Uncomfortable, was the first thought Melody had clearly. Very comfortable, her arm was killing her, alternating throbbing and sharp pains radiating up to her shoulder. When she tried to move around to get in a more comfortable position, her opposite arm stopped short painfully against a leather cuff strapped and locked tightly around her wrist bone. She felt a moment of panic as she opened her eyes to see where she was. It was a dark room, no windows, dim emergency lights along the walls were the only source of light in the concrete space. She hurt all over, her arm that wasn't chained to the wall was roughly splinted, wrapped, and ached terribly. She was worried it was broken. She started to hyperventilate as panic seeped into her, before she felt Alexander through their bond. How his heart had filled with joy when she had woken up. She sought her connection to him immediately for reassurance.Alexander was on the way to her already, because he could feel her, he could find her. She

Alexander was frantic leading a team of elites in search of Melody while Alec cleared the compound. The sound of fighting, gunfire, and explosions rang through the air. Alexander was focused on only one thing. Finding Melody. Her feelings had been all over the place, and then something had happened. She wasn't asleep, she wasn't unconscious, but something was deeply, deeply wrong with his mate.He could smell her in this hallway, they were close. He kept moving forward as the men behind him smashed open locked doors checking inside for prisoners. Alexander was honed in on his target. He stopped in front of a solid metal door. There were different styled locks holding it closed, two appeared to be made from silver. The other doors had much more simple locks holding them shut. He knew she was behind this one, and he wasn't strong enough to open this one alone.He called for help, the locks pried apart by the dragon shifter Alec had somehow summoned on short notice. The door fell forward

Melody and Alexander spent three eventless days holed up in her room. Friends brought them food, drinks and snacks as needed. Alexander insisted on cutting all Melody's food into small bites, not even willing to risk her choking on her food until he was certain she wouldn't be a vampire if the unthinkable happened.It was kind of nice, curled up with each other under blankets, watching each other's favorite movies back to back. Getting a chance to naturally talk about their pasts, likes, dislikes. Everything possible came up as conversation during those first 18 hours after Melody woke up. Still wrapped in Alexander's arms. They were unable to stop talking to each other as their love for each other grew even deeper.Melody used the time watching movies and talking about her past with Alexander to put herself back together. Her arm was already feeling like it was healed, and all her other injuries were gone when she woke up. She kept telling herself that she was safe, mostly unharmed,

Alexander held her close during the afterglow. Before helping to get her dressed quickly. "Sorry, I know it was chilly in here." He said sheepishly. He needed the space to worship her perfectly."A little chill was worth that." She told him, a big satisfied smile on her face as they walked back to the jeep. "How did you know about this place?""My family used to stop here on our way to visit with Alec's. But that was a long time ago, the community nearby was built around the saw mill, when that closed the whole town pretty much dried up with it.""It's a beautiful park, it's a shame it's just left alone like this, for kids to vandalize."Alexander shrugged,"I know, I had a lot of fun here when I was young." They were back in the jeep, the blanket safe on the backseat. Melody was enjoying the heater blowing hot air on her, and seat heater warming her behind."You still haven't told me about your parents..." She watched as he tensed up. She put her hand on his thigh, "She can't be worse

Melody was anxious, she had barely seen Alexander since they arrived. She kept getting dragged away for more ceremony plans, and Alexander was working hard with the security team trying to pinpoint where the Hyena's were hiding. There was numerous cases of unclaimed mates going missing, some assumed they just changed their minds and left on their own. But after what Melody had been through, she and Alexander knew better. There were too many cases, too many heartbroken Alpha's all across the country. It was going to take weeks to sort through all the information.She had one highlight yesterday, Guillermo had arrived with a gift for her in the back of his van. He was escorted to the room where Melody and Diana were discussing flowers by the guard who had stopped him at the border of the pack lands."I know how much you liked your bike, I fixed it." He had said without any preamble before a younger wolf wheeled Melody's restored bike up to her. Her eyes watered, the last time she had se