“Hang on, she’s calling me,” Winter said, clicking the phone to accept her call. “Where the hell are you?”
“W…Winter,” she cried. “Perry’s behind me. He’s been following me for awhile now.”
“Where are you, Nova?” he asked, trying his hardest not to yell, even though he was so angry at her for running off.
“Coming down highway 305 just outside of town,” she informed him. Winter knew he was too far away to intercept her…to catch him finally.
“Nova?”
“Yeah,” she said, her voice sounding more like her own.
“I need you to drive, baby,” he said. “Drive straight to the pride and get on our land. Do not stop until you are past the pride house. I have to hang up with you for just a second so I can call for Dane. He’s closer to you than I am.”
“Okay, but call me back, and Winter,” she paused, “I’m sorry.”
“I’ll call you right back…now drive,” he ordered, dropping the call.
His hands shook as he pressed the button to call Dane. His friend answered on the first ring, “Hello?”
“Dane,” Winter snapped. “Nova is on her way back to the pride house and Perry is following her. I need you to intercept her.”
“Where is she?” Dane asked. Winter heard the throaty engine in Dane’s truck rev as he pressed the accelerator. Winter gave him the information that he had on where she was, praying they would get to her in time. If Perry got to her before they did, Winter was sure the wolf would kill her this time.
“I’ll get her,” Dane promised. “I’ll alert Talon so the Guardians will be on watch as soon as she arrives.”
He disconnected the call, immediately dialing Nova’s number. With each ring that was unanswered, his panther snarled with worry. He was already crossing the state line back into Mississippi when she answered.
“Winter,” she yelled. “He’s still following me.”
“How far away are you from the pride?” he asked, his focus on the road and not killing himself as he sped back to his home.
“Three miles,” she replied. “Oh, shit!”
“NOVA!” he yelled.
“He…he just tried to come up beside me, but a car came over the hill and he got back in behind me.” Nova cursed again, but continued. “I’m passing the bar now.”
“Two miles. You can do it, baby,” Winter urged. “My brothers are there waiting for you.”
“I’m sorry, Winter. I’m so sorry,” she chanted.
“I’ll be right behind you and then we will talk about this once you are safe,” he replied, fighting the urge to yell at her, but now wasn’t the time to talk about why she’d left the land and his home. There would be time for that after he got home and made sure she was okay. He was sure she’d left to get some space and to think about the things she’d learned. He didn’t want her to find out that way, but it was already too late.
“I’m here,” she announced, releasing a loud sigh. “He kept going.”
“Go to the cabin, Nova,” he said, wiping his hand down his face. “I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
“The Guardians are here,” she replied.
“Hang up now, Nova,” he said. “I lo… I’ll be home soon.” Winter froze as he mumbled through what he’d just said. He almost told her he loved her.
His eyes scanned the road as he got closer to the pride’s land, hoping he’d see Perry. It was time he paid for his crime against his mate.
Mate.
Nova was his and his panther growled his approval, even though they were both anxious to see that she was truly unharmed.
Gravel crunched underneath his tires as he turned up the long drive, heading straight to his home. When he pulled in next to her car, he barely had the keys out of the ignition when he was met by his alpha.
“Calm down,” Talon said, pinning Winter against the side of his truck. “Push your panther away. Now is not the time to go into that house raging mad over what she did.”
“I need to see my mate,” Winter snarled, his canines thickening. “I’m not mad at her.”
“Well, she’s pretty angry with you,” Talon supplied.
“I know,” Winter replied in defeat.
“Liberty is inside with her,” Talon said, stepping away. “Let me get my mate and we will leave you alone to talk.”
“Thank you,” Winter exhaled, following his leader up the walkway into his home.
He stood in the doorway as Liberty said her goodbyes to Nova. As soon as his mate looked up, her glare hardened and she looked away before standing up to walk into his kitchen. Talon slapped him on the shoulder as he passed, pulling the front door closed as he left with his own mate.
“Nova,” he began as he entered the kitchen, but froze when she spun around…tears streaming down her face. He started to move forward, but she held out her hand in warning.
“Don’t touch me right now, Winter Blue,” she growled.
“Please, let me explain?” he begged, holding up his hands in surrender.
“I already know,” she sighed. “I know everything.”
“I cannot change you,” he admitted. “I don’t think I can bear seeing you in pain, little one. I remember what that pain was like and I won’t put you through that.”
“It isn’t your choice,” she replied.
“As your mate, it is my choice as well,” he growled, moving forward.
“Excuse me?” she gasped in shock, walking toward him. Winter didn’t move, or even breathe, while she approached. “My life, my choice.” She actually poked him in the chest with her finger.
“I know,” he caved.
“Then you should know that I asked Talon to change me,” she admitted.
“No!” Winter snarled, his eyes glowing bright amber, his canines lengthening to lethal points.
“Put your fangs away,” Nova dismissed, tossing her hand in the air. She wasn’t afraid of him or his partial shift, and that brought him up short. “He refused me.”
“Good,” Winter said, feeling his fangs recede as he moved toward her. This time, she didn’t protest and let Winter pull her against his chest. “Are you hurt anywhere?”
“No,” she said, resting her forehead against his chest. “I’m sorry I left without telling anyone.”
“I know that you needed space to think, Nova,” he scolded. “You could’ve done that here. I want you to feel at home here with me.”
“I do feel at home here, but I needed to have some time to think, Winter,” she said, looking up into his eyes. She was his mate…the one woman made for him.
“Did Talon explain everything about us… about the change?” he asked, hesitantly.
“Yes,” she swallowed. “How painful is it?”
“On a scale of one to ten, I’d rate it as around two hundred,” he replied seriously. “When Liberty was changing, we had to forcefully pull Talon from her bedside. He was in just as much pain as she was those three days.”
“I wish I’d known.” She frowned. “I would’ve stayed with her.”
“I’m sorry,” Winter said. “Talon wouldn’t let us in the room on the first day. After we pulled him out, it wasn’t safe for you to be there. He shifted and the entire pride was on edge. When our alpha is in distress, the whole pride suffers.”
“I still want you to change me, Winter,” she said, placing a hand over his heart.
“I’m sorry,” he said, shaking his head. “I can’t.”
“You’re not the only panther I know,” Nova said, gritting her teeth. His mate was determined and a pain in his ass.
“You do know that if a male touches you now, it will cause you to be in pain, right?” he growled. “If one of my brothers lays one hand on you, I will kill him.”
“Oh, no you won’t,” she said, rolling her eyes. “You know you wouldn’t.”
“I would,” he argued. “You have a lot to learn about panthers, little one. Our beasts have minds of their own. When our mates are harmed, o
ur panthers take over and push the human side away. I wouldn’t be responsible for what he does to the male that touches you.”
“If one of them touches me, you better not hurt them,” she warned. “They are my friends too, and your brothers.”
“They know better,” he countered.
“You’re not budging on this, are you?” she asked, a brow raised in question.
“No,” he snarled.
He would fight her on this and not give in. Just the thought of her screaming in pain raised the hair on the back of his neck and his panther paced in his mind. He wouldn’t change her. It would be the one thing that killed him…seeing her in pain.
Chapter Fourteen
“This is my brother, Kye, and this is Evie,” Talon said, introducing them to the new pride members. Evie felt a little at ease around them since they were all around the same age. They’d met in the dining room that was attached to the kitchen since it was between meals and no one was around the pride house. For a Saturday, it was very quiet, and Evie was sure her alpha had something to do with that. Even the alpha’s mate was nowhere to be found.
“I’m Malaki and this is my sister, Calla,” the boy with the dark blonde hair replied. His smile was as bright as his ice blue eyes. His sister, however, cowered at his side, her eyes were cast downward.
“I have to make a phone call,” Talon said, excusing himself.
Kye had come to her earlier and said that Talon thought maybe the two of them could meet and get to know Malaki and Calla. The girl had been held by the wolves for months, malnourished and dying from the lack of an alpha.
“Are you guys hungry?” Kye asked.
“Please?” Calla asked from her brother’s side. When she looked up, Evie swallowed a gasp. Evie saw herself in the girl’s eyes and gave her a soft smile. Calla looked defeated, but slowly pushed away from her brother’s side as Mrs. Shaw, Kye’s mother, entered the room with a platter of sandwiches.
“I’ll be back with some drinks for you,” she added, and left the room. Kye grabbed some paper plates from the sideboard and handed them out. Kye and Malaki added sandwiches to plates and immediately sat them in front of Evie and Calla. Once the two boys were satisfied the girls were taken care of, they mounded their own plates and dug in with gusto. Mrs. Shaw returned only for a moment to set the pitcher of lemonade on the table and four cups. The boys took over, serving the girls with drinks first.
“Do you go to school?” Calla asked after taking a sip of her drink.
“Yes,” Evie said, her eyes flickering toward Kye. He and Malaki were talking about getting the other guys outside for an impromptu football game. “We will be on Thanksgiving break after tomorrow.”
“Oh, I guess Thursday is Thanksgiving,” Calla frowned. “I’m so lost on what day it is.”
“I understand,” Evie replied. “I still have days that I don’t do so well.”
“Did…did they hurt you?” Calla whispered. Evie knew that Kye had heard Calla’s question, because his hand touched her knee, giving it a gentle squeeze.
“Not really,” Evie said, scrunching her nose. “They hit me and put a collar on me. I was sedated through most of it. Our healer said I wasn’t violated and I believe him.”
“That’s good,” Calla smiled. “I think they were scared to touch me.”
“Because of your brother?” Evie asked.
“He would move and put himself in front of me when they would come in the room.” Calla shivered. Evie reached out and touched her hand. Before she could say anything else, the boys were at their sides.
“What’s wrong?” Kye growled, his eyes sparking amber.
“We’re fine,” Calla replied, patting her brother’s arm.
“Yeah, I think we are going to be okay,” Evie smiled, praying her words were comforting to Calla. She wasn’t so sure about herself.
Nova ignored Winter as she pushed the door to the bar open. She disarmed the alarm system and didn’t even wait for him to check the inside of the building. It was Thanksgiving morning, and the bar would be closed until the next afternoon. She would only be in there for ten minutes tops and then they could go.
“I need to check the freezers,” she mumbled as she passed him, ignoring his growl of frustration. They hadn’t talked the night before after their argument about changing her. Nova had actually slept in the upstairs bedroom, refusing to open the door when she heard him pacing the hallway. It took forever, and a pillow over her head, but she eventually fell asleep.
She busied herself with checking the freezer, and then dropped the thermostat so she didn’t have to pay for heat when the bar wouldn’t be occupied for at least another twenty-four hours.
Flipping off the light, Nova turned and gasped, placing a hand over her heart when she almost plowed right into Winter’s broad chest. “You scared me.”
He didn’t speak as his hand touched the side of her face tenderly, but that was where the softness ended. His hand slid past her ear and tangled into her hair. When he made a fist, she hissed from the burn in her scalp. It wasn’t painful. Right the opposite…she liked it.
“You drive me crazy,” he snarled.
“Well, you drive me crazy too,” she growled.
Winter’s other hand folded over her hip, pulling her body flush against his. Before she could protest, his lips were on hers, his tongue demanding entrance. His forcefulness weakened her knees, but she didn’t let it show. God, every time he touched her now, it felt like home, and she loved that about him.
Did she love Winter Blue?
Nova could answer that…she knew she did love him, but things were stressed between them right now. As much as he drove her crazy, she cared for him, more than she thought he cared for her.
“Stop overthinking,” he ordered, softly nipping her bottom lip. When she opened her eyes, Winter was staring at her with his panther’s eyes. The blue was completely gone and only the glowing amber could be seen in the dark room.
“I’m an over-thinker, Winter,” she answered. “I have to be that way. It’s just me now.”
“No,” he stated, pressing his forehead to hers. “You have me, Nova. Forever, if you’d like.”
“Change me, Winter,” she whispered.
“No,” he replied, a low growl to his voice. “I don’t want to talk about this here. Let’s go to our home and I’ll tell you everything.”
“Everything?” she asked, not commenting on his slip of calling his home both of theirs.
He nodded and took her hand, leading her toward the front door. Nova punched in the numbers and locked the door. She shivered as the wind blew across the lot, biting through her thin jacket, then Winter was there to wrap an arm around her shoulders to block any other gusts. His warmth bled into her and she huddled close to him while he led her toward the passenger side of his truck. The short ride over to his home was quiet and he didn’t say anything until they were inside the cabin.
“Get settled with a blanket while I build a fire,” he said, taking her jacket. The house was chilly and she was thankful he was going to start a fire.
As she bundled up on the couch, Winter stepped out the back door and returned with several logs stacked in his arms. She watched as his muscles bunched and relaxed while he knelt at the hearth. He stacked the wood and used a match against some wadded up newspaper to light the fire. Within seconds, the wood popped and an orange glow grew from the fireplace. Once he was satisfied the fire was perfect, Winter stood and walked toward her, his eyes heated as he approached.
“Come here,” he said, pulling her into his lap so she was sitting sideways. Nova rested her head on his shoulder and took a deep breath, waiting for him to tell her everything.
But he only stared at the fireplace.
She wasn’t sure if she should say anything, and when the silence got to be too much, Nova opened her mouth to speak. “Winter?”
“My mother was a drug addict and a whore,” he began. Nova held back a gasp, because no one started a st
ory with that type of information. She knew this was going to be hard for him when she felt his chest shudder with a ragged breath. “The night my life changed was not the night I became a part of the pride.”
“You don’t have to tell me,” she whispered after he’d been quiet for a few minutes.
“I was home with my mom and baby sister,” Winter said, swallowing hard. “Mom was trying to stay clean, and we’d all just sat down to a nice dinner. I’d asked my sister how her day was at school, and before she could talk, someone drove by our house and opened fire. My mom was killed instantly. My sister, Summer, was hit in the chest by a bullet that went through me. She died in my arms.”
“Oh, Winter,” Nova cried. Her heart shattered at his confession. There was no way this story could get any worse, but from the hard set to his jaw, she knew it was going to be painful for him to relive.
“I was so worried about her, I didn’t even feel the bullets that had hit me,” he laughed. “They said it was the adrenaline. I was so angry, and I wanted to find the assholes that killed my family. I checked myself out of the hospital and my first stop was a hotel. The next day, I went to the security company I worked for, and when I walked in, my two bosses froze. I ended up passing out from an infection I didn’t even know I had.”
“Was that Talon’s company?” Nova asked.
“Yeah,” Winter nodded. “Savage and Noah were there that day. Savage ended up rushing me to the pride, and it was Talon’s father who gave him the approval to change me.”
“What happened?” she asked, wrapping her arms around him to give him strength to continue his story.
“I remember waking up with the taste of blood in the back of my throat.” He blinked, shaking his head to clear a memory. “My body turned ice cold and a pain started in the pit of my stomach. Even though I was cold, sweat covered my body. I felt it dripping down my cheek…my neck…my back and legs. Then I began to scream. I can’t even think of anything comparable to describe the pain I went through for three days, Nova.” He pulled her over so she straddled his lap. His hands clasped her face.
Winter (Rise of the Pride, Book 2) Page 12