Twin Dragons: Dragon Lords of Valdier Book 7 (13 page)

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.”

Melina blushed again and shook her head at
that. There was no way she could hide the fact that she was a woman
if she had a uniform like they wore. She turned slightly in her
seat when a movement out of the corner caught her attention.

Both symbiots stepped out from the narrow
passage between the crates. They had been waiting for her in the
small area she had created between the large metal containers and
walked over to her. They knew she normally went to bed around now.
Cree’s symbiot had the Teddy Bear in its mouth.

Melina reached for the small bear. Bending
forward, she brushed a light kiss across its head. A low groan had
her head jerking up in surprise. Cree’s eyes were closed and his
lips were pressed tightly together.

Melina started to open her mouth to ask him
what was wrong before she remembered she was supposed to be mute.
Frustrated, she wrapped her arms tightly around the bear and waited
for either Cree or Calo to tell her what was wrong. It didn’t take
long.

“This is very difficult for us, Mel,” Calo
explained. “We… you are… Dragon’s Balls! Cree?”

“When you brush your lips along my symbiot,
I feel them against my skin,” Cree said in a rough voice. He opened
his eyes to stare at her. “This is very difficult for me… for us,
Mel.”

Joy washed through her before reality did.
For just a brief second, hope flared inside her that they might be
interested in her as much as she was in them. Then reality crashed
through her. They still thought she was a boy and if they did and
they thought she was…. Rising out of her seat, pain filled her at
the thought that they might find her touch distasteful.

“Mel,” Calo said, standing.

Melina shook her head. She had to escape
before she made a huge mistake, like telling them that she was a
woman. She glanced toward the office where her granddad was
sleeping. Her eyes widened when she saw him standing in the doorway
watching them.

His face looked so sad that it broke
Melina’s heart. She hugged the bear closer to her chest. He wanted
to go home. He had said as much earlier. A wave of guilt struck her
hard. He had done so much to care for and protect her and here she
was wanting something that was just a dream.

*.*.*

“Mel,” Cree called to her as she slipped
around her chair and rushed for the dark passage.

“This is the first time I’ve seen you both
together,” Cal said behind them.

Cree and Calo both turned at his voice.
Frustration was etched in the lines around their mouths. Cal sighed
tiredly and ran a hand down along the back of his neck. He was torn
between his granddaughter and wanting to return home.

“You two better sit down,” Cal said
gruffly.

“Cal,” both men greeted with a tight
voice.

“We wanted to speak with the boy,” Cree
said.

“Just to offer to train him, spend some time
with him,” Calo added quickly. “We thought he might enjoy it.”

“And it would help him,” Cree inserted.

“Yes, and help him,” Calo agreed with a
nod.

Amusement tugged at Cal’s mouth. Both men
were looking at him with a nervous expression. He’d never had to
deal with a situation like this before. Since he and Buella May
only had Hank, they never needed to worry about boys coming
around.

“Sit down,” Cal said again.

Both men returned to the seats they had
before. Cal sat down heavily in the chair and waited. Both men’s
eyes kept moving to the crates.

Yep, boys were definitely much easier to
have,
Cal thought, wishing for the hundredth time he had a
cigar.

“We didn’t wish to frighten the boy,” Calo
said.

“It didn’t look like Mel was frightened,”
Cal assured them. “I think it is about time I knew a little bit
more about you boys. Tell me about yourselves. Where are you from?
Do you have family? What are your plans for the future? You should
know that it is just me and Mel. That is why I am very protective
of he… him. The biggest thing I want you to understand is that I
only want Mel to be happy, safe, and loved.”

Having said what he wanted to say, Cal
leaned back and folded his arms across his chest. It didn’t take
long before both men opened up. Cal knew that Melina was listening.
He chuckled at some of the stories they shared. The hours passed as
they chatted. The more he learned about the two men, the more he
was certain that they were the right men for his granddaughter.

He rubbed his left arm absently as he nodded
to something Calo was sharing. He ignored the tingling in it. If it
continued, he’d talk to Tandor about it. Instead, he focused on
trying to figure out how to deal with transitioning Mel to Melina.
First, he needed to make absolutely sure it was the right thing to
do.

Boy, are these boys in for a shock,
Cal thought silently as their eyes flickered for the millionth time
to Melina’s hiding space.

Melina sat next to Carmen listening to her,
her granddad, and another human who had been brought on board the
Horizon,
talk. They had all been woken up early by the
shuddering of the warship. She had found herself pinned to her bed
by Cree and Calo’s symbiots that were shuddering and hissing.

“Gramps,” she had called out in fear as she
struggled to get up. “Gramps!”

“Stay there, Melina. I’ll find out what is
going on,” Cal had called back.

She didn’t have much choice as neither
symbiot would move off of her. She didn’t know when they came back
to the repair bay, but she had to admit that she was glad they were
there. She listened as Cree’s deep voice asked anxiously where she
was and if she was alright.

“Yeah, Meli… Mel is fine. Your two gold
creatures are with him. What the hell is going on?” Cal asked.

“We are under attack. It is nothing to worry
about. The
Horizon
is more than capable of handling the
situation. Just… just keep the boy safe. Our symbiots will stay
with you both,” Cree ordered.

“Who the hell would be stupid enough to
attack a warship filled with you guys?” Cal asked in an incredulous
voice.

“The Marastin Dow,” Cree growled. “I have to
go. Either myself or Calo will monitor you both to make sure you
are unharmed. In the unlikely event the Marastin Dow do board us,
one of us will come to you.”

The ‘battle’ hadn’t lasted very long at all.
Melina grinned as the new human, Riley St. Claire from Denver,
Colorado, gave a colorful account of what happened. She couldn’t
stop the giggles that escaped as Riley related her encounter with
the Antrox and Vox.

“So, who is the scarecrow?” Riley had asked
loud enough for Melina to hear.

Melina bit her lip when she heard her
granddad act like he wasn’t sure what Riley was talking about.
“Scarecrow?”

“Yeah, little Miss Priss. Does she think I
have cooties or something?” Riley drawled in a Midwestern twang
that was right out of the movies.

“Granddaughter,” Carmen said softly. “That
is why she stays hidden and doesn’t talk.”

Melina heard her grandfather’s heavy sigh
before he called to her. “Melina, come here. It’s okay, honey. They
won’t tell anyone,” he said in his gruff voice.

Melina froze for a moment before she slowly
rose from where she was sitting near the entrance of the crates.
The fingers of her left hand tightened around the brim of her
floppy hat. She twisted one of the ragged edges of her oversized
shirt nervously between the fingers of her right hand as she
stepped out from her hiding place.

She walked toward her grandfather with slow,
cautious steps before kneeling on the floor next to him. She smiled
nervously at Carmen before she turned her gaze to Riley. She
relaxed back when she felt her granddad tenderly brush a hand over
her hair.

“You can speak, girl. They won’t tell on
us,” Cal murmured.

“Hey,” Melina whispered before she cleared
her voice. “It’s nice to finally get to talk to you.”

Carmen leaned forward. “Hello, Melina. If
you don’t mind my asking, how old are you?” She asked.

“I was twenty-one last week,” Melina
replied, looking up at her granddad. “Gramps and I have been
counting the days since we were taken so we could keep track of how
long it’s been.”

“Why?” Carmen asked in a husky voice filled
with concern.

“The Antrox use women as a way of
controlling the men. They don’t give them much choice. If they knew
my granddaughter was a woman, there’s no telling what would have
happened to her. It was easier passing her off as a boy. The trader
who sold us to the Antrox couldn’t tell the difference, and those
insect creatures just accepted Mel as being a young boy, not old
enough for the heavy work in the mines yet but old enough to keep
for other duties,” Cal explained.

“I saw some of the other women being sold to
traders who would come to drop things off at the mines,” Melina
said quietly. “We were afraid they would sell me, especially if
they knew I was a woman. I worked with horses at a farm near our
home and was always good with animals, so I worked with the
Pactors. They aren’t much different from mules in the way they act.
Gramps thought it would be good if I acted like I couldn’t speak
and was not all there in the head,” she continued, touching her
temple with the tips of her fingers.

“When the mines ran out, the Antrox decided
I was too old to do much. Mel overheard them and hid in the tunnels
where they couldn’t find her. She knew the tunnels backward and
forward from the years of running errands. They couldn’t find her
so they left us behind,” Cal said. “When the men on board the
Horizon
showed up, I had to take a chance. We were down to
less than a week’s worth of food and water. Mel and I decided it
would be best if we continued pretending she was my grandson with a
handicap. It’s kept the men on board from looking at her,” he
added, deciding it best not to mention all except two.

“I don’t want them looking at me,” Melina
muttered, refusing to think of Cree and Calo, who came by several
times a day to check on her. “I saw what the males did to some of
those women. No offense, ma’am.” She bit her lip and blushed as she
looked at Riley.

“Darling, those insects didn’t know what to
do with me! I had those bastards shaking in their long underwear!”
Riley said with a wink.

Melina listened as Riley continued to banter
back and forth with her granddad and Carmen. It was so nice to
finally be able to talk and be herself. Riley’s vibrant personality
was such a contrast to Carmen’s more reserved humor. She loved
listening to them.

This is what I’ve been missing for the
last four years,
she thought depressed as she studied each
woman.

She jerked when the door to the repair bay
suddenly opened and Cree walked in. Panic swept through Melina as
she scrambled to put her hat on. She rolled to her feet and took
off for the crates, her heart pounding in her chest. She pressed
her back against the crate and bit her lip. Tears burned her eyes
and she angrily wiped at them.

Being around Carmen and Riley showed her how
stupid she had been to think that one, much less two, men that were
like Cree and Calo could really be interested in her. Heck, they
still thought she was a boy so how could they ‘think’ of her at
all? Gramps was wrong.

Even if they were interested, I’m nothing
like Carmen and Riley,
she thought dejectedly.
I don’t know
the first thing about being a woman.

She glanced down at her tattered,
ill-fitting clothing. Just looking at the way she was dressed, it
was impossible for anyone to guess that was anything remotely
feminine or attractive about her. She pressed her fist to her mouth
to keep the sob escaping as self-doubt and the realization that yet
again, she didn’t fit into this world any better than she had back
at the mine or on the farm. Even Stuart had laughed at the fumbling
attempt of her first kiss. Of course, she had bit him, which hadn’t
helped.

She leaned her head back and listened to
Cree’s deep voice as he talked to Carmen and Riley. A moment later
Carmen called out a farewell to her, even though she knew Melina
wouldn’t reply. Melina listened as the door to the repair bay
opened and closed again. She knew immediately that Cree had left
the area.

Turning toward her makeshift bedroom, she
walked over to the bed and laid down. She rolled over onto her
side, pulling the Teddy Bear closer to her chest, and curled into a
ball as pain swept through her. Silent tears ran down her cheeks as
she felt the desolation of being alone again wash over her.