shiver ran down his spine.
He didn’t have a clue what half the aliens might have looked like,
but he had seen a few documentaries about them. That was close
enough for him.

He jerked in surprise when one of the
creatures that had been lying in front of him suddenly stood up and
moved a short distance away. He rubbed his eyes when the thing
changed shape right in front of him. A startled curse escaped him
when a hand wrapped around his upper arm and he found himself being
propelled toward the beast.

“Oh hell, no,” Harry cursed loudly when a
hole opened in the side of it. “I’m not…”

*.*.*

Calo knew the human would resist. That was
why he decided the element of surprise would be the best course of
action. Cree was talking with Melina. Neither one of them had
suspected that she felt responsible for her Grandfather’s
death.

“Do you understand what I am saying to you?”
Calo asked.

“I… yes, I understand you. I don’t know how
in the hell I can, but I understand you,” Harry said, turning and
folding his arms across his chest. “Who the hell are you and what
is going on between you and your brother and Mel?”

“Melina,” Calo corrected. “Her name is
Melina.”

“I know her name is Melina,” Harry snapped.
“I changed her damn diapers when Cal was left to babysit her. He
loved her to bits, but dirty diapers turned him greener than hot
horse shit on a summer afternoon. Now, tell me what the hell is
going on.”

Calo tilted his head and grinned. “You talk
like Cal.”

“I should, I spent enough time around him,”
Harry muttered with a sigh as he dropped his arms to his side. “Is
she okay?”

“She will be. We did not realize that she
blamed herself for Cal’s death. Cree was one of the first to
arrive. We had been talking with the… with Cal. His heart gave out
and there was nothing that could be done to save him,” Calo
explained. “My brother and I are known as Twins.”

“No shit, Einstein. I think I figured that
out the second I saw you two,” Harry retorted sarcastically.

Calo’s eyebrow rose. This male was a LOT
like Cal. He wondered if it was a trait of older human males. He
would have to ask Carmen.

“Melina is our true mate,” Calo said.

“What the hell is a true mate?” Harry asked
in exasperation. “I know I’m understanding the words coming out of
your mouth, but I don’t understand the words coming out of your
mouth, if you understand what I mean.”

Calo frowned as he repeated what Harry just
said. He finally just shook his head. He tried to think of a better
way to explain it. Suddenly, he remembered the word that Melina had
used earlier.

“Melina is married to us,” Calo said
finally.

He watched as Harry’s mouth dropped open
before it closed, several times. He wondered what Harry was
searching for when he started patting his pants and his shirt.
Finally, the old man just released a long, deep hissing breath.

“Well, shit,” Harry muttered, looking at
Calo with dark, troubled eyes. “Did Cal know this?”

“Yes,” Calo said quietly. “Yes, and he said
he was glad we would be there for her.” It was true, he realized as
he thought back to the night Cal had asked them about their life
before.

“Well, double shit,” Harry muttered.

*.*.*

Melina carefully dried the last of the
dishes. Harry, bless his heart, had been on his way home from the
grocery store and decided to swing by to make sure the house was
okay. He had brought in the few groceries he had bought.

After vowing to not tell a soul about her
return yet, he agreed to meet her the next morning so he could
drive her to the cemetery a few miles from the house. She would
bury her Granddad next to her parents and Nana.

She sighed as she thought about her
conversation earlier with Cree. She thought she had finally gotten
a little more control over her emotions. She hadn’t cried once
during the four years she had been held captive and now she
couldn’t turn the stupid waterworks off.

Her heart warmed as she remembered his quiet
insistence that she was not to blame. He had been so tender, so
caring, as he held her. What really struck her was how right it had
felt to be in his arms.

She gasped when she felt a pair of warm
hands suddenly circle her waist. She immediately recognized Calo’s
touch. She didn’t know how she could tell the difference between
him and Cree, but she could.

A soft moan escaped her before she rolled
her eyes and turned in his arms. Turning around placed her in a far
more awkward position. A deep blush swept up her cheeks when she
felt the hard bulge pressing against her stomach.

“Calo,” she muttered, placing her hands on
his chest and staring at the Vee where his shirt was open. “I… this
is… I’m not so good at things like this.”

A low rumble escaped Calo as her fingers
curled against the material covering his chest. He tenderly touched
his fingers under her chin so that she would have to look at him.
He smiled in understanding at the look of doubt in her eyes.

“Neither is Cree,” he teased. “But, I am
very good at it.”

“I heard that, brother,” Cree said dryly
from behind Calo. “He is all talk. I am the one who is great at it.
He just dreams he is.”

Melina shook her head and giggled. Her dark
green eyes danced with mischief as Cree stepped closer. The smug
look on his face pulled another blush to her cheeks.

“So, how exactly did you get to be so great
at it?” Melina asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Cree, that is one of those questions Creon
warned us about,” Calo hissed under his breath. “You know, the one
about how big does her ass look in the pants.”

Cree frowned for a moment before his eyes
widened and he looked at Melina with an exaggerated look of alarm
on his face. He raised his hands up and shook his head. He couldn’t
quite keep the smile from curving his lips, though.

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “Vox got
shot by his mate for answering such a question. I do not wish to be
on the receiving end of your anger.”

“Yes, she throws Pactor dung,” Calo said in
a mock horror. “That is worse than being shot at.”

Melina laughed and curled her fist to hit
Calo lightly on the shoulder. “I only did that so you wouldn’t know
I was a girl. Besides, I was the one who cleaned it up! That was
definitely the worst end of it.”

She is beautiful when she laughs,
Cree whispered to his brother as he reached out to grasp Melina’s
hand.

Melina’s laughter turned to a gasp of
surprise as Cree pulled her out of his brother’s arms and into his.
Fire, unlike anything she had felt before, ignited inside her along
with a shaft of need so great it caused her body to throb. Liquid
pooled low between her legs as he captured her lips in a sizzling
kiss.

She is beautiful when she is on fire,
Calo responded in a husky voice.

“I can wait no longer,” Cree muttered as he
pressed kisses along Melina’s flushed skin down to her neck. “My
dragon can wait no longer.”

“Cree, no!” Calo jerked forward to stop his
brother, but he was too late.

Cree’s dragon roared in triumph as he swept
past the tight control Cree had kept on him. He had been waiting,
crouched, patient until the moment when he knew he could strike
before Cree could do anything. A shiver raced through him as he
poured his fire into his mate. There would be no stopping him from
having his mate any longer.

Cree groaned as the sweet taste of Melina’s
blood flowed over his tongue. He only meant to tease her, make her
laugh some more, but once she was in his arms everything changed.
The fire in her kiss burnt through the thin veil of control that he
had been working hard to maintain.

The feel of her skin against his lips, the
taste of her, the beat of her pulse called to him. Her loud cry and
the sudden resistance as she struggled to pull away from him when
he first sank his teeth into her, pulled at his instinct to hunt,
capture, and claim. The Dragon’s Fire poured out of him and into
Melina’s blood stream the moment he pierced the fragile skin of her
neck.

No,
he roared at his dragon, but he
knew it was already too late.
No, you have doomed us
all.

Mate,
his dragon purred as he poured
his Dragon’s Fire into her.
Our mate now.

“Cree,” Melina whimpered, kneading his
shoulders as he continued to grip her in the iron bands of his
arms. “It… burns.”

Cree closed his eyes as he fought for
control. He was too far gone. His mind splintered by the knowledge
that if Melina was not truly their mate, or capable of handling two
powerful males, that they were all destined to die. There was no
going back.