Winters Rising Read online

  His head slowly lifted and his eyes were the same bluish green of Melora’s.

  “I’ve been drained since the beginning of time. Have patience,” he said.

  “We don’t have time,” Jax said.

  The smile he sent them revealed a mixture of amusement and wickedness, sending spikes of warning through Jax.

  This is for Brea.

  If there had been any other way, Jax would have left the unknown man in his cell to rot.

  “It’s nice to see the newest generation of Gatekeepers. What era are you from?”

  “The twenty-first century,” Gabrielle said. “And you?”

  He grinned. “Like I said, the beginning of time. And like the Gatekeepers, all elders are born in fours. The name is Magnus and I believe you have already met my soul-sister, Melora.”

  MAGNUS LED THEM TO a room where Brea lay crumpled on the floor.

  Although he’d led them here, Jax didn’t trust him. He was an elder. A punished elder, but still, an elder.

  But what choice did they have?

  Finding Brea brought tears to Jax’s eyes, blurring his vision as he crossed the room. He’d thought he would never see her again. He prayed they weren’t too late.

  Jax fell to his knees, gathering Brea into his arms and feeling her neck for a pulse. A light throbbing thumped against his fingers.

  “She has a pulse,” Jax breathed in relief.

  Thank God.

  “She’s been drained,” Magnus said.

  Jax didn’t know what that meant. He only knew she was alive.

  Holding his wife in his arms, Jax watched Magnus walk toward a set of three large chairs. He stared at them for a long while, before touching the middle one. Brea stirred in Jax’s arms, stealing his attention back to her. Declan’s skeptical eye focused on Magnus. Jax knew if something went south, Declan would guard both Jax and Brea with his life. Right now, Jax needed to tend to his soulmate.

  Brea blinked, and struggled to grip his arms, her hands feeble and weak.

  “Hey, sweetheart.” Jax lifted her chin and searched her eyes for recognition. “Brea? Sweetheart, can you hear me?”

  Slowly her eyes opened, lightened, acknowledging him. “Yes...” Her breathless answer sounded forced.

  “Shhh, don’t talk. We’re going to get you out of here.” With the help of Magnus...an elder. This whole rip would go down in Lexcon history...as long as they made it out before the other elders changed time.

  Jax lifted her in his arms as he stood. Brea squirmed, making little sounds of protest.

  “It’s okay.” Jax tried to soothe her. “I’ve got you, sweeetheart.”

  Brea squeezed his arm tighter. “They promised to teach the Seconds.” Her voice cracked, and the broken sound sent tremors through his body. “To fill them with hope, and appreciation. All I have to do is let them kill the doctor.”

  “No.”

  “Yes.”

  “No.”

  She lifted her head on her own to look at him. “A new soulmate will be branded to you.”

  He kissed her softly and said, “I don’t want a new one.”

  A smile found her lips. “You won’t even remember me. It’s okay.”

  “I will never forget you. I will go back every day for the rest of my life to make sure the doctor is never killed.”

  Her body collapsed in his arms, but she continued to argue with him. “You can’t fight them. They are elders.”

  “We can fight them or die trying. I will not let them decide our future. Declan, heal her,” Jax barked over his shoulder.

  Declan came to her side as she pushed out a weak “no.” He looked at Jax for permission to continue and, with Jax’s solid nod, Declan placed his hand on Brea’s weak shoulder sending his healing shot through her.

  Brea gasped loudly and her breathing increased, but her head hung low and she seemed weightless in his arms.

  Declan shot him an unsure look before stepping back.

  “Brea?” Jax touched her shoulders.

  When she looked up, tears streamed down her face. Her color was back, her strength held her, but she still looked exhausted.

  “They’re going to fix the ways. My life is all they’re asking for,” she said.

  “That is one life too many for changing something that needs to be changed.”

  Her eyebrows drew together. “You think things need to be changed?”

  “Yes. And I think we should do it together. As a team. You and me. Brea, we can show people the wrong ways and help them to understand what we have seen, what the elders have lied about. We’ll show the community the truth.”

  “The elders will just go back and change time,” Brea said. “Whether it be now or when we leave...if we can leave...they will change time.”

  “Let’s get home first and deal with the rest later.”

  Brea nodded.

  Jax was glad this was one argument he wouldn’t lose.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  BREA STILL FELT weak. Her legs quivered, her stomach fluttered, and her body felt heavy, but she steadied herself the best she could as Jax set her on her feet.

  “You okay?” Jax asked, concern in his eyes. Declan and Gabrielle couldn’t hide their worried looks either.

  Brea nodded, standing straighter to look strong in front of people she’d once hated and now loved. That’s when she noticed they weren’t alone. The old man’s white hair and imposing stance caused her to step back against Jax. The man looked like Melora, Melvin and Marcel. Exactly like them. And she couldn’t help but remember the third empty chair.

  “Who’s that?” she asked, watching his grim smile grow wider at the sound of her voice.

  “I’m the man who saved you,” he said, with a little spark of spirit in his eyes. “They call me Magnus. I have worked my magic to get you here my dear. You are the future of this society. You just don’t know it yet.”

  “You’re the fourth elder, aren’t you?” Her words seemed brave but her fingers dug deeply into Jax’s skin. So deep, she was certain she’d draw blood. Jax didn’t flinch in pain, but felt his strength holding her up.

  “That I am. And I see you haven’t bonded yet. If you had, this wouldn’t have been nearly as difficult a task.”

  “I hate to break up whatever love-triangle the three of you have going on, but can we go?” Declan asked, his eyes darting to each doorway.

  “What do you mean?” Brea asked Magnus, ignoring Declan’s need for escape. Why would Magnus try to get her here? What difference did it make if she were bonded or not? And what did he mean she was the future of this society?

  “You’re a powerful machine...” He glanced at Jax. “After you bond with your Gatekeeper. I missed my chance, but yours is right here. That’s why the elders fear you. You are a young Unborn, and like human life, as elder’s age, they lose most of their power...”

  “You’re an Unborn?” Brea asked.

  “Who do you think the elders are?”

  The elders were Unborns?

  “Oh, Magnus...” They all turned at the sound of Melora’s voice.

  Declan cursed.

  Gabrielle groaned.

  Brea didn’t have a chance to take cover behind Jax, but in one swift, solid motion, he moved her behind him.

  “...you got out of your cage.” Melora tsked at Magnus with a head shake.

  “Did you think I would stay in there forever?” Magnus asked, a grin widening again on his face.

  “Is this your doing?” Melora asked, clicking her tongue. “Plotting the next generation of elders?”

  “Your time has long passed,” Magnus said.

  “Our time is just beginning,” Melora said, a smile cracking the lines around her eyes.

  Magnus didn’t seem as worried as Melora’s presence made the rest of them. “Count the hours, Melora, your time is ending.”

  “You’re teaming up with a bunch of uninformed Gatekeepers. Untrained.” Melora let out a short, humorless laugh. “You can
not take us down.”

  “I can’t. I’m old. I’m weak. But she can.” He pointed at Brea, who stood shuddering like a terrified child behind Jax.

  Melora tilted her head and narrowed her eyes at Brea. Chills coated her spine as Melora let out a long critical laugh.

  “You better get yourself an earth time clock, sister,” Magnus said. “Once we’re back on earth, you’ll find Brea is not the only one I’ve recruited. We’ll come back and you three will face your doom.”

  “You think you’ll survive the rip? Endure the twenty-first century?” Melora’s laugh was a deep, dark evil.

  “No amount of preparation can prepare you for fresh Unborns,” Magnus said.

  “I beg to differ. No amount of your teaching can prepare the Unborns for us. You are sending them to their doom, their death. That is if I don’t find them before you create the pathetic army you’ve planned.”

  “You’ve gone to a lot of work to prevent this pathetic army,” Magnus said. “We will meet again.”

  He touched the wall and a vortex started, but then vanished into nothing.

  “Fool.” Melora waved at the numbers of men dressed in uniform coming up behind her. “Take them,” she ordered.

  “Bond her,” Magnus ordered Jax, as Melora’s guards closed in on them. “Bond her!”

  Brea felt a thousand emotions in a series of seconds, including how perfect bonding with Jax now sounded. Not only her soul wanted him, but also her heart. She’d fallen in love with him, and after everything, he must love her too. He’d come back for her.

  Alone, or in front of this group, Brea no longer cared. She slid her hand up his arm, to his shoulder and stopped just centimeters from his pulsing birthmark. Brea was ready for no other reason than to bond with her soulmate, her husband, the love of her life.

  She watched Jax’s eyes shift from Magnus to her birthmark then back again. Brea saw exactly what was going through his head. He didn’t want her.

  “Jax?”

  “What choice do we have?” Jax’s words came out painful and confused with no alternative.

  What choice did they have?

  He could leave her. If he hadn’t planned on bonding her, why had he come back?

  “Bond her!”

  Without permission, Jax slid her hand over his birthmark, holding it in place and grabbed her neck at the same time.

  She became lost by Jax’s entire being coursing through her, joining them as one, in a way she’d never dreamed. Their minds, their souls, everything that was their own, flowed through them, binding them to one another.

  She felt his powers, too. All his energy that he used traveling through time rips coursed through her. Then, she felt something different. Something of her own. Supremacy, ruling...power. Power stronger than Jax’s.

  There was no time to examine it, or the alarmed look Jax sent her when he felt it too.

  When they came back from the moment, they saw the guards had stopped. Melora’s face matched her pale hair. Both Declan, and Gabrielle’s jaws had almost hit the floor, but Magnus stole the center stage. His smile shone bright and wide.

  “It’s too late, Melora. You can’t go back and change Brea’s past because she’s now bonded to her soulmate,” he said.

  Brea let out a breath she hadn’t realized he’d been holding. If what Magnus said were true, they didn’t have to worry about her being eliminated now, but Jax was now eternally stuck with her as well.

  “Brea, touch the wall,” Magnus said, his worry and panic had dissipated. He nodded at the wall, his voice patient and his eyes full of exhilaration.

  “I...don’t...know how,” Brea squeaked.

  Although back to full strength, the realization of Jax’s rejection hit her hard.

  “Yes, you do,” Magnus encouraged. “Every time-travel Jax has taken has gone through you. Touch the wall.”

  “Don’t do it child,” Melora interrupted. “My offer still stands. Walk away and I will let your family go. Touch that wall and I will kill them all.”

  Brea couldn’t formulate a straight thought. Jax had invaded everything inside of her. Their bond had brought around a part of her that she didn’t know she had. Her Unborn side. The power. The strength. The control.

  “Sweetheart, just touch the wall,” Jax whispered to her.

  Brea glared at Jax for using a pet name when she’d clearly seen his reluctance to bond.

  Jax rubbed her cheek, as if trying to apologize, but she knew he didn’t mean it. He needed her to touch the wall and save his family. That was the whole reason he’d come back for her.

  “She’s too unknowledgeable,” Melora said. “Drain them and take them back to their current time...” She narrowed her eyes on Brea, “...and kill them all.”

  Brea felt something stir inside her. The feelings of betrayal...of being used. She didn’t need a label to know that no one would die on her time. She obeyed Magnus, this stranger, who gave light to the dark tunnel they found themselves in.

  Brea closed her eyes and dug into the parts of Jax inside her, the parts about his time-rips. She reached for the wall, thinking of the Winters’ library, thinking of the gateway she’d watched Jax create by simply opening a door.

  Wind whipped her hair. She felt Jax’s approving squeeze on her hand. When she opened her eyes, a wild red, and angry looking vortex stood in front of her. The damn thing was terrifying. It looked angry as hell.

  “Don’t!” Melora yelled.

  Brea didn’t blame her. Brea had created this.

  Was stepping into this vortex wise for any of them?

  Jax’s words rang true: what choice did they have?

  Melora screamed, “He’s not who he seems!”

  “Go!” Magnus shouted.

  They would have to deal with whatever Melora meant later. Hopefully, there would be a later, if this vortex didn’t kill them first.

  The elders were liars but Magnus was an elder, too.... Still there was only so much trust to go around, even if they survived this vortex, it would only be the beginning of their problems.

  Jax took the lead, as if he’d opened it himself. Still with her hand in his, he squeezed tighter, arranging the rest of them to connect, and started walking straight into the vortex.

  Brea glanced back, as the elders’ rip started to disappear. She couldn’t help but wonder if the look of turmoil on Melora’s face was for her future or theirs.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  BACK AT THE Winters estate Brea clenched her hands at her side, not from fear or anger, but anxiety. Victor was livid. Standing by the door, Brea’s heart raced so quickly and beat so loudly she swore everyone could hear and see it. Her body no longer felt weak from being drained, but her brain seemed ready for a break. The others, however, were not.

  She eyed the door and edged closer to her escape route, as the room unfolded into what she presumed was regular time travel return.

  Two of the Winters’ security guards grabbed Magnus upon their arrival and cuffed his arms behind his back as the trio thoroughly explained the links between the rips to Victor and Annalieese.

  Victor stood listening for most of the exchange. He paced across the room, his eyes growing wide and a vein pumping out of his forehead looking ready to explode.

  When they spoke about meeting the elders and the threats on their lives, Victor’s hands dropped to his side. When the trio mentioned defying the elders, Victor slammed his fists onto the table, but still said nothing. When they explained Magnus’s presence, Brea could see uncertainty, and then realization, finally register on Victor’s face.

  Her feet inched her closer to the door.

  “Have you three completely lost your minds?” Victor finally roared at his children.

  If she did run, where would she go? To the wing...or should she try her hands at another time rip, because Victor looked ready to do away with her himself.

  Jax will protect you. Why was that thought comforting and yet terrifying at the same time?

&nb
sp; “Dad...”

  Before Jax could say more, Victor exploded into another tirade.

  Brea wondered if Jax, Declan, and Gabrielle actually believed Victor would take their word for what had occurred in Lexcon. She figured he would not believe Brea was in line to take the elders position. Or that the elders had planned on, and had almost succeeded in, killing them.

  Victor’s obedient stance in the Lexcon society was all the proof Brea needed to avoid disclosing the events of the last couple days to him.

  As if hearing her thoughts, Victor’s dark eyes found Brea. She would have shifted uncomfortably, if she had the energy to do so. Her body felt the after effects of the time rip and finally understood the consequences of time rips on the body.

  “We will discuss this with council.” His words brought an eerie silence to the room. Everyone quieted except for Magnus.

  “Council will already have direct orders to kill Brea, Jax, Declan, and Gabrielle and return me to my cell,” Magnus said.

  Victor’s deadly glare fell on Magnus.

  Brea knew confronting Victor would prove to be a mistake for the elder, but she liked the idea of challenging the Winters patriarch.

  “Do you mind?” Magnus asked, eyeing the security men still restraining him.

  Victor nodded at the men to release Magnus and said, “I told you to stay quiet.”

  Magnus strode to the center of the room, tall and over-confident, ignoring all eye contact, focusing instead on the book spines on the shelves around the room. He was the only one present who didn’t seem stressed.

  “Mr. Winters, I think you’ve confused me with one of your staff,” he said, slanting a look at Victor long enough to raise the patriarch’s eyebrows. “I don’t listen, nor do I obey, Gatekeepers.”

  Brea sucked her lips in to keep from smiling. Besides Magnus and her outburst in the foyer the day before, she would bet no one had ever spoken to Victor with such disrespect. Now she was glad she hadn’t retreated to Jax’s wing.

  “You’re a Gatekeeper and a retired Gatekeeper at that,” Magnus continued. “I certainly don’t obey the words of a retired Gatekeeper. In fact, I don’t understand why the three current Gatekeepers are listening to a single word you’ve said. So far, all I’ve heard is you undermining every detail of truth they’ve presented to you instead of accepting, and providing support, to resolve their predicament. You should be obeying their instructions.”