*.*.*
Calo knew the human would resist. That was why he decided the element of surprise would be the best course of action. Cree was talking with Melina. Neither one of them had suspected that she felt responsible for her Grandfather’s death.
“Do you understand what I am saying to you?” Calo asked.
“I… yes, I understand you. I don’t know how in the hell I can, but I understand you,” Harry said, turning and folding his arms across his chest. “Who the hell are you and what is going on between you and your brother and Mel?”
“Melina,” Calo corrected. “Her name is Melina.”
“I know her name is Melina,” Harry snapped. “I changed her damn diapers when Cal was left to babysit her. He loved her to bits, but dirty diapers turned him greener than hot horse shit on a summer afternoon. Now, tell me what the hell is going on.”
Calo tilted his head and grinned. “You talk like Cal.”
“I should, I spent enough time around him,” Harry muttered with a sigh as he dropped his arms to his side. “Is she okay?”
“She will be. We did not realize that she blamed herself for Cal’s death. Cree was one of the first to arrive. We had been talking with the… with Cal. His heart gave out and there was nothing that could be done to save him,” Calo explained. “My brother and I are known as Twins.”
“No shit, Einstein. I think I figured that out the second I saw you two,” Harry retorted sarcastically.
Calo’s eyebrow rose. This male was a LOT like Cal. He wondered if it was a trait of older human males. He would have to ask Carmen.
“Melina is our true mate,” Calo said.
“What the hell is a true mate?” Harry asked in exasperation. “I know I’m understanding the words coming out of your mouth, but I don’t understand the words coming out of your mouth, if you understand what I mean.”
Calo frowned as he repeated what Harry just said. He finally just shook his head. He tried to think of a better way to explain it. Suddenly, he remembered the word that Melina had used earlier.
“Melina is married to us,” Calo said finally.
He watched as Harry’s mouth dropped open before it closed, several times. He wondered what Harry was searching for when he started patting his pants and his shirt. Finally, the old man just released a long, deep hissing breath.
“Well, shit,” Harry muttered, looking at Calo with dark, troubled eyes. “Did Cal know this?”
“Yes,” Calo said quietly. “Yes, and he said he was glad we would be there for her.” It was true, he realized as he thought back to the night Cal had asked them about their life before.
“Well, double shit,” Harry muttered.
*.*.*
Melina carefully dried the last of the dishes. Harry, bless his heart, had been on his way home from the grocery store and decided to swing by to make sure the house was okay. He had brought in the few groceries he had bought.
After vowing to not tell a soul about her return yet, he agreed to meet her the next morning so he could drive her to the cemetery a few miles from the house. She would bury her Granddad next to her parents and Nana.
She sighed as she thought about her conversation earlier with Cree. She thought she had finally gotten a little more control over her emotions. She hadn’t cried once during the four years she had been held captive and now she couldn’t turn the stupid waterworks off.
Her heart warmed as she remembered his quiet insistence that she was not to blame. He had been so tender, so caring, as he held her. What really struck her was how right it had felt to be in his arms.
She gasped when she felt a pair of warm hands suddenly circle her waist. She immediately recognized Calo’s touch. She didn’t know how she could tell the difference between him and Cree, but she could.
A soft moan escaped her before she rolled her eyes and turned in his arms. Turning around placed her in a far more awkward position. A deep blush swept up her cheeks when she felt the hard bulge pressing against her stomach.
“Calo,” she muttered, placing her hands on his chest and staring at the Vee where his shirt was open. “I… this is… I’m not so good at things like this.”
A low rumble escaped Calo as her fingers curled against the material covering his chest. He tenderly touched his fingers under her chin so that she would have to look at him. He smiled in understanding at the look of doubt in her eyes.
“Neither is Cree,” he teased. “But, I am very good at it.”
“I heard that, brother,” Cree said dryly from behind Calo. “He is all talk. I am the one who is great at it. He just dreams he is.”
Melina shook her head and giggled. Her dark green eyes danced with mischief as Cree stepped closer. The smug look on his face pulled another blush to her cheeks.
“So, how exactly did you get to be so great at it?” Melina asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Cree, that is one of those questions Creon warned us about,” Calo hissed under his breath. “You know, the one about how big does her ass look in the pants.”
Cree frowned for a moment before his eyes widened and he looked at Melina with an exaggerated look of alarm on his face. He raised his hands up and shook his head. He couldn’t quite keep the smile from curving his lips, though.
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “Vox got shot by his mate for answering such a question. I do not wish to be on the receiving end of your anger.”
“Yes, she throws Pactor dung,” Calo said in a mock horror. “That is worse than being shot at.”
Melina laughed and curled her fist to hit Calo lightly on the shoulder. “I only did that so you wouldn’t know I was a girl. Besides, I was the one who cleaned it up! That was definitely the worst end of it.”
She is beautiful when she laughs, Cree whispered to his brother as he reached out to grasp Melina’s hand.
Melina’s laughter turned to a gasp of surprise as Cree pulled her out of his brother’s arms and into his. Fire, unlike anything she had felt before, ignited inside her along with a shaft of need so great it caused her body to throb. Liquid pooled low between her legs as he captured her lips in a sizzling kiss.
She is beautiful when she is on fire, Calo responded in a husky voice.
“I can wait no longer,” Cree muttered as he pressed kisses along Melina’s flushed skin down to her neck. “My dragon can wait no longer.”
“Cree, no!” Calo jerked forward to stop his brother, but he was too late.
Cree’s dragon roared in triumph as he swept past the tight control Cree had kept on him. He had been waiting, crouched, patient until the moment when he knew he could strike before Cree could do anything. A shiver raced through him as he poured his fire into his mate. There would be no stopping him from having his mate any longer.
Chapter 21
Cree groaned as the sweet taste of Melina’s blood flowed over his tongue. He only meant to tease her, make her laugh some more, but once she was in his arms everything changed. The fire in her kiss burnt through the thin veil of control that he had been working hard to maintain.
The feel of her skin against his lips, the taste of her, the beat of her pulse called to him. Her loud cry and the sudden resistance as she struggled to pull away from him when he first sank his teeth into her, pulled at his instinct to hunt, capture, and claim. The Dragon’s Fire poured out of him and into Melina’s blood stream the moment he pierced the fragile skin of her neck.
No, he roared at his dragon, but he knew it was already too late. No, you have doomed us all.
Mate, his dragon purred as he poured his Dragon’s Fire into her. Our mate now.
“Cree,” Melina whimpered, kneading his shoulders as he continued to grip her in the iron bands of his arms. “It… burns.”
Cree closed his eyes as he fought for control. He was too far gone. His mind splintered by the knowledge that if Melina was not truly their mate, or capable of handling two powerful males, that they were all destined to die. There was no going back.
; “Melina,” Calo whispered, stroking her hair as her eyes began to droop. “Embrace it. Embrace the fire. We are so sorry, my little mate. You are ours now. In this life or in the next, whichever the Goddess gives us.”
Cree heard his brother’s softly spoken words. The conviction in them soothed some of his guilt. Calo was close to losing control as well. Their fear that Melina would want to stay, combined with knowing their time on this planet was quickly passing, was pushing them both to the edge.
He groaned when Melina’s fingers threaded through his hair and pulled him closer before she went limp in his arms. He bent and picked her up as he slowly withdrew his teeth. Running his tongue along the puncture wounds on her neck, he allowed his saliva to seal the ravaged skin as her head rolled to the side.
“Cree,” Calo started to say in concern.
“We have no choice now, brother,” Cree said harshly. “Take her, now, while she is less resistant. The Dragon’s Fire will soon begin the changes.”
“It may kill her,” Calo whispered as he took Melina’s limp body from Cree.
“She will die if the process is not finished,” Cree said in a husky voice filled with remorse. “I wish we could have given her more time to accept us, but we could not chance her refusing us, or wanting to remain here.”
“It still should have been her choice,” Calo insisted stubbornly before he released a sigh as Melina began to move restlessly in his arms. “I know you are right, Cree. I just don’t want her to hate us for doing this to her, or worse.”
Grief flashed through Cree’s eyes as he stared down at Melina’s flushed face. Resolve and determination tightened his features. She was one of the bravest females he had ever met. She was fierce, loving, and strong. She would not only be strong enough to survive the Dragon’s Fire, but she would be strong enough to handle them. This, he had no doubts about.
“Let your dragon out, Calo,” Cree said calmly. “Let him call to his mate.”
*.*.*
Scales rippled over Calo’s cheeks and his jaw clenched. His dragon rose inside him with a roar. Clawing to get at his mate. Calo turned out his heel and strode out of the kitchen and down the hall. He turned into the room that held the largest bed.
Melina had stripped all the linens that morning and washed and dried them before remaking the beds. Pride soared through him when he remembered her ordering him and Cree to help with moving furniture and cleaning the house. The look in her eye was so reminiscent of the look their mother used to have, that he couldn’t help but chuckle.
Now, he was grateful as he lowered her onto the bed. He trapped her restless legs under his own as he caged her slender form under his. Her head moved from side to side before her eyelids fluttered open. Already, he could see the beginnings of the change sweeping through her.
“Calo,” she moaned, gazing up at him in confusion. “What is happening to me? I… Oh, God,” she cried out as a wave of heat washed through her.
“Forgive us, Melina,” Calo whispered before he tangled his hand in her hair and pulled it to one side so the slender column of her neck was vulnerable to him. He felt his teeth grow sharper. “You are ours, my mate.”
Melina’s scream echoed through the room as Calo struck at the same time as a wave of blistering heat seared her. Calo groaned in ecstasy as he released the pent-up emotions inside him; fear, pain, frustration, hope… and love. He knew that he loved her all the way to his soul.
Images flashed through his mind since the first time he saw her. Her green eyes flashing as she glared at him in silent anger while threatening him with a shovel full of Pactor dung. Her shy glances and floppy hat as she played with his and Cree’s symbiots. The first time he saw her as a woman, her face filled with grief as she demanded they leave her alone.
He tenderly touched her pale skin with his tongue even as he poured the fire of his dragon into her. She had stiffened under him at first, struggling to push him away. Now, she desperately clutched at his forearms, arching into him. Love, pure and unadorned, filled him with a torrent of emotion.
As the last of the Dragon’s Fire pulsed from him to her, he slowly released his grip on her hair. Swiping his tongue over the wound to her throat, he pulled back to see the image of twin dragons forming on each side of her neck.
Pride and possessiveness filled him. Their true mate had been found and would be claimed. They would never let her go. She was theirs. His dragon roared and clawed at him to take her.
He watched as she blinked several times. Her eyes were dilated so large that the green created a halo effect around her pupils. In the depths, he could see the flames beginning to build. His body hardened as it felt the call.
“Goddess, I want her,” he hissed through clenched teeth as his body began to throb. “Cree!”
He turned his head to see his brother had already removed his clothes. Scales rippled over his stomach and up his chest. Calo rolled to the side and stood up as Cree knelt next to her. He gripped the bottom of his shirt and pulled it over his head.
“Calo,” Melina moaned, stretching out her left arm to him. “Calo, I’m burning.”
“We will take the burning away, my beautiful mate,” Cree said, slowly undoing the buttons of her blouse. “Let us take it away.”
“Yes,” Melina whispered, mesmerized by the scales rippling over his cheeks. “Yes.”
“You started this, brother,” Calo grunted as he kicked his pants to the side and bent forward to remove the ballerina slipper shoes from Melina’s feet. “If you don’t hurry, I will be the one to finish it.”
Calo’s lips curled back and he hissed at Cree when his brother released a low growl, challenging him. This was one of the things that they were not sure how they would handle. Never before to their knowledge had there been a true mate for a set of Twin Dragons.
A male dragon was naturally aggressive. They did not like to share their mates. When the dragon had a female, he would fight to the death to protect her from another male. They could handle males around females that they were not mated to, but a true mate was out of the question.
“Mine,” Cree snarled, baring his teeth at Calo.
“Ours,” Calo growled back.
“Ah!” Melina cried out, twisting and pushing upward as she tried to get away from the fire burning through her.
Calo caught her in his arms as Cree rose up behind her. “Get her pants off,” Cree muttered as he ran his lips along her shoulder as he pulled her shirt off her. “Goddess, she tastes so sweet.”
Calo slid his fingers along the waistband of Melina’s pants, enjoying how her hips rocked forward searching for his touch. He quickly unbuttoned them and pulled the zipper down as Cree pulled Melina back against him.
Grabbing her ankles, he pulled her legs straight so he could pull them down and off her. He took her panties with them at the same time. He rocked forward with a shuddering gasp as her hand reached out and wrapped around his throbbing cock.
“Melina,” he cried out as she stroked his hard shaft.
“Mine,” she panted, gazing at him with dazed eyes filled with desire. “Mine. Both of you, mine.”
Calo watched as Cree’s hands moved up her flat stomach to cup her breasts. He leaned forward, capturing her lips as she pulled him closer by wrapping her ankles around the back of his thighs. He caught her gasp as Cree pinched her hardened nipples between his fingers.
Leaning on his left arm, he sought her soft curls with the fingers of his right hand. Her legs were already parted with him between them, but they opened even further when he ran his fingers along the slick slit. She twisted her head to the side, breaking the kiss as he began to push into her.
“Yes!” she whimpered. “I… Oh…”
“Lay her down,” Calo muttered, gritting his teeth when she pulled on his cock as Cree moved to the side so he could lay her flat on the bed. “Hold her.”
“With pleasure,” Cree growled, grabbing her hands as Calo pulled away. “So beautiful.”
Calo be
nt to taste the moisture of her desire. Her loud cry filled the air as he ran his tongue along the slick folds of her labia. Running his fingers along the silky flesh of her folds, he teased the hidden nub. Pleasure flooded him when he was rewarded as her body grew damper and she struggled against the hold Cree had on her.
He slowly pushed two fingers into her. Her body stiffened at the unfamiliar invasion. He paused, giving her time to adjust. Rolling his tongue over her sensitive clitoris, pulling a long, low cry from her. He glanced up at Cree who was watching him with blazing eyes. Cree nodded as he bent over Melina.
*.*.*
Cree pulled Melina’s arms up over her head so he could hold both of her slender wrists in one hand. A soft smile lit his eyes as she stared up at him. He could see the birth of her dragon forming as her body began to change.
The chemical makeup of the Dragon’s Fire was moving through her, changing each cell and organ. He was watching a miracle take place before his eyes. This was something that he and Calo never thought that they would witness.
Capturing her lips with his own, he teased her until she was fighting to get closer. He sucked on her tongue, stroking it as if he was making love to it. Both he and Calo knew when her body was ready. They could feel the wave of heat building inside her and her desperation as she fought to get closer to them. When it reached its crest, Calo pushed through the thin barrier of her virginity with his fingers as he caught her loud cry.
A shudder ripped through both men. The primitive cry and the need to possess built to a fever-pitched level. Cree pressed his lips firmly against her and drank while the fingers of his left hand found the nipple of her left breast. Pinching it, he thrilled at her loud moan.
Neither one of them wanted to hurt her which is why they wanted to build her to the point she was mad with need. They were barely able to keep control over their dragons, much less their own desires and things were heating up to the point they were both ready to explode. Her responsiveness was more than they could have dreamt of and they were both reacting to her loud cries.