Marking Melody (13 page)

Dialing, praying the battery lasted long enough for the call to go through, she held her breath and waited for the phone to connect.

Chapter 14

John Fallon yawned and scratched his chest.  Lazy Sundays.  Was there anything better?  He watched TV with some of his young nephews, a movie about superheroes.  He wasn’t really paying attention to the movie, but just enjoying the kids as they talked about their favorite heroes.  His brother, James, sat on another couch in the large family room of the boarding house where they lived, and a few of the other males who lived with them were scattered around the room.  Bowls of popcorn littered the table, along with popcorn that hadn’t quite made it from bowl to mouth, and sodas and glasses covered every flat surface.

His phone buzzed and he reached into his pocket for it.  Glancing at the screen, he looked at it in shock.  “Hi, Micah,” he answered, surprised that the young male would call him.  Not that they weren’t friends, but John had been instrumental in locking up the female lion Micah and Tristan considered their mate, and he was still a little miffed with him.  Which John understood.

There was a long pause, and then a voice that he had never expected to hear again said, “Daddy?”

He shot out of his seat.  “Jilly?  Is that you?  What are you doing with Micah’s phone?  Are you hurt?”  The questions tumbled from his mouth without giving her time to answer.

“I don’t have much time, Daddy.  The phone battery is almost dead.  Micah’s in trouble.  The females kidnapped him and his mate Melody.  They’re going to hurt them.  We live in a town called Twin Pines in Pennsylvania, near King.  You have to call Micah’s brother or dad or someone and have them come set us free!”  She rattled off an address, and John raced into the kitchen to write it down on a notepad.

“Sweetheart, are you okay?”

“I’m scared, Daddy.  I have two mates now.  They’re panthers.  When they shared blood with me, I wasn’t the same anymore.  The females know, and they’ve locked me up in a room.  I have…feelings.  I’m sorry, Daddy.  I’m so sorry for everything.  But please help!”

“I will, Jilly.”

He shouted to James, who was standing in the kitchen with wide eyes, overhearing the conversation with his superior hearing.  “Call Micah and Tristan’s dad right now!”

James moved to action, and John said, “Jilly?  Baby?  I’m coming to get you.”

“You will?”  Her voice broke, and she started to cry.  “I miss you.”

He ran to the front closet and shoved his feet into shoes.  “I miss you, too, baby, so much.  I love you.  James is calling for help right now.”

“Thank you, Daddy, I—“

The phone cut off and he yelled in anger.  Trying the number again, it went straight to voicemail.

“James!”

“I’m on the phone with their dad.  He says he’s with Tristan.”

John took the phone from James and talked to Oliver, who then gave his phone to Tristan.  Tristan filled John in on what had happened.

“We’ll be there as quickly as possible,” John said, heading into the family room.  James gathered everyone who was home.

Tristan said, “We’re not going to be foolish, John.  The King police are behind us, and we have a lot of males and the panther clan that are going to help us get all our people free.  I swear I will do everything in my power to get Jilly to safety.”

“Thank you, Tristan.  Keep in touch,” John said.

“Will do.”

He ended the call and turned to look at the concerned faces.  His nephew Alek and his mate Lachlyn and her other mate Jericho sat on one couch with several of the nephews.  The three cousins — Dylan, Hunter, and Chase — were sitting on another couch, and fraternal twins Ray and Wesley sat on the other couch with John’s own son, Henry.

As quickly as he could, John explained Jilly’s phone call and the dangerous situation that involved her, Micah, and Melody.

James said, “I’m going with John.  We would hope by the time we get there that everyone will be safe and away from the females.  It’s about an eleven-hour drive, but we’ll go as quickly as we can and come home as soon as we’re able.”

“I want to go,” Henry said, standing with a determined look on his face.

John put his hand on his son’s shoulder.  “First, it could be dangerous.  And second, Son, I will bring her back here to see you.  If I can’t do that, I’ll come and get you myself.”

Henry’s eyes shone with unshed tears.  “Promise?”

“I promise.”

Henry hugged John fiercely.  “Bring her home, Dad, please.”

John’s eyes stung with tears.  “I will, Henry.  I will.”

With a few instructions to the others, he stuffed a few clothes into an overnight bag, and he and James headed for King.  He didn’t know what lay ahead for them, but he prayed that Jilly would be safe.

Chapter 15

Melody slowly awoke a second time.  At first, she couldn’t hear anything over the roar of blood in her ears.  Gradually, she heard strange sounds.  Muffled.  Pained.  Furious.

She opened her eyes and lifted her head.  Micah was still cuffed to the bed.  But something terrible was happening.  His legs had been tied to the footboard of the bed.  He was gagged and struggled against whatever Layla was doing to him, bent over his waist with her long, blonde hair covering her actions.  Micah’s wrists were bleeding from his struggles.

Melody knew instantly that Layla was using her mouth on Micah.  Rage coursed through her like fire, and she bit her tongue to stop herself from screaming at the female to stop touching what belonged to her.  Closing her eyes and lowering her head so she still appeared to be unconscious, she called on her lioness and let her fangs elongate and her nails lengthen and sharpen into claws.  They’d threatened her with Micah’s death if she shifted, but now she knew that time was running out, and she had to take any opportunity to free them.  With as little movement as possible, she used her claws and sawed at the ropes binding her.  She wanted to tune out Micah’s anguished sounds, but he deserved better than her ignorance to his situation, and she used her growing fury to shred the ropes.

She heard the door open and stilled her movements.  It would be better if they believed she was still out of it.

“I called that human male who works at the drug store, and he sent over this stuff that’s supposed to be some kind of topical hormone cream for males.  He said it would make most any guy hard.”  The female named Tanya spoke as she walked into the room.  Tanya snorted.  “You must really suck at oral, Layla.  He doesn’t even have a semi, and you’ve been tonguing him for half an hour.”

“It’s that bitch,” Layla snarled.  “He’s resisting me.”

Melody felt one loop of rope slacken as she cut through it and was able to twist her wrist around.  As she began to wiggle her wrist free, her only thoughts were of getting to Micah and protecting him.  No one put her mouth on him but Melody.

Rage built up inside her until all she knew was white-hot fury.  Her lioness paced in her mind, her fur tickling Melody’s skin as she pleaded to shift so she could better protect her mate.

Melody lifted her head and saw Layla open a silver tube and knew that time was running out.  Just as she began to shift, the lights went out and the room was bathed in darkness.  Melody used the momentary confusion from the females to her advantage and shifted completely, not caring what noise she made as her bra and panties shredded.  The rope fell to the floor and the chair clattered behind her.

She saw quite clearly in the darkness.  The females stood motionless, clamped onto each other as panic made their hearts race.  They saw as clearly as she could, but weren’t paying attention to her.

“Intruders!” a female shouted from somewhere inside the house.

Melody’s back legs tensed as she settled on her targets and she sprang towards them.  Barreling into the females, she knocked them to the ground, sinking her claws into their flesh and tearing.  They screamed and shoved at her, but Melody caught them off guard and had the advantage.  Tanya managed to roll away, but Layla had borne the brunt of Melody’s weight and struggled underneath her.

Melody pressed a paw into Layla’s face, flexing until her claws sank into her skin.  Layla screeched in pain.  Something sharp slammed into Melody’s shoulder, and she realized that Tanya must still have had a knife on her.  Melody howled in pain as the blade sank deeply into her shoulder.  She fell off Layla and rolled to the floor.

Layla and Tanya shifted into their lioness forms.  Before they could attack, Melody rolled underneath the bed, and the knife dislodged from her shoulder with the motion.  Grunting at the sharp pain, she knew that if the females caught her, they would kill her.  She had to protect herself and Micah.  Forever.

She slipped out from the other side of the bed and climbed onto the mattress.  She watched them as they prowled in front of the bed, their attention underneath where she had been.  Silently, Melody leapt into the air, her jaws open wide, her heart singing for vengeance.

* * * * *

Micah watched in amazement as a female lion climbed up on the bed.  He knew it was Melody because the sweet scent of her was strong even in her lion form.  He wished to hell he wasn’t restrained.

Melody leapt off the bed silently, and there was a howl of alarm and a sickening crack, and then a female raced from the room.

Panic infused him.  He wished he could speak, but the damn gag prevented him from doing anything but grunting.

A soft yowl, sad almost, came from the side of the bed as Melody leapt up next to him.  He strained against the cuffs, desperate to touch her.

She reached a paw across him and hooked a claw on the blanket, pulling it across his body and covering his nudity.  He blushed sharply, angry that she’d had to see another female touching him.  Her perfectly shaped, lovely head swung towards him, and she stretched forward, nipping the side of the gag with her teeth and pulling it free of his mouth.  She licked the corner of his lips with a soft, questioning purr.

His throat was raw and dry, but he managed to say, “Thank you, sweetheart.”

She sniffed at him, growling in her throat, and he knew she scented Layla.  The damn woman had put her hands all over him in an attempt to get him hard.  He wasn’t entirely sure what their plans were, but he’d heard one of the females in the hall say that they were all going to
take a turn with him
and hoped that one of them would carry a cub soon.  The females had apparently decided to turn him into some kind of mountain lion stud.

He shivered at the thought.

Footsteps pounded down the hallway, and Melody moved until she was standing over him, her head lowered and her fangs bared as she snarled a savage warning.

“Fuck, Micah!  Melody!”  Tristan raced into the room, his flashlight bouncing wildly around the walls as he jolted to a stop.

Melody’s Uncle Jax nearly crashed into Tristan as he came into the room.  Micah said, “Melody, it’s okay.  You can relax.”

She looked at him and yowled what sounded a lot like
no
.

“Are either of you hurt?” Tristan asked, finally approaching the bed as Melody stretched out on her belly next to Micah, lying against his legs.

“She was stabbed in the shoulder after she shifted, and I’m handcuffed.”

“We’ll find the key.  How many females were there here?” Jax asked.

“I don’t know.  Not a lot, maybe a dozen.  Jilly is locked up.  Someone needs to find her and set her free, too.  I don’t know what happened to her, but she’s on our side and tried to set us free before she got beat all to hell by the females.”

“I know about her.  John Fallon called Dad because Jilly found your phone.”  Tristan rubbed Melody’s head.

The lights flickered and then stayed on.  Micah squinted at the brightness.

“Shit, man,” Tristan said.

“You have no idea how happy I am to see you, though,” Micah said.

“There’s a dead body on the floor,” Jax said.

“I think it’s Layla, but I’m not sure.  Tanya was the other one who shifted.  I don’t know where she went.”

“One of the panthers grabbed her,” Tristan said.

“Panthers?”

“Yeah.  It’s been a really strange day.”

“Tell me after I’m free and dressed,” Micah said.

It had taken awhile, but after some creative questioning by one of the panthers, a female named Claire revealed the location of the handcuff key, and Tristan unlocked the cuffs and cut off the ropes around Micah’s ankles.  Jilly had been set free by her twin panther mates and seven females were captured and arrested by the King police in conjunction with the small police force of Twin Pines.  One of the female lions was dead, and four females had escaped the house and were in the wind.  A part of Micah wanted them hunted down until they were found and locked away forever.  But the larger part of him just wanted an end to the violence between their people.

Jilly brought the clothes she’d found in the room with her.  She knew they belonged to Micah and Melody.  Melody was still in her lion form and would be for several hours as her wound healed.  She hadn’t left Micah’s side, even when he went into a bathroom in the hall and showered, trying to scrub the scent of Layla from his skin.

As he dried off and dressed in his shorts and shirt, he looked at Melody as she sat perched on the toilet seat.  “I didn’t get hard, baby.  I just want you to know that.  No matter what she did to me, I refused to betray you like that.  What she did was hell, but she’s dead, and it’s over now.”

Melody blinked and then nodded her head, purring softly.

He dropped to his knees and hugged her, wrapping his arms around her furry neck and burying his face in her throat.  “I will tell you this when you’re human, sweetheart, but I don’t want to go another second without saying that I love you.  We could have died tonight.  I don’t want to take your safety for granted again, and I never want you to doubt that I love you, because I do.  From the bottom of my heart.”

Melody purred and nuzzled his cheek.  Micah knew she loved him, too.  And he couldn’t wait to hear it from her human lips.