Winter's Wrath: Sacrifice (Winter's Saga #3)

by Karen Luellen

  He stood stone still, his back still to her, eyes locked on her small hand on his arm for a moment before turning around.

  “Thank you for checking on me.” She smiled up at him, trying to ease his anxiousness. “The noise you heard was Maze toppling me from a handstand. He just decided he wanted to wrestle.” She shrugged innocently.

  He nodded once and started to turn away again, though the look in his eyes told her he wanted to stay.

  “Hey, if you have a minute, I would like to talk to you. That is, if you’re done making your rounds.” She watched his pupils dilate at her words.

  “Everything’s secure, for now.” He nodded.

  Meg reached out again, this time purposefully taking his hand in hers and led him down the hall to the living room. She didn’t let go until they were seated on a comfy sofa for two. Meg watched him sit stiffly, which is pretty hard to do in these couches. They were so plush; they nearly forced everyone to melt back into their folds. As for Meg, she curled her left leg under herself and snuggled into the corner being sure to angle herself to face the metasoldier.

  Feeling a moment of unease, she looked down at the edge of the pajama shorts she wore and absently rolled the hem with deft fingers.

  The room was silent for too long.

  Meg couldn’t stand it anymore.

  Still not sure what she wanted to say or ask, she just let her heart talk.

  “We met for the first time late one autumn night in Kansas. Mom was in the hospital recovering from being beaten by Williams and his thugs, and my brothers and I were keeping vigil in her hospital room. I had stepped outside to take Maze for a walk. You stepped out of the shadows to talk to me.” Meg smiled at the memory.

  “But I was so scared of you. We had every reason to be wary of strangers with Williams hunting us. I wouldn’t even tell you my name.” She laughed at the memory. “The next day we ran into each other at the hospital’s cafeteria. You bought breakfast for my family that morning and walked me to the elevator.”

  Creed listened intently, desperate to know everything about his lost memories of this girl.

  “We agreed to meet at noon that day,” she frowned, remembering, “but that never happened. We went into hiding that day.” She said simply, not wanting to tell him it was because of his attempt at her mother’s life that forced them to run.

  “The next time I saw you it was five months later in Hawaii. I had been dosed with a mutant malaria virus and was at death’s door for a week. During that time, you helped my family find a way to cure me. You chose to help us and turned away from Williams, defying his orders. You even used yourself as a human shield to protect me.” Meg looked up at Creed’s handsome face. “You took two bullets for me that night.”

  Creed stared at his hands, deep in thought.

  “When I woke from the coma, we realized the illness had triggered my evolution.”

  He looked up, a question on his lips. “You mentioned your evolution before. What exactly is it?”

  “Alik, Evan and I were given a different serum than the metahumans who came after us. We were the original formula. Something was different about that formula. It not only heightened our natural abilities, but Evan and Paulie decoded something else. It was a countdown. At first, we thought the countdown was to our deaths, but we found out differently. It was a countdown to a form of rebirth.”

  “Have Alik and Evan evolved, too?”

  “No, not yet, but it could happen at any time, really. Alik, being older, will probably change first.”

  “I was told I was exposed to the serum at Dr. St. Paul’s lab. Was that the same serum you were given?” Creed asked, worry in his eyes.

  “Yes, or at least as close as it could be. Evan made those vials of the Infinite serum based on his own blood. He was given the most advanced version of the serum,” she shrugged. “So, yeah, you were exposed to it. Have you noticed a difference in yourself?”

  Meg stopped talking and looked to him expectantly.

  “Yeah, I have.” He took a deep breath and allowed himself to sit back in the sofa, as though finally surrendering to the comfort. His head leaned back as he stared up at the ceiling, thinking.

  “And?”

  He shrugged. “I was always strong, fast and accurate—but it’s different now.”

  “Different how?”

  “I’m just—well,” he rubbed his face with his hands in a gesture Meg recognized as shyness, “apparently I’ve broken every record at the Facility.”

  Her eyes widened. “Every record?”

  “Yeah, the instructors and doctors there test us and keep track of all our scores—our running times, accuracy with different weapons, martial arts skills, weight lifting—everything.”

  “Wow, that’s impressive!” Meg was staring at Creed with a new level of awe.

  He just shrugged.

  They were silent for a moment, each in their thoughts.

  “Why did I dream of you?” Creed’s voice was barely above a whisper.

  Meg sighed, not sure how to answer.

  He turned his large body toward the girl with the Cherokee dark eyes to study her face. She held still, allowing him time to think, to process.

  “In my dream, you would touch me,” he motioned to his temple, “and take away my pain.” His blue eyes watched for her reaction.

  She smiled softly and nodded. “It’s my evolved gift. That’s what I do…what I did for you. I stumbled onto the ability the day of the battle on the island. You were the first person I reached out to like that. I desperately wanted to ease your emotional pain.”

  “There was a bright-white blanket.” His voice sounded far away.

  “That’s the way you described it to me. You said it felt as if I had wrapped you in a pure white blanket and taken away your pain.”

  He locked eyes with her again. “Why me? Why use your gift on me? It hurts you, doesn’t it? Like in the barn?”

  “You’re worth it.” She answered from her heart.

  “Meg, I have to know. Were we—I mean, I have such a strong feeling I can’t explain—were we close—you and me?” He looked torn between embarrassed to ask and desperate to know.

  Meg felt a wave of shyness, and went back to studying the hem of her shorts. “Um, wow.” Heat rushed up her neck, burning her cheeks.

  “We were, weren’t we?” His eyes searched hers.

  “We were heading that way,” She admitted, forcing herself to look him in the eyes as she spoke.

  He nodded, the corners of his mouth lifting into the softest of smiles. “I really wish I could remember that.”

  “Me, too.” She bit her lip at the memory crisp in her mind, but lost to him.

  His eyes locked onto the flesh between Meg’s teeth. “Did I ever get to kiss you?”

  She opened her mouth to answer when he stood abruptly. “No, wait. Don’t answer that. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.” He paced away from the sofa they’d shared, hands on his hips, his back to her.

  “Listen Meg, we have a job to do. We’re about to walk into the spider’s web.” He shook his head, trying to regain focus. “And he’s one hell of a nasty spider.”

  He turned to look at the girl, hands still parked on his muscular hips, “I need to focus, and I can’t if I’m worried about you.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “I don’t want you to get hurt, or worse,” he blurted.

  “Are you telling me you think I’m too much of a liability to be part of the plan?”

  “That’s not what I’m saying,” he frowned.

  “Oh, so you just think I can’t hold my own. Is that it?” She stood abruptly, arms crossed, eyes flashing accusations.

  “Meg, lower your voice,” Creed looked back toward the hallway where most of the bedrooms were.

  “No, no, Creed Young. Everyone may as well hear this. You must think I’m a stupid weakling. Well, I’ll have you know, I may not have broken records, but I make u
p for it with moxie. How dare you suggest I can’t—”

  Creed took one long stride, closing the distance between them before Meg could utter another word. His body radiated heat. His strong hands held her gently but firmly by the shoulders catching her completely by surprise. Her jaw fell open but nothing came out.

  “There is nothing weak about you, Meg. I admire the hell out of you, and that’s just based on what I’ve seen in the past day. I have no doubt you are a kick-ass fighter, but the strongest part of you is your heart. I would follow you into battle any day.”

  Her hands, of their own volition, reached up to push him away, but instead of pushing, they just held still, flat against his chest, feeling his strong heartbeat. He was solid. The skin and muscle under the thin T-shirt was beyond tight. She forced her eyes not to linger on his lips instead grabbing his eyes and locking there. “If my strength is my heart, how much damage could I possibly cause?”

  The blue of his eyes glistened like an oasis, dizzying and surreal. “You could obliterate.”

  That’s when the bright overhead lights burst on.

  Meg stepped out of Creed’s arms and squinted to the doorway. There stood Margo, arms crossed over her pink cotton robe. “Meg? Creed? I thought I heard voices out here. What are you two up to?” One of her brows rose as she waited for an answer.

  “Mom, hey. We were just talking, but—wow, look at the time. We’d better all get back to our studies. Later, Creed.” Meg stammered, feeling like an idiot being caught by her mother in such an intense moment with Creed Young.

  Creed ground his teeth at being interrupted, but slipped his impassive expression over his face like the mask he wore most of his life. He’d reverted to his soldier’s ‘at ease’ stance.

  “Right, so…” Meg walked quickly to her mother and grabbed her arm, hurrying her back down the hallway, “I have one question about the plan I wanted to ask you about,” Meg babbled, mind racing.

  Margo allowed herself to be dragged to Meg’s room, but looked back curiously at Creed one last time before rounding the corner. When they reached Meg’s room, door closed firmly by the girl’s shaking hand, the girl breathed deeply and slumped against the cool of the wood frame.

  “Now,” Margo started gathering the papers still strewn across her daughter’s bed. “Do you really have a question about the plan?”

  Meg shook her head, still trying to get her heart to stop trying to leap out of her chest.

  “Do you want to tell me what was going on with Creed?” Margo asked, sitting at the edge of the bed, absently rubbing Maze’s ear.

  “Why does everything have to be so complicated?” Meg sighed.

  “Well, kiddo. That’s just life. Although your situation happens to be especially complex—I’ll give you that.” She smiled apologetically.

  “Sucks to be me,” Meg collapsed beside her mother at the edge of the bed and leaned her head on Margo’s strong shoulder. She sighed feeling her mother’s hand reach up to smooth her curls away from her face and offer a comforting side-hug.

  “Ah, now. It’ll be okay. I have a suggestion, though,” she hedged. “How about we focus on the plan for now? Afterward, you’ll have all sorts of time to figure out what you want to do, and whose company you want to keep.”

  Meg pressed her lips together, thoughtfully. “Will there really be life after Williams? It feels like he’s been this constant threat looming over us forever.”

  “Yes, my sweet Megglet. God willing, there will be life after Williams. And it’s going to be a beautiful one. Have faith.” She leaned over and kissed the top of Meg’s head as she had as far back as the girl could remember.

  “I love you, mom.”

  “I love you more, Meggie.”

  Chapter 37 Cole and Meg

  The evening meeting began on time for everyone except Cole, who was still a no-show. In all the chaos, it hadn’t occurred to Meg to worry about where he was.

  Everyone sat around the living room and started back at point A walking through, step-by-step, planting contingency plans as they went and smoothing over possible scenarios.

  Though the anxiety in the house was defiantly at an all-time high, at least now Meg could feel more excitement and hope than desperation and anger. A couple hours into it, she stepped out of the detail planning still going on, and headed into the kitchen to make everyone some late night snacks.

  She was deep in thought as she opened the refrigerator to retrieve the cold-cuts and sandwich spread when a jolt of terror ripped through her empath’s mind. Meg screamed at the searing pain gushing down her connection—her hands instantly dropping the glass container and flew to clutch the skin on her face as it felt as though it bursted into glass flames. Her head flung back with the impact, her neck exploding with volcanic ice before she felt nothing.

  Creed was the first to react to Meg’s scream. He leaped over the sofa in his direct path to the kitchen only to see her crumple to the floor.

  The room burst at the creases with terror as the others ran into the room seconds behind him.

  “What happened?” Margo was yelling, trying to figure out what she was seeing.

  “Meg?” Alik yelled across the room even as he ran to his sister.

  Creed was already at her side, desperately watching her chest for movement, fingers gently pressed to her carotid artery anxious to find a pulse.

  Evan shoved Creed aside to assess her himself. “What the hell happened?” he tried to maintain his clinical cool, but was losing it at the sight of his sister on the floor with what looked like claw marks all over her face. The blood was red and angry as it surfaced to fill the jagged rips.

  Margo pushed Alik aside to grab her daughter’s wrist, feeling for herself the racing pulse under her fingers. “Oh, dear God, why would she do this to herself?” She held up her daughter’s hand. The blood and tissue under her nails made it obvious that Meg had mauled herself.

  Theo wet a clean kitchen towel and rung it out, mumbling with as much fear as worry. He handed it to Margo who carefully laid it on her daughter’s forehead.

  “Is it safe to move her?” Alik asked the room.

  Evan had been palpating his sister’s neck and nodded grimly. “Yes, let’s get her off the floor.”

  Alik was about to slip his hands under his sister to lift her when she rolled her head and grimaced. Everyone stopped talking to watch—her lips were moving. She moaned as though in great pain. “Cole,” she whispered. “Cole….”

  Margo and Theo exchanged horrified looks. “Where’s Cole?”

  “I haven’t seen him since breakfast,” Farrow offered as she paused to grab more paper towels. She was trying to clean up the broken glass and creamy spread.

  “Me either,” the others added.

  “I noticed the SUV was gone a couple hours ago,” Evan said.

  Creed, completely focused on Meg, had inched his way back to her side. With the strength and grace of a cat he slipped his hands under her body and lifted her easily, his eyes never leaving her face. He only half listened to everyone try to figure out where Cole was, when he left, why he hadn’t taken his cell phone, and so on.

  For the second time that day, Creed was alone with the girl of his dreams, only this time she was hurting. He frowned deeply at the angry gashes marring her beautiful skin. She moaned in his arms just as he was about to lower her to the sofa, and gripped his T-shirt in a white-knuckled fist. Still trapped in her empath’s pain, Meg sought comfort and buried her face into his chest. He didn’t have the heart to let her go. There he stood, unsure how best to help the beauty in his arms, when Alik, Evan and Margo hurried into room. It didn’t take an empath to read what Meg wanted at that moment. She was clinging to the soldier like her next breath depended on him.

  Margo’s worried brow softened slightly at the sight of her traumatized daughter being comforted. She walked to Creed. He stiffened; worried he’d overstepped his boundaries, though completely unsure where the boundaries should be when it came to t
he girl in his arms.

  “Why don’t you sit down with her? She seems to really need you right now,” Margo put a hand on the hulking soldier with weary eyes and gently nudged him to sit.

  Creed nodded and offered the mother of the angel in his arms a half smile. He didn’t know what he would have done if they had tried to take the girl away from him just then. His protective instincts were working on a level he’d never felt before. Creed felt such heart pounding need for her. Magnets were under their skin pulling them together. He’d felt the pull even from halfway around the world.

  He looked down at Meg as she curled in his lap still clutching his shirt and felt what he was sure was his heart aching with what could only be love. He swallowed the emotion in his throat and lifted one muscular leg only to rest its ankle on the knee of the other. This position felt a little better to him.

  It was the closest he could get to what he craved more than air. He really wanted to curl himself around her and protect her from anything, everything…always.

  He watched the lines of pain smooth across her torn brow and her clinched fist relaxed, though she didn’t let go. Whatever was hurting her, it seemed to be letting up.

  Time stood still as he held the beauty that held his heart.

  Theo and Margo were pacing the room, cell phones to their ears. They’d taken to calling hospitals. Gavil, Slider, Farrow, Alik and Evan were debating going to look for Cole.

  “He could be anywhere,” Evan offered logically.

  “If Meg were awake would she be able to find him?” Slider asked.

  “She’s in no condition to help any more than she already has,” Alik frowned at the metasoldier.

  “What happened to her?” Farrow was looking across the room at Creed and Meg still on the sofa.

  “I have a theory,” Evan began, “but until she wakes and can tell us what she experienced, it would just be a guess.”

  Evan and Alik exchanged worried looks.

  Theo’s voice rose above the rest of the voices in the room. “Greenbriar General is about to receive a patient via Life Flight who fits Cole’s description.” His face was the same color as the white wall behind him. His eyes darted, terrified as he ran his hands through his thinning hair.