She kept going.
“You selfish ass! You dosed yourself with an untested serum! You were so willing to risk your life, for what? So you’d stop feeling pain? So you could be a big, tough guy meta? When you were filling that syringe back at the lab, did it ever occur to you that you could have killed yourself? Did it? Did you think about what that would have done to your dad? Do you have any idea how terrifying it was when we found your body on the floor?”
Her body shuddered at the image she painted in her mind.
The muscles in Cole’s jaw bulged as he clenched his teeth against her tirade. His eyes were downcast, but he said nothing in his defense.
“Then, not even twenty-four hours pass and we learn Williams is en route to hunt us with more than a dozen deranged mutant metas and we have to somehow escape him while dragging your unconscious ass around! Paulie and Creed are dead! And one of the most precious people in my life, one of the few people on this measly planet I thought I could trust with my life, is dangling by a blackened thread, on death’s door!” Meg’s voice cracked with tears she refused to acknowledge.
“Why did I risk trying to bring you back? I’ll tell you why, Cole Andrews, because I can’t have everyone I love die all around me, and just sit back and watch it happen!”
Cole was watching Meg’s face now with a mixture of emotions dancing across his soft green eyes.
So caught up in her emotional storm, she couldn’t sense him, so it was a complete surprise when he reached out and gently pulled her into his wide chest. His strong arms were shaking as he wrapped them around her. Shocked, Meg held rigid still for a moment, surrounded by his massive body, his warm scent enveloping her senses, his strong heartbeat pounding against her cheek.
Then she melted.
This was her Cole. This was the boy who shared his family’s home in Kansas with her, gave her quiet moments of laughter even as they were hunted, took care of her traumatized mother, cared for sick children at his dad’s hospital and stayed by her side to fight those who sought to harm her and her family—making her enemies his own.
Then, in what could have been his final act of devotion, he tried to become the fighter he thought she needed. All of this Meg knew with her whole heart, and the sunlight hit her eyes for the first time.
Cole.
Cole would accept her no matter what, faults, enemies, uncertainties—all of it.
His rough stubble scratched her temple, as he leaned down, wrapping his tall, handsome body protectively around Meg. She could feel his warm breath on her eyelashes. “You have every right to be furious with me. I never wanted to leave you, Meg.” He breathed deeply and she could hear his lungs fill with air. “I only want to be with you. Just tell me what to do to make it right. Anything. I’ll do anything for you.”
Meg let her arms wrap around Cole’s wide back, and nuzzled her face into his chest, feeling a pull on her heart she hadn’t let herself acknowledge before. “Don’t ever put yourself in danger again.” She pouted against his shirt.
Meg could sense the smile as it hit Cole’s face and heard it in his voice when he said, “I’ll make you a deal, Meg Winter. I won’t put myself in any more danger than you put yourself into.”
She huffed.
Cole chuckled a deep, handsome laugh.
Chapter 17 Just a Girl
Inside an hour, they had been cleared by the tower for takeoff and were making their ascent into the dark sky, heading even further east. Though they were crossing time zones faster than they could keep track, to their internal clocks, they had been up all night. The stress of all the events over the past few weeks was weighing heavily on everyone’s minds. They had taken seats throughout the cabin, and were quietly lost in their thoughts.
Cole was sitting beside her, nodding off periodically. He didn’t want to leave her side since their talk. Truth be told, Meg wanted him right with her, too. She watched his profile in the dim light of the cabin. His head was tilted back against the headrest, jaw opened slightly; soft snores whispered rhythmically. His dark lashes stood in beautiful shadowed contrast against his light skin. She stared at his full pink lips, so perfectly formed and caught herself wondering what it would feel like to trace her finger around them.
Blushing, Meg turned away from the object of her confusion and bit her lips together, as though chastising them for their naughty thoughts.
Good grief, Meg! He may as well be your brother after all we’ve been through. What are you thinking?