Aries: Book 2 in a Young Adult Paranormal Romance Series (The Zodiac Twin Flame Series) (15 page)

Natalie had made her choice but it wasn’t over. I had a mission to complete and nothing would stand in my way.

Chapter Twenty Two

The bars were rough against my palms as I lifted myself. My weight tipped forward but I managed to hold on, righting myself before I fell. The pressure on the bottom of my new legs felt weird as it sent a thrill running through my thighs and up my body. I could feel them. I could feel my legs.

‘That’s good. Are they okay?’ the man asked me as I stood still for a moment.

I couldn’t describe it. I wished that Natalie was there to see me standing for the first time in seven months.

‘Bloody amazing.’

The twinge of pressure on my bones was completely bearable. I would do anything to walk again, and it seemed it would be possible. I was finally learning to stand on my own two feet.

‘Do you think you can try one step?’

My arms held my weight. The skin on my knuckles was white with the effort of holding myself up. My biceps burned but I was alive. I took in a deep breath and lifted my leg. My lovely metal leg. It swung forward as I struggled to place it down properly.

‘That will take some getting used to. That’s the amazing thing about the operation. You’ll eventually be able to feel where the leg is and automatically know where to put it. Just like your natural leg.’

I nodded at him as I puffed out. I lifted my other thigh and my metal foot came off the floor. I moved it forward and placed it back down.

‘That’ll do for the moment.’ My trainer wheeled my chair behind me and helped me to lower myself.

I sat still as I stared down at my beautiful freedom. I had practiced taking them on and off. I wanted to keep trying them out.

‘How is the pressure on your bones?’ he asked, crouching down and massaging my thighs.

I laughed and grabbed him to me for a hug. He patted my back and let go.

‘Don’t tell me you’ve turned gay.’

The voice made my stupid grin spread even further. The door closed behind Leo and Scorpio as they came into the room. I watched them, waiting to see if they had seen me through the door, but they didn’t say anything. I was glad. I wanted to surprise them by walking through the front door on my own when I was ready.

‘Look at your legs, mate!’ Leo rushed over and bent down to examine the metal attached to my thighs.

Scorpio was slower as he eyed my new limbs.

‘They’re good,’ he said, before looking around the room to see if there were any eligible women around. It would be the extent of his excitement so I turned my attention to Leo.

‘I’m going to have several pairs of different prosthetics. I can get running legs, like the ones seen at the Paralympics.’ I stroked my metal knees.

Leo lifted one of them, bending it up and down. ‘You’re going to be able to do everything. What are you going to do for your new job?’

I blinked. I hadn’t allowed myself to think that far ahead. I’d been determined to walk again. That was the only goal I had allowed myself to have. Now it was within sight, I needed to decide what I wanted to do with my life. My mission was to unite with Natalie but I also had to defeat the Dysfuntionals and try to live a normal life.

‘Actually, I was thinking of speaking to you about helping me,’ my physio said.

Glancing around at the other amputees, I nodded for him to go on.

‘You’ve shown a determination like none I’ve ever seen. I think you could be a personal trainer for amputees. Not a physio but a trainer when they’ve finished their rehab. You could even be a runner. You’re young enough.’

My jaw flapped open and closed. I hadn’t even thought of what I could do. I loved exercise. It was one of the things I was good at. It helped me to burn my energy and keep my fire under control.

‘That sounds like a good idea,’ Scorpio said, absently staring at a woman as she encouraged someone to walk.

‘I do like the sound of that.’ I genuinely did too. I would still be helping others, just like I did when I was a fireman.

‘Great. Well, let’s get you through rehab so you can start.’

I smiled at my new friend. We would work well together when I was ready to become a trainer.

‘You’ve got a job, mate,’ Scorpio said, winking at the woman he eyed up.

She rolled her eyes at him. I laughed heartily as Leo slapped him on the back.

‘Let’s go,’ I said to the boys as we wrapped up our session. My legs were taken off, but instead of packing them away, my physio handed them to me.

‘Take them home and practice putting them on. I’m trusting you to not walk on them. Do not push yourself, or you’ll undo all the hard work you’ve done.’

I grinned up at him, wanting to hug him again. I had been pestering him to let me take my legs home but he had been strict. He believed that I would push myself too hard. However, I was a rule follower in general. I didn’t want to jeopardise my implants. They were the only thing that would get me out of the chair.

I waved goodbye and let the boys wheel me out to the van.

‘It’s good to see you getting stronger.’

The voice made my skin crawl. I clenched my fists at my side. Nick was standing in the car park outside the hospital.

‘Back off,’ Leo called.

Nick laughed. He wore his usual outfit. The lines around his eyes seemed deeper. Was Mother causing him grief?

I had told the others about her insistence that she was going to help Father. We hadn’t completely backed off but we had lessened our search. The others had reacted in different ways. Pisces wanted to rescue our father without waiting. Leo had seemed indifferent but he wanted it over as much as I did. Scorpio had scowled and said that we should leave them both to their own fate. In his mind, they had abandoned us.

‘What do you want?’ I wheeled up to Nick.

I didn’t want a scene in the middle of the hospital car park but I was losing patience with the man that wouldn’t leave us alone.

He wrenched his neck to the side, making it click loudly. I came to a stop in front of him.

‘I wanted to check in to let you know that you’re making my job easy.’

Leo and Scorpio were behind me. They didn’t say anything. Nick’s fight was with me now. I was the only one of us that was near to harmonising with my twin flame. I didn’t know how I knew. I didn’t want to think about it but it was true.

‘Good. I do aim to please,’ I spat, tempted to ram my chair into his legs.

His eyebrows rose as I let my chair roll forward. He took a step back and shook his head.

‘It had to be the childish one, didn’t it?’ he muttered.

‘It had to be the childish one, didn’t it?’ I mimicked back in a high pitched voice.

Leo chuckled behind me but Scorpio was silent. His gaze bore into the back of my head. I could feel it. He would chastise me for proving Nick right.

‘This is boring. Why are you here?’

The screech of tyres on concrete came from the bottom of the car park. Someone pushed me out of the way as the car came straight for us.

‘Who is that?’ Leo shouted as the car ran into Nick.

Nick moved but the bumper clipped his leg. He let out a howl of pain and fell to the floor. His men came out from behind the other vehicles and picked him up. Another car screeched up next to them and they jumped in. The tyres left marks on the concrete as it accelerated out of the car park. I wheeled myself out from between the vehicles. Natalie climbed from the car that ran into Nick. I shook my head as the crazy woman came over to us.

‘What the bloody hell were you doing?’ I shouted.

She paused for a second, her step faltering. Leo punched me on the top of the arm. I rubbed the spot, even though it wasn’t sore.

‘Ignore him. Are you okay?’ Scorpio said as she joined us.

‘We should probably get out of here.’

People started to gather.

‘I’m sorry,’ Natalie mumbled, ‘I saw Nick and lost my temper.’

The corner of my lip quirked into my cheek but I didn’t let a full grin develop. I didn’t want her to see how happy I was that she had defended me.

‘We do need to go.’ Leo took hold of my wheelchair and pushed me into the van.

Scorpio had already hidden my prosthetics away. I was grateful that they didn’t say anything. I wasn’t ready to tell Natalie about them.

‘Natalie…?’ I called.

She had turned away without saying anymore and headed back to her car.

She paused and put a hand on her hip but didn’t come back. ‘What?’ she shouted.

A small smile played on her lips. What did it mean? Was she happy to see me?

‘Good to see you,’ I shouted.

She flicked her ponytail as she spun and got back into her car. I had no idea why she had been in the car park. Maybe the universe had synchronised our meeting.

It had been a weird day. I had walked for the first time and Natalie had run over a man that I despised. It was turning into a good day.

Chapter Twenty Three

I walked into the kitchen. My siblings made so much noise as they chatted, they didn’t notice me at first. When I caught Pisces’ eye, she froze. Her hand came to her mouth as a small squeal left her lips. The rest of them noticed and looked to see what she was staring at.

‘Aries…’ Cancer whispered.

All eleven of my siblings, and Antony, stared at me as I stood in the middle of the kitchen. The food on the table started to go cold as no one spoke or moved. I grinned. I couldn’t help myself. I had managed to keep my legs hidden from the others. I had pretended to Leo and Scorpio that I was still struggling with them.

It had taken me almost seven months since the accident but I was finally able to walk comfortably on my new legs. I was a man again. It was time to show everyone what I could do.

‘You look so good!’ Sagi rushed over to me.

I wore shorts so they could see my legs in action. It wasn’t like I had to worry about getting cold.

‘I can’t believe it,’ Pisces sniffled as water filled her eyes.

I hugged them one by one as they each came up. It felt so good to be the tallest again. To be able to pat their backs and hold my head high. My throat tightened more and more with every whisper in my ear. My brothers and sisters told me that they loved me as they wrapped their arms around me.

‘It’s good to have my strong brother back!’ Leo put an arm around my shoulder.

I nodded, unable to say anything as Pisces sobbed in Antony’s arms. I shook my head as he grinned at me. If she hadn’t cried, I would have been more upset.

‘How long can you walk on them for?’ Gemini asked as he studied the metal prosthetics.

I did a little twirl to show them in motion. They laughed at my antics, which was good. I felt alive and almost back to normal.

‘Only a few hours at the moment, but the more I walk, the easier it will be.’

Pisces came over and took my hand. I looked down at her when she pinched my arm. ‘Have you told Natalie?’

The smile left my face. Antony tried to pull Pisces away. ‘Don’t get involved,’ he said. She wouldn’t budge. Instead, she tried to get me to look at her.

‘You know it’s time.’

I nodded. She was right. I had waited long enough to let her come to me but she hadn’t. I needed to show her that I wanted her in my life. I had been fighting to walk. Now I had to fight for Natalie. The pressure of the implant in my thighs was a reminder that I was alive.

‘Before you go running off, we have something to do,’ Scorpio said, interrupting my thoughts.

Pisces squeezed my arm and went back to her seat. The rest of them followed and settled down to finish their dinner.

‘It does look nice.’ I sat at the head of the table and helped myself to a chicken leg.

‘As nice as dinner is, that wasn’t what I meant,’ Scorpio mumbled as he took a mouthful of roast potato. ‘Cancer has received a text from Mother.’

I glanced at our sister. She couldn’t hide the blush that came to her face. Had she been hiding something from us? Every time I had asked her about her relationship with Mother, she had closed up and refused to talk to me. What was so bad that she couldn’t tell me?

‘Why didn’t you say anything?’ I asked quietly.

She put the fork on the plate and swallowed her mouthful. ‘I was going to. I didn’t want to take the focus away from you.’

I nodded and held out my hand. She scowled at me but placed her phone in my palm. I read the message. Mother planned to spy on Nick. She had told Cancer to tell me where she would be that evening.

‘Is it a trap?’ I asked her.

She bit her lip. I struggled not to throw her phone.

‘Is it a trap?’ I ground out between clenched teeth.

The room fell silent as knives and forks stopped moving. Everyone stopped chewing or talking. The only sound was the tick of the clock that hung on the wall.

‘I have no idea. I thought we could trust her but I haven’t had much communication from her. You’ve been so busy getting better, I didn’t want to say anything.’

The movement of the table as I slammed my fist onto the wooden surface made her jump.

‘Do you think that this isn’t important? Father’s been missing for six months and we haven’t rescued him yet!’

I looked at the others and made a choice. It was now or never. We had given Mother plenty of time but she hadn’t rescued our father.

‘It’s time,’ I muttered, looking at the men specifically.

‘I’m coming with you,’ Sagi said.

‘Me too,’ Pisces chimed in.

The women stood when I shook my head and opened my mouth to disagree. They chattered and whinged about how much they wanted to help. I thumped the table again and they stopped.

‘It’s not like you’ve had much luck rescuing Father without us,’ Sagi said.

I ran a hand over my face and gritted my teeth. ‘All right, you can help.’

They clapped their hands together as I glanced at Leo. He scribbled something on a napkin.

‘Rescue you,’ he muttered when he caught me watching.

‘Another song…?’ I asked.

He nodded and grinned, bending back to his lyrics. I looked at Cancer. She was still chewing on her lip. There was something wrong with her. I didn’t have the time to find out what it was. I would have to sit her down after we had rescued Father from Nick.

‘We need to get going. Mother says that Nick will be at a hotel in London tonight. She thinks he’s meeting a new woman. She has told us where he is keeping Father.’ I held up the blue phone, ignoring Cancer when she cringed.

‘You’re going to go in there and kill everyone, aren’t you?’ she asked.

I only just heard her over the others. Dinner time was a noisy affair in our house. It was a family tradition. Sitting around the table was important to us all. It was the only time we spent together.

‘Probably. Why do you care?’

I was having a hard time being patient with her. I wanted her to tell me what was bothering her in her own time, but I was starting to think that whatever it was, might put us in danger.

‘It’s the man we kidnapped,’ she said.

The words were quiet.

‘Will you shut up?!’ I shouted over everyone.

They didn’t take any notice. Rage ran over me. I pulled a fireball into my hand. When they still didn’t quieten down, I threw the ball into the far wall. Luckily it was bare. The fire exploded and scorched the wallpaper. It did its job. Everyone went quiet. I nodded at Cancer to go on.

She scrunched her napkin in her hand and looked into my eyes. ‘I think the man we held hostage is my twin flame.’