by Maia Dylan
He could hear the Reyes brothers’ and Grant’s snarls and knew that they were dealing with the dozen men that seemed to come flowing out of nowhere and into the fray. He spun as a sharp pain sparked in his right side, and he knew he’d been shot. Seeing the bastard responsible, he ran directly at him, taking the second shot as a graze down his right flank. He leaped at the man and took him down. From the air pressure increasing around him, he knew that Melaina was getting her some, too.
Kyle was just about to race across the car park and deal with the snipers on the balcony, who seemed to be frozen in place, when he heard Melaina cry out. He spun in midair and ran in her direction. She was still staring at the men at the top of the balcony—obviously, whatever she was doing was holding them still and keeping them from firing their weapons—but she had left herself open to attack.
One of the guards who had been standing near Tomas and Diego had stepped up and was currently swinging a knife at her, over and over, in a crazed and frenzied attack. His eyes were vacant and Kyle got the feeling that he wasn’t actually aware of what he was doing as Melaina was fighting back, landing punches and kicks that should have rocked the bastard, but nothing fazed him, and he continued to slash at her.
“Fuck, Kyle, can you get to her?” Grant’s voice was pain-filled and a spike of concern rocked Kyle, but in that moment, he couldn’t risk going to him. Melaina needed him.
He ran forward, leaping on the man and going straight for his throat. Kyle’s suspicions that he wasn’t exactly aware of what was going on were confirmed when, rather than protecting his throat, the fucker just kept slashing with that blade. Kyle ended him as quickly as he could, but not before he sustained a few more injuries himself.
“Pepper! Don’t you fucking touch her again, Rafael.” Melaina shouted, anguish clear in her voice. Kyle spun to see what had happened and froze when he saw the back of one van had been opened and sitting tied to a chair in the center of it was a young woman with a riot of red curls. She was barely conscious, her face swollen and bleeding, and a man stood behind her with a Glock pressed to her temple and a gleam of arousal in his eyes.
“As you can see,” Aristos said as he stepped over to the van, “I hold all the cards. I have always held all the cards. Now, Melaina, come here!” When Melaina hesitated, Aristos merely lifted his hand and the fucker in the truck yanked hard on Pepper’s hair, pulling her head back sharply and making her cry out in pain.
All the wolves growled and snarled in protest. The Reyes brothers both moved with Kyle to form a line in front of his mate. He could scent her blood on the air and knew that she had been hurt.
“What a loyal dog you are,”—Aristos sneered—“to stand before your mate like that. But know this, Kyle Snow. Your brother lies bleeding out not ten feet from you. So what are you going to do? Remain standing in front of a woman you have only just met, and consign your brother to death? Or step aside, and do what’s right?”
Kyle reached for his brother down their link. His heart stuttered for a moment when he felt nothing, but then a wave of pain laced with anger came back. Grant was hurt, pissed, and alive. He growled lowly, letting all the anger he had fill the sound of his wolf’s hatred of the man before him.
“Kyle, stop.” Melaina’s voice came down their link for the first time, but the sadness in her tone had him stopping before he attacked. “Please, you can’t. Pepper.”
Kyle had never felt so torn. The man who had terrorized his mate stood before him, and more than anything he wanted to rip his throat from his neck and let his wolf bathe in the sick bastard’s blood. He turned to look at his mate, and the look on her face broke his heart. “Mate,” he heard inside the body of his wolf. Kyle flinched at the desperate tone in his voice. “Don’t make me do this. Don’t make me stand here and watch you walk to that insane bastard when I know the fucker is hell-bent on destroying you.”
“Kyle.” Grant’s voice was weak. “She has to.”
Melaina smiled sadly at him, her eyes filled with tears. “He’s right, I have to. And you have to let me do it.” Melaina’s eyes seemed to lose focus and she flinched slightly. Kyle growled, sensing that something was happening and it unsettled his wolf, and when she seemed to grin slightly before hiding it, Kyle’s confusion grew. “Pepper’s not as out of it as she seems. She is going to plant the compulsion in the men here, telling them that the two of you and the Reyes brothers are to be taken hostage, not killed. If I can, I will come for you.”
“Melaina!” Her father’s furious roar echoed around the car park. “I will not take this insubordination for much longer. Come to me. Now!”
Melaina’s gaze turned cold and Kyle knew. She stood up tall, her head high and her shoulders back. “As always, Father,” she spat out, contempt in her tone. “I will do as you ask. Not because I wish to obey, but because you hold the safety of someone I love over my head to ensure my compliance.”
Kyle growled low in his throat, furious as he watched his mate walk across the car park toward her father. He stepped forward and yelped when the guard nearest him slammed his weapon into his side. The Reyes brothers turned on the man but were taken down by darts to their sides. In moments, they were immobile on the ground and roaring in pain as their shift was forced. Then they simply lay still. Jax. It had to be Jax.
“Stop!” Melaina yelled, turning on the men and throwing her hand out in their direction. From the look of fear in his eyes, Kyle knew she was using her ability on the man. “You ever wonder what it would feel like to suffocate? Because I can make that happen, and if you touch that wolf again, I will end you.”
Aristos made a frustrated noise. “Why do you insist on disappointing me? Do you think these dogs should live? That I would allow them to continue to live? I will rid the world of this Grey River pack, one flea-ridden mongrel at a time.”
Melaina turned and stared her father down. Kyle felt an odd sensation within him moments before his body froze. It was the strangest thing he had ever felt. His body literally felt alien to him and he and his wolf both snarled in rage at the feeling. He sensed his mate and knew it was her.
“Melaina! You let me the fuck go. Now!”
She didn’t flinch or even turn to look at him, and Kyle could only stand and watch as his mate drew a flick knife from the pocket of her jeans and with a fast and practiced flick of her wrist, extended the blade. “You want me alive, you let them live. Your choice.”
Aristos raised an eyebrow at his daughter, raised his arm, and fired. Kyle snarled at the white-hot pain that shot through his upper chest. The fucker had shot him without even looking. A fact Kyle would be forever grateful for, considering he was still actually breathing.
“Kyle!” The shout came in stereo from his mate and his brother.
“I’m okay,” Kyle sent back, but even he could hear the pain in his voice.
Without a word, Melaina took the blade and sliced it through her left wrist. Not across in the way that most think would do the most damage, but directly down her wrist in the way that actually would. Kyle and Grant both roared her name, begging her to stop what she was doing.
“You really are a fucking idiot. I will not allow you freedom even through death,” Aristos snarled in disgust as he moved forward, but not fast enough to stop their mate as she sliced her right wrist in exactly the same way. Blood poured from the wounds as she threw the knife aside.
“What are you going to do? You have minutes before I bleed out,” Melaina taunted her father. “Gather your men, leave Pepper alone, and get me to a doctor. You want me to complete your tasks, then you had better move. I’m already feeling a little chilled.”
Kyle’s blood turned to ice, and when he reached for their mate, he could feel she was weak. There was a flurry of activity as Aristos yelled orders, but Kyle heard nothing over his and Grant’s roars of rage. Melaina spun toward him as her father reached her.
Their eyes met for a brief moment and Kyle’s heart contracted at the pain and sadness that lurked in h
er gaze. The loss she felt as she stared at him, and over in the direction where he knew Grant was lying injured, had Kyle throwing his head back, a desolate howl ripping from his throat. He didn’t fight when he felt the sting of the dart to his side. His change cleaved through him, driving him into his human form against his will, the howl ending in the roar of a man.
As he dropped to the ground, his body already succumbing to the power of the drug, Kyle made a promise to their mate. “Stay alive, Melaina! We will come for you, and when we do, we will dine on the black heart of your father for what he has put you through. But you need to stay alive for us, Blue Eyes. Whatever you have to do, just stay alive!”
Chapter Seven
Present day
“Melaina!” the voices called. Melissa closed her eyes as images began to slam into her. Images of her training—being punished by her handlers for not working harder, being faster, or failing the multitude of tests her father insisted she complete. She remembered the tests, oh, God, the tests, every painful injection, every intravenous drip delivering the cocktails her father’s chemists filled her with, all with the desire to exploit her slight psychic power.
“Don’t close your eyes, bitch!” Weir’s voice called seconds before pain exploded in her cheek. Melissa cried out as the pain whipped her head to the side, but she couldn’t comply. The memories kept on coming.
Some were good. She remembered her sister—no, sisters. Xanthe, Parris, and Pepper. The bone-deep need she had to protect them and see them away from her father and out of harm’s way returned, and she growled when she thought of Pepper sitting in that chair with a gun pointed at her head.
She saw herself completing missions for her father, taking over the bodies and minds of men and women who conducted business with Aristos. So many of them signing over their fortunes or shares, leaving all their worldly possessions to her father, before walking out and leaving them with nothing. No memory of who they were. Oh, sweet Jesus. She had stolen their lives. She remembered everything she had been through, everything she had done.
“I said open your fucking eyes!”
She remembered Melaina. She remembered who she was.
Her eyes flew open and she caught Weir’s hand as it was on the downward arc to strike her across the face for the third time. She watched as his eyes filled with shock. “I once told you that if you ever thought to put your hand on me, I would choke you with it.” Weir’s expression turned to fear. She had told him that two years ago when he had first treated her under Aristos’s watchful eye. “Yeah, that’s right, you arrogant prick. I remember who I am, and unlucky for you, the thing I remember most about myself is that I am one hell of a vengeful bitch.”
Melaina pressed into his mind, taking control of him, making him back away from the bed to stand against the wall and give her room. With a strength that contradicted the fact that she’d been bedridden for the past month, she stood up, locking her knees and refusing to fall.
“Now, I stand here with two choices.” Melaina kept her voice unconcerned, a slight question to her tone. “Do I have you strangle yourself? Or do I make you eat your own hand until you literally choke on it?” Weir’s eyes widened in shock, his breathing coming faster. “Yeah, you’re right. That would be kinda gross to have to watch. I think we’ll go with option number one.” With the hold she had over him, she had him lift his own hand to his own throat, pressing deep into his windpipe, strangling him. She stood emotionless as she watched him dying before her.
“You think this is just for what you tried to do to me here tonight?” Melaina leaned forward, putting her mouth close to his ear so he wouldn’t miss a word. He was more than halfway to hell and she wanted to ensure he knew the reason he faced his death that night. “I’m in your mind, you sick fuck, and I saw what you did to Pepper. There is a very special place in hell for pricks like you, and it is my pleasure to send you there. For Pepper.”
Melaina stood back and she watched as the light of life left the man before her. Releasing him, she let his body fall to the hospital room floor. A wave of dizziness rolled over her and she slumped back against the bed. She breathed deeply, fighting the urge to throw up. She had to move. Weir would have disabled the cameras in her room, but someone was sure to come looking for him at some stage.
She dressed quickly, alarmed by how baggy her clothes seemed on her. She had lost a lot of weight. Once she had her shoes on and her hair tied back, she stood for a few moments in the center of the room. Gritting her teeth, she thought back to the night she had come here. After her father had grabbed her in that motel car park, she had been ushered into the back of a van. The Reyes brothers had been thrown into the same van, her father mentioning something about hybrids and gene splicing. She had lost too much blood to truly understand what he was referring to in that moment, but she knew they had been transported with her. They had to be here in Parklands.
She hadn’t seen where they had taken Kyle and Grant. She almost doubled over at the pain as the thought of the two wolves she had manipulated and lied to came to mind. She had no idea how she would ever be able to make it up to them, and worse, she was pretty damn sure they would never be able to forgive her. But regardless of any of that, they were in danger because of her. She had no doubt that the reason their link had been muted, and that pain flooded her when they tried to connect to her, was something her father had done to them.
Gritting her teeth and preparing herself for the wave of hatred she knew she deserved, she opened herself to their link. She cried out in pain. Somehow her father had linked some pretty serious pain receptors to their link. She pushed through the pain, reaching out into the void beyond the bond as far as she could.
“Kyle? Grant? Can you hear me?”
For a moment, there was nothing, and Melaina convinced herself it was deliberate, that their hatred for her was so absolute they couldn’t bring themselves to respond to her. Then, she caught their faint, pain-filled voices.
“Melaina! Are you okay?”
“Please tell me you killed that fucker, Blue Eyes.”
She smiled and a tear rolled down her cheek. To hear their voices and know who they were was overwhelming. “Yes to both. I can’t hold this for long. I just need you to know that I am free.” Melaina felt the control she had on the bridge between them slipping. “I know who I am, and I am coming for you.” Then her hold broke and she collapsed to her knees with a gasp, gripping her head in her hands. She could smell the coppery tang of her own blood and felt it as it slid from her nose.
It took her a few minutes to compose herself and get enough stability to ensure that, when she finally opened her eyes and stood, she wouldn’t vomit all over the place. Once she was finally standing, she made her way to the door, her legs shaking. She opened the door. Someone must have been watching out for her from above, because the halls were empty. She stepped out and made her way down the corridor. She had been to this facility on more than one occasion. She had memorized the layout after the first trip—something she did without thought, planning multiple escape routes.
The Parklands facility was actually a fairly large property with three buildings on it. This was the central facility. It had two stories. The top floor, where she was right now, was the infirmary. There were offices and a row of holding rooms on the bottom floor. The west wing housed the treatment cells, and that would be where Pepper was being held. She knew her father would never have kept Grant and Kyle in the same facility, but she had an idea of how to find out where they were. And when she did, she was going for her men. She couldn’t bring herself to use the word mates because she had lost that right, but they still felt like hers. And she wanted them back, and God help anyone who thought to stop her.
She hadn’t been lying before. She truly was one hell of a vindictive bitch.
* * * *
“Fuck!” Grant growled, gripping his head in a vain attempt to keep it from splitting in two. “She was almost fucking raped!” Grant had never felt so scared an
d so helpless in his life. He and Kyle had survived their father, lived through the murder of their mother and the days that followed, and, hell, both of them had seen some pretty horrific things in their line of work over the years. But none of it came even close to driving him as near to the edge of insanity as the past few moments.
He’d been asleep but came to full awareness when her voice came clearly down their link. Help me. Both of them had leaped for their bond, ignoring the pain and reaching as hard as they could for her. It had been soul destroying to feel the defeat and fear in her mind. She had truly wanted to simply retreat into herself, to let that fucker rape her. He and Kyle had roared her name as they slammed the bond with as much strength as they could, driving it forward in an attempt to help her.
The moments of silence before she was able to reach back to them had been the darkest of their lives. Both men had roared and raged against the collar and bonds that held them. Blood still slid sluggishly down his arm from where he had tried wrenching his wrist from the cuff.
Kyle snarled a curse. “She said she killed him. How fucked up is it that I wish she’d left him maimed but alive? I would have liked to have shown him what his heart looked like detached from his body.”
“Me, too.” Grant looked down in frustration at the cuff that surrounded his wrist. “She’s coming for us, Kyle, and that means she is walking into enemy territory alone. If she gets the Reyes brothers out, then they may come with her. We aren’t going to be able to get out of these fucking restraints. If we could, we would have already.”
Kyle began to pace. “Wherever Melaina is, that’s where Aristos has the bulk of his men. I’d guarantee the fucker thinks we are too weakened to be much of a threat. And besides that, a guy like him is going to guard his most prized asset more than he is us.”
