If he agreed, he was approving of them taking the human female without her consent. Yet, if he refused, he was sentencing the Twin Dragons to death. His own dragon stirred enough to remind him of what it felt like to know that he had a true mate and the fear and darkness when he thought he might lose her.
“You know Carmen is going to kill me for this, don’t you?” Creon asked with a quirk of his lips.
A smile tugged at Cree’s lips in return. “I don’t think so,” he replied. “She understands what is at stake.”
“I’ll get Jaguin and Gunner to accompany me,” Creon said with a nod. “Be careful. It is imperative to our future visits that the humans are not aware that we have been here.”
“As always, my Lord,” Cree said as he started to turn.
“And Cree,” Creon called out.
“Yes.”
“I’m pleased that you and your brother have found your true mate,” Creon said. “You both deserve it.”
Cree’s face tightened for a moment before he relaxed. “The war is not won yet, my Lord.”
Creon watched as Cree turned and strode down the corridor. The warrior moved with an ease that belied just how deadly he could be in battle. Creon couldn’t help but think of the struggles he was having with his own mate.
“No, it is not won yet, but you and your brother will win. Never in history has a set of Twin Dragons been given the gift of a true mate until now. I have fought at the side of both you and your brother. You will win, my friend,” Creon muttered as he turned to step into the lift.
Chapter 17
Melina stood quietly, looking around the repair bay one last time. She had her arms wrapped around the only two things that she cared about; the delicately carved container holding her grandfather’s ashes and the Teddy Bear. Her Nana’s floppy hat sat on her head. There was nothing else for her to take. The few items that they had collected over the last four years couldn’t be taken back to Earth.
The door slid open, telling her it was time to leave. She knew instinctively who would be standing in the opening. She felt both men before they came in. Over the past week, it had been harder and harder for her to ignore them. Despite what she had said earlier, she didn’t want them to leave her alone. She was so tired of being alone.
“Melina,” Calo said softly. “When you are ready, we will depart.”
She drew in a shuddering breath and turned. Her heart melted at the sight of the two men standing like silent sentinels by the door. A wobbly, uncertain smile curved her lips upward as she stared at them.
“I haven’t been very nice to either of you,” she said quietly. “My mom and Nana would be disappointed in me for having such bad manners. You both have been very sweet and I want… I want to thank you for everything that you’ve done. I know… I know I haven’t… I haven’t…” Her voice died and she looked down at the floor, blinking rapidly to push the tears away.
A faint gasp escaped her when a pair of callused hands caressed her cheeks. She looked up to see both men standing in front of her. It was the first time they had touched her. Cree’s thumb stroked across her cheekbone, while Calo’s touched her bottom lip.
“You do not have to thank us,” Calo murmured. “We are here to help you, Melina.”
Melina trembled as she stared into the golden flames burning in each man’s eyes as they stared down at her. Her head tilted to the side, seeking the warmth of Cree’s hand as he started to remove it. Her eyes locked with his and for a moment, she saw the sad, but determined little boy from the images the symbiots had shown her.
“We will escort you back to your home so that you may place your grandfather’s remains with his mate,” Cree said tenderly. “We will be there for you.”
Melina’s lips trembled and she stepped into their warm embrace. She felt like the little dragon on her pendant, cocooned between the two large males. She rested her forehead against Calo’s chest and breathed in his comforting scent.
“It hurts,” she mumbled in a shaky breath. “It hurts so much. I miss him.”
*.*.*
“It will be alright, Melina,” Cree murmured as he moved to hold her from behind.
His eyes softened as she sniffed and nodded, but did not pull away. He tenderly rubbed his hand along her hip as she leaned against his brother. Her grief pulled at him in a way he had never felt before. This is what it meant to have a mate. To feel with such a depth that you were lost.
He cared about his brother and parents, but this was different. He hurt with her; for her. He and Calo towered over her, yet she fit between them as if she was made for them.
“I’m ready,” she choked, pushing back from Calo and against him. “I… I’m sorry. I just can’t seem to quit crying.”
“I have to admit it is better than having Pactor dung slung at me,” Calo commented, grimacing when Cree groaned. “I mean, almost. I… Oh, Dragon’s Balls. I’m not very good at this.”
Melina gave a tearful chuckle. “I know what you meant,” she said, resting her hand lightly on his arm. “It is easier to clean up. At least your shirt will dry in a few minutes. It took me almost an hour to scrub everything before.”
“One of these days, we need to talk to you about that,” Calo teased. “You are very good at throwing it.”
Melina sniffed again, but this time she smiled. “Gramps signed me up for Little League when I was younger,” she chuckled. “I was pretty good at it after mucking out the stables we used to have.”
“Now she tells us!” Calo laughed, looking at Cree.
What in the Dragon’s Balls is Little League? Calo asked silently.
I don’t know, but it made her laugh. Keep saying things that don’t make sense, Cree responded with a smile.
“How am I going to get home without everyone knowing?” Melina asked as she walked between Cree and Calo.
“You have nothing to worry about,” Calo said with a grin. “We are very good at getting in and out of places unseen, isn’t that right Cree?”
“Yes,” Cree replied. “No one will see us.”
“Us? I… you really are going to take me?” Melina whispered, stopping to stare at them in surprise. “I thought…”
Cree reached out and ran the back of his fingers down her pale cheek. Now that he had finally touched her, he couldn’t seem to get enough. He wanted more, a lot more.
Mate, his dragon purred. Claim.
Claim. Cree’s eyes jerked to Calo at the time as the word brushed through Calo. Claim. Dragon’s Fire. Both of their eyes swept back down to Melina’s slender figure.
“Dragon’s Balls!” They both cursed out loud at the same time.
*.*.*
Melina didn’t know what was going on, but something had happened back in the corridor. After both men had cursed, they had turned and guided her down to the large bay where she and her Gramps had first come on board the Horizon. Her arms tightened around the beautiful container holding his remains and her eyes burned again.
She blinked rapidly. At first it was to push back the never-ending flow of tears, but it soon changed to amazement as Cree and Calo’s symbiots raced ahead of them. Her jaw dropped open when the two symbiots merged at the last minute and began to shift, expanding outward until a sleek fighter stood where they had been.
“What… what is that?” She breathed, gazing at the large golden fighter. “How… what… that… oh, my!”
Calo laughed as he stepped closer to the golden fighter. A door dissolved on the side, leaving an opening wide enough for them to enter. Calo bowed and held his hand out.
“Your fighter awaits, my lady,” Calo said with a mischievous grin.
Melina’s arms tightened around the urn and the Teddy Bear she clutched to her chest. She wasn’t sure about this. She stepped closer and peeked her head through the opening. Surprise lit her face as she saw how roomy it was inside. She tilted her head and glanced up at Calo.
“There’s no guts,” she noted with a relieved grin. “It won’t be li
ke stepping inside a giant whale.”
“No, no guts,” Calo agreed with a chuckle.
*.*.*
He slid his hands around her waist and lifted her inside. Stepping up, he followed her, sliding his hand down to clasp hers. He pulled her toward the front. He waited as a seat rose up to form under her before he turned to sit in the one that formed for him. A third seat formed between and slightly behind them for Cree.
The front shimmered and colors swirled for a moment before it became translucent. Melina started when thin gold bands wrapped across her lap, then across her chest. She turned to glance at Cree. The same golden bands were wrapped around him.
“This is amazing,” she said, craning her head to look up at the ceiling. “What are they made of?”
“The blood of the Goddess’,” Cree said. “It is a gift given to a warrior when he is born.”
“Do girls get one?” Melina asked, rubbing her fingers along the shimmering surface. “It is so soft. It feels and acts like it is alive.”
“It is alive,” Calo said. “This is Twin Dragons. Request clearance for takeoff.”
“Twin Dragons, clearance approved,” a voice responded. “Safe travels, warriors.”
“It is rare for a female to have a symbiot. Normally, only a male is gifted with one so that it may grow along with him and learn to protect him in times of war and help protect his true mate should he find her,” Cree explained while Calo connected with their symbiots so he could guide them. “The symbiots grow as the warrior does, becoming more powerful as it matures.”
“How… what does it eat? I’ve never seen them eat,” Melina asked curiously, stroking the arm of the chair with her right hand.
“Goddess, help me,” Calo groaned as they shot out through the side of the Horizon.
“What’s wrong?” Melina asked, alarmed at the guttural groan.
“When you stroke our symbiot, it is like you are stroking us,” Cree explained in a husky voice. “It is part of Calo’s symbiot that formed the chair you are sitting in. Even so, as twins, I feel much of what he feels. They feed off the essence of us and our dragons. One without the other cannot survive.”
“Oh,” Melina whispered, staring down at the swirling colors. Unable to resist, she touched it again and earned another groan from Calo. “Oh.”
Cree chuckled as Melina’s face turned a fiery red as she stared at his brother’s tortured expression. Her eyes swept down Calo’s body and her eyes widened when she saw the bulge in the front of his pants. Unable to resist, he leaned forward and tilted her head around to face him.
“You have no idea how dangerous you are, do you?” Cree muttered before he brushed her lips with his.
Chapter 18
Melina stood in the shadows of the early evening staring up at her old house. Clumps of grass grew from different areas of the gravel driveway in front of the house. Someone had mowed the yard, but all the flower beds and trees were overgrown.
The chairs that had been on the front porch were gone and one of the windows in the front was boarded up. She noticed that the porch light was on as well. She walked slowly up the stone steps and onto the wooden porch. Her hand shook as she touched the ‘No Trespassing’ sign taped to the front door.
“The door is locked,” Calo murmured. “I can take care of that.”
“It’s okay,” Melina said quietly. “Gramps hid a key in case we got locked out.”
She turned to the little bird box that was nailed high on the wall. She frowned when she realized that she couldn’t reach it without setting the urn and the Teddy Bear down. She looked at Cree who came to stand next to her.
“A key should be taped to the back of the bird box,” Melina said.
Cree reached over and pulled the box away from the wall. A small piece of gray tape was stuck to the back of it. He pulled it loose. On the other side was a key. He carefully pulled the tape off and stepped up to the door. He inserted it into the lock and turned it.
“The same key fits the top lock as well. We hadn’t even made it inside before we were taken,” she explained. “We had just come from town. Gramps needed some more one and a half inch nails to fix some of the boards that were coming loose on the barn. We met Uncle Harry, my Grandfather’s best friend, at one of the diners in town for dinner before coming home that night.”
She paused as Cree opened the door and stepped inside. She hesitated before walking in behind him. Calo followed, closing the door behind them. For a moment, she stood lost in time as she remembered what the house used to look like.
The ghosts of her mom and Nana in the kitchen preparing dinner while her dad and Gramps talked about current news or what was going on in town as they sat on the couch seemed surreal. She glanced around the living room, noting the broken glass behind the boarded up window. Her eyes moved to the old dining room table.
A light film of dust coated it now. Her Nana and mom had kept it polished until she could see her reflection in the glossy surfaces as she did her homework. She walked slowly across the living room to the table.
Setting the urn down, she took off her floppy hat and set in on the table next to the urn. She held onto the Teddy Bear as she walked into the kitchen. The few dishes that they had used for breakfast that morning, still sat in the drainer. She walked over and opened the refrigerator. The light from inside illuminated the gloomy kitchen. It was cold, but empty.
She made her way around the room, opening and closing cabinets. There were a few expired cans of food and a tin of tea bags, but otherwise they were empty. Someone must have come and cleaned everything out when they realized that she and Gramps weren’t coming back, probably Harry.
Cree and Calo followed her as she walked silently through the house. They paused to study the pictures hanging on the walls or set in frames on the mantle. The house was laid out in a sprawling manner with the living area on one side of the house and the sleeping area on the other.
They followed as she went down the hallway to the last door and disappeared through it. The soft glow of a light clicked on. Calo paused at the door, holding his hand out to stop Cree. Instinctively, they knew this had been her bedroom.
“Melina,” Cree started to say, concerned when he saw her on the floor near the bed.
“Wait,” Calo murmured, watching as she pulled a box out from under it.
“It’s still here,” she whispered, relieved.
“What is it?” Cree asked curiously, pushing past his brother’s restraining arm and kneeling down next to her on the floor. “What is it? He asked again.
Melina glanced up at him with dazed eyes, as if she had forgotten he and Calo were there. She turned and sat down with her back to the bed on the floor, uncaring of the dust on it. She pulled the Teddy Bear that she had set down on the floor next to her onto her lap before pulling the shoebox onto her outstretched knees.
She opened the box that was filled to the top. Dozens of pictures were neatly stacked on top. She pulled them out, one at a time, and studied them for several minutes.
“This was me when I was born,” she told him with a shy smile.
Calo stepped into the room and sat on the other side of her on the floor while Cree twisted and sat on her right. He took the first picture from her and studied the young couple holding an infant wrapped in a colorful blanket. One picture after another, then one item after another came lovingly out of the box.
Melina told them a simple story to go with each. It wasn’t until she reached the very bottom that her voice became thick with emotion. She gently unwrapped a delicate, dried flower wrapped in a piece of pink paper. Her fingers ran over the faded white petals before she carefully folded it back. Next was a yellowed piece of paper that had been cut and folded with the same care.
“My Nana, mom and dad were killed in a car accident coming home from Atlanta,” she whispered, touching the picture of her smiling parents. “I was eleven. I had stayed with Gramps to help with the horses. He rented stalls out. I loved hanging wit
h him and didn’t want to go on a long, boring ride. They were picking my Nana up from the airport. She was coming home from visiting with some friends in Texas.”
“I… we are sorry for your loss, Melina. Your parents looked very happy,” Calo said, taking the paper from her.
“They were. Life changed so much after they were gone,” she said in a solemn voice. “It was just Gramps and… me. Now… now, it’s just… me.”
“Never just you, Melina,” Calo tenderly replied. “You will never be alone again if Cree and I can prevent it.”
Cree reached for Melina as she began to cry again. Calo removed the box and Teddy Bear so his brother could pull her onto his lap. He carefully repacked all the items back into the shoebox as Cree held Melina tightly against him and let her release the grief inside her. Instead of placing it back under the bed, he stood up and set it on the nightstand next to the bed. They knew she needed this time to help her heal.
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.
Chapter 19
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.