Page 195 of The Alpha

Melvale was in his face so fast Pari didn’t have time to blink. She now stood in the corner near Mr. Watson’s door as Melvale held Jeffery at arm’s length by the shirt collar, his body stiff and leaning precariously backwards over the stairs. “Melvale!”

Melvale eyes weren’t even blue.

“Oh no,” Pari breathed. What did this mean?

“Let go of me you bast…” Jeffrey’s eyes rounded to saucers as Melvale got in his face.

“You,” he growled, but without the low gravelly voice of Bondrah. “I’d be happy to oblige you.” He held him at arm’s length again and lifted one finger from Jeffery’s collar, then another.

“Hey man!” Jeffrey cried. “No harm done, right? Tell him, Pari!”

She gaped at them as Melvale lifted another finger. Jeffrey’s arms were flailing at this point.

“Pari!” Jeffrey cried. “Tell this nut job to let go!”

“I don’t think you want him to do that,” she said.

Jeffrey froze when he realized Melvale held him with one last finger. “Who is this guy?!”

Pari stepped forward. “My boyfriend!”

Melvale’s eyes flicked to her as he smiled. “Did you hear that?I’mher boyfriend!”

Jeffrey scowled then spit in his face.

Melvale slowly wiped the spittle away with his free hand. “Bad move, Jeff.” He let go.

“Ow! Oh! Dak! Gah! Ack! Uff.”

Pari watched Jeffrey bounce down the stairs to land in a heap at Uncle Leo’s feet. Her uncle held the casserole dish he was carrying off to the side to look at him. “Well, if it isn’t Jeffrey.” He bent a little closer. “Should I call you an ambulance?”

“No,” Melvale drawled. “I’ll see him out.”

Jeffrey groaned, took one look at Melvale coming down the stairs, and scrambled to his feet. “I’m going!” He hurried to the stairs leading to the second floor and stumbled his way down.

Uncle Leo looked up the stairwell at Pari. “I’m sorry. He buzzed and said he was delivering a pizza to Mrs. Ferndale on the second floor. I thought maybe she stepped out.”

She breathed a sigh of relief as Melvale didn’t go any further than the landing below. “It’s okay, Uncle Leo.”

Her uncle came up the stairs. “No, Pariwink, it’s not. Kwaku told us this morning he and Melvale were taking you someplace to protect you. Some sort of protective custody.”

Her jaw went slack as she looked down the stairs at Melvale. His eyes were narrowed on the next set of stairs. Everyone heard the building’s front door below open and shut, and Pari breathed a sigh of relief. “They told you what?”

Uncle Leo frowned. “Haven’t they told you?”

Melvale started toward them. “We were going to.” He stopped before her. “Let’s get you inside.”

She stared up at him and nodded. “Yes, and you can start talking.”

61

Pari sat and watched as the company from the palace lined up before her. Kwaku and Zara weren’t there yet but would join them later, according to Archer. “What’s going on?” Not that she couldn’t guess. They had to give her uncles some excuse why she was going off with Melvale and the others, and in reality, what her uncles were told, was true.

“‘Tis for her own good, ye ken,” Dallan said. “As ye just saw, it’s no safe for Pari here. Not right now.”

“No harm will come to her where we’re going,” Shona added. “She’ll be well cared for.”

Uncles Al and Leo stared at Pari. “We haven’t asked a lot of questions, Pariwink,” Uncle Al said. “But if you’re okay with all this, then we are too. These people have your back from what we’ve seen, and if my guess is right, just got rid of that idiot Jeffrey for good.”

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