She stopped pacing and stood ridged waiting for Cole to finish the story.
“Yeah,” he said. “Is that all you remember?”
Meg chewed her lip and nodded.
He hadn’t moved from where he perched on the edge of her bed, but now he stopped to look down at his hands.
“Cole, what happened?” I heard panic in her voice.
After a moment that felt long enough to have grown a sequoia, he shook his head casually, looked up and smiled at her. “You fell asleep, Meg.”
She hadn’t realized she was holding her breath until then. She exhaled. “That’s it?”
“You were really sleepy from the pills. You got into bed and,” Cole shrugged, “next thing I knew you were sound asleep.”
Meg frowned deeply and resumed pacing. After two passes, she stopped and looked at Cole. “I’m just going to throw this out there: I dreamed of us.”
His eyes widened before he turned away, stood and absently busied his hands by making the bed.
Maze, bored with their conversation, jumped off the bed and walked to the closed door. So accustomed to her coyote, Meg didn’t even think about it when she followed him and opened the door for him to leave. When she turned back to look at her friend, he was carefully positioning the pillows. His large hands stood out beautifully against the white of the pillow case. They seemed to linger over the pillow still warm from her sleep.
He turned toward her and shoved his hands deeply in the pockets of his jeans, offering an innocent shrug. “Well, I dream of us all the time.” His face blushed beautifully.
Meg opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, he said, “Listen, I’m going to go. I’ll see you later, Meg.” Just three of his long strides had him already at the door Maze just exited.
He stopped and looked back over his muscular shoulder at her. The green of his eyes danced in the morning light with crisp green streaks bursting from the black pupils that seemed to dilate every time he looked at her. “I’m glad you had a good night’s sleep.” He nodded slightly and stepped through the doorway, closing the door behind him.
Meg frowned at the closed door.
What the hell just happened? She scowled at her toes, feeling an overwhelming urge to kick and punch and inflict bone crushing pain. Instead, she stomped into her bathroom to brush her teeth.
Fifteen minutes later, she emerged from her room with minty fresh breath, her wild tresses braided in one long plait down her back and dressed in running clothes.
“Meg?” she heard her mother’s voice from the kitchen.
Sighing deeply, she walked into the kitchen. “Morning, mom.” Meg smiled at her mother’s warm brown eyes hiding, as usual, behind the dorkiest pair of black-rimmed glasses.
“You look much more rested,” she grinned as she passed her a glass of orange juice. Meg scowled at it and handed it back.
“Thanks, but I can’t drink orange juice. Just brushed my teeth and you know how gross citrus tastes mixed with toothpaste,” she shrugged.
“Right. How about milk?” she offered, head buried in the refrigerator. The white lab coat she was already wearing spoke volumes of her plans for the day.
“That’d be great, thanks. You working in the lab today?”
“Theo, Evan and I have already been at it. We’ve accepted another contract from the Center for Disease Control. We can’t live off our savings forever,” she shrugged casually as she handed Meg a piece of buttered toast.
“Oh? Interesting assignment?” Meg asked as she dished a spatula full of scrambled eggs to her plate.
Margo grinned, “You know me. Any scientific research or study is fascinating!”
“Right,” Meg said, and bowed her head to pray silently.
“Have you seen Cole?” she asked through a mouthful of food, trying to sound nonchalant.
“He left with Alik and Farrow to get back to training.” Mom emphasized the word “training” in a way that led Meg to believe they were doing more than lifting weights.
Alik had taken Cole under his wing—teaching him some necessary skills every metahuman who hangs out with the family should know to survive. Alik was a good teacher. He was patient and calm with both Cole and Farrow as he worked with them. He never talked down to them, but he seemed to naturally know how to build on their prior knowledge. They had become very good friends, and they were all thankful for it.
With Evan always hanging out with mom and Theo, Meg had been left to her own devices a lot lately. She frowned at the crumbs on her plate as she walked it to the sink for a rinse.
I really have isolated myself from my family since we moved here, Meg thought.
She glanced over at her mother, who was starting to clean up now that everyone had eaten breakfast. Maze whined at her feet, wanting to help lick the dishes clean.
“Oh, you rascal,” she was saying to him. “I am not feeding you from the table. You’re not a young pup anymore, and it’s not good for you.”