Winters Rising Read online

  “No, sir.”

  “And even if you were missing a baby, you wouldn’t tell me?”

  She shook her head. “It’s about time you leave my nursery.” She glanced at Brea. “And take your cute little friend with you.” The nurse turned and strutted away, leaving Jax with just as many answers as before.

  “That was a record.” Jax turned toward the quiet voice behind him to find a younger girl bouncing a baby in her arms. She smiled at him. “Generally she doesn’t dislike someone after the first sentence, but you...” Her smile widened. “You managed to ruffle her feathers after doing just that.”

  Jax wasn’t proud of his approach. The sloppy behavior would get them in deeper trouble, but this girl seemed friendlier. He hoped to get an answer from her. “I caught her on my bad day,” he said, forcing a charming smile, even when he didn’t feel like being charming.

  She laughed under her breath. “That’s an understatement.” She nodded toward the nursery and said, “Walk with me.” Her smile promised answers, so he followed her to an empty bassinette where she laid the baby down. “So, you’re looking for a missing baby?” She pulled the tabs on the diaper and Jax swallowed his gag, knowing now what would follow.

  He looked away and answered, “I was just wondering if one was missing.”

  “It’s sort of a strange ‘wonder’.”

  He looked back, but at the girl instead of the baby. “Like I said to the other nurse, I’ve had people complaining−”

  “People don’t complain here,” she said.

  His sloppiness was going to get them busted. “However, the third floor has been known to lose a baby now and then.”

  “They have?” Jax sounded as surprised as he was. How did nurses go and lose babies?

  The nurse laughed. “No, I’m kidding. But the head nurse is on that floor and if you start by saying you’re there to fix something, then you can slowly work your way into finding your answers.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You can show your thanks by passing me a diaper.”

  Jax’s jaw clamped shut but he was thankful it was a clean diaper and not a dirty one.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “I’LL BE RIGHT back,” Brea mocked Jax’s stern tone, even if he was on the edge of totally losing it on her.

  Suck it up, pirate bitch.

  Brea returned her attention to the baby in the bassinette, and smiled at the firm grip on her finger. “Isn’t that right?” she said, in a softer voice. “You agree with me, don’t you?” She rubbed the baby’s tiny fingers. “What are you doing here...” She glanced at the name on his arm bracelet. “Brent?”

  The baby cooed and she melted inside. This emotion seemed so completely new to her, it took her a moment to realize she was feeling...maternal.

  She would have a trio of rascal Gatekeepers running around in no time, she thought, looking up to locate Jax.

  Across the room, he drilled a nurse for answers. If his grouchy face didn’t scare the lady away, his tense shoulders and gruff movements surely would. Despite being a man trained for anything, his composure certainly seemed out of whack right now.

  Brea bit her lower lip, trying to envision babies with a man who repetitively infuriated her. To her surprise, it wasn’t hard to picture having Jax’s babies. She envisioned them both smiling, laughing, and enjoying their new family. But, how could they ever get to that point? How could they get past all the barriers that held them back?

  The baby cooed again and Brea gave the little guy her full attention. His face drew her in, but she noted something unexplainable interlacing her with this sweet, innocent baby.

  It must be her biological clock ticking and the sudden solace she’d felt thinking about her future with Jax. As Brea continued looking at Brent, the tiny corners of his lips lifted and she smiled back.

  “You are adorable,” she laughed. “Simply adorable.”

  Brea talked and cooed with the baby while glancing up at Jax in between. When Jax moved away from the desk with a younger nurse, to a bassinette, she froze. Even from the distance, she could see they were speaking in hushed tones. Did she know about the missing baby? Were they discussing the missing baby? Brea didn’t consider their encounter about anything more than information about the missing baby until Jax smiled at the nurse. A soft, sweet smile, that made Brea wonder if she made him as miserable as she’d thought he would make her.

  Brea focused the rest of her attention on Brent until Jax’s gruff, “Let’s go,” interrupted them. His hand clasped her arm, gently, but domineering, bringing her to her feet.

  Brea sighed as she stood in front of him. “Just ask,” she said, annoyed. “Keep your monster hands to yourself and give me a chance to stand on my own. I am quite capable of doing so. Have been doing so since I could walk.”

  Jax let go, and placed a respectable hand on the small of her back instead, leading her to the staircase.

  “As Gabrielle had foreseen, there is one baby missing from this nursery,” Jax said. “We have to locate this baby and return it while Declan and Gabrielle find us a gateway home.”

  Brea stopped walking. “And, how do you propose we do that?” she asked. They weren’t only in an unfamiliar city; they were in Lexcon.

  “We look,” he answered. “We search all of Lexcon, if we have to.”

  His hurried footsteps on the stairs indicated he was not.

  All of Lexcon?

  HOURS LATER, BREA TRUDGED along the last bit of building they hadn’t searched. As if thoroughly checking every building, house, and room in Lexcon hadn’t been time consuming enough, sneaking into each building proved to be not only physically exhausting, but mentally as well. She didn’t voice her complaints, but her aching feet and tired brain screamed for relief.

  Jax had been quiet the entire day, speaking only words of command like, “come on” or “hurry up”.

  Brea found her anger with him mounting as each hour passed. She wanted to discuss his interactions with other Seconds, but knew this wasn’t the time or place. Still, his domineering ways were starting to get on her nerves.

  Finally, they doubled back to the main floor where they’d left Gabrielle and Declan in the library. The library shone a pristine white space. Instead of the blue electric lights, this room had white ones. There were three floors of books, with a winding staircase in one corner giving access to each level.

  Declan sat behind a mountain of books. When he glanced up, Brea could see no hope of good word to share with them. Gabrielle worked on a smaller stack, jumping to her feet when they entered the room.

  “Did you find the baby?” she asked.

  Jax shook his head. “No. Did you have another vision?”

  Gabrielle shook her head. “No.”

  The three siblings gathered around the table, and began to share their discoveries with each other. As much as Brea was interested in what they had to say, she knew this was their job and now wasn’t the time for her to get in the way.

  Brea took the time as an opportunity to walk up the stairs to the second level. A nice break from these Winters was in order.

  The floor circled the wall, leaving enough space for clusters of white chairs and metal tables. The words and dates on the enormous collection of books overwhelmed her, but she longed to read them all. The society of Lexcon’s history sat at her fingertips, full of the knowledge she craved and the answers she sought.

  Walking the perimeter, Brea couldn’t choose just one. Her fingers lightly caressed each book spine her eyes alighted on. She was tempted to climb the book ladder and read the higher dates and titles too, but being overwhelmed by the ones she could reach, she stayed away from the ladder.

  Brea reached for a book, but stopped. Despite her exhaustion, she reflected back on the entire day.

  What good would it be to have the knowledge if Brea had no respect from others?

  Jax had mentioned his mother’s elaborate parties. Brea had attended similar parties, but now, among the Sec
onds attending, would be the ones who Jax had slept with as well. His actions had stripped her of respect. The women he’d shared a bed with and their close gossiping friends had long ago labeled her Jax’s poor little wife.

  “Brea?”

  Her body tensed at her husband’s voice.

  “I’m going back out with Gabrielle to finish searching the rest of Lexcon. If you want to stay here and rest, Declan will be here,” he said.

  Brea’s defeat weighed her down. She turned to Jax, finally seeing her real future. As much as she fought it, she was destined to be no more than a Gatekeepers wife, the resented woman, the unwanted, disrespected...nobody that council would never take seriously.

  “Congratulations,” she said, hating the defeat in her voice. Never in her entire life, had she sounded or felt so conquered. “You win.”

  “What are you talking about now?” Jax asked, but Brea knew it was an instinctual reply. He didn’t really care or care to listen, but that didn’t stop her from letting out all her pent up anger.

  “The Seconds you’ve bedded will have no respect for me. Word of mouth is incredible between the Seconds. It’s all we have to keep ourselves informed.” She stepped toward him. “If I stand up against council to better it for the Seconds, who would follow me now? I’m the wife of a philandering Gatekeeper. Without knowing it, you undermined everything I could have accomplished or changed. But you don’t even care. As long as I don’t talk to council, or fight them you’re happy. And now...” Her words ripped her insides apart. “I won’t. I’m done. You wanted an obedient wife, well now you have one. I have nothing left to fight for. You took the only thing I had away from me. You might as well bond me now. I don’t need some romantic tropical paradise. I don’t even need to get along with you because all you want is for me to smile in public and produce your next generation of Gatekeepers.”

  Jax’s eyebrows knit together in a look of concern, but Brea ignored how her words may have hurt him. She pulled her hair aside and tilted her neck, walking toward him.

  “You’re angry−” he said.

  “I’m not angry. I’m crushed. You crushed me and I just need you to do this now.”

  “No.”

  “No?” Brea laughed. “Who is denying who? What game are you playing Winters? I have offered this to you twice and both times you’ve rejected me. Why?”

  “You’ve only offered when you’re angry. I don’t want to bond with you until it’s right.”

  “I can’t bond with you when I’m not angry. Not anymore, and I’ll stay mad at you until the day you do it, because I know what happens once we bond. I don’t want to go into it being mistaken about where we stand.”

  “If we bond now, that’s exactly what will happen.”

  “My thoughts are clear. Clearer than they’ve ever been.”

  “That’s crap. You’re tired. You’re not thinking straight.”

  Brea laughed and it echoed across the massive library, causing Declan to look up from his books. “Now I don’t even own my own thoughts. Bond me, Winters.”

  “No.”

  Brea let down her hair. “Who am I to argue with you, my master.” She bowed down before him. When she righted herself, she could see the fire burning in his eyes.

  She looked past him, seeing Declan and Gabrielle on the stairs, watching the commotion.

  “Did you hear that? I tried to bond and he wouldn’t do it. Go home and tattle that to Daddy.”

  Jax inhaled sharply and grabbed her arm. “Sit.” He grabbed a book, shoving it toward her. “Read. Don’t move. Don’t leave. Help us by reading.”

  Brea took the book and saluted her master. “Aye, aye Captain.”

  Jax cursed as he turned. When the three siblings had descended down the stairs and out of sight, Brea let her real emotions steal the breath from her lungs. Tears welled in her eyes and her body trembled uncontrollably.

  She took the book to the furthest chair, curling up on her side and closing her eyes.

  What did it matter whether she read the book now? Knowledge with no outlet was useless. As useless as she was.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “WHAT WAS THAT about?” Gabrielle asked, as they left the building and headed south to finish searching the last area of Lexcon.

  That was about him crushing his wife’s soul before they even bonded. That was him watching his actions drag the life and fight out of her eyes. It was about Jax destroying the only hope Brea had ever had. He was a jerk.

  Declan had stayed back with Brea and Jax had asked him to keep an eye on his wife while he was away. Hopefully she didn’t sass his poor brother as much as she did Jax.

  “The babies aren’t just babies,” Jax said.

  “They’re Unborns. I know. You already told us,” Gabrielle said. “I was talking about Brea. Why didn’t you just bond her? The connection would have eased the wedge between you two. After she’s in tune with your soul, it will be easier for her.”

  Jax whipped around. “Like a drug. It will be like a drug, easing her reluctance.”

  Gabrielle didn’t even flinch. For her, drugging someone wasn’t an issue apparently.

  “Usually, there isn’t reluctance to ease,” she said quietly. “But if there is, the soul’s connection is natural. It’s eye opening for both sides. She won’t only feel you Jax, but you’ll feel her. It’s not a drug.”

  “I want her to want me, not feel obligated or to ‘understand my soul’.”

  “But Jax, she is obligated.”

  They were getting off track.

  “There’s more.” Jax took a deep breath, attempting to change the subject. “In the last rip, as one of the Unborns was carried past me in the hallway, I noticed the baby’s birthmark glowing. You were collapsed on the bed. As the baby was carried away, its birthmark shone through the blanket it was wrapped in. When we were in the nursery today, there was a baby whose birthmark also glowed.”

  “So Unborns birthmarks glow?” He could tell Gabrielle had no idea where he was going with this.

  “I think they glow when they touch another Unborn. Like there’s a connection between them. I’m not positive but...” Jax found it difficult to express the words to ease her into his assumption...his pretty, but accurately bizarre assumption. If confused him too so he rushed out the rest. “Today in the nursery when Brea touched one of the babies, her birthmark lit up like a Christmas tree. And not just any Christmas tree, Mom’s foyer Christmas tree−the brightest tree in the house. And the baby she was sweet talking also had a glowing birthmark. As I walked around the nursery, no other baby’s birthmarks were lit.”

  Gabrielle sucked her lips between her teeth, then said, “Are you saying Brea is an Unborn?”

  “I can’t confirm either way. I’m just telling you what I saw and I can’t explain it any other way. All signs lead to Brea being an...”

  “Unborn,” Gabrielle breathed. “That’s why you wouldn’t bond with her.”

  “I wouldn’t bond because now is not the time or the place.” The words sounded convincing, but he didn’t believe them himself.

  “I don’t understand how this is possible,” Gabrielle said. “I feel like I’m in the twilight zone, not a time-rip.”

  “I don’t either, but we have to find this baby and put it back so we can work on figuring out the rest of this. When we are safely out of Lexcon.”

  Gabrielle nodded. “Alright. Let’s split and meet at the front when done.”

  Jax nodded.

  Gabrielle grabbed his arm as he turned to leave. “Jax, don’t blame yourself too much for how Brea is feeling about bonding with you, her reluctance. You’re a good man and if she can’t see that, well, that’s her loss. But I have the feeling one day she will.”

  He nodded. But Gabrielle didn’t understand how Seconds were raised, so she couldn’t comprehend the impact Jax’s actions had on Brea.

  Jax blamed himself, and he wasn’t sure he could fix it this time.

  They split up but, like
all the houses before, met back up empty handed. Were they too late? Had the Rogue already snuck away with the baby? If losing a Rogue was the case, then Jax was getting sloppy and he’d need stricter concentration.

  Over a dozen houses later, he felt as confident in finding this baby as Declan did to finding their way out.

  Gabrielle stopped suddenly in the middle of the road and held her hand up. “Shhh,” she said.

  Jax froze.

  “Listen,” she said.

  He strained his ear, but heard nothing.

  “Do you hear that?” she asked. “I think it’s a baby.”

  Jax didn’t hear a baby. He didn’t hear anything, but he caught sight of movement in the shadows. His gaze fell to the front of a house, and his eyes strained until they made out the silhouette of a person.

  He nudged Gabrielle’s shoulder to get her attention right before he took off running in the direction of the hooded robe.

  “Hey, you!” Jax called. “Stop!”

  Still a good twenty-feet away, the individual turned and Jax caught a glimpse of a bundle clutched tightly in front of them. They just located their Rogue and baby.

  The Rogue darted around the back of the house.

  Guilty. Busted. Over.

  “You go right and I’ll go left!” Gabrielle shouted, coming up behind him, and taking off in the opposite direction.

  Jax sped up, following the Rogue’s path. He ducked under a tree branch, wondering briefly if it was even real. He hopped over a bush and the same curiosity stirred. But he was on a mission. This Rogue wasn’t getting away like the last one.

  Losing sight of the Rogue, Jax rounded the back of the house and slowed for a visual. The Rogue hurried toward a six-foot tall fence. Jax sprinted in his direction, just as he caught sight of blankets in his path. Speeding through the backyard, he had barely any allotted time and jumped just enough to watch his feet soar just above the newborn. His feet didn’t land smoothly on the ground. With his balance off, he tumbled into a roll until his feet grounded.