by Maia Dylan
Grant nodded. “That makes sense. That means Melaina is going to have to go through a truckload of her father’s men before she can get out. She’ll go for Pepper as well. There is no way in hell she’ll leave without her.”
“Agreed, so there isn’t much we can do to help her there, but we sure as hell can even the odds here.”
Grant frowned. “How? We’re locked up in this fucking cell, and unless you’ve suddenly come up with the knowledge of how to get these fucking collars off, we are stuck here.”
Kyle stopped pacing and turned with a vicious grin. “I don’t know about you, brother, but I am suddenly feeling no pain and desperately in need of a little physical retribution. I reckon we could take a few of the fuckers here down before she gets here. Help even up the odds a little.”
Grant grinned back. “Hell yeah, I think that is definitely doable.” The two of them spent the next few moments hatching a plan. Their mate said she was coming for them, and they were going to give her the best chance of making that happen.
Chapter Eight
Melaina wasn’t surprised to see that the hall outside her hospital room was empty. Weir would have set it up to give him enough time to rape her without interruption. She had no doubt that all the security cameras in this section would be down for the same reason. Recalling the layout of the building, she made her way down the hall to the south stairwell. She needed to get to the west wing of the facility. That was where they would be holding Pepper if she was here.
At the end of the hall, she found the stairwell that she knew would lead her to the west wing. She descended as quietly as she could, waiting at the bottom for the guard she knew would be monitoring that floor. She pushed herself into the darkest corner under the stairs and waited.
Fifteen minutes later, the guard walked past. The scent of whatever spicy sausage the man had eaten for dinner and was currently repeating on him lingered in the hallway. She closed her eyes and ran through the options that surrounded her next move, looking for the path of least resistance that would get her to the west wing. There was no way out of this stairwell that wouldn’t trigger the alarm. No matter what scenario she ran in her mind, the outcome was the same.
To get out, the alarm would sound. She had chosen the stairwell closest to her entry point in the holding cells, but there would be at least three men between there and here. She could take them, but the time it would take her would mean more would come. The more that came, the less chance she had of getting Pepper out. Her heart began to race a little faster as every option she went through resulted in the exact same thing.
The guard came around again, and this time, he wasn’t alone. “I’m telling you, those bastards back there can take a fucking beating and the next day, they are healed enough you can beat on them some more.”
“Yeah, but that ain’t normal, is it?” the first guard argued. “Those pricks can shift into fucking wolves, man. How in the hell can they do that?”
“I have no clue, but even with the inhibitor collars, they heal like, overnight and shit. That is seriously cool.”
The guard belched and they moved off around the corner. “It may be cool, but nowhere in the Bible does it say that God created men who can shift into a fucking dog. Those two need to be put down. I don’t care what Christakos says about them. They are a freak of fucking nature and nothing will convince me otherwise.” Their conversation faded into nothing as they moved on.
Melaina’s heart raced a little and a thread of hope unfurled within her. There were two shifters here at Parklands, and they weren’t her mates. That meant it had to be the Reyes brothers, Diego, and Tomas. She had seen them when she had been following Grant and Kyle. Although they had never met, she knew that they would help her. Everything she had ever seen about the Grey River pack, and the Enforcers that had started to gravitate toward that town, told her that.
She moved out of the shadows and began to sweep the floor. The guards had said “those bastards back there,” so they had to be on this floor. It went against what she knew her father used this building for, but she wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. She found a locked, reinforced door along the eastern corridor and figured she’d found them. When she checked the door, she discovered it had a double locking system. A key, as well as a thumb print, opened the door. She heard the belch of the guard down the corridor in front. She didn’t have time to try and find a workaround for the lock, so she went for the more direct approach.
Pulling a hair tie from the pocket of her sweatshirt, she wound her ponytail into a bun on the top of her head in quick, practiced moves as she moved to the corner and pressed her back to the wall. The guard stepped around the corner and Melaina struck hard, swinging the forearm of her left hand up into the man’s throat. If he managed to get to his radio, he wouldn’t be able to say anything but groan.
As he leaned forward, both hands wrapped around his own throat, Melaina slammed the elbow of her right arm into his temple. He crumpled to the floor, unconscious before he’d even hit the ground. Gripping the man under his arms, she dragged him over to the door. Using the keys she found attached to his belt, she unlocked the screen and lifted the man’s right thumb to the screen. The sound of the door unlocking was more of a hydraulic whoosh than anything else.
As soon as the door disengaged, she stepped into the room. The Reyes brothers were both sitting on steel tables, each wearing nothing but a pair of jeans, inhibitor collars around their necks, and a cuff on one hand. Both men sported swollen jaws and bruises over their bodies, and it was obvious they’d been through a round or three with the guards. And from the looks of it, on more than one occasion over the past month. They stared at her with an almost disinterested air, and Melaina dragged the guard in and closed the door.
“Tomas, you order a guard that smells like sausage?” the one on the right asked. He was a large man, with a huge tribal tattoo that covered his right pectoral. It wrapped up and over his shoulder.
“No, hermano,” the one called Tomas answered, “I don’t mind keeping the beautiful ninja that dragged him in, though. She looks like fun.” Melaina noticed Tomas had the same tattoo as his brother, but mirror imaged. This one wrapped over his left shoulder.
Diego snorted a laugh. “I think there might be a couple of Grey River pack mates that will rip you a new one if you were to try to do anything with their mate. This fucking collar might hold my wolf, but I can still scent that she’s mated to the Snow brothers.”
A flutter of warmth flickered in Melaina’s tummy at that. She liked knowing that she carried the scent of her mates. “I’m heading over to get my sister out, cause some trouble, and kick some ass. You two want in?”
The smiles they gave her were eager and the gleam of arctic blue in their eyes told her their wolves were fighting to be free. “Dulzura, you get these fucking collars off us so we can shift and we will clear the fucking way for you,” Tomas promised with a grin.
Melaina held the guard’s key ring up to dangle off her little finger, the unique turnkey that would disengage the lock on the collar standing out among the rest of the keys. “That will be my pleasure, sweet cheeks.”
Tomas threw his head back and laughed as he slid off the bed. “Sweet cheeks? That’s a first, but I have to agree with you, for someone as fine as you, dulzura, I would be nothing but sweet.”
Melaina moved forward and unlocked the collar, grimacing at the abused skin beneath the collar. As she pulled it from his neck, he tensed and growled lowly as the needle that had been in the back of his neck slid from his body.
Melaina winced in sympathy. “I am so sorry you had to go through this. My father is—”
“Fuck that,” Diego snarled as he slid off the bed across from her. “You don’t have to apologize for that man.”
Tomas groaned as he rubbed the back of his neck, rolling his head in large circles. “God, that feels good. No, there will be no apologizing.”
Melaina nodded, despite still feeling bad
that it had been a member of her own flesh and blood that had tortured these men, and went to remove Diego’s collar. Knowing about the needle, this time she removed it a little slower and tried to limit his discomfort.
“Ahh, God, that’s better,” Diego moaned as the needle slipped free and she threw the collar down on the bed. “Thanks for that.” He spun around and pressed a quick kiss to her cheek. “Right, you go and get your sister. Tomas and I will clean house on the grounds.”
Melaina frowned. “Are you sure? As soon as we open that door, all the guards are going to come running.”
Neither of the brothers looked overly concerned by that. In fact, if anything, they looked positively eager for that to happen. “Tomas and I have a little pent-up aggression we need to let off. We still can’t shift because we have a metric shit ton of that crap in our systems, but that don’t mean we’ll be at a disadvantage.”
Melaina could understand that. She had a fair bit of aggression pent up within her, too. Depending on what condition she found Pepper in, she might just redefine the word vengeance.
* * * *
“Where the fuck is everyone?” Kyle growled as he paced as much as he could. With the cuff on his hand, the distance was not more than six feet.
Grant growled and ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t know, man. Fuck! How the hell are we supposed to even the odds if none of the fuckers will come in here?” They had been making as much noise as humanly possible and throwing as big a man-tantrum as they could in an attempt to lure any of the guards into the room.
Kyle tried to work out how long he and Grant had been yelling and it had to have been for at least thirty minutes. His frustration level grew when he realized that, somewhere out there, his mate was fighting for her life. Not only that, she was fighting for his and Grant’s, and it was unacceptable to him and his wolf that she had to do that.
She could get hurt or killed and there was nothing he or Grant could do about it. Kyle’s rage built within him until he couldn’t think straight. His wolf was practically shredding him from the inside in an attempt to get out, and just when he thought he was about to fucking explode with it all, the lock on the door disengaged.
He shot a quick look at Grant and knew that the bloodthirsty it’s-about-damn-time expression he wore would be clear on his own face. The door opened and eight men walked into the room, looking staunch and no doubt trying their damnedest to be intimidating. All Kyle could do was flex his shoulders and grin back.
Grant clapped his hands and rubbed them together gleefully. “Well, hot damn! It’s about time you boys got here. Me and Kyle have been calling for you for a while now.” All eight of the men in the room looked confused.
Kyle drew his T-shirt over his head and flexed again, rolling his head around on his shoulders. “That we have, brother, that we have. And now that you’re here, we can start the ass-kicking portion of the evening. Step up, boys, don’t be shy. I do hope you’ve kept your next of kin details up to date. They’ll be needing those shortly.”
Chapter Nine
Melaina had lost count of the number of her father’s men she had encountered on the grounds between one building and the other. Whatever he had been doing or whatever he was planning, it had to be something big by the looks of it. His army of guards and assholes had swelled dramatically in the last month.
She took out the last man standing between her and the entrance to the west wing of the facility and ran for the door. She took a moment to cast a quick look behind her and grinned. The Reyes brothers were still fighting, and although they both sported wounds and were bleeding from various places on their bodies, the glint of retribution still shone in their eyes.
Diego met her gaze and mouthed the word Go and she nodded. Opening the door, she stepped into the hallway, and when the door closed behind her, the sounds of fighting and shouting outside on the facility grounds died away. This building was soundproofed as much as it could be. The treatments she and her sisters had been subjected to weren’t exactly painless.
She moved down the hall toward the treatment rooms and saw the first person slumped on the floor. Frowning, she stepped over to the body and pressed a hand to their neck. They were alive but unconscious. Pepper must have realized what was happening and knocked out the few that remained behind. Damn, just how strong had she become during these past months?
Melaina hurried toward the treatment rooms, sensing that Pepper was close, and that was why she made a mistake. She didn’t see the danger until it was beside her and sticking a fucking blade in her right side. With a cry of pain, she managed to stop it from going completely to the hilt, and she spun out and away. She closed herself off to the pain and met the eyes of the man in front of her. “Well, now, Rafael, I would have thought you’d be a little faster than that.”
The guard grinned as he stepped sideways, stalking her, making her move to her weakened right side. “I can be fast when I need to be, but I prefer to take it slow. That’s something I am looking forward to. Showing Pepper just how fucking good I can be when I take her slow or hard. Hell, she’ll learn to love all of it.”
Everything in her screamed to attack the bastard, but her training told her that was exactly what he wanted and she refused to make another mistake. She pushed her powers out, pressing into his mind, biting down on the pain the move brought.
Rafael’s grin broadened and Melaina frowned. “Having a little trouble there? Did you really think that your father would have left us open to your fucking psychic attacks? Get fucking real! He had those of us he trusted most take these fucking shots that hurt like shit but left us immune to your fucking mind games. Now, I drew first blood, and that’s a real turn-on for me, but I want more. You ain’t strong enough to get through my shields, bitch.”
Melaina dropped her weight back onto her right foot, readying herself for his attack. Her hope was to use his own momentum against him when he ran at her and hurl him back, over her hip and into the wooden nurse’s desk behind her. She never actually got the chance to implement her plan, though. Rafael took two steps in her direction before his entire face went slack and he dropped to the floor.
“But I am.” Melaina spun toward the soft voice that spoke from the end of the hall. Pepper stood leaning heavily on the doorframe that led to the room she had been kept in. Melaina moaned, tears filling her eyes at the sight of her. Pepper was pale, so damn pale her green eyes and bright red curls stood out starkly against the pallor of her skin. She was thinner than Melaina had ever seen her, and there was a steady trickle of blood running down both her arms from the elbows. She had ripped out two intravenous drips to get out of the bed and was bleeding steadily.
When Pepper swayed alarmingly, Melaina cried out her name and ran for her. Although they were not blood, Pepper was very much her sister, and seeing her like this was almost enough to drop Melaina to her knees. She reached Pepper just as her legs gave out and Melaina pulled her into her arms. The two of them sank to the floor.
“Laina, you came for me,” Pepper whispered, her face pressed into Melaina’s shoulder.
Melaina let her tears fall unheeded. They were a mixture of relief, pain at seeing Pepper’s condition, and rage at not having been here to stop it. What made it worse was the fact she had been so damn close but had no clue as to what was going on around her.
“Of course I did, Pep,” Melaina murmured softly, running her hand over Pepper’s curls. “I will always come for you. You, Parris, and Xanthe are everything to me.”
Pepper’s thin arms wrapped tightly around her and hugged her with a strength Melaina hadn’t thought her capable of. “Can we leave this place?” Pepper’s whisper was almost inaudible. “I don’t want to be here anymore.”
Melaina nodded, helping her to her feet and setting her on a chair outside her room. “We can and we are. Let me fix you up. We are getting out of this place. Tonight.” Melaina grabbed a couple of pressure bandages and took care of her side and Pepper’s arms, then helped Pepper int
o her clothes. Pepper was weak, shaking, and her breathing was rapid. Melaina had spent the majority of the last few weeks in bed, and despite the physiotherapy and exercises she had diligently maintained, she had no idea how the hell she was going to be able to get them both out safely.
They were looking for her. As far as the rest of the guards at Parklands were concerned, Melaina posed the greatest threat. If the Reyes brothers were still cleaning house, as they put it, then the bulk of the fighting would be at the northern end of this building. She needed Pepper to go out the west exit. It was closer to the car park and she could take a car. To give her time to do that, Melaina needed to enter the fray with Tomas and Diego. She was more than confident the two Enforcers could handle what was out there, but she needed to turn the attention of everyone at the facility to her.
Making a decision, she stepped in front of Pepper, gently gripping the top of her arms. “There are still men out in the grounds, Pep. They are going to come in here soon and look for me. They know I would have come for you. The only way you are going to get out is if I go out the other way.”
Pepper’s eyes filled with tears. “No, Laina, I can’t go without you. I’m not strong enough.”
Melaina reached out and wiped the tears from Pepper’s face as she forced her own tears away. “That’s bullshit, Pep. You are so much stronger than you think. Get out of here. Take a car and get the hell out and don’t look back. You need to put your shields up now. Aristos has been partaking in his own mad experiments and I don’t want him to be able to get to you psychically. Get to Grey River. Parris is in Grey River. There are people there who will help you. I know you can do this.”
Pepper’s face filled with horror. “Why are you talking like we aren’t going together? Why would I be going by myself?”
Melaina smiled despite the ache in her heart. “Sweetheart, you know I would do anything for you, and I will be right behind you. Once I get you the time, you need to get out of here and into a car. I will be hauling my ass right out with you. But I don’t want you to wait. Okay? I want you to run. I will meet you in Grey River. I promise you, Pepper.” Pepper took a few deep breaths and, although she still looked scared, she nodded. “Good girl. Now, put up your shields, head to the exit in the east corridor, wait for two minutes, and then haul ass, okay?”
