Marking Melody Read Online Free PDF Page A

by Jax, came up to them, stared at her for a few heartbeats and then hugged her, too, sandwiching her between them until she could hardly breathe.  Seeing her uncles again reminded her how much she missed her dad and how important family was.
    “It’s a long story,” she said, looking at her Uncle Jax who was scrubbing at his eyes with the back of his hand.
    “Come on into the office,” Jax said.
    “Wait, my mates.”  She felt a little weak-kneed when Holden put her down, and Tristan and Micah raced to her side to support her.
    Holden and Jax both looked at her with curious, suspicious gazes.  “Mates?”
    She chuckled and tears slipped over her cheeks.  “I think you know Micah and Tristan Harrison.  They’re my mates and, well, we have a lot to talk about.”
    Jax, the older of the two, narrowed his green eyes at her mates and said, “Thank you for bringing Melody to us.  Let’s go talk.”
    Holden said, “Pull your truck around to the side and then come inside.”
    Tristan kissed Melody’s cheek and went to move the truck, and she and Micah followed her uncles into the garage.
    They walked past a counter with a cash register, a set of double doors that led out to the bays, and several storage rooms with shelves full of automotive supplies.  Holden opened a door and stepped into a small office.  It contained a metal desk with a worn office chair, metal folding chairs, bookshelves stuffed with books on automotive repair, and in the center of the top shelf she saw a picture of her father and her uncles.
    She left Micah and moved to the shelf, picking up the wooden frame and brushing away a light layer of dust.
    Jax spoke softly, “It was the only thing we kept out for people to see.”
    She turned around, unsure of what he meant.  Jax gestured to the folding chairs, and she sat down.  Micah sat in the chair next to her, and Tristan walked into the office, shut the door, and stood behind her, his hand resting on her shoulder.
    “Bradley had been talking about leaving with you for several weeks before you were born.  No one had ever left the pride before, not with a baby, so we encouraged him to reconsider.  The night you were born, when we came to the hospital and he told us what your birth mother said, we realized that he was right.  He had to get you away from the females before you were corrupted by whatever it is they do to turn the young girls away from their families and other males,” Jax said.  He sat down heavily in the desk chair and ran his hands through his dark hair.
    Holden leaned against the wall behind the desk.  “I was a senior in high school so I couldn’t leave, and Bradley refused to take Jax with him and leave me alone.  He disappeared and promised to stay in touch.  Every few months he would send a package to us.  Sometimes just an envelope, sometimes a box.  The postmarks were never from the same place, and he never said where you two had settled.”
    Jax nodded.  “The only things we knew for sure were that he’d made friends with a wolf pack for extra protection and that you were happy and loving, and unlike any other females.  He did the right thing by taking you away.”
    Holden straightened slightly and swallowed hard.  “Is Bradley dead?”
    She almost lost it again, but Micah reached for her hand and laced his fingers with hers.  She told them how he had died and about her capture by the females as she came to King to tell them the news.  Her voice grew too thick with sorrow to continue.  Micah recited the rest of the story to her uncles when she couldn’t form the words herself.
    When the story of the last year of her life was finished, Jax snarled angrily.  “Why the hell would James tie her up?  I will skin him alive.”
    She wiped at a few tears.  “He didn’t know I was different.”
    He shook his head, handing her tissues from a box on the desk.  “He has two ears, doesn’t he?  To hear the truth of your story.  Two eyes to see that