Winter's Dawn (3 page)

The noise from the other side of the door was loud and jubilant as the first wails from the new queen reached their ears. Douglas actually cried, holding the baby to him and patting Susan’s leg.

“We did it, love. Gods be blessed, we did it. Do you hear the queen? She’s got healthy lungs and she’s beautiful.” He stared down at the tiny baby in his hands, still connected to his sister. Even with all the blood on her, they could all see her hair was snowy white in color, a striking contrast to Max’s inky black hair. “Glory, but she’s got white blonde hair. Just like new snow when the sun hits it. Oh, but Susan, she’s got his eyes. I see them, icy blue, just like Maxwell’s. They are truly a pair, real winter alphas. Arctic wolves, just like father—Sue?”

“Doug,” Emma whispered, her eyes full of tears as she shook her head.

“What? No!” He tried to stand up, but was hampered by the baby. “You, take her!” He pointed to one of the maids. “Deal with her.”

“Susan!” Once free of holding the baby he leaned over to shake his sister back to consciousness. “Susan, come on, love! Wake up!”

Maxwell heard Aunt Emma scream as his father continued to shake Aunt Susan, begging her to wake up. His heart hurt to hear the pain in their screams, the tears in their voices, but he followed the small baby once the maids freed her from the cord that had attached her to her mother’s body. Sliding unnoticed off the bed, he trailed behind the maid he knew as Maggie as she carried the sobbing newborn to the bathroom.

“She’s all dirty,” Max said as Maggie closed the door, blocking some of the horrors from the other room.

“I know.” Maggie’s voice was gentle. “But, we’ll clean her.”

“Yeah.” Max sat on the toilet, dutifully watching as Maggie cleaned the baby, making her cry louder when she scrubbed at her hair. “You’re hurting her.”

“No, she’s fine,” Maggie said, and Max could tell the maid was crying but trying hard to cover it up. “She’s just exercising her lungs.”

“Are her eyes really like mine?”

“Well, let’s see.” Maggie finished washing the baby, making quick work of drying her and then gestured to the stack of small, folded towels next to the sink. “Hand me another towel.”

Max handed her the towel and stood on his tiptoes to get a better look at the bawling infant. “I wanna see.”

Maggie smiled. “Let me wrap her up good and then we’ll take a look.”

Rolled up so tight Max was worried she was hurt, even though Maggie assured him she wasn’t, Max pressed forward to see the bundled baby as Maggie sat on the edge of the bathtub. He was disappointed her eyes were closed, but he studied her, noticing her hair really was so pale it was nearly white. Her features were scrunched up and her face was red but Max decided there was still something about her that was beautiful. He wasn’t certain what. Perhaps her hair that was like snow.

Max loved snow.

He touched her cheek, finding it soft and feeling the hum he had enjoyed so much lying next to Aunt Susan. He smiled when the baby opened her eyes.

“Oh my!’ Maggie gasped. “They are like yours. I didn’t think another pair like yours existed, but here they are.”

Max’s smile grew broader. “We match.”

She nodded. “You sure do, Maxwell. She’s a beautiful queen.”

Max was still staring at the baby, now content in Maggie’s arms when the door to the bathroom opened. He saw his cousin Adam peer in with tears rolling freely down his face.

“We lost Susan.” He walked into the bathroom, staring at the baby. “It was just—too much.”

Maggie nodded, quickly wiping at her wet cheeks. “She said this baby took all her strength. Do you think that’s true?”

Adam cast one long look at Maxwell before he whispered, “Probably. We never thought the same thing could happen to her.”

Max looked at the baby, before he lifted his gaze to Adam. “We match.”

“It’s true.” Maggie forced a smile. “Come look. Her eyes are just like Maxwell’s.”

Adam walked over to look, staring in amazement at the new queen, who blinked heavy lidded bright eyes at him. “Gods, but they do match. Just like the old ones. This is truly a miracle.”

“My mother died too,” Max told both of them. “I took her strength too.” He focused his attention back on the baby. “But, I didn’t mean to.”

“I know, Maxwell.” Adam rested a hand on Max’s head. “She’s a magnificent queen. The Gods blessed you. They blessed all of us.”

“Yeah.” Max nodded, finding that his eyes were watery and he wiped at them hastily. “She didn’t mean to kill Aunt Susan.”

“Of course she didn’t,” Maggie said quickly. “We don’t think that.”

“I wanna stay with the baby,” he said firmly, wiping away more tears.

“You’ll get to see her all the time, Maxwell, don’t worry.”

“If her father takes her, I’m going.”

“Her father won’t take her. We’ll make sure he forgets Susan or the baby ever existed,” Adam said evenly. “We would never let your queen be raised by humans. She needs to be with her people.”

“Then I can stay with her?” Max asked hopefully.

“As much as you’d like,” Adam assured him. “She’s your mate, Maxwell. Now and forever, you will always be near her to keep her safe for your people.”

Max nodded. “I will keep her safe—now and forever.”

Maxwell Wellington didn’t make pledges lightly. Even at three years old there was something in him that knew his word was sacred.

Chapter Two

Late Fall 1949

“Maxwell, come on,” Maggie yelled as she came out of the local store, bags in both arms. “Your father’s guests will be waiting.”

“Five more minutes,” he shouted back, before he turned his attention back to the stickball game he was watching.

He sat on a bench in front of the small store where Maggie liked to shop, looking longingly at the human children playing in the park across the street. He stuck his hands deep into the pockets of his fur-lined coat Maggie had buttoned up to the collar before they had left the family estate aptly named the Winter Palace. People in town believed its name steamed from its gleaming white exterior. They would have never believed it was actually a royal residence.

“Hal, take these.” Maggie handed her shopping to the chauffeur before she grabbed the hand of a small girl standing quietly next to her and made her way to the bench where Max was holding his vigil over the stick ball game. “Talk to him, sweetheart.”

Maggie pushed her forward and then stepped back towards the car, giving Max the five minutes he requested.

“I’ll play ball with you.” The little blonde hopped up on the bench next to him. “I could do it.”

“I know, Susie,” he said, still staring at the children in the park. “I just wish we had friends.”

“Our people don’t have offspring,” Susie said knowingly, also looking towards the children playing.

“Nope,” Max agreed. “Not for a long time.”

“Except us.”

Max nodded. “Except us.”

Susie linked her arm through his and rested her cheek on his shoulder. “I got you this.”

She handed him a golden maple leaf.

He took it, studying it for a second. “The last leaf?” he asked, turning to her in surprise.

She smiled, her crystal blue eyes glowing mischievously in the dying sunlight. “I knocked it down. Does that mean I cheated?”

He returned her smile with one of his own. “Who cares?” He pulled her onto his lap, tickling her for a second, making her shriek with laughter. “It’s almost winter, Susie Bee.”

“Do it, Max.” Her head now rested on his thigh as she stared up at the sky, excitement and anticipation radiating from her small body.

Max looked up also, watching as the first snow drifted down from the sky, so soft and feather light the tiny flakes melted the moment they made contact with his outstretched hand.

Susie let out a girlish squeal of delight as she also reached up to catch the falling flakes. “More, please,” she pleaded.

Obediently, the snow fell harder and Max stared at the snowflakes as they gathered in Susie’s pale hand. They didn’t melt like they had on his. They remained perfect and crystalline. It didn’t take long for a small, white pile to gather in her open palm. Max suspected she was cheating a little, pulling more to her than just those that had been in the path of her hand. He held his breath in anticipation when she suddenly threw the whole pile up.

A white butterfly appeared in the air, flapping its wings and looking so real Max couldn’t resist touching it. He left a gaping hole of melted snowflakes in the wing of her butterfly, but it didn’t matter. The butterfly transformed into a tiny shooting star, flying past Max’s face before it once again became a small pile of un-melting snow in Susie’s hand.

“Wow, Sue.” Max leaned down to look at her open palm as a tiny snow kitten appeared. The small cat licked her fur, before turning her face towards Max and then pranced around on Susie’s hand. “You’ve never made things so real before.”

“Susan!” Maggie yelled and ran over to them.

Susie closed her hand over the kitten. Max saw the snow melt into a pool of water and then turn to vapor, disappearing before Maggie reached them.

“People can see you.” Maggie looked up and down the street as she grasped both their hands and pulled them towards the car. “Maxwell, you know better. Your father will have to brainwash half the people in this town like last year.”

They were hastily loaded into the back of the large black car. Sitting shoulder to shoulder, they stared out the window on the drivers’ side. They tried to hold back their laughter as a beautiful snowbird flew alongside the car, gliding effortlessly in the snow that continued to fall.

“It’s a bit early for snow.” Hal gave Max a look in the review mirror. “I guess winter showed up without fall’s permission.”

“Heaven help us all,” Maggie sighed from her seat next to Hal.

****

Later that night Max sat on a stool in the master bathroom that was part of his and Susie’s royal suite of rooms. Aunt Emma was busy undressing Susie, peeling off layers of wet clothes.

“Gods be, Maxwell, do you think you coated her with enough snow?” she grumbled as she tossed Susie’s jacket aside and started working the buttons of her blouse. “It’s not even winter yet. The humans must be totally baffled.”

“The last leaf fell.” Max reached into his pocket and pulled out the leaf Susie had given him earlier. It was crumbled a bit, which was disappointing. “See.”

“Well, it fell early.” Emma unbraided Susie’s long, platinum hair. “You should have waited.”

“Father said when the last leaf falls.”

“Fine.” Emma huffed as she tossed aside the last of Susie’s clothes. “Get in, Susan, before you freeze.”

“I like the cold,” Susie said, but climbed into the large marble tub anyway.

“Maxwell, get undressed and get in.” Emma walked over to him and worked on the buttons of his coat as she had Susie’s. “At eight, you know how to undress yourself.”

“I want go back outside,” he complained, making no effort to help Aunt Emma divest him of his clothes. “I’m not cold and I never get sick.”

“Oh, me too. I want to go back outside.” Susie manipulated the water in the bathtub, making a stream of it rise up and then transform into the shape of a large snowflake. It turned from clear liquid to frosty ice. Susie caught it before it fell and held it out. “I made you something, Aunt Emma.”

Emma tossed Max’s wet shirt aside and turned to accept the gift. “Oh, it’s lovely, Susan.”

“Can we go outside now?” Susie asked sweetly.

“No, it’s nearly midnight and it’s time for little wolves to be in bed,” Emma said and then let out a screech when the snowflake instantly turned to cold water in her hand. “Susan, that was not nice!”

Susie looked abashed and lowered her head. “Sorry, Aunt Emma.”

“It’s okay. I know you love the first snow.” She pushed Max towards the tub. “But, we let you play in it all night. You didn’t even have dinner.”

Max crawled into the tub with Susie, hating the warmth. It was without thought he lowered the temperature in the bathroom to the point that he could see his breath. Acting as one entity, Susie lowered the temperature of the water at the same time, turning the steaming bath to one now just a few degrees above freezing.