Twin Dragons: Dragon Lords of Valdier Book 7 (16 page)

“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 like 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.

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 with 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.