Winter's Storm: Retribution (Winter's Saga #2) (10 page)

15 He Was Just Here

“
Where’s he from?” Alik asked

“
How old is he?” Evan asked before I could answer Alik.

“
How did you meet him?”

“
Who is his ‘friend’?”

“
What does he know about you?”

“
For Pete’s sake, you two! You don’t even stop asking questions long enough to let me answer!” I was getting more nervous with every step. Introducing my brothers to this handsome guy I barely knew was really sounding like a crazy-stupid idea.

“
I don’t know where he’s from. He’s about eighteen-years-old. I met him while taking Maze for a walk. I don’t know his friend, and he doesn’t even know my name!” I felt myself very close to the edge of panic as I looked around the lawn. Creed wasn’t there.

“
Well, where is this mystery guy of yours?” Alik asked scanning the area.

“
Stop calling him that. He’s no mystery, just a guy,” I said trying to sound composed. “I saw him at a distance while we were sparing. I don’t know how much he saw, but maybe it freaked him out.” I swallowed hard. “You know, regular girls don’t fight for fun like me,” my voice trailed off. I was looking at my sneakers wondering what I must have looked like to him. I felt heat spread up my neck and burn my ears and was thankful for my long hair right about then. When you feel like a freak, it’s nice to have a built in veil that can hide your pain.

“
Maybe he just had to run to the bathroom,” Evan offered, gently.

“
Not everyone has a fascination with bathroom plumbing like you, Ev,” Alik said. “Listen, Meg. We’d better head back to mom’s room. We’ll meet him some other time. Okay?” I felt my brother’s arm drape over my shoulders in an uncharacteristically affectionate way. I couldn’t help it. Hot tears of humiliation brimmed in my eyes. I couldn’t look at my brothers. The first time I’m to introduce them to a boy I liked, and the idiot stands me up!

“
Who are we going to meet some other time?” a familiar voice spoke from behind us. I turned to see Cole’s gentle, smiling face. His green eyes matched the evergreens behind him. His dirty blond hair was just getting long enough to be called scruffy, even in his halfhearted attempt at gelling it up and off his forehead. He wore a soft brown fleece hoodie and faded blue jeans. His large hands were shoved into his front pockets in an obvious attempt to keep them warm against the cold Kansas day. I loved the way his wide smile made his nose crinkle just a little at the bridge. I felt as safe with Cole as I did with my brothers. And as I stood surrounded by my boys, I couldn’t help but compare Cole to Creed.

“
Um…Meg? You wanna answer him? Or should I?” Alik said in a flat attempt at being politically correct.

“
Oh, no one important, Cole,” I said walking up to him and wrapping my arm through his. I immediately felt a calmness flood through me. It was crystal clear when I was around him: Cole’s love for me was genuine and unconditional. Why would I allow myself to get swept up by a tall, dark stranger when I know where I should be? Why was Creed’s mysteriousness so darn sexy to me?

“
We were just heading back to mom’s room,” I said changing the subject. “So, did the kids like our exhibition?”

My brothers were uncharacteristically silent as they fell into step behind me and Cole. I could feel their disapproval of me. What did they want me to say?
Yeah, um…Cole. See, I know you love me and have proven you would risk your life for me and my family, but I kinda met some other guy and totally get hot and bothered every time he comes around. You good with that?
I had to work to push their judgmental feelings away from me.

“
The kids were stoked! They were cheering so loudly, the nurses came in and teased them that they would have to send everyone back to bed if they didn’t calm down. You should have seen their faces. These little sick kids, some of them with no hair, skinny and pale, all of them wearing their hospital gowns and slippers…they looked like they could sprout wings and fly with excitement watching you three!” Cole’s face flushed with happiness as he talked. He really did have a heart of gold.

“
I’m glad they enjoyed it,” I said genuinely.

“
I’ve watched you three spar lots of times, but it still makes me stare in amazement to see you do what you can do when, just to look at you, no one would suspect you were so tough,” Cole awkwardly complimented.

I looked up at him, and realized, not for the first time, that he was a pretty tall guy who probably outweighed me by fifty pounds. I raised my brow at him mischievously.

“
Um…what I mean is, that you’re a girl; a feminine and fragile-looking girl. So when you switch into meta-mode it’s just…”

I giggled to myself, completely forgetting about Creed and being stood up; basking instead in Cole’s adorable glow of admiration.

“
Dude, you passed awkward a while back and are fast approaching sappy,” Alik teased.

“
Oh, be quiet, Ali,” I said protectively. “I think Cole’s observations are sweet.” I hugged his arm gently while we waited for the elevator to take us back up to the seventh floor.

The elevator was already pretty full of people who were sure to be stopping at every floor between here and the seventh floor when I felt a burst of adrenaline fueled by terror.

“
Oh, my God! Mom!” I whipped around toward my brothers relaying the urgency with my eyes as I felt more terror gushing toward me.

16 Eyes Wide Open

Evan grabbed the elevator doors and pushed them back open for us to run out. Alik was ahead of me and Evan was beside me. We ran, full-speed toward the exit sign above the doors leading to the hospital’s stairwell. We took the stairs two and three at a time, nearly flying, till we arrived at the seventh floor doors and slapped them open. We didn’t stop running until we got to mom’s hospital room door.

Two nurses were standing, stunned and confused in the hallway, as though they knew something just happened, but hadn’t had time to register what.

I heard a soft whimper coming from inside—her door left slightly ajar. Alik kicked it open with his foot. Evan and I were at his heels, ready for battle. There was mom, eyes wide with fear, tears spilling down. She was sitting up in her hospital bed, pointing to the corner of the room. My eyes scanned the room quickly to determine what she was so upset about when I saw it. There was a silver mound of fur in the corner of the room, half under a chair. It was Maze. He was panting softly, but otherwise not moving.

Alik and Evan rushed to mom checking her for any injuries, blood—anything to have explained what was happening. I rushed to my best friend’s side and gently held his face in my hands. He was fighting to keep his eyes open and let out a whimper just for me. It was all I could do to keep from screaming in pain and fury at whatever it was that hurt my Maze.

Even as I ran my hands over his fur gently, searching for a wound, blood or something, I was silently screaming at myself for having left mom and Maze alone
. Damn it! If Maze is hurt, it is my fault. I’m such a hot-headed idiot! What the hell was I thinking, leaving him alone to protect mom? Damn it! I should know better!

Feeling and seeing nothing unusual on Maze’s right side, I slipped my hands under him to gently roll him over so I could examine the other side. My hands felt something immediately and upon me jarring the object, Maze whimpered painfully. Completing the roll, I could now see his left flank and there, right in the shoulder, was a syringe-like object still stuck in his muscle. I yanked it out and set it on the table beside me thinking I may need to have it studied to figure out what it was, but I was hoping it was just a tranquilizer.

Just! Just? Are you freakin’ kidding me? If Maze was shot by anything, Williams’ is in on it. If Williams is behind this, then mom probably stared into the face of death moments ago. He’s not letting up. Williams is ready to finish what he started, Meg.

“
Mom, are you okay? What happened?” My voice cracked with emotion. I felt torn between fear and fury.

My mother’s eyes were streaming tears as she slowly shook her head. The boys stood on either side of her protectively. Both of them looked like they were ready to rip the head off the person or persons responsible for hurting our family. I was right there with them. The seething anger I felt boiling deep inside me was literally making me see red.

“
That’s it. We’re leaving…now!” Alik’s voice was icy and absolute.

I nodded in agreement, afraid if I opened my mouth to speak, I’d burst into flames of rage. Instead, I turned to the small closet in mom’s hospital room and grabbed her suitcase. My hands began grabbing her things and throwing them in automatically. A ringing that existed only in my head muffled the voices in the room. Alik was taking charge, and I was eternally grateful to him for doing that. I couldn’t think straight through my rage. Mom was almost killed and Maze was hurt trying to defend her while I was unfocused and girly-stupid over some dork who...I shook my head hard.
Stop it. Focus, Meg. Get mom to safety first then berate yourself over your stupidity.

“
Evan, call the ER and get Dr. Andrews and Cole up here,” Alik said coolly.

“
Where are we going, Alik?” Evan asked logically.

“
We’ll decide when we’re en route.”

“
I may have a suggestion,” Evan added as he picked up the hospital room phone.

“
Don’t say anything while we’re in this room. We may have ears listening,” Alik and Evan nodded knowingly to one another.

Mom’s suitcase was stuffed, so I dove back into the closet looking for bags I could fill with the remaining items. Finding what I needed, I rushed into the bathroom to gather toiletries. I jumped when there was a knock at the door.

Alik was there in an instant. “Who’s there?” he barked in a voice I had never heard him use.

“
Cole! It’s Cole,” our friend’s voice was tense and out of breath.

Alik opened the door just wide enough to let our friend in.

“
Would you guys quit doing that? That’s the second time in one day you’ve bolted from me and left me coughing in your dust! You’re gonna give a guy a complex you…” Cole stopped in mid-sentence when he saw Maze on the ground.

“
What happened?” Cole’s eyes widened looking around at the bags being packed. “What’s going on?”

“
Williams sent someone to break into mom’s room while we were…,” my voice caught in my throat. “…while we were outside, and he shot Maze. Mom’s okay, but terrified. I don’t know what stopped him from finishing what he started, but fortunately, mom doesn’t seem hurt,” I managed to say with only a half-dozen huge tears falling off my pale skin.

Cole had already hurried to Margo to look her over himself. “I’m so sorry Dr. Winter,” he said while gently holding her hand. “You must have been terrified. Don’t worry, everything’s going to be okay,” he said gently patting her tears dry with fresh tissues. “Dad’s going to be pretty upset when he finds out what happened. Between you and me, he’s pretty nuts about you, you know,” Cole spoke softly.

My brothers and I were rushing around, preparing for a hasty departure, but Cole was sitting very still beside my mom. He was just holding her hand and carefully fixing her blankets around the I.V. tube still dripping pain medicine into her vein.

Here I was worried about my own feelings, my coyote, my secret crush, and there was the sweetest boy I’d ever known who had nothing to gain from being around me or my family…and it was he who stopped to hold my mother’s hand. It was Cole’s appreciation of a human’s most basic needs that stopped me in my tracks. Was I really so selfish not to have seen my mother just needed to be held?

From the door we heard a series of beeps as Dr. Andrews entered the security code and burst through the door. “What happened? What’s going on?”

Part 3

Seasons Change

March 1st

Five months after the Winter family went into hiding.

Location:

Undisclosed

17 Casting Light

At 3:14am I woke from the same dream I’ve been having most nights and decided I needed to get up and brush my teeth. Not wanting to turn on the bathroom light, I stumbled to the sink, felt around until the familiar mushy toothpaste tube landed under my left hand, and the cylindrical shape of my automatic brush under my right.

Deciding I was still too lazy to flip on the light switch to see where the toothpaste was landing when I tried to squeeze it onto the bristles, I opted for tipping my head back and squirting some paste directly into my open mouth.

Ah yes, the cleansing beauty of toothpaste. I sighed deeply as I brushed my teeth. Feeling the bristles massage my gums helped me organize my thoughts. I know that probably seems weird to most people. But, that’s just it, isn’t it? I’m not like most people. Heck, according to my little brother’s research, I’m not even human.

We’ll get back to that later. I digress; I was going to tell you about my dreams. So, in this one I’m able to fly. I know, not unusual for a dream. But, I don’t just fly; I can also throw streams of light from my hands as I’m battling a faceless evil. The light doesn’t come from me, in my dreams, but through me. It’s like I am some sort of angel of God, and I’m battling against demons.