Cryostorm
Authors: Lynn Rush
Tags: #Romance, #PNR, #Paranormal, #Coming of Age, #New Adult & College, #Teen & Young Adult, #New Adult, #Genre Fiction, #Literature & Fiction
They made his body, she’ll awaken his soul…
Three months ago, my twin sister, Georgia, and I had to die so our loved ones would be safe from the scientists hunting us. After months of searching, we’re close to finding the one person who can help us find closure, Georgia’s adoptive mother, Lois.
Snowstorms and an unexpected run-in with GenCorp, the latest entity charged with capturing us, delay our mission and break our spirits. The only light in my supernaturally chaotic life is Nate. He’s given up everything to protect and take care of me, and each minute I’m with him confirms how much I love him. Finally ready to share my heart again, I take the next step, admitting my true feelings.
The mad scientists who want to tear me apart and use my body for a freak show, once again taint my happiness with a disturbing technology that rips Nate from my arms. As I battle GenCorp’s warped technology to save my soulmate, I’m faced with the vivid reality: the Nate I knew and fell in love with may be lost forever.
And if I get him back, will I still be able to say those three precious words?
Cryostorm
(Touch of Frost #3)
Lynn Rush
To God, my savior.
To Charlie, my soulmate.
To Lynn, my inspiration.
Chapter 1
I
t’d been three months since Georgia and I died.
“Cannonball,” I yelled as I launched myself into the air, needing to have some fun before I pulled all my hair out from sheer boredom.
The water slapped against my feet, then slammed against my ears. I dropped through the water like a stone in a river. Luckily, the pool was only five feet deep, pretty much how tall I was.
I planted my feet on the rough, cement bottom and shot to the surface. I treaded water with one hand while wiping my hair and water from my eyes. Jeez, months ago I avoided pools like the plague for fear of freezing them into ice rinks, but the control I’d developed in the last few months in particular was amazing.
Freeing.
A squeal, followed by pellets of water bouncing off my face, alerted me that Georgia, my twin sister who I lovingly call Blaze, landed her own cannonball.
Had to give her props, it was a fairly solid plunge.
The waves lapped against my chest as I scanned the water, waiting for her to pop up. Her bright red hair surfaced, and she treaded toward me. Both only five-foot-three, neither of us could touch the bottom very well so we moved to the side.
“Okay, what’s up with that chick scoping your boy?” Georgia cast her icy glare poolside, and I followed her line of sight.
Sure enough a chick—tall, skinny, with miles of legs—leaned against the soda machine at the far corner of the pool area, staring at my Nate.
Yep,
my
Nate.
But dang if she wasn’t model-type beautiful. In an instant my newfound confidence melted away with the water. I was just a plain Jane. Sure, I now had black hair with a blue streak instead of blonde hair and a blue streak, but still, I was a flat-chested freak of nature with strength and freezing abilities. Not to mention a little flying.
Stupid doubt ripped through me like a knife.
I turned to look for Nate. He sat at our table, watching me. His amber-flecked brown eyes flickered, melting my insides like they always did. He wasn’t even watching the leggy-supermodel-beautiful-chick.
I mean, she couldn’t be more obvious. Wonder how long she’d been there...
Dinging from a pinball machine in the opposite corner of the pool area pulled my attention from my sweet Nate. The pool area was huge for po-dunk hotel, but it made the blistering winter wind howling outside more tolerable.
We’d been snowed in for two days at the southern part of Minnesota, tracking down Georgia’s fake mom’s whereabouts.
She was supposed to be at this hotel, but we missed her
again
.
For three months Nate and Tim have been watching over us, helping us try and find Georgia’s mom. We’d had several near misses with her, but somehow, she always evaded us.
“Check it. Your guy isn’t even giving her a second look.”
“I know. How lucky am I? Where’s Tim?”
“Up in their room doing something smart on the computer.” Georgia clung to the wall, her bright red nails reflecting the overhead lights. “I’m so sick of missing my mom—er—fake mom. I just want to find her already and find out what she knows. What she is.”
“I know, hon. We will.” I glanced at Supermodel again. Still hadn’t moved. A really slippery, icy feeling raked down my spine. What if she was an Agent? Or one of Bev’s GenCorp cronies. But in three months, we’d had no run-ins with them so they must not know we’re alive.
Or, haven’t found us yet. Kinda hard to hide our blue and red-streaked hair. Well, At least Georgia could hide it better than me. Hers blended into her dyed red hair. Mine wouldn’t hold the black, and I refused to die my entire head of hair blue, so, I was stuck with what I had.
“Hey, Georgia,” I whispered. “That girl, I’m getting a bad vibe. Agent?”
“Shit.”
I backhanded her shoulder. “Miss potty mouth.” She’d been cussing more and was much more distant and angry, especially the last month or so. Probably frustration over the Lois thing. I couldn’t fault her for it, but I could razz her a little, right?
“I wish they came with identifiers, you know? Like tattoos or marks or something. I can’t help but think everyone’s an Agent sometimes.”
“I know the feeling.” Scott and I had been doing it for years.
“What totally sucks is that we’re stranded here, not able to do crap about getting to the last town my ex-mom showed up at.” Georgia bobbed beneath the water and pushed her much longer hair back. It’d grown so fast she could finally tuck it behind her ear without it falling forward anymore like it always had.
“Okay, that chick’s pissing me off,” I said. “I’m getting out. Maybe if I go plant a whopper of a kiss on
my
boyfriend, she’ll buzz off.”
Georgia laughed.
I glanced at Nate again. He sat back in his chair, his shaggy, dark hair dusting his bronze-skinned forehead. His focus was totally and completely on the book he held in front of him. The man read constantly. Sucked in every bit of information he could get his hands on—er—his eyes on.
It was one of his gifts, he always said. Thankfully, too, because he’d had to quickly learn how to do minor surgery on me to remove the six trackers wedged beneath my skin months ago. So, it came in handy. Too bad it made me feel like a moron.
Never was too good in school.
I reached the steps and made my way out of the water. The sounds of water rushing off and dripping into the pool must have pulled his attention because he looked up from his book. As I neared him, he bathed me in warmth as his gaze brushed over my entire body, painstakingly slowly.
Heat singed my cheeks. Well—and other areas south of my tummy, too.
We hadn’t had the sex-talk yet, but over the last couple of months, I sure wanted to. Not sure where he stood on the whole issue, but it might be time for me to brave up and ask about it.
Seemed to be the weirdest time to be thinking of that stuff while searching for Lois. Plus, not much privacy with Georgia and me sharing a room.
Nate clapped his book shut and stood. A smile curved his plump lips. “You pruned already?”
“Hey, Nate,” I whispered. “Humor me, okay?”
He arched an eyebrow like he always did while trying to figure something out. I’d come to recognize that even more over the last few months. I threw a quick look at Supermodel to make sure she was still watching, then I hopped into Nate’s arms.
Good thing he had quick reflexes.
He coiled his arms around my bottom to hold me up as I clenched my legs at his waist. I crushed my lips against his and squeezed my body close to his.
He grunted, but then must have decided to go with the flow and kissed me back. And boy, that guy could kiss. He’d never been with another girl before me, but it sure didn’t show. Probably because he’d read everything written about sex and how to treat a woman.
And memorized it.
I sure have been enjoying learning all his talents over the past few months when we were able to sneak in a few make out sessions. Didn’t happen very often though, considering we were all traveling together, constantly on the run.
Might be time to call a room swap for a night.
I pulled away and glanced to the side. Supermodel’s shiny, perfectly painted lips curved into a slight smile. Wicked-looking almost, yet her big, blue eyes held a hint of sadness, too. I couldn’t blame her. Nate was a looker with his six feet three inches of deliciously muscled body, wavy chestnut hair, and killer brown eyes.
But he was mine, and she needed to know that.
“Not that I mind at all, but what brought that on?” Nate whispered into my ear, then touched feather kisses to my neck.
Oh, that shot my skin up into some world-record-breaking-sized goose bumps. Yep, it was definitely time for a room swap tonight.
I slid down the front of my boyfriend, very slowly, enjoying each movement, then planted my feet on the slippery floor. “Just letting one of your fans know you’re taken.”
“My what?”
I stepped away. “I’ll explain in a sec. Where’s my towel?”
He turned to the side and as he did, the black marks across his chest that The Center had so lovingly branded him with were clearly visible through the soaked, white shirt.
“Wait.” I reached for Nate’s chest to cover the marks with my hands, but I heard a distinct gasp from the direction Supermodel stood.
Her wide eyes scanned Nate, then me.
Now, I’d initially thought she was an Agent from the creep factor she emitted, but her reaction to the markings on Nate’s chest confirmed it.
Well, not confirmed it, but
really
made me think she was.
“What?” Nate said.
I pulled his shirt away from his skin. “You’re showing.”
“Oh.” Nate snagged my towel. “Thanks.”
I turned to see Supermodel, but she was gone.
“Great.” I glanced at Georgia who’d witnessed it all. Her wide-eyed, open-mouthed look said it all.
We’re screwed.
Chapter 2
“N
o way she could be an Agent,” Tim said, shaking his head.
We’d all convened in Tim and Nate’s room to work through this. Hopefully, I was totally wrong. Just super paranoid.
“You should have seen her reaction to my ink, man.” Nate rubbed his hand up and down his chest. “Mandy said it was obvious.”
“It was,” Georgia said, nodding. “I saw everything, too.”
Georgia and I sat side by side in the loveseat in the sitting room outside of their bedroom. It was a pretty nice hotel, considering the town only had two, and the town only had, like, 500 people in it.
Landscape pictures decorated the dark walls. A nice flat-screened TV was mounted on the wall above an entertainment center that had a play station, DVD player, and a little fridge.
Nate and Tim paced in front of us. Only the small coffee table separated them from us, but I could feel the tension billowing off them.