“I’ll order for Mel,” Cal said briskly. “The boy doesn’t eat much.”
“He needs to eat more,” Calo bit out gruffly. “He is too small for his age as it is. How will he become a strong warrior if he doesn’t start eating. Maybe Cree and I can work with him on developing his strength and fighting skills.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Cal responded. “Carmen is going to ask her mate if he will return us to our world. Mel will be fine the way he is once we get home.”
Calo hoped that Mel would speak up. They had never approached him about trying to train him before. They had never had a chance to! Every time they got somewhat close to him, he would run or throw things at them. Calo hoped mentioning their desire to work with him might have at least drawn some type of response to their offer. Instead, they were both met with a stony silence from the end of the table… again.
The frustration over the last few weeks finally became more than he could stand. It was as if the Goddess was laughing at their hope of keeping their sanity. Perhaps this was just their screwed up desires of wanting to find a true mate. Whatever it was, he was tired of feeling the overwhelming hopelessness. How he and Cree ever expected such a relationship to work out in the first place was ridiculous.
“Perhaps that’s for the best,” Calo finally said in a quiet tone. “If you don’t mind, I am not hungry. I will patrol the area outside.”
Cree stood as well. “I will take the back. We will leave our symbiots with you. If you need anything, just call out. We will be close.”
*.*.*
Melina’s gaze followed the twins as they left. She vaguely heard Carmen excuse herself to go to the bathroom as their food was delivered. Her mind was a rush of confusing thoughts as she glanced back and forth, hoping to catch a glimpse of where the men had gone.
Once again, they had surprised her with their offer. It was the little things that they did that confused her. Their concern for her welfare and wanting to train her. Their symbiots bringing her clothing and other items, like the Teddy Bear and numerous trinkets, and the golden bracelets that connected her with them.
Today, Calo had been concerned when she had become distracted and fallen too far behind. He worried that she would be taken. Then, Cree wanting to know what she wanted to eat. He didn’t ask Carmen. His eyes had been on her and they had looked… worried.
This, followed by Calo’s comment about her being too thin and suggesting again that they work with her, had her feeling things that made her feel good and scared at the same time. It was as if they… cared about her, as a person, and not just as a lost human boy in a strange universe.
Just before Calo left, he had sounded… sad. It was as if she had hurt him somehow by not speaking up. Melina bit her lip as tears burned the back of her eyes. She didn’t want to hurt them. She wanted…
Melina jerked when the two symbiots next to her suddenly moved closer to her as Zuk called out an order to her grandfather. She had been so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t understand what was happening. Her head swiveled as Calo came running in the front as Cree came in through the back entrance. Harvey, Carmen and Creon’s symbiot, was moving through the tables, knocking food and drink everywhere.
“What is it?” Calo asked as he broke through the crowd of patrons in his way.
Cree stepped quietly from the back entrance. “Marastin Dow,” he snarled in disgust. “Several of their warships are attacking a freighter. Two of them actually had the nerve to fire on the Horizon.”
Calo’s curse filled the air as he looked around. “They didn’t take Carmen out the front,” he replied harshly.
“Or the back,” Cree said. “They must have beamed her to their ship. They must be working with someone within the Spaceport authority. They never would have been able to beam out otherwise.”
Melina watched as Cree pressed his comlink and informed the Horizon of the situation. She was seeing him and Calo in a different light now. These were dangerous men. Men would and could kill anyone who got in their way. A shiver raced through her at the thought of what it would be like if she belonged to them.
Them… both of them, she gasped, staring in shock as she began to understand what had been happening to her over the last few weeks. I… I’m beginning to care about them… both of them.
“Get a security team to the authority tower. I want all ships locked down. No one is allowed to leave until they have been thoroughly searched,” Cree instructed. “Creon’s mate has been taken by the Marastin Dow.”
Melina watched dazed as Calo pushed through the crowd, following Harvey.
“Zuk, take Cal and his grandson back to the ship,” Calo yelled over his shoulder before he ran out of the bar.
Melina’s eyes locked with Cree’s as he paused in front of Zuk. She shrank back from the possessive look in them. Something told her that she would not be able to hide who she really was from them much longer. His look promised that.
“Stay with the boy,” Cree instructed his symbiot. “Protect him at all cost.” He turned to stare at Zuk, who was standing next to the table. “I will hold you personally responsible for their safety,” he muttered before he called to his brother’s symbiot.
*.*.*
Later that night, Melina paced back and forth in front of the pen holding Hobbler. Cree’s symbiot was lying next to Hobbler watching her as she moved back and forth, too full of nervous energy to relax. She glanced up when the door opened and her grandfather walked in.
“Have you heard anything? Are they back?” She asked anxiously. “Cree, Calo? Are they okay? Did they find Carmen? Is she alright?”
“Yes, they are back. Everyone is safe and sound. They even found some more humans! I swear the universe is full of us,” Cal said, wrapping his arms around her when she threw herself into his arms and burst into tears. “What is this all about?”
“I don’t know, I don’t understand all the feelings inside me,” she sniffed before she pulled back and looked up into her granddad’s eyes. “I need someone to talk to, Gramps. I don’t understand what is happening to me.”
Cal sighed as he saw the pleading for understanding and help in Melina’s eyes. He remembered the same look in his son’s eyes when he came to tell him and Buella May that he had fallen in love. Hank had loved Marjorie from the moment they met while working at the local grocery store together.
“You can talk to me, Melina,” he said quietly as he brush her thick hair back from her face. “You have feelings for the warrior, don’t you sweetheart?”
“Warriors,” she replied, looking nervously at her grandfather. “Gramps, I don’t understand how. I know it is wrong to lov… like them both. What am I going to do? How is it possible? I haven’t even talked to them, but I can’t stop thinking about them. I want to speak to them so bad and… I want them to see me as a woman, not a boy.” The last words came out a little on the pouting side.
Cal chuckled as he led Melina over to the chairs. He waited until she sat down before he pulled a chair up so that their knees were touching. He picked up her slender hands in his and turned them over. Callouses marred her young skin. He thought for several moments before he began to speak.
“If you had asked me if it was wrong five years ago, I would have said yes, without a second thought,” he admitted, looking up into her eyes as he spoke so she knew he was telling her the truth. “Five years ago, the universe was a small piece of land in Clayton, Georgia. I didn’t think outside of that and you. When we were first taken, I worried about what would happen to you if we were separated. I cursed at God for taking so much from me. I had lost your mother and my son and my beautiful Buella May. I couldn’t lose you, too. But, what scared me even more is what if I died and you lost me? You’d be all alone in a strange world.”
“Gramps,” Melina whispered, squeezing his withered hands in hers.
Cal shook his head. “As time passed, I lost hope, child. I stopped believing. But, you… every time I looked at you I saw hope and be
auty and faith that everything would work out. During the months that we were alone on the asteroid, I realized that you were growing up to be as beautiful as your mom and Nana had been. Only, you would never know what it was like to love or to be loved the way Hank loved your mom and I loved your Nana,” he said. “You still never gave up. You didn’t give up on that Pactor and you didn’t give up when the replicator died.”
“I couldn’t,” Melina whispered. “I had to believe that it wasn’t my time to die. There was so much I wanted to live for.”
“I like to believe it was that faith that brought these aliens to the asteroid. I’d also like to believe it was that faith that has guided these two warriors to you,” Cal continued. “I don’t think you would have been attracted to two men like Cree and Calo unless you could handle both of them. Perhaps it is the universe’s way of telling me that you will always be protected.”
“But…” Melina started to say as her cheeks turned to a fiery red. “They think I’m a boy.”
“Maybe consciously they might, but subconsciously they realize that you aren’t really. They care about you, Melina,” Cal said quietly. “I see it in the way they look at you, the way they try to protect you, and the way they try to take care of you. I’ve also seen the way you look at them.”
Melina ducked her head. Her hair fell forward to cover her burning cheeks. She thought she had been careful about concealing her emotions. Her granddad was a lot more observant than she realized.
“But, there are two of them,” she mumbled. “I… Isn’t that wrong… to lo… like both of them.”
Cal squeezed Melina’s hands again and waited for her to look up at him. Hell, he meant what he said earlier. If they had been having this conversation five years ago or if they had never been abducted by aliens, he would have had a lot of ideas about how wrong it was.
But, now, he realized that the universe was a lot bigger and meaner than he ever dreamed it could be. If he had a choice of having two warriors caring for and protecting Melina or one, he’d pick two in a heartbeat. He would do anything and everything to protect her and make her happy. They both had lost too much to live by the rules any longer.
“Melina,” he said gently. He smiled at her when she looked up at him. “It’s natural to be attracted to a good looking man or two. I just want what makes you happy.”
“But, we’re going home,” Melina pointed out. “Creon, and even Carmen, said that we would probably be taken back home.”
“Yes,” Cal replied with a heavy heart. “I admit, I miss visiting with your Nana. I always planned to be buried with her.”
Tears burned in Melina’s eyes as she saw her grandfather’s cloudy eyes glisten for a moment as he thought of her grandmother. As much as she was attracted to the two men here, she knew that her grandfather needed her more. Besides, she tried to reason, it was ridiculous to think that it could ever work out.
No, she would go back home to Georgia and forget this ever happened. She’d meet a nice boy from town. Heck, Stuart might still be available and she’d settle down where she belonged. She would be there for Gramps and visit her Nana and parents' graves on Sunday after church like they did before all this happened. And one day, one day she would think of all of this as a bad dream.
“I miss her and momma and daddy, too,” Melina murmured. “This is just an infatuation, Gramps. I’m just lonely, is all. Once we get home, things will be different.”
“I just want you safe and happy, Melina,” Cal replied. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
“I know,” Melina said, sitting forward and kissing her grandfather’s withered cheek. “Why don’t I fix us an early dinner. You seem tired tonight.”
“If you don’t mind, I think I’d just like to call it a night,” Cal admitted, rubbing his chest. “I only ate a little at lunch, but it hasn’t sat very well.”
“You were braver than I was,” Melina admitted. “Sweet dreams, Gramps.”
“You too, child,” Cal said as he rose and headed for the office-slash-bedroom. He turned at the door to look at her as she moved to make sure Hobbler was taken care of for the night. “Melina.”
“Yes, Gramps,” Melina said, turning to look at him.
“I love you, you know that, don’t you?” Cal asked. “I want you to know I’m proud as hell of you, too.”
Melina’s expression softened as she stared back at her granddad. “I love you too, Gramps. More than the whole universe.”
“Goodnight, sweetheart,” Cal said before he disappeared through the door.
“Goodnight, Gramps,” Melina whispered as she tenderly stroked the Pactor that was nuzzling against her. “I’m proud as heck of you, too.”
Chapter 13
Melina patted Hobbler as the Pactor pushed her head against her shoulder. It had been an hour since her grandfather had gone to bed, but she wasn’t sleepy. She was still too wound up from worrying about Carmen, Cree, and Calo and her growing feelings for the two men to sleep.
Another concern was Hobbler. The baby Pactor was beginning to grow with the steady supply of food Zuk kept bringing her. It wouldn’t be long before they would have to move again if the Pactor continued to grow at her current rate. Melina was just thankful that Creon Reykill finally allowed her to bring Hobbler.
Melina let her mind replay the conversation she and her grandfather’s had earlier. She had to do something because it was getting harder and harder to pretend she wasn’t aware of Cree and Calo when they were close. One thing was for sure, her feelings for the two warriors was driving her crazy. She couldn’t stop thinking about them. Of course, it didn’t help that the golden creatures kept sending her image after image of the men until they haunted her day and night.
Patting Hobbler one more time, she reset the electronic fencing. Glancing around for something else to do to pass the time, she spotted the shovel and mop. Walking over, she picked them up and headed for the storage closet on the other side of the bay. She had just stored the items when the outer door opened.
Surprised that anyone would come to visit at this time of the evening, she stepped out of the dim corner. Relief and joy swept through her when she saw both Cree and Calo standing inside the doorway. She seldom saw them at the same time as one or the other was almost always with Carmen.
As if they could feel her gaze, they both turned at the same time to stare at her with an intensity that took her breath away. Their tall, dark forms, dressed more casually than she normally saw them, sent a shiver of need rushing through her body.
Cree had on a pair of light, tan colored pants and a soft, black long sleeve shirt while Calo wore black pants and a dark, navy blue long sleeve shirt. They both had their hair pulled back away from their face. Seeing both of them standing together, it made her appreciate how some of the girls back home used to squeal when one of the guys would look at them.
Her body heated and liquid pooled low between her legs when she thought of what it would be like to feel their hands against her skin. She wanted both of them with a passion that was almost a physical pain. Her breasts hurt, she ached down low, and her breath was coming in small pants as images of them tangled around each other filled her mind.
Curling her fingers into her palm, she fought the overwhelming urge to rush to them like she had her grandfather earlier. She wanted so badly to beg them to take away the ache inside her. It didn’t help that the gold creatures were sending her images of the men without their clothes.
Like I really need any help with imagining that! She thought disgruntledly.
It took a minute for her to realize that they were not only talking to her, but they had been slowly walking toward her. She had been so lost in the fantasy of melting between them that she had let her guard down. Panic started to set in and she stumbled a step back.
“Don’t!” Cree ordered in a sharp, low voice before he spoke again in a softer tone. “Don’t be afraid. Please, we just wish to speak with you.”
Melina started to shake
her head, but the stupid thing suddenly had a mind of its own and instead she found herself nodding. She didn’t know who was more surprised, her or the two men standing almost four feet away from her. Her eyes flickered to the chairs to the left of them before returning to their face.
Both men carefully stepped back and motioned for her to go first. Tucking her chin, she stepped slowly toward them before picking up speed and hurrying over to the chairs. Grabbing one of them, she pulled it a little further away from the other three and sat down on the edge of it.
“Mel, can you look at us?” Calo asked softly as he pulled a chair a little closer to her. “Perhaps remove your hat so we can see your face?”
Melina shook her head furiously back and forth. A blush rose over her cheeks as she felt the brush of her shirt against her breasts. She muttered a silent curse her Gramps would have been proud of when she remembered she hadn’t bound them after taking her shower earlier.
Hunching forward, she tried to hide them behind her baggy shirt. She peeked up when both males were silent for several long moments. Both sat with their eyes closed and a painful expression on their face.
She bit her bottom lip to prevent herself from asking them what was wrong. Her eyes widened and her breath caught in her throat when they both opened their eyes at the same time. A feverish flame burned deep in both of them. If she ever wanted to know what it felt like to be a lamb set before a pair of lions, she had a pretty good idea now.
“Mel… Calo and I thought it might help you if we could train you,” Cree said in tight, but gentle voice as he sat forward in the chair he had taken. “We could help you, guide you.”
Melina tilted her head to show them that she was listening. She would have done anything just to keep them talking. Rolling her eyes at herself, she couldn’t help but think she was as bad as the school girls.
“We could show you a few defensive moves,” Calo added, nodding at Cree when Melina didn’t shake her head. “We could even have a uniform made for you. Something that fits you better.”