‘You’ve got a job, mate,’ Scorpio said, winking at the woman he eyed up.
She rolled her eyes at him. I laughed heartily as Leo slapped him on the back.
‘Let’s go,’ I said to the boys as we wrapped up our session. My legs were taken off, but instead of packing them away, my physio handed them to me.
‘Take them home and practice putting them on. I’m trusting you to not walk on them. Do not push yourself, or you’ll undo all the hard work you’ve done.’
I grinned up at him, wanting to hug him again. I had been pestering him to let me take my legs home but he had been strict. He believed that I would push myself too hard. However, I was a rule follower in general. I didn’t want to jeopardise my implants. They were the only thing that would get me out of the chair.
I waved goodbye and let the boys wheel me out to the van.
‘It’s good to see you getting stronger.’
The voice made my skin crawl. I clenched my fists at my side. Nick was standing in the car park outside the hospital.
‘Back off,’ Leo called.
Nick laughed. He wore his usual outfit. The lines around his eyes seemed deeper. Was Mother causing him grief?
I had told the others about her insistence that she was going to help Father. We hadn’t completely backed off but we had lessened our search. The others had reacted in different ways. Pisces wanted to rescue our father without waiting. Leo had seemed indifferent but he wanted it over as much as I did. Scorpio had scowled and said that we should leave them both to their own fate. In his mind, they had abandoned us.
‘What do you want?’ I wheeled up to Nick.
I didn’t want a scene in the middle of the hospital car park but I was losing patience with the man that wouldn’t leave us alone.
He wrenched his neck to the side, making it click loudly. I came to a stop in front of him.
‘I wanted to check in to let you know that you’re making my job easy.’
Leo and Scorpio were behind me. They didn’t say anything. Nick’s fight was with me now. I was the only one of us that was near to harmonising with my twin flame. I didn’t know how I knew. I didn’t want to think about it but it was true.
‘Good. I do aim to please,’ I spat, tempted to ram my chair into his legs.
His eyebrows rose as I let my chair roll forward. He took a step back and shook his head.
‘It had to be the childish one, didn’t it?’ he muttered.
‘It had to be the childish one, didn’t it?’ I mimicked back in a high pitched voice.
Leo chuckled behind me but Scorpio was silent. His gaze bore into the back of my head. I could feel it. He would chastise me for proving Nick right.
‘This is boring. Why are you here?’
The screech of tyres on concrete came from the bottom of the car park. Someone pushed me out of the way as the car came straight for us.
‘Who is that?’ Leo shouted as the car ran into Nick.
Nick moved but the bumper clipped his leg. He let out a howl of pain and fell to the floor. His men came out from behind the other vehicles and picked him up. Another car screeched up next to them and they jumped in. The tyres left marks on the concrete as it accelerated out of the car park. I wheeled myself out from between the vehicles. Natalie climbed from the car that ran into Nick. I shook my head as the crazy woman came over to us.
‘What the bloody hell were you doing?’ I shouted.
She paused for a second, her step faltering. Leo punched me on the top of the arm. I rubbed the spot, even though it wasn’t sore.
‘Ignore him. Are you okay?’ Scorpio said as she joined us.
‘We should probably get out of here.’
People started to gather.
‘I’m sorry,’ Natalie mumbled, ‘I saw Nick and lost my temper.’
The corner of my lip quirked into my cheek but I didn’t let a full grin develop. I didn’t want her to see how happy I was that she had defended me.
‘We do need to go.’ Leo took hold of my wheelchair and pushed me into the van.
Scorpio had already hidden my prosthetics away. I was grateful that they didn’t say anything. I wasn’t ready to tell Natalie about them.
‘Natalie…?’ I called.
She had turned away without saying anymore and headed back to her car.
She paused and put a hand on her hip but didn’t come back. ‘What?’ she shouted.
A small smile played on her lips. What did it mean? Was she happy to see me?
‘Good to see you,’ I shouted.
She flicked her ponytail as she spun and got back into her car. I had no idea why she had been in the car park. Maybe the universe had synchronised our meeting.
It had been a weird day. I had walked for the first time and Natalie had run over a man that I despised. It was turning into a good day.
Chapter Twenty Three
I walked into the kitchen. My siblings made so much noise as they chatted, they didn’t notice me at first. When I caught Pisces’ eye, she froze. Her hand came to her mouth as a small squeal left her lips. The rest of them noticed and looked to see what she was staring at.
‘Aries…’ Cancer whispered.
All eleven of my siblings, and Antony, stared at me as I stood in the middle of the kitchen. The food on the table started to go cold as no one spoke or moved. I grinned. I couldn’t help myself. I had managed to keep my legs hidden from the others. I had pretended to Leo and Scorpio that I was still struggling with them.
It had taken me almost seven months since the accident but I was finally able to walk comfortably on my new legs. I was a man again. It was time to show everyone what I could do.
‘You look so good!’ Sagi rushed over to me.
I wore shorts so they could see my legs in action. It wasn’t like I had to worry about getting cold.
‘I can’t believe it,’ Pisces sniffled as water filled her eyes.
I hugged them one by one as they each came up. It felt so good to be the tallest again. To be able to pat their backs and hold my head high. My throat tightened more and more with every whisper in my ear. My brothers and sisters told me that they loved me as they wrapped their arms around me.
‘It’s good to have my strong brother back!’ Leo put an arm around my shoulder.
I nodded, unable to say anything as Pisces sobbed in Antony’s arms. I shook my head as he grinned at me. If she hadn’t cried, I would have been more upset.
‘How long can you walk on them for?’ Gemini asked as he studied the metal prosthetics.
I did a little twirl to show them in motion. They laughed at my antics, which was good. I felt alive and almost back to normal.
‘Only a few hours at the moment, but the more I walk, the easier it will be.’
Pisces came over and took my hand. I looked down at her when she pinched my arm. ‘Have you told Natalie?’
The smile left my face. Antony tried to pull Pisces away. ‘Don’t get involved,’ he said. She wouldn’t budge. Instead, she tried to get me to look at her.
‘You know it’s time.’
I nodded. She was right. I had waited long enough to let her come to me but she hadn’t. I needed to show her that I wanted her in my life. I had been fighting to walk. Now I had to fight for Natalie. The pressure of the implant in my thighs was a reminder that I was alive.
‘Before you go running off, we have something to do,’ Scorpio said, interrupting my thoughts.
Pisces squeezed my arm and went back to her seat. The rest of them followed and settled down to finish their dinner.
‘It does look nice.’ I sat at the head of the table and helped myself to a chicken leg.
‘As nice as dinner is, that wasn’t what I meant,’ Scorpio mumbled as he took a mouthful of roast potato. ‘Cancer has received a text from Mother.’
I glanced at our sister. She couldn’t hide the blush that came to her face. Had she been hiding something from us? Every time I had asked her about her relationship wit
h Mother, she had closed up and refused to talk to me. What was so bad that she couldn’t tell me?
‘Why didn’t you say anything?’ I asked quietly.
She put the fork on the plate and swallowed her mouthful. ‘I was going to. I didn’t want to take the focus away from you.’
I nodded and held out my hand. She scowled at me but placed her phone in my palm. I read the message. Mother planned to spy on Nick. She had told Cancer to tell me where she would be that evening.
‘Is it a trap?’ I asked her.
She bit her lip. I struggled not to throw her phone.
‘Is it a trap?’ I ground out between clenched teeth.
The room fell silent as knives and forks stopped moving. Everyone stopped chewing or talking. The only sound was the tick of the clock that hung on the wall.
‘I have no idea. I thought we could trust her but I haven’t had much communication from her. You’ve been so busy getting better, I didn’t want to say anything.’
The movement of the table as I slammed my fist onto the wooden surface made her jump.
‘Do you think that this isn’t important? Father’s been missing for six months and we haven’t rescued him yet!’
I looked at the others and made a choice. It was now or never. We had given Mother plenty of time but she hadn’t rescued our father.
‘It’s time,’ I muttered, looking at the men specifically.
‘I’m coming with you,’ Sagi said.
‘Me too,’ Pisces chimed in.
The women stood when I shook my head and opened my mouth to disagree. They chattered and whinged about how much they wanted to help. I thumped the table again and they stopped.
‘It’s not like you’ve had much luck rescuing Father without us,’ Sagi said.
I ran a hand over my face and gritted my teeth. ‘All right, you can help.’
They clapped their hands together as I glanced at Leo. He scribbled something on a napkin.
‘Rescue you,’ he muttered when he caught me watching.
‘Another song…?’ I asked.
He nodded and grinned, bending back to his lyrics. I looked at Cancer. She was still chewing on her lip. There was something wrong with her. I didn’t have the time to find out what it was. I would have to sit her down after we had rescued Father from Nick.
‘We need to get going. Mother says that Nick will be at a hotel in London tonight. She thinks he’s meeting a new woman. She has told us where he is keeping Father.’ I held up the blue phone, ignoring Cancer when she cringed.
‘You’re going to go in there and kill everyone, aren’t you?’ she asked.
I only just heard her over the others. Dinner time was a noisy affair in our house. It was a family tradition. Sitting around the table was important to us all. It was the only time we spent together.
‘Probably. Why do you care?’
I was having a hard time being patient with her. I wanted her to tell me what was bothering her in her own time, but I was starting to think that whatever it was, might put us in danger.
‘It’s the man we kidnapped,’ she said.
The words were quiet.
‘Will you shut up?!’ I shouted over everyone.
They didn’t take any notice. Rage ran over me. I pulled a fireball into my hand. When they still didn’t quieten down, I threw the ball into the far wall. Luckily it was bare. The fire exploded and scorched the wallpaper. It did its job. Everyone went quiet. I nodded at Cancer to go on.
She scrunched her napkin in her hand and looked into my eyes. ‘I think the man we held hostage is my twin flame.’
Chapter Twenty Four
‘When I tell you to go in, you’ve got to be quiet.’ I looked at the small group.
They nodded and watched me for direction. Some of the others waited a few streets away, just in case they were needed. Gemini and Taurus watched the hotel in London. They confirmed that Nick had entered.
The house that supposedly held my father, was further out of London than I realised. Open fields surrounded the property. I had to work out how many of Nick’s men were in position.
‘What if we can’t find him?’ Scorpio asked.
I refused to believe that it could be the case. I had been impatient when I had seen Cancer’s text message. I had rushed straight to the address, instead of taking more time to scope out the place.
‘This is the best chance we’ve had all year. Cancer, you’re coming with me.’ I grabbed her arm when she went to back away.
‘I still don’t know if we can trust her,’ Scorpio said.
We crouched behind a bush. It was tall enough to cover us. It also sheltered the house from the road. I looked around the greenery but couldn’t see anyone in the garden. There was no movement or lights in the detached cottage. It was getting dark. The sun had sunk below the horizon. The cool evening air surrounded us.
‘I can’t come,’ Cancer pleaded.
I resisted the urge to squeeze her arm. Her confession had silenced us. Did she have any idea what she was implying? We couldn’t contradict her without seeing them together but it was highly unlikely that one of Nick’s men was her soulmate.
‘You don’t have a choice. If your soulmate…’ I almost choked on the word, ‘…is in there, we can use you to bargain with him.’
She gasped and so did the others. Scorpio and Leo shook their heads.
‘Not like that! Just trust me, will you?’ I hissed.
I was hardly going to swap Cancer for our father, although a part of me was tempted. She was the reason Leo had got stabbed. She was lucky that he hadn’t been seriously hurt.
‘Don’t you see what you’ve done?’ I gestured towards Leo’s leg.
‘I didn’t know he was going to do that. He promised he wouldn’t hurt anyone. He said he would go quietly,’ she sobbed.
I shook her gently so she stopped the theatrics. I didn’t mind a bit of excitement but I couldn’t understand why women cried.
‘Can we stop gossiping and get on with it?’ Scorpio said.
I reached into the back of my jeans and took out the gun that Antony had lent me. Being a bodyguard, he owned a couple of them. I didn’t actually need one. I could use my fire. But I had brought it, just in case.
‘Please don’t shoot anyone,’ Cancer said.
I glanced at Leo. He shook his head as he scowled. ‘Aries won’t…I will.’
Leo took the gun from me. I frowned but let him have it. I wasn’t inclined to use it, although I would be happy to shoot if needed. Leo wasn’t usually the vengeful type. I was shocked when he checked to see if the gun was loaded.
‘Have you ever shot a gun?’ Scorpio asked him.
Leo handed it back to me. ‘No. I just wanted to see how it felt.’
The metal of the handle felt heavy in my palm. Fire was my weapon but I liked having the gun as a warning.
‘Let’s go.’ I darted around the bush, dragging Cancer with me.
The others spread out and followed. We circled the house and crept over the lawn. As we approached, I crouched below a window. My legs held me well. I felt amazing. It was the first time I had been able to walk around for a long time.
I enjoyed the power that washed over me as I rose up to look into the house. I had the gun in one hand and Cancer’s arm in the other.
‘You’re hurting me,’ she whispered, trying to ply me off her. ‘I won’t run off.’
I didn’t trust anyone. I was engrossed. I ignored her as I investigated my surroundings. There was no one in the kitchen but I heard talking somewhere in the house.
Pulling on Cancer’s arm, I moved to the next window. I caught sight of Leo further along as he gestured to another window. He was letting me know that there was someone in the room. I stuck up my thumb, hoping he could see me in the dim light and approached the back door. We were going to storm the house to search high and low. We had nothing to lose. We would get out of there before anyone else came. I placed my palm on the handle of the door an
d slowly pulled it down. It clicked open. I smiled back at Cancer. She didn’t return the smile; instead she scowled and tried to shove me away. I glared at her until she went still.
‘How long did you say he would be?’
Mother’s voice drifted out to me. She wasn’t in the kitchen. She must have been in a nearby room.
‘As long as it takes to move your husband to the new house. They took him an hour ago. I’m going to torch this house in about…ten minutes. So you better get out of here.’
I froze. They had already moved Father. Mother had spoken about the possibility that they would move him but I thought she would have warned us.
I glanced at Cancer. She frowned at me. I gestured at Leo to join us. We needed to search the house to make sure that Father wasn’t there and to pick up any clues.
‘Mother’s in there,’ I whispered.
He nodded and waited for me to push the door open. It was silent as it swung inwards, letting us gain access without drawing attention.
‘Where have they taken him?’ Mother asked.
My attention was drawn to a door in the corner. It was slightly ajar. It was where the voices came from. The man chuckled as a footstep indicated that someone in the room had moved. ‘Why do you want to know?’
I scanned the kitchen again but it was clear. I didn’t want to make a sound. I handed Cancer to Leo. She was coming in with us. I recognised the voice of her man. If it was definitely him, I was going to do him some damage.
‘I want to be kept informed,’ Mother said.
‘What do I get for keeping you informed?’ the man asked.
I edged towards the door. My shoes were silent on the lino floor. I was surprised, and pleased, that my legs worked so well. I was so engrossed, I had forgotten they weren’t even real.
‘I’m twice your age!’ Mother spat.
He chuckled again. I looked over my shoulder to see Cancer cringe. She waited with Leo by the worktop.
‘And I’m married, so what?’ the man said.
I heard shuffling in the room as I got closer to the door.
‘Don’t be so absurd,’ Mother exclaimed.
I pushed the door open silently and aimed my gun. As soon as I had sight of the man, I swung it towards his back. He was facing away from me.
Aries: Book 2 in a Young Adult Paranormal Romance Series (The Zodiac Twin Flame Series) Page 14