“Let me get this straight. You don’t want me to take over my duties as I’ve always done for us just because Gideon didn’t say goodbye?”
“It’s rude!” Meg actually stamped her foot. She knew she was acting childish and the whole thing was downright bizarre, but if she was going to be trapped in this altered reality with no memories of life before crash landing in the Appalachian Mountains, she was going to set some boundaries, damn it!
“No, what’s rude is using your little witchcraft shit to try to manipulate us.”
“Is that what you think I’m doing?”
“Isn’t it?”
“I just awoke from being in a coma for fourteen weeks and now am traveling under an assumed name with a man who has serious identity issues, at best. I have no idea what I’m doing or where you’re taking me. And you actually think anything I’m doing right now is for you? How egocentric can you be, Sirus? I’m trying to understand what’s happened to me. I need to figure out who I can trust and somehow relearn who I am—you self-centered, id-minded, CHILD! And don’t you EVER call me a witch again!”
Meg had been stepping toward the black-eyed soldier, unconcerned at the scene she was making for passersby. At her last sentence, she shoved Sirus down off the curb and against the black limousine so their difference in height wasn’t as pronounced. She stared him down, oblivious of the fact that he outweighed her by a hundred-fifty pounds of muscle.
Sirus was fuming. He’d never been talked to that way by any female and he wasn’t about to take her tirade quietly.
Just then he felt a huge shove from inside.
He stood shaking his head in amazement. “I can’t freakin’ believe this. Listen, I am here to protect Gideon, and he’s here to protect you. He’s pissed at me because he thinks I’m hurting you, and he’s trying to come out to defend you.”
Meg’s brows furrowed. “You said Gideon doesn’t know about you.”
“I said he knows what he needs to know—which isn’t much. That’s the real trippy part about this whole shit night.”
With that, Sirus looked down and shivered slightly. When he looked up, Meg was staring into the hazel eyes of Gideon.
“Are you okay?” he asked, worry working the lines in his handsome face.
“Gideon?” Meg asked, just because she needed reassurance.
“I’m here, Meg.” He whispered gruffly. He looked around and placed his strong hand at her elbow. “We’re getting in this car.” It was a statement of resignation, not a question. Gideon had spent a lifetime trying to look as if he hadn’t just walked into the party late.
“Yes, Ermos is here to drive us.” Meg instantly reacted to Gideon as a completely different person than Sirus, because he was.
When she was arguing with Sirus, she caught his aura as a sickly yellow with dull gray edges. He was a very different person than Gideon.
Or was he? Meg thought carefully as he opened the door for her and helped her inside.
“Are we ready now, Mr. Niche?”
“Yes, Ermos,” Gideon said as he opened the small refrigerator tucked in the center console in front of where he and Meg sat. He pulled out a bottle of water, unscrewed the cap then handed it to Meg.
“You need to keep your fluids up, Meg. They always hydrated and fed you when you were in the coma, but now you have to do it for yourself again. Take small sips. Your stomach hasn’t had real food or drink in a very long time. So if you feel like you’re going to be sick, here.” He held up an airsickness bag. “I’m ready to help.”
“Thank you, Gideon.” Meg breathed a soft sigh of relief. She felt so much safer when he was there.
She took two small sips before replacing the cap and snuggling back deep into the soft black leather seat. Just before she dozed off, she jerked wide awake with a start.
“Gideon?”
“Yes?”
“Please be here when I wake?”
“Where else would I be?”
“I’m serious.” She leaned her head back against the soft seat, exhaustion curling around her like a warmed towel.
“So am I, Meg.”
“You’re my protector?” She asked, half asleep.
“I won’t let anyone hurt you.”
“Not even you?”
Gideon frowned at the beauty whose dark lashes fought against gravity as they draped against her pale skin for a moment before opening just enough for him to see the starlight dance in her night eyes. She was trying to stay awake for his answer.
He leaned toward her to whisper in her ear, “I never want to hurt you.”
“You may not want to, Gideon, but there’s a part of you that already has.”
Chapter 49 Weaknesses