Chapter Twenty-Nine #2
Pierre smirked. His wolf would’ve liked nothing more than to rip this fils de pute’s throat out, but the Faucherian was wrong.
Shifting wasn’t the only way to save her.
And Pierre was too disciplined to be goaded into making that mistake.
Not with all that wolfsbane. He wouldn’t be stepping foot in the room, and he wouldn’t be shifting. All he needed was a clear shot.
Louis lunged, knocking Melinda aside. Pierre fired. The Faucherian’s head flew back, and he dropped, dead before he hit the ground. The Faucherian had made more than one mistake tonight. He and Louis were a team.
He leaned against the door frame. Both his twin and his mate were safe. For a minute, as he’d faced Cordelia, he’d thought he might have lost them both.
Louis crawled over to the dead Americain by the door, grabbing a set of keys from the man’s pocket.
“Nice shooting.” He unlocked the shackles from around his wrists and neck and tossed them across the room.
“That is an experience I don’t want to repeat.
” The skin on his neck already beginning to heal, he scooped Melinda in his arms and pulled her into the hall, dark hair sprouting along his arms and bones cracking in his legs.
“We need to stop doing this, chouqette. No more men pointing guns at you, d’accord? ”
Pierre ushered them along the landing, away from the cursed wolfsbane, and Louis’ wolf receded.
“I’m sorry.” Melinda sniffled against Louis’ chest. “I should’ve stayed hidden. I thought they’d be too busy dealing with you to notice me sneaking out. But he caught me. Then he caught you.”
“Running away from us again, were you? Hm?”
“Cordelia was here. You didn’t need me anymore.”
Her words were muffled against Louis’ shoulder, but it didn’t mask the tremor in her voice. Pierre dropped his weapon and pressed his body against her back, wrapping his arm around her, so between them they encircled her. How could she think that?
Louis, his expression bleak, brushed his hand against her cheek.
“Ah, my little chouquette. We were always going to come for you. Pierre… Pierre thought you might need some space. Some time to think alone. We figured… Manchu was upstairs. You wouldn’t leave without him.
Then we got a message from the front desk that someone had bundled you into a car outside the hotel. We came as fast as we could.”
Pierre cupped her chin, forcing her to look at him. “We came for you, Melinda. Not Cordelia.”
Melinda glanced between them, the vulnerability in her eyes nearly breaking him.
Louis rested his forehead against hers. “You’re ours, Melinda.”
“You’re our mate,” Pierre clarified, making sure there was no misunderstanding. A tear slid down her cheek, and he brushed it away. “I knew it the first day I met you in the lift.”
“And I knew the moment you opened the door to me when I invited you to our apartment.” Louis’ smile was all cheek. “To taste my nuts.”
She blinked at them. “You did? But what about…?”
“Cordelia?” Pierre heaved out a sigh. “We tracked you to get to her, but when we met you—”
“—we decided we were going to keep you.” Louis set Melinda on her feet and cupped her face in his hands. “We wanted to tell you, but—”
“—we were afraid you wouldn’t believe us about Cordelia.” Pierre rested his chin on the top of Melinda’s head. “I was afraid. Louis wanted to tell you sooner. We should’ve told you sooner.”
Alois cleared his throat. “Maybe we should save the heartfelt conversations for later.”
Both he and Louis growled at him.
Alois shrugged. “Suit yourself, but with the alarm going off and those shots fired, a neighbor is sure to have called the police. Given we’re the only ones left standing—not counting the two tripping in the attic—we don’t want to be here when they show up.”
“And we need to warn your brother,” piped up Melinda. “That Veillieux guy took a bunch of men to stop Isobella going back in time.”
“We saw them leave.” He gave her shoulder a squeeze. “I let Gabriel know.
“What about Cordelia?” asked Melinda.
Louis quirked an eyebrow at him.
“She escaped. I had a choice. Take out the old witch, or save my mate and my brother.” He wrapped his arms around them both. “I chose the two of you. I will always choose you.”
* * * *
In the back of the SUV, Pierre cradled Melinda in his lap. He had a need to claim her, here, now, in the back seat of the SUV. Urgency had his body thrumming with an impatience more familiar with his twin. He shared a look with Louis. He was feeling it, too.
Melinda squirmed, snuggling closer. The scent of her arousal filled the car as her fingers fiddled with his collar. All the blood in his brain headed south. “Drive faster.”
Alois grinned, but he put his foot on the accelerator.
They pulled up in front of the Ritz-Carlton and he was out of the car before it had stopped moving. With Melinda tucked under their arms, he guided them through the foyer.
The elevator was full of people—of course it was—and they gave the trio strange looks.
Melinda tucked between them, Louis in a pair of gray sweatpants and his chest bare.
Pierre didn’t care. They should be grateful he had enough control of himself not to fuck Melinda up against the elevator wall right in front of them.
It was a close call, but he gritted his teeth and held on.
The elevator doors slid open on the penthouse floor, and Pierre propelled them through the vestibule to find Gabriel waiting for them. Now his brother deigned to show up. “Not now Gabriel.”
Gabriel’s nostrils flared, but he nodded. “We will talk later. Just know Isobella has gone back in time, but it wasn’t without its problems. Her ex-fiancé, Douglas, grabbed hold of her at the last minute and went through with her.”
Pierre skidded to a halt. It was difficult for his brain to process anything with his mate in need of claiming. “Will that change things?”
Gabriel shrugged. “We’re all still here.”
That was good enough for him.
“Stef’s gone after them,” said Gabriel.
Stef? How the hell had that happened? And who was going to tell Maxime his little sister had gone back in time?
“But that’s a story for another day.” He held a leather cuff with the silver wolf motif. “I take it you’ll be needing this?” He tossed the cuff to Pierre. “I had every faith in you. In both of you.” He settled his gaze on their mate. “Welcome to the Langeais wolves, Melinda.”
“Thanks, brother.” They’d have to tell him the Faucherians were upping the quantities of wolfsbane, reducing the effectiveness of their wrist cuffs. But not now. Not with their mate back in their arms. Pierre scowled at Gabriel. “Get the fuck out.”
Gabriel chuckled, but complied. At the door, he turned. “Everything you need is in the master suite. I’ll see you three in a week.”
Pierre had them halfway up the stairs before the door had closed behind Gabriel. He wasn’t waiting any longer. “Melinda, it’s time to claim you as our mate.”