Winter's Wrath: Sacrifice (Winter's Saga #3) (30 page)

How dare he come to hurt us after we opened our home to
him?

A fleeting thought tried to catch her attention through her burgeoning fury. 
I should be trying to read his intentions. 

She should be using her gift to understand what was happening to him, but she couldn’t.  She couldn’t see past the emotional tsunami threatening to drown her in the anguish of his betrayal. 

Creed’s back was turned toward her when she could hold herself back no longer.  She flew at him, launching herself over the sofa and kicking him squarely in the back of his neck.  He staggered, and spun to face her. 

“Meg!”  The look on his face was pure surprise.

Good.

“How could you?”  Meg’s voice matched her anger as she flung herself around to deliver a perfect round-house kick to his jaw.  He stumbled back, but righted himself quickly.

“Meg, let me explain,” he started, hands held up defensively.

“Explain!” She fumed.  “My family is lying unconscious on the floor over there and you’re the only one standing here with an arsenal on your waist!”

She grabbed her knife by the tip of the blade and threw it with all her strength directly at his chest.  It flew handle over tip, barely registering the glints of sunlight in its blur across the room.  Creed spun, reached out at the same time and met the blade with his open hand, catching it by the blade with a solid sounding
thwack
. 

His abdomen pumped in and out as his breathing quickened, his adrenaline pumping.  His dark-blue eyes watched her watch him.  Without looking down, he opened his hand.  Blood was pooling in his palm as the blade had cut him deeply, wedging itself at an angle.

With his left hand, he reached over and yanked the blade out
and
placed it neatly on the sofa table beside him.  Creed slowly made a fist, locking his jaw as he did.  Blood dripped from his hand as if he was squeezing a tomato instead of cut flesh.

The look in his face was unreadable. 

Desperate to get him away from her family to give them time to regain consciousness, Meg made a split-second decision.  She turned and bolted from the room, through the kitchen and ran toward the barn.  From behind her, she heard him giving chase. 

“You’re going to have to let me talk with you, Meg.”  His deep voice carried easily across the distance between their two racing bodies and right to Meg’s terrified heart.

She ran through the door, and breathed the familiar dusty scent of the converted barn.  Knowing she was just trying to buy herself some time, Meg ducked b
ehind one of the large bales
recently
delivered.  Margo had been looking at buying a couple horses for the ranch and had already struck a deal with a local farmer for a regular delivery of hay cut directly from his crops.  Right now,
Meg
was just grateful for the hiding spot.  

Footsteps echoed through the wooden walls.  Creed was here.

She tried to control her breathing, consciousl
y keeping her
self as quiet as possible.  Though she was in excellent shape, the human in her had
emotions raging,
so the panting her body craved had little to do with stamina, but everything to do with the storm crashing around inside.

Creed is here.
  She kept hearing her brain say this over and over like it was trying to understand, trying to accept the impossible. 

“Meg, I know you can hear me, so I’m just going to start talking and hope you’re not going to toss anymore knives at my heart.  At least, not until I’m done.”

She heard him shuffle his feet on the dirt floor.

“I don’t remember you,” he began.  “I, um… I only know what I could piece together, but it’s not a lot.  The last thing I really remember was the Retribution Match with my brother, Gavil.  I understand you were an assignment.  Williams wanted me to kill Margo Winter and return you and your brothers to him.  I have been told that I disobeyed orders and befriended you and your family instead.  Apparently, I fought
beside you,
against Williams
.
”  Creed’s voice cracked just enough to give away his nervousness.  “But, Meg, I don’t remember any of this.  I wish like hell I did, but I don’t.”

Meg shifted her weight and peeked around the frayed edge of the hay bale to see him.  He was leaning against the old fridge staring down at the hand he had wrapped with a dish towel from the kitchen.  He must have grabbed it on his way out as he chased her
t
here. 

Unable to stay silent beneath the crashing waves of emotions
,
Meg
stepped out from behind the bale.  “Why did you hurt my family?”

Creed’s head shot up at the sound of her voice.  His eyes looked heavy with worry, and now that she allowed
her
self to notice, he looked much older than he did last time she had seen him just a few months before.  It looked like he’d lived through a lifetime of hell since then.  After having lived under Williams’ macabre attentions, he may have. 

“They will wake soon, just as you did.  They were just shot with tranquilizers.  The metahuman bodies will metabolize the chemical more rapidly, so your brothers will wake sooner—just as you did.  The humans will take about five hours longer to regain consciousness.”  He looked earnestly at her, willing her to believe him.  

“I was sent to finish my original assignment.  Williams is holding some… very sensitive materials over my head.  He wanted to give me no choice but to obey his orders.  He just enjoys the torment he causes.”  Creed shook his head, a haunted look clouding his eyes. 

“He sent seventeen of us.  Gavil and I were team leaders.”

“Gavil’s here?”  Meg asked, panic returning.

Creed frowned.  “Do you know my brother?”

“Oh, we’ve met.  He tried to kill me with a letter opener in
California
.”  Her eyes darted around nervously.

“Sorry about that.  Well, he’s on our side this time.  He wants Williams dead, too.  We have another metasoldier named Slider who has chosen to join us.”  Creed watched her.  She had moved her body into a tense, fight-ready position instinctively, eyes warily darting around the shadows in the room.

“They went to dispose of the other soldiers,” Creed continued, hesitantly.

“I have so many problems with everything you just said.  First, you expect me to believe Gavil has decided to fight against Williams?”

Creed just nodded then added.  “There’s a whole backstory there.  There was a girl he was really close to.  She was killed by Williams.  He wants revenge.”

Meg narrowed her eyes at Creed’s explanation.

“Listen, I’m pretty sure he’s never going to be my best friend, but at this point we have the same goal.”

“Second, did you say you killed fourteen soldiers?  Right here at my ranch?”

“It wasn’t the best plan in the world, but we didn’t have much time.  Gavil and I had to come up with something during the flight here while not drawing attention to ourselves.  At the Facility, Williams has eyes and ears everywhere.  We couldn’t risk the opportunity.  Even though I don’t remember knowing your family, I was taking a leap of faith that if Gavil and I stopped the siege and protected your family, you would join us in defeating Williams.”

He shrugged slightly before adding, “We would
be
stronger as a unit and we need all the advantages we can get if we plan to go up against him.”

Meg watched his eyes, her breathing finally slowing, allowing herself a more clear-minded response to the situation.  “You have amnesia.”  It was a statement, not a question.

He nodded his head.

“You don’t remember anything about me?”

He hesitated briefly before shaking his head.  “No.  Well, see I get these migraines since the accident and when I finally pass out from the pain, I have dreamed of a dark-eyed girl.  I didn’t know you were real until Williams showed me a picture of you.”

“You’ve dreamed of me?”

The deadly, hulking metasoldier strong enough to lift a bus actually looked away from her and blushed deeply, completely throwing her emotions into a whiplash
-
worthy spin. 

Creed’s subconscious remembers me.  He dreamed of me!

“We should go back and check
on
the family.”  Creed stood and walked with the grace of a panther toward the barn door avoiding eye contact.

Meg smiled to herself at his gruff reaction.  As she followed him, she reached out with her emotions to graze his mind—just a glance.  Meg felt his sincerity, his earnestness glowing right there...but his emotional signature wasn’t warm red like it used to be back on the
Island
.  It was blue, a royal blue that warmed her with its strength and determination.  It was the same color as his eyes.  This Creed was different from the Creed she had left back at Paulie’s house on the hill, but his core was just as beautiful. 

Do I
trust him?
 
she asked herself.

Her answer was immediate and instinctive. 

Absolutely.
 

When they got back to the living room, everyone was exactly where they had left them.  From the kitchen, Meg retrieved a large bowl of water and a handful of washcloths from the laundry room.  She busied herself with caring for her family as
they
waited to see who would wake first. 
They
didn’t have to wait long before Alik began to moan and thrash about. 

“Ali, wake up.”  She pressed the cool cloth to his forehead, trying to soothe him awake.

He sat bolt upright screaming,
“Nooooo!”

“Hey, it’s okay, Alik.” She turned his face to focus on her.  “You’re okay and so is everyone else.  We’re all right here, but they’re still sleeping.”

Alik
looked frantically around the room at the bodies all around him.  “What happened, Meg?” His voice was groggy with the lingering sedative.

“Now, there’s a long story, but, do you trust me, Alik?”  Meg connected with his dazed eyes and sent him soothing emotions.

“Of course.”

She nodded, “Good.  Then believe me when I say Creed and his brother Gavil have come to help us fight Williams.  They had to shoot everyone with tranquilizers while they dealt with the fourteen other soldiers still loyal to Williams.  The plan worked.  Creed is here.  Gavil and one other metasoldier who agreed to join the fight have gone to dispose of the soldiers’ bodies but will be back.”  She watched his eyes again to see if he had caught all that.  “Do you understand?”

Creed stepped into view so Alik could see him.

Alik’s gaze moved from his sister to the hulking soldier standing behind her.  “Damn, brother, you got huge.”

Creed grinned widely assuming the meta’s use of the word “brother” was just casual.

Cole, Evan and Farrow woke soon after, each of them groggy and worried about what happened.  Meg repeated the shortened version each time another person awoke until finally all the metahumans were roused. 

Margo, Theo and Maze were still out.  The boys carried them to bed so they could be more comfortable.  After clearing the room of the unconscious, everyone reconvened in the kitchen.  Food was pulled out of the refrigerator and pantry as everyone talked at once.

“You really don’t remember anything?” Farrow asked Creed.

He still felt funny about talking with the girl he only knew as Dr. Williams’ personal assistant, but if Meg trusted her, then she deserved trust.

“No, nothing.”

“The damage to your frontal cortex must have been severe.”  Evan looked at Creed with his keen physician’s eye.  “I would be curious to see your MRI.  It’s possible your memory will come back.  Sometimes it takes longer for the brain to heal and new pathways, synapses to form.”  He said all this while holding a thick turkey sandwich inches from his mouth.  He stopped talking long enough to take a giant bite and chewed thoughtfully, completely unaware of the mayo smeared on his upper lip.  Meg reached over with her napkin and smiled as she rubbed her littlest brother clean.  He shot her a dirty look.

“You may be a brilliant doctor Ev, but you’ll always be my baby brother.  Use a napkin.” She smiled and tossed him a new one.  Evan rolled his eyes and kept talking around his full mouth.  “And your physical abilities have increased.  Meg says the scientists at the Facility thought it was because you were exposed to more of the Infinite serum during the accident.” 

“How do you know that?” Creed fixed his eyes on Meg.

“It’s all part of my evolved gift,” she shrugged nonchalantly. She didn’t want to talk about herself.

Creed hesitated, obviously wanting to know more, but seemed to decide to drop it for now when he bit into his sandwich.

“This is all very interesting,” Cole said, “but I’m more worried about what’s going to happen once Williams realizes your mutiny.”  Cole had been careful with his words around Creed since he awoke to find the soldier sitting on the sofa of his house.  He wasn’t happy about any of this,
Meg
could tell, but he was showing restraint, and for that, she was grateful.