CHAPTER 52
Melanie collapsed ontothe bed and buried her face in the pillow. When she inhaled a deepbreath of clean-smelling sheets, some of her tension eased.
It had been an exhausting three days ofendless driving, switching back, taking different roads, andtwisting in circles until she had no idea where they were. Theyhadn’t stopped for anything more than bathroom breaks, food, and tocheck on Liam, who remained unconscious throughout the journey.Stefan was awake, but he was having difficulty moving andspeaking.
She believed they were in Maine only becausethat was the last state welcoming sign she saw, but for all sheknew, they had traveled back into New Hampshire or Vermont sincethen. They might be somewhere in Pennsylvania or New York. Maybethey were in Canada, and she’d simply missedallthesigns.
No, she reminded her completelyfrazzled brain.We’re in Maine. This is Kyle’s home.
But she hadn’t seen much of the property andcould barely recall the massive wall and gate encompassing thecompound. There had been houses; they were in one of those houses,but she couldn’t remember any of their details. Maybe she would geta chance to see more in a week or two… after she finishedsleeping.
That was the last thing she recalled beforeher eyes closed and she fell asleep.
When she woke again, it was to a dark roomand the feel of arms locked securely around her. Kyle’s peppermintscent filled her nostrils.
“You’re awake,” Kyle murmured.
“I think so.”
He chuckled and smoothed the hair back fromher forehead. “You should go back to sleep.”
“How long have I been asleep?”
“Twelve hours.”
And she would gladly sleep for another twelvesoon, but she wasn’t quite as exhausted anymore, and she had somequestions for him. “How are your dad and Stefan?”
“Stefan’s finally walking again, but my dadis the same. He’ll wake up, though. He sustained a lot of damageand lost a lot of blood, but he’ll wake up.”
The way he said it made it sound as if hewere trying to convince himself of this. She hugged him closer asshe buried her face in his neck. “Yes, he will.”
“How are you feeling? Do you need anything?”he asked.
“I’m still tired, but I’m good. I could use adrink.”
When he rolled away from her, she yearned totake the words back, but fortunately, he didn’t climb out of bed.Instead, he lifted a glass from the nightstand and handed it toher.
“I thought you might be thirsty when youwoke,” he said.
Melanie pushed herself up on the bed andrested her back against the headboard. She stared at the bare wallsof the nearly empty room while she sipped the water.
“Is this your room?” she asked.
“No, my room is at my parents’, but it canget pretty busy over there. We’re in the Stooges’ house, or atleast it used to be their home. They’ve each built their own placesince finding their mates. This place has become the guest house.We’re sharing it with Cassidy, Dante, Julian, Aida, and Lucy.”
“How is Lucy?”
“The last time I checked, she was stillsleeping too.”
Melanie took another gulp of water beforehanding it to him. He set it on the nightstand. “What are we goingto do about the facility? We can’t leave it, and everyone there,like that. What if they decide to come after us again?”
“That’s not going to happen. Ronan—he’s oneof the Alliance leaders—sent more men back to make sure no threatremained there. By the time they got there, the fire had burneditself out. The guards we left outside the building were all dead.The Savages took care of them.”
Melanie winced, but a surge of relief washedthrough her. She hated the loss of those lives, some of whom she’dknown since she was a kid, but they’d never been her friends.
Still, they were human beings, and if theyhadn’t decided to play God by capturing monsters, they would bealive. She didn’t want them dead, but at least they wouldn’t be athreat to her, Kyle, or anyone else they cared about.
“They were all bound when we left. Itcouldn’t have been much of a fight,” she murmured.
