Winters Rising

by Shannyn Leah

  “Butterfly effect,” he said. “If you find the answers you are looking for you’ll alter the future and things will fall apart.”

  “My life has become one big chaotic mess anyway and I don’t know what else to do.”

  He could see her losing her fight, but she still stood tall, face determined, but her eyes showed fatigue.

  “You’re not alone.” He wished she would really hear him. “You don’t have to do it all. I keep telling you, it’s you and me.”

  “You bonded with me because you had no other alternative. You only saved me because Magnus said so.”

  Jax could see this was going nowhere. What did he have to do to prove to this woman that he loved her? It would be a whole lot easier if he hadn’t fallen in love with this...firecracker...then her words wouldn’t beat down so much on him each time.

  Jax let go. “Fine. Do what you think you need to do.”

  Her eyes flashed hurt, but she quickly recovered, walking away to confront their future.

  Jax took his time strolling across the dungeon to their eavesdropping wards.

  If they’d been in any other room of the house, he could have gotten sight of a date or time and placed this moment, but here, in the lockup, or dungeon, as Brea liked to call it, there was nothing to give him any indication. Since future Jax was proving he wasn’t as stupid as he was sappy, and wisely avoided answering the question, he didn’t see a way to figure out the timeline.

  Brea stopped in front of the happy couple, and Jax saw her square her shoulders before speaking. Such a mistake. Hopefully these two were smart enough not to give away any details that might alter time...as if traveling into the future hadn’t already.

  “You both are fully aware we’re coming from the Titanic, after Magnus has freed and saved us from Lexcon...”

  Future Jax and Brea’s faces showed no recognition as they listened to what Brea was saying. Jax said a silent thankful prayer that they knew to keep their mouths shut. Brea might not get the answers she sought, but, he hoped, she would see the future couple seemed happy.

  “I need to know what to do,” Brea said, cutting to the chase. “With Magnus, the elders, me, and with...” She glanced at Jax. No smile. “...him.”

  A sad smile crossed future Brea’s lips. “We can’t tell you what to do.” Her voice held the right amount of sympathy and sternness. “Traveling into the future is dangerous. The smallest things you discover could, without even knowing it, change your world.”

  Brea lips thinned. He could see, from the indent on her cheek, that she was biting it. What he didn’t know, was if it was because she was angry or on the verge of tears. Damn. This woman needed to open up to him and let them work as a team. Clearly, she could do everything on her own, but that didn’t mean she had to.

  “Like seeing you two happy together,” Brea gritted out. “If you knew we were coming and the smallest things could force change, why didn’t you just lock the door to this dungeon and trap us here?”

  “You would have continued to open other vortexs until you got the answers you’re looking for,” future Brea said.

  “Answers you won’t give me,” Brea snapped. It would have been more entertaining to watch her fight with herself, if it didn’t hurt him to watch Brea in such agony.

  “I know you know I can’t,” future Brea said to her.

  Brea said nothing, but her glare said volumes.

  “Besides, you found the only answer you were really looking for.”

  Jax didn’t understand what future Brea referred to until she laced her fingers with future Jax’s. “I am happy,” she said. “We’re happy. It’s okay to let him in.”

  Jax’s body stilled. He looked from the couple to his wife. This rip was about them, their future, and whether she could trust him enough to let him in.

  “That’s our clue,” future Jax said. “We don’t want to give anything more away, so we have to go.” They walked toward the door, holding hands.

  “What are you two doing down here anyway?” Jax asked.

  They turned with grins on their faces.

  “This is our getaway from the estate,” his future self said. Suddenly, Jax noticed his unbuttoned shirt.

  They’d had sex in the dungeon.

  Jax wasn’t sure whether to beat the man or high five him. Instead, he smiled. He couldn’t help it. This was where they’d chosen to escape the world.

  The dungeon. How fitting.

  Future Brea pulled Brea into another long hug before they turned to leave.

  This time Jax had stood close enough to hear her whisper encouraging words of hope. She had told Brea her life was worth fighting for.

  Brea didn’t think she was worth fighting for? Did she have any idea she was his world? From the moment he’s seen her, his soul had told him she was the one. But, as he’d gotten to know her, little by little, day by day, it was his heart, not his soul, that had fallen in love with her.

  The couple left, shutting the door and shutting out the world, leaving Jax alone with Brea. His Brea.

  But once she opened that rip they would be back with everyone pulling them in different directions. Jax wasn’t ready. He wanted time alone with his wife. He planned on holding her for as long as she would allow. When his hand touched her arm, his lips followed and he gently pressed his mouth against hers.

  He’d expected her to pull away. Slap him. Punch him. He hadn’t expected the needing, wanting kiss she returned. She wrapped her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss, and arching her body against his.

  He should have considered what being intimate at this moment would mean to her before she pushed his t-shirt up and he tore it from his body. But it happened so quickly.

  He should have asked her if this was really what she wanted, but he knew when her fingers unbuckled his pants, it was what she needed. He should have released instantly. Instead, he lifted her up into his arms and carried her to one of the cell beds.

  The bed was warm. Jax tried to ignore that the future them had just made love in this very spot, but when he felt a smile creep across Brea’s lips, he pulled away.

  She lay perfectly underneath him, her long legs wrapped around his middle, holding him in place and her beautiful eyes watching him.

  He pushed a piece of her strewn hair away and hoped the future couple they witnessed were truly, happily in love. He hoped it was their real future.

  “What are you grinning about?” he asked, loving her face without frown or worry lines.

  Brea sucked in her lips, which only made her smirk wider, but said nothing.

  Jax tickled her side, and she squirmed underneath him, letting her laughter out. The sound was magnificent.

  “You know they just had sex here,” she finally said.

  He kissed her forehead and his lips stayed against her bare skin, inhaling her sweet smell.

  When he looked at her again, he saw her uncertainty returning. Her fingers dug into his biceps.

  “Brea, they made love to each other here,” he said. “Love.”

  She closed her eyes. “Don’t.” Her pleading voice haunted them.

  When she opened her eyes, he saw they were clouded with her uncertainties and glossy with tears.

  “Cry if you have to, sweetheart. I’m right here.”

  Her eyes shut again and she breathed deeply a dozen times, resisting her body’s way of dealing with everything. This time, when she opened her eyes, she seemed solemn.

  “Can we not think about anything that’s going on? Not Lexcon. Not Magnus or the Unborns being born.” She took a deep breath and said, “Not about our souls. Can we just be two people having sex?”

  Jax didn’t miss her wording, but at the same time, he felt these were her steps moving forward between them, on their way to becoming their future selves.

  “Okay,” he said, kissing her lips softly. “Only if it’s not just two people. It’s me and you.”

  Brea’s hands touched each side of his face and her right thumb
rubbed his skin, stopping over a scar by his scalp line. He didn’t care about the cosmetic aspect of it and his hair did cover it.

  “Where did you get this?” she asked. “On a rip?”

  He shook his head, a partial smile finding his lips. He took her hand to his mouth and kissed her palm before saying, “I fell out of an old oak tree in the backyard and needed five stitches.”

  Brea clamped down on her bottom lip trying to resist a smile.

  Jax kissed her, wiggling her lips free and looking at her. “I love your smile,” he said.

  The words changed her smile into a frown.

  “I love−”

  “Don’t.” She placed her hands over her face. “Not now.”

  Jax gripped her wrists and moved them above her head. “Okay,” he said. “Right now, only you and me.”

  He pressed a hard kiss against her mouth and initiated the one thing they were good at: sex.

  “YOU KNOW THE FUTURE us knows exactly what we’ve just done,” Brea said a while later, running her fingers along Jax’s exposed chest.

  She’d thought about opening a rip and heading away from the evidence of their lovemaking, but hadn’t been ready to leave him. When he tenderly pulled her into his arms, she went without question and ignored her soul sighing in satisfaction.

  Jax chuckled now. “It’s weird, isn’t it?”

  Brea let out her own chuckle. “Very weird,” she agreed. “Creepy a bit, that they know exactly what each kiss, touch and movement was and is, and will be.”

  “That they know we are having this conversation right now,” Jax added.

  Brea groaned. “Oh, stop.”

  His chest rumbled against her ear and she looked up at him. “It would have been easier if they just told us what to do,” she said. “We could have followed the original path if they’d just told us if Magnus is trustworthy, or am I who he says? Are we going down the right path?”

  Jax pushed a piece of hair behind her ear. “The timeline wouldn’t have played forward the same,” Jax said gently. She knew he was telling the truth. But that didn’t bother her anymore.

  Brea looked down. “I’m not angry at you,” she whispered, not sure whether she was ready to open up to him. She thought maybe for a second he didn’t hear her, but when he stilled beneath her, she knew he had and her confession continued.

  “I’m mad at your soul. I’m mad at my soul.” She sighed, finding it difficult to explain. “I’m mad that we have no control over them and they move their sly, sneaky way into our feelings and emotions, taking over and binding us together without letting us decide on our own. Especially now that we’ve bonded. I can feel the difference, like my soul is content...complete. And look where we end up. My head is a mess, but my body wants only you.”

  Jax sat up against the headboard, and pulled her face to look at him. “Sweetheart, can’t you feel the difference? Can’t you divide your soul from your heart? When we first met, my soul pounded for you, longed for you, drove me wild for you, but I didn’t even know you. My soul wanted yours but my heart needed time to discover the person you are before I felt it light up for you.”

  Brea looked away, but didn’t pull away.

  She felt the bed shift and Jax’s hand touched her bare shoulder. The softness of his lips on her skin dropped her eyelids closed.

  He covered her birthmark with his hand. “This bond is by fate,” he whispered in her ear. “Our destiny. Something you’ve spent your life fighting against.”

  His fingers curled under her chin and lifted her eyes to him. “I’m sorry I forced you into bonding with me, Brea. I really am. I wish we could have decided together, instead of our lives depending on it. I wish you didn’t believe I only did it to save our lives.”

  “But you did.” Her voice came out sadder than she could have ever imagined.

  “Every time I said no, I did it for you, not me. Woman, I would have bonded with you that first night, and spent the rest of my life falling in love with you. Instead, I fell in love with you first.”

  Brea’s heart fluttered at his words. He’d fallen in love with her? When had that happened?

  “I wanted you to find your peace with us prior to our bonding. I can’t tell you that enough. Forget about our marks.” His hand cupped the side of her face and leaned into her personal space. “Forget about our destiny, the mark that bonds us, the souls you hate. I want to make my own future with you. I want to wake up each morning and drink your weak coffee and eat your uncooked eggs...”

  Brea hit his chest lightly as a tear slip down her cheek. He kissed it away before continuing.

  “I want to smile and laugh with you or fight. I would rather fight with you than have you leave. I want to wrap my arms around you every single night and know that you are mine. That’s not my soul. That’s my heart. I love you, Brea Winters. I can wait as long as you need to figure out you love me, because if future Brea was any indication, you will.”

  Brea gave a half laugh, half crying sound.

  “But I don’t want to wait around, wishing things were different. It’s not a good practice for those who can change time. I want to move forward with you. All of you. Not just the parts bonded to me, but your heart...the entire you. When you’re ready, I want your heart, and right now, I give you mine, fully and entirely just for you, always.”

  Everything shifted into place in that instant. His words tore down her protective shield and provided a brand new type of security. Their love. Their destiny. Their future.

  As long as they had each other, everything would be okay.

  Brea lifted her lips and kissed him. Jax responded by gathering her into his arms and squeezing her in a tight bear hug, trapping her hands at her side.

  As she opened her mouth for him, his warmth stroked away any remaining insecurities. His hands found her face, freeing hers so she could grip the front of his shirt.

  When they broke apart, they were both breathless, but happy and more content then they’d ever been with each other. Jax softly kissed her forehead and he gathered her again, this time squeezing her arms between them.

  “Jax,” she managed to get out. “Too tight.”

  He loosened. “Sorry. It’s just that I don’t want to let you go. Ever.”

  Her hand found the stubble on his face, noticing he’d been neglecting himself worrying about her.

  “You don’t have to, Jax. I give you my soul and heart. I give you...me.”

  Jax kissed her shoulder. “We should get back,” he said.

  It was true. How long had they been gone? It felt like days, but was likely only hours.

  “When we get back, will you transport us somewhere on solid ground?”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  BREA WOKE UP suddenly noticing something felt wrong. The sprawling ranch house she’d transported them to after their stay on the Titanic had a comforting rustic feel, but still something had tilted the balance. She knew it wasn’t her strain or imagination.

  She looked at Jax, peacefully sleeping with one arm around her bare body, quietly snoring.

  Listening past her husband’s loud breathing, she heard only the hum of the central air system.

  Brea yawned, stretching, still a little groggy.

  Everything seemed fine around her, but a nagging plagued her. A feeling telling her something was off.

  Brea sighed, climbing out of bed, and grabbing Jax’s shirt from the floor, pulling it onto her body.

  No wonder her mind had pulled her out of sleep. The stress of the days to come would be enough to keep any person from sleeping.

  Quietly walking through the halls of the unfamiliar house, Brea did up a few buttons on the shirt, but her attention focused on her surroundings.

  What was off?

  When she came up empty, again, she stopped by the bay window and pulled aside the curtain, peering into the snow storm clouding around them. The snow made it impossible to see more than a few feet in front of her. Why hadn’t she landed them in a su
mmer month? Because she had no idea what she was doing or how she’d even found an empty house. There were still so many questions unanswered. In the morning they planned to time rip to the location Victor had instructed before they left and she prayed everything would work out.

  In the kitchen, Brea poured herself a glass of water. The cold liquid helped distinguish some of her lingering anxiety, but lasted less than a minute when she heard a rustle from the bedroom. The thump that followed and the sound of fighting made her run down the hallway, wishing she had a cell phone to call Declan and Gabrielle who were sleeping in rooms on the opposite side of the ranch.

  Brea opened the door and reached for the light switch. Jax was no longer the only one in the room. Melora, Melvin, and Marcel stood in the room with him. Wearing only his briefs, Jax was pinned to the floor by two of the trio’s men. More goons stood around him.

  Melora smiled at her. “Sorry to interrupt your evening.”

  Brea straightened wondering why they were attacking her. Didn’t they fear her and wouldn’t they even more so after those days spent alone with Magnus?

  “You’re not,” Brea said firmly.

  “We needed to stop by to discuss a few things we hadn’t addressed in Lexcon,” Melora said. “It happened so quickly that I wasn’t awarded enough time to delve deeper into the situation.”

  Would there ever be enough time to evaluate the issues of Lexcon? Brea wondered.

  “To begin, I couldn’t figure out why I hadn’t heard from you after you’d bonded. Even before that moment, I briefly wondered why Magnus would want you bonded. Not to mention, the centuries of cleaning up his mess should have been clear to you, but there was only blankness where there should have been communication. I mean, you’re not prepared enough to know how to control the mind’s thoughts, but still you should have had more perception of your gift.”

  What was she talking about? The riddles were hard enough on their own, but combine them with watching Jax struggle to move against the grip of these monsters distracted Brea further. Blood pooled around his head but he remained conscious.