Winter's Dawn Read Free Page A

“Okay, but I want to push, Doug. I need to push.”
    “Wait just a bit, darling. She’ll come fast once you push. You need to wait.”
    Max heard all this; the crying, the desperation, but he was tired of waiting. He wanted to see this queen, the one who would help him end the disorder he didn’t understand.
    “Little queen,” he whispered, tapping his fingers against his aunt’s fevered skin as though he was knocking. “Come to play with Max.”
    Susan’s shriek hurt Max’s sensitive hearing. Her back arched off the bed as she pushed.
    “Susan, no!” Douglas yelled, but it was too late. “No, no!”
    Max turned to look, deciding that it was an extremely unpleasant sight as his father caught the tiny creature.
    Douglas was still screaming in denial even as he stared at the newborn in his hands. Just as quickly, within the same breath, more noise bombarded them. Pounding on the door, so rapid and desperate they all looked.
    “Did she make it?” Cousin Adam hollered. “The moment has only passed. Is she here? She must be here if she is truly the Winter Queen.”
    Douglas looked from the baby to Emma, his jaw falling open in stunned disbelief. “Your watch was wrong?”
    “I—“ Emma shook her head, stunned.
    Douglas was still gaping, but just then another sound broke the silence, that of a gurgling scream as the forgotten baby in his hands struggled to breathe. He gathered his senses at once and aided the baby, cleaning her passageway to make way for a louder, healthier scream.
    The noise from the other side of the door was loud and jubilant as the first wails from the new queen reached their ears. Douglas actually cried, holding the baby to him and patting Susan’s leg.
    “We did it, love. Gods be blessed, we did it. Do you hear the queen? She’s got healthy lungs and she’s beautiful.” He stared down at the tiny baby in his hands, still connected to his sister. Even with all the blood on her, they could all see her hair was snowy white in color, a striking contrast to Max’s inky black hair. “Glory, but she’s got white blonde hair. Just like new snow when the sun hits it. Oh, but Susan, she’s got his eyes. I see them, icy blue, just like Maxwell’s. They are truly a pair, real winter alphas. Arctic wolves, just like father—Sue?”
    “Doug,” Emma whispered, her eyes full of tears as she shook her head.
    “What? No!” He tried to stand up, but was hampered by the baby. “You, take her!” He pointed to one of the maids. “Deal with her.”
    “Susan!” Once free of holding the baby he leaned over to shake his sister back to consciousness. “Susan, come on, love! Wake up!”
    Maxwell heard Aunt Emma scream as his father continued to shake Aunt Susan, begging her to wake up. His heart hurt to hear the pain in their screams, the tears in their voices, but he followed the small baby once the maids freed her from the cord that had attached her to her mother’s body. Sliding unnoticed off the bed, he trailed behind the maid he knew as Maggie as she carried the sobbing newborn to the bathroom.
    “She’s all dirty,” Max said as Maggie closed the door, blocking some of the horrors from the other room.
    “I know.” Maggie’s voice was gentle. “But, we’ll clean her.”
    “Yeah.” Max sat on the toilet, dutifully watching as Maggie cleaned the baby, making her cry louder when she scrubbed at her hair. “You’re hurting her.”
    “No, she’s fine,” Maggie said, and Max could tell the maid was crying but trying hard to cover it up. “She’s just exercising her lungs.”
    “Are her eyes really like mine?”
    “Well, let’s see.” Maggie finished washing the baby, making quick work of drying her and then gestured to the stack of small, folded towels next to the sink. “Hand me another towel.”
    Max handed her the towel and stood on his tiptoes to get a better look at the bawling infant. “I wanna see.”
    Maggie smiled. “Let me wrap her up good and then we’ll take a