Winter's Legacy: Future Days (Winter's Saga Book 6) (29 page)

65
Promises

Creed turned to face her.  He reached up and gently smoothed her soft, damp curls away from her furrowed brow.  Unable to resist, he leaned down and kissed her forehead.  Everything about her—her eyes, her scent, the playful smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, the sound of her heart pounding—everything drew him in.  

“
I’m so in love with you,” he whispered reverently.

Meg felt his words just as much as she heard them. 
Her empath connection with him was pulsing with intensity, threatening to overwhelm her.

Instantly, she was on her knees holding his face in her hands.
  She brushed her lips across his and whispered, “Kiss me?  Please?”

Creed sucked in his breath at her passionate outburst.

“Meggie, you have to help me here,” his voice was strained.

Meg squirmed at his lack of response.

He swore under his breath, but gently put his hands on her shoulders so he could look her in the eyes.

“
I will live my life working to give you everything you want.  You have to know that, but right now, one of us has to be the level-headed one.”

She didn’t need to search his eyes to know he meant every word he said.
She tipped her head sensing there was more. 

“I
t’s just—” He reached down to take her hands in his. “Meggie, I love you enough to wait until our wedding night.”

H
e couldn’t help but chuckle at the adorable little “oh” of surprise on her lips.  “That is, if you’ll marry me?”

He waited anxiously for a response.

Meg’s face burst into a dazzling smile.  “Of course, I’ll marry you!” squirmed with excitement.

Creed wanted to whoop and holler with joy, but
leaned over and hugged his dark eyed angel instead, whispering words of gratitude and love into her ear so as not to wake the family. 

Five minutes past, and the happy couple was once again cuddled together, leaning back against the wall, lost in thought.

“I’ll make you a deal.”  Creed began, rubbing the ring on her finger.  “Why don’t we call this an engagement ring and set a date—”

“—
for December.  I’ve always thought a winter wedding would be beautiful!” Meg bounced excitedly.

“
Winter is fine,” Creed grinned before adding, “
next
winter.”

“That’s more than a year away!” Meg
tried to lower her voice mid-sentence, but wound up chewing her lip instead.

“I know. 
I want you to have celebrated your eighteenth birthday first.”

She
huffed and crossed her arms. 

“Please Meggie.  We need to show respect to your family
, and I need time to prepare.”

Meg
sighed and leaned her head back against his strong shoulder.  He watched her struggle with accepting the long engagement but knew by the way her body loosened up that she had come to accept his terms. 

“
All right,” she finally said.  “I’m not the most patient person in the world, but I understand your reasoning.”

“That’s my girl,” he wrapped his arms around her and held her firmly against himself as they leaned against one another in the dark hallway.  “
Do you think your family will approve?”

“
Oh, I know they will.  You’re already family.  The wedding will just make us official.”  Creed could hear the smile in her voice.

He gently rubbed her shoulders, feeling a sense of peace and joy he’d never known before.

“What preparations?”

“Hmm?”

“You said you needed time to prepare.” Meg’s voice was breathy, fatigue trying to interrupt her excitement. 

“Oh,” his tone turned serious. 
“I want to make sure I have a good job and can support us.  We’ll need a place to live near the family with a backyard for Maze and an extra bedroom, just in case.  I’ll need to establish residency, buy a dependable four-door car, and—”

“Wait, wait, wait.  Back up.  We’ll need an extra bedroom just in case of what?”

Creed blushed in the dark.  “Well, you know.  If your brothers come to visit, or your mom and Theo, or,” his blush reached the tips of his ears, “for a baby.”

“A baby?” Meg’s eyes
teared up instantly.  She spun around to face him.  “I—I don’t know.  I mean, after what Williams did to my ovaries, I don’t know if I’m able to have children.”

At the mention of that act of atrocity done to the love of his life, Creed
felt an instant storm of rage swell inside.  The muscles in his jaw worked angrily as he searched for the right words to say but came up speechless.

“Maybe I can
,” Meg heaved a sigh.  “Mom and Theo could probably run some tests to find out.”

Creed’s mood didn’t lighten so easily.  “I’m going to kill that sadistic bastard with my bare hands.”

Meg narrowed her eyes, “Not if I kill him first.”

Wanting to change the subject, Meg smiled and reached up to run her fingers through his wild dark hair.  “Are you sure you want to marry me?”

“I have never been more sure of anything in my life.” He spoke without hesitation.

“When?  When did you know I was the girl for you?”

That brought out his crooked grin.  Meg was thankful for the light that spilled in from the living room at the end of the hall.  She felt as though she could stare at his facial expressions for fifty years and never tire of that crooked grin. 

Creed reached up to hold a nearly dry lock of her hair, enjoying its silky feel. 
“From that first night out on the hospital lawn in Kansas when you were walking Maze.  I startled you and you whipped around all tense and full of fight.  How could a guy
not
fall in love with you?”

“I could have ordered Maze to attack you.”  Meg ran her fingertip across his bottom lip.  He kissed it softly.

“Yeah, that would have been bad.  I’ve seen that coydog fight.  He can be ferocious,” Creed shook his head and chuckled at the memory.

“I’ve known I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you since that horrible day in Hawaii when you stayed behind to fight Williams so we could escape.  I felt my heart ripping out of my chest as we drove away.  I swore if I ever saw you again, I would wrap my arms around you and never let you go.”

“And look at us.”  Creed shook his head, “We’ve spent more time apart than together over the past year.”

“Some promises can’t help but be broken,” Meg
threaded her fingers into his and leaned back against him.

“Not this one.”  He
pulled her close, his strong arms holding her protectively. 

They fell asleep
sitting up in the darkened corridor, wrapped in each other’s arms breathing the same breath and holding onto their shared dreams of future days.

66 All Our Eggs

“How far out are you?” 

Theo finished a big yawn before answering.  “We’re about fifteen minutes away.”

“The Feds didn’t hold you long.”

“I was worried they’d hold us all night.  But no, matter of fact they nearly held the door for us to leave once Evan’s contact was located.”

“Evan must have made quite an impression on Special Agent Rosario Garza,” Margo mused.

“That’s one powerful friend Evan made.  She even had Jacobi and Trainer excused from the internal investigation they were going to have to go through for having flown off course and below 3,000 feet.”

“Remind me to send her a gift basket,” Margo chuckled softly.

“Let’s get through the next 24 hours first.  Then we can start sending thank you notes,” Theo teased.

Their laughter died down quickly.  Each of them was trying to lighten the gravity of their situation for the sake of the other, but it wasn’t really working.

“Have you gotten any sleep tonight?” Theo asked, worry thick in his voice.

“Some.  How about you?”  she countered gently.

“I dozed in the holding room at the airport.” 

“That doesn’t sound comfortable at all,” Margo winkled her nose.

“Hey, I can sleep anywhere, anytime.  Remember medical school?”

“Clearly,” she chuckled softly.  “I remember you sleeping more in the library than in your apartment.”

“It’s a talent, what can I say?”

They laughed harder than the moment warranted, desperate for levity. 

“I have the leader of 17th Company watching for you.  His scouts have been patrolling all night, just in case Meg was wrong about Williams and Arkdone standing down.”

Theo smiled wryly into the disposable phone he picked up at the airport.  “Meg’s not wrong,” he said definitively.

“We know that, but he doesn’t know Meg like we do.  Besides, he’s a soldier just doing what he’s been trained to do.”

“I’m just thankful he sided with us.”

“Oh wow, yeah.  What a blessing!  Thank God Meg was here to meet them.  If anyone was going to sway them to join us, it was her.”

“There’s something pretty amazing about that girl,” Theo shook his head, glancing back at Cole to see if he was listening.  He wasn’t.  Cole was deep in conversation with Sloan, and Kylie was dozing against the window.  Danny and Maze were sharing whimpers in their sleep. 

“I wonder if she’ll ever know how special she is.”  Theo checked his side mirrors as he slowed to take the turn onto the two-way road that would eventually lead to the house’s long gravel drive. 

“Maybe Creed will help her.  Maybe she just needs some peace and quiet—time to redefine herself separate from her meta-humanity—separate from the responsibilities of her gifts.”

“I think we need some peace and quiet,” Theo said, fighting back another yawn.

“She’s always taken the role of leader so seriously.  She always made the tough calls and beat herself up when she thought she’d let anyone down.”

“She sounds a lot like her mother,” Theo mused.

Margo smiled and shook her head.  “No.  The truth is, I wish I were more like my daughter.”

“It’s going to be okay, Margo.  We’ll get through this,” Theo tried to reassure.

“We have to, Theo.  We—we just have to.”

“I see the scouts.  They’ve pulled up beside me.  Looks
as though we have our escort.”

“Thank God.”

“I’ll be home in a few minutes.  Okay?”

“Okay.” Margo heard the call disconnect and hurried to the restroom to wash her face.  She may have kept the tears out of her voice as she spoke with the man she’d loved, but it would take just one look for him to know how scared she really was.

67 Staring into the Abyss

Her eyes flew open.  Meg felt his body shudder for the second time under her hand.  She stared at the love of her short life sleeping beside her.  He was having a nightmare.  His strong arm that had been holding her as they dozed sitting up, pulled her closer protectively.  Meg allowed herself to be of comfort to him.

He moaned anxiously.  His heart rate quickening by the second.

Meg closed her eyes and reached out to his psyche. 

She swallowed hard at what she felt there.

Death. 

Creed was dreaming of his death.

Meg concentrated on the negative thoughts, unfurled her shimmering white blanket and tossed it out into the blackened, churning sea of sadness.  Her abilities were so sharpened, she could even hear the blanket slap the waters of his dreamscape. 

She felt an angry,
stinging spray splash her face as she leaned over the edge of her humble craft.  She never flinched.  Instead, she dove into the cold currents beside her blanket.  She focused on spreading the blanket impossibly wide as she treaded his emotional waters. 

Diving beneath the layer of iridescence she propelled herself to each faraway corner.  She artfully gathered edge after edge until she had secured Creed’s sea of death. 

She prayed with every underwater breath for the strength to ease his pain.  The collected blackness fought to escape, but Meg’s grip was firm, her resolve, her faith absolute.  She prayed a simple prayer—a simple, powerful prayer and pushed the bundle up into the inky black sky.  The white bundle floated up and out of the water.  Soft raindrops of pure faith dripped down from the mass, caught on Meg’s lashes and slipped down her pale face like teardrops.  She whispered a prayer of thanks to God for allowing her to use her gift to bring peace. 

When her eyelids fluttered open she saw the results of her efforts written clearly on
Creed’s serene face.  He sighed deeply, his heart lightened, as his body was finally able to relax. 

Meg smiled at the joy h
er heart felt in that moment, though it didn’t last. 

He can’t die!
  Her body felt instantly feverish as she took a moment to process Creed’s dream. 
My family has been through enough,
she breathed a slow, calming breath punctuating her sense of resolve,
and I just don’t see any other way
. 

C
arefully she slipped out from Creed’s embrace, kissed him on the soft skin at the corner of his mouth, and slipped back into her bedroom. 

In her room, she could hear
Farrow breathing deeply.  Quickly Meg slipped into her boots before gathering her weapons and gear.  Her eyes swept the room, looking for anything she may need. 

This is it.  You  have everything you need.  Get moving!
  she prodded herself.

Back in the hallway, she saw that
Creed had slumped over to the floor, sleeping soundly—a side effect of her psychic cleansing. 

She
shifted her focus from one room to the next, checking on her family.  Only her mother was still awake, making arrangements for Theo and the rest of the family to join them.

Maze,
she thought and felt her heart hitch.

An image of his warm, yellow eyes flashed in her mind.

My sweet furry face,
she smiled at his memory. 

Satisfied everybody was safe, she forced herself to take a slow, deep breath before turning to walk away. 
She didn’t let herself look back at Creed’s sleeping form.  Instead, she squared her shoulders and walked on silent feet down the corridor and through the double doors separating the bedrooms and lab from the great room and kitchen. 

Heads
turned the moment she stepped into the room.

Valen appeared in front of her, in full salute.

“Miss Winter, is there new intel to report?”

“Nothing you don’t already know, Valen.  The rest of my family is arriving by vehicle soon.”

“Yes, ma’am.  The scouts are rendezvousing with them now.”

“Good.  Just make sure they get here safely.”  Meg started walking past Valen without another word.

“Miss Winter—”

“Meg.  Please call me Meg.” 

“Ma’am, where are you going?”

Meg turned back to face the eager-eyed soldier.  “We’re nearly the same age, Valen.  Did you know that?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Matter of fact, you’re older than me.  How old were you when you became a meta?”

“I was eight-years-old, ma’am.”

Meg nodded sadly.  “I was a baby.”

“Yes, ma’am.  Your story has been whispered from one meta to the next over the years.  The story of The Original Three is legendary.”

A
sad smile pressed Meg’s lips.

“And in all this time how many innocent lives have been damaged by Arkdone and Williams?”

Valen shook her head, “I would be guessing.  Dozens?  Hundreds?”

“Even if it were only one other child, it would be too many.”

Valen nodded, though her yellow tiger eyes searched Meg’s face for understanding.

“Thank you for helping us protect the innocent.” Meg stepped forward and hugged the rigid soldier.  “I’m just going out for a bit.”

“You can’t go by yourself,” Valen tripped over her words, still reeling from the first hug she’d ever felt.

“Oh, I’m not by myself.” Meg smiled as she held her hand over her heart and finished a silent prayer.

Valen watched Meg walk confidently across the room and out the front door before she spoke into her throat mic.  “Springer to Hays. Over.”

Through her earpiece she heard Rhett’s familiar voice.  “Hays here.”

“Sir, Meg Winter has left the house.  She refused escort and only said she was ‘going out for a bit’.”

“Did she have
comm on her?”

“Not that I could see.”

“I’m on my way back with the rest of the Winter family.  Give me ten minutes.  If she’s not back by then, we’ll have to go after her.”

“Copy that
, sir.”

“Hays out.”