Winter's Awakening: The Metahumans Emerge (Winter's Saga #1) by Karen Luellen

years. In exchange, she received a West Point education and an active duty tour highlighted by special ops training. Then there were four years of medical school at a prestigious university squeezed in for good measure. Life was nonstop, and the time flew by in a blur.
    After her military contract was fulfilled, her superiors tried to convince her that her place was with them. She disagreed. Now, she needed to fulfill her next goal. She wanted to find a cure for autism.
    There was a small list of laboratories that fit her criteria so it didn’t take long for her to choose The Institute of Neurobiological Studies in Upland, California. If Margo knew then what she knew now, things would be so different. But as they say, hindsight is twenty-twenty. She loved her parents so much and missed them terribly. Their passing left a huge hole in her heart.
    Memories kept flooding back to her in full color and crisp audio. Adrenaline does that to a person.
    She was trying to loosen the tape around her wrists. The ties were so tight they were cutting into her skin with each movement she made. Pain was something she could control. Margo wasn’t worried about the pain. She was worried about damaging herself to where she couldn’t fight when given the chance.
    How long had she been here? What day was it? What time? If the company hadn’t captured the children, then where were they? Though she trained them to fight and survive, she was aware that they would have been completely caught off-guard. An involuntary wince had her biting her lip as she continued to work on her binds.
    Margo’s mind couldn’t stop racing. What if the children thought to call that number on the emergency contacts lists? And if they did, would her old friend help them? Would he even know how?
    All these unknowns were maddening.
    “I just need to survive so I can protect the children, God. You can take me as soon as they’re safe. I don’t want to live without them. Please help me, please.” She didn’t even realize prayers were streaming through her mind. She was so focused on loosening the binds around her wrists.
    Physical excursion was making her slick with sweat. The moisture was working on the adhesive. Maybe, if I could twist like this, she thought.
    A wave of despair crashed over Margo. She was angry at herself for leaving the children alone and angry she let her guard down. Margo was beating herself up with all the “what if’s.” What if I hadn’t published that paper? What if I hadn’t agreed to come to this convention?
    She now knew she had fallen for one of the oldest tricks in the book. Get someone to think they won an award so they come to collect the prize, and whammo! Caught! She was feeling furious at herself for being so naïve.
    And that’s when she heard footsteps coming from down the hall. Her wrists burned with numbing pain as she redoubled her efforts.
    Focus, Margo, she thought angrily to herself. It doesn’t matter how I got here. I’m getting my children, and I’m getting out!
    Margo steeled herself with renewed determination. I will not give up my children, she silently screamed. One more agonizing twist and her right hand ripped free of its binds. As she shook the numbness out of her bloody and aching arms, a sense of calm enveloped her. Now she was ready. One more prayer and the door to her cell opened.
     
     

 
     
     
    Chapter 16 Honey, I’m Home
     
    Alik, Evan and I have tasted pizza before. I mean, we didn’t live in the Stone Age back at the ranch. It’s just, we’d never tasted this kind of pizza before.
    The kind that showed up at your door carried by a kid wearing a uniform and a huge sign attached to his beat up car. The kind that came in a cardboard box that when opened, steamed hot juicy mouthwateringly scrumptious smells. The kind that when you lifted a slice from the others—strands of gooey cheese remained attached to the rest of the pizza, as if resisting your advances. The kind of pizza that when