Mirren leaned forward. Shadows from the firelight danced across his face, but not so much that Melissa couldn’t read his somber expression. “We need Cage to move in with the lieutenants tonight,” Mirren said. “Aidan wants you there, too. Both of you. From now on.”
Melissa’s heart sped up. “Why?” Not that she didn’t welcome the news that she would be spending her daysleep near Cage. Maybe if she could spend more time with him, she could finally get the chance to put things to rest between them. Plus, he should stay with the lieutenants since he was one of them. She, however, wasn’t. “I get why he wants Cage there, but why me?”
Mirren glanced at Glory before he turned those searing gray eyes her way again. “Matthias escaped. We have to assume he’s alive, and you’re pretty high on his hit list—even more than Glory and Krys. You’re the one he turned and kidnapped. And Cage not only helped you escape but played Matthias for a fool by infiltrating his organization.”
Old fears and weighty dread settled on Melissa’s shoulders like a yoke. She was so tired of being afraid, so ready to move on, so sick of being a victim.
A new thought poked a tender root into her fear and gradually took hold. Why was she afraid? Matthias had killed her once. She’d been through the worst. If he came after her again, as a vampire she could fight back. Maybe even be the one to finally kill him.
The firelight grew warmer and brighter with her epiphany. She had options. She was not weak. She lived in fear only if she chose to, and she chose not to. Not anymore.
“Let me train with you, and then let Matthias try coming after me again.” Melissa’s voice came out stronger and more sure than it had in months. “It’s time we stop hiding and rebuild our lives.”
“Don’t even think that—you know better than anybody what Matthias is capable of, and you don’t want him coming after you.” Glory’s brows met in a frown, but Mirren nodded slowly—once down, once up.
“Mel’s right,” he said, laying a hand on Glory’s knee. “And it’s just the thing our old friend Melissa Calvert would’ve said. I was beginning to wonder if that fire was ever gonna return. Welcome back.”
Melissa stared at him. Mirren had considered her fiery? Aidan had used that word for her, too. When Matthias’s hired hand had cut her throat, and then she had turned, she’d lost herself. Until now, she hadn’t realized how much.
She’d been wandering around in confusion and self-pity long enough. Too long.
“Will you let me train with you?” Determination replaced doubt, and it felt damned good.
Mirren nodded. “Not with the lieutenants, not yet. But I’ll work with you tomorrow night.” He looked down at his mate. “You need some training, too, Glory. Even though you have the telekinesis, you need basic self-defense training—whatever humans are taught. Dimitrou should be able to help with that.”
“One more thing.” Melissa wasn’t the only Calvert Matthias might go after. “You need to warn Mark. Getting at him is a good way to get to the rest of us, and he’s vulnerable during the day.”
Matthias might have to spend his days as zonked out as the rest of them, but he likely had humans on his payroll.
“That’s Ashton’s job,” Mirren said, and paused a moment before adding, “In the meantime, I want you and Cage with the lieutenants. Tomorrow night we’ll figure out how to find Matthias, and how to rebuild our city.”
Melissa nodded. “Does Cage know where to go?”
Mirren shook his head. “Didn’t get a chance to tell him, so we’ll wait till he gets back.”
That, she could handle. “Tell me, and I’ll wait on him. I need to talk to him anyway.”
She wanted to see Cage alone, to see if her newfound backbone made her consider him in a different light.
One thing was for sure. Penton’s recent string of bad luck made more sense now that she knew Matthias was out there, pulling strings like some evil puppet master.
Mirren handed her a napkin, on the back of which he’d sketched out a simple map. “Memorize that, and then throw it in the fire.”
Taking a deep breath, Melissa studied the drawing. “The lieutenants’ daysleep space is under the old Quik Mart between here and LaFayette?”
At Mirren’s nod, she tore the napkin in shreds and threw the pieces into the fireplace, watching as they blackened and disappeared into soot.
“There’s a four-digit lock that gets you into both the first and second levels. The combinations are different.” Mirren gave her the numbers and made her repeat them back to him until she’d mastered them. “We change the numbers every day. Find me or Aidan to get them. You sure you want to wait for Cage?”