Winter (Rise of the Pride, Book 2) (4 page)

Nova’s body protested as she tried to roll
over on her side. Her head was fuzzy from sleep. She gasped when a
pain raced up her arm. Blinking to clear her head, she saw that she
wasn’t at home asleep in her bed. A machine beeped beside her head
and a calming scent invaded her mind as she tried to come fully
awake. A memory tickled her brain…something about Perry. God, why
was she so groggy?

“Nova?” a deep voice greeted her. She
stiffened when she realized who was there with her. As soon as her
eyes opened, everything came rushing back.

“A…am I going to be o…okay?” she asked
Winter. He was standing over her bed, his huge body shielding her
in a protective manner.

“You’re going to be just fine, little one,”
he answered. His face was a hard mask as he attempted to smile to
ease her fears, but Nova knew she probably looked just as bad as
she felt.

Guilt swamped her as her mind finally came
back online, remembering Winter arguing with her about going out
with Perry. “You were right.”

“We are not even going to go there right
now,” Winter said, his words final. “You are going to focus on
getting better.”

“Who found me?” she asked, trying to
remember anything she could after Perry started beating her. She
recalled the entire incident up until he punched her in the eye and
began choking her. “God, my throat hurts.”

“Cole found you and called an ambulance to
get you to the hospital,” Winter began, but stopped when the door
opened. Sheriff Lynch entered, his notepad in hand.

“Nova,” he said, then smiled. “We need to
get a statement from you.”

“She just woke up,” Winter complained,
standing to his full height. “Can this not wait?”

“Do you want us to find her attacker?” the
sheriff replied, glaring at the man who was standing over her bed
like he would throw himself in front of a bullet to save her. “Let
me do my job, Winter. After that, I will be on my way.”

“I’ll talk to you and tell you everything I
know,” Nova stated, turning her face toward the big Guardian.
“Please, Winter?”

“I’m not leaving,” Winter announced.
“Liberty has hired Shaw Security Specialist to help find him. It
would be best if I had all of the information as well.”

“Fine, but if you find him,” Sheriff Lynch
warned, “he better not be dead.”

“Not dead,” Winter said, but there was no
hint of a promise in his voice.

“Okay, Nova,” he continued. “I need you to
tell me everything you remember.”

“Perry picked me up around eight.” Tears
started leaking out of her swollen eye and she tried to wipe them
away, but more just replaced them. “We went to eat and after that,
he said he wanted to go back to my place. As we drove, he started
asking about the pride.”

“What did he want to know?” Winter
interrupted, his fists balled up at his sides. Nova stiffened from
his anger, even though she told herself Winter was no threat. He
must’ve noticed her panic, because he relaxed, finally pulling a
chair up to her bedside. She didn’t continue until he was
seated.

“He wanted to know how Liberty was doing and
then asked if I could show him where the pride lived.” She
swallowed. “I knew immediately that something wasn’t right. I told
him to head to my house and we could talk there.”

“What happened when you got to your house?”
Sheriff Lynch asked, his gaze on his notes as he kept writing while
he waited.

“We never made it,” she sobbed, covering her
face with her good hand. “He pulled into Mr. Kinley’s corn fields,
and before I could ask him what he was doing, Perry drug me out of
the car by my hair. He pinned me to the ground and started
demanding I tell him everything I knew about the pride.”

“What did you tell him?” Winter asked, his
voice unnaturally calm.

“I didn’t tell him anything,” she barked. “I
would never sell out the pride!”

“Calm down,” Winter cooed. “I just need to
know what this asshole knows.”

“Nothing,” she sniffled. “I told him
nothing.”

“What else do you remember?” the sheriff
asked.

“He started choking me.” She paused,
touching her throat. “He didn’t…he didn’t touch me any other way,
but he hit me several times. The next thing I remember was waking
up here.”

“What does he look like?” Winter asked.

“He’s about six feet tall, black hair…brown
eyes. He’s muscular, but not huge. He has a birthmark under his
right ear about the size of a nickel.”

“What was he driving?” the sheriff
asked.

“He was driving an older model, white Ford
truck.” Nova winced as she scooted herself up in the bed. She
noticed that Winter watched her but didn’t make a move to assist,
and even though she knew he wouldn’t touch her, a little part of
her wanted him to hold her. She’d never admit it, but she was
scared. And that just pissed her off, because she was stronger than
that.

“Okay,” the sheriff said. “I’m going to
transfer this to a witness form and bring it back for you to read
over and sign. I’ll leave you two alone, but I’ll see you in about
an hour, Nova.”

“Okay.” She nodded, relaxing back into the
pillows. As soon as the sheriff left, she rolled her head to the
right, finding Winter there, staring at her. His eyes had a few
small flecks of amber showing and she knew from her sister that his
animal was agitated, possibly wanting to make itself seen. “Are you
okay?”

“You’re asking me if
I’m
okay?” he
chuffed, shaking his head. The amber receded from his eyes, leaving
the ice blue of his human side.

“Your eyes were glowing a little,” she told
him, her voice raw. Winter walked over to a side table and picked
up the pitcher of water and a small matching cup. He placed it on
the rolling tray and pushed it over to the bed. He maneuvered it so
it was over Nova’s lap before taking a seat in the chair.

“I would never hurt you.” He frowned, his
voice softening. “Never, Nova.”

“I know,” she whispered, feeling her eyes
water. “I’m sorry.”

“This isn’t your fault,” he sighed. “Let’s
just worry about getting you home. We can talk about this whole
mess later…when you are feeling better. Because, Nova?”

“Yeah?” she replied, her voice small. His
face hardened and when he blinked, she gasped because his eyes had
completely changed to the glowing amber of his panther.

“If you ever…and I mean
ever
, put
yourself in harm’s way again, I will blister your ass,” he growled.
“Do you understand me?”

She couldn’t do anything but stare at the
man who’d done nothing but protect her and had warned her away from
the jerk who’d ended up almost killing her. Nova had a lot of
apologizing to do.

Chapter Three

Liberty couldn’t sleep. Her sister was in
the hospital because some asshole had used her to get information
about her pride. Winter had been at Nova’s bedside every moment for
the past three days. She knew the Guardian had his eyes set on
Nova, but he wouldn’t even get close enough to touch her to find
out if they were mates.

She wondered if Winter even
wanted
a
mate. He’d been in charge of watching over the old farmhouse Nova
lived in alone ever since Liberty had mated Talon. Two weeks ago
and out of the blue, Nova had requested Dane as her new bodyguard
to keep her safe from the wolves who still hadn’t been caught. With
Evie’s help, they knew there was an alpha to the wolf pack that had
kidnapped her and almost killed Liberty. The pride was now on the
lookout for an entire pack of wolves.

After Sheriff Lynch had taken a statement
from Nova, Winter had told them everything she’d said the afternoon
she’d woken up. The big Guardian had vibrated with the need to find
and kill this human, Perry. Liberty had put her foot down about the
blood oath nonsense. Letting one of the Guardians go out on their
own to hunt down this man was beyond stupid, but she understood
Winter’s need for vengeance. She wanted Perry’s head on platter
just as much as everyone else.

Talon purred softly as he snuggled up to her
back, his arm slid over her side and his hand rested softly on her
flat stomach. She smiled and placed her hand over his, absorbing
his warmth and love.

She remembered when Talon had realized she
was pregnant. Could it have been only three days ago? So much had
happened in that time. He’d shut them in the bathroom of her
office, holding her hair when she vomited the ginger ale she’d
drank to settle her stomach. When she turned from the sink after
brushing her teeth, Talon had been on his knees, a tear trickling
down his cheek. She’d been on such a hormonal rollercoaster that
day, she’d burst into tears just from him being in tears.

“Why are you not asleep?” he mumbled
groggily. It was two in the morning and Liberty still hadn’t closed
her eyes for fear of seeing her sister’s battered face. “What’s
wrong?” His voice had changed from sleepy to worried in mere
seconds.

“Nova,” she sighed. “I can’t stop
worrying.”

“She’s going to be okay,” he whispered. “I
won’t let anything happen to her again. I promise.”

“What if Perry comes for her, Talon?”
Liberty panicked, rolling over to face her mate. His large hand
stroked the side of her face, pushing a strand of hair behind her
ear. She purred softly at his touch.

“Do you want to move her in here with us
while she recovers?” he asked, almost as if he could read her mind.
He’d been doing that ever since they’d first met.

“I think it would be best.” Liberty paused.
“If you don’t mind.”

“She is family, Liberty.” He smiled,
brushing a kiss across her forehead. “I will have one of the
females set up a guest room for her at the other end of the
hallway.”

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “I’ll do
it.”

“You will not,” he ordered. Liberty felt her
body relax with his words. “You are to rest…which you are not doing
at the moment.”

“I know,” she sighed. “I want to help them
get my sister’s room ready.”

“You can supervise, but no heavy lifting,”
he growled.

“You’re bossy,” she teased.

“Yes, I am,” he chuckled. “Now, sleep.”

Liberty snuggled down into her mate’s arms,
loving the way he curled around her body protectively while she
slept. He’d been even more affectionate since she’d realized she
was pregnant.

Panther males were drawn to the females who
were expecting and her alpha was just as bad as all of the
Guardians who watched her like a hawk, not letting her lift a
finger. Liberty understood their nature now that she was one of
them, but she wouldn’t be able to handle their constant worry for
another eight and a half months. They were going to have to let her
do
something
on her own or she was going to go crazy.

Winter shivered when he stepped off his
small porch. The days had grown shorter and the cold temperatures
had settled into the south. A squirrel scurried up the tall pine
tree in his front yard and his panther didn’t even perk up at the
possibility of a meal. They were both too concerned about Nova.

His cabin was the second home down the
gravel road leading into the woods from the alpha’s house, but it
was still surrounded by trees as if it were in the back of the
property. He’d built his own place once he was officially brought
into the Shaw Pride. He could’ve moved into the renovated old barn
with the single Guardians, but he didn’t want to be around the
others. In the beginning, once he had been turned, he didn’t feel
like he was one of them. Those days had been hard, learning how to
control his panther and accepting his new life. After time had
passed, things had changed for the better. He had been put in
charge of the security company Talon owned, leaving Savage to move
over to the construction company his alpha had inherited from his
father.