Page 90 of Adam's Rising

Adam nodded once. “Just need to grab his jacket… for the dogs.”

They hikedthrough the growing dusk, the dogs ranging ahead, noses twitching. Adam kept scanning the landscape. Peter was strong. Smart. But he’d been gone for days, and this part of Denali didn’t forgive mistakes.

At the edge of a ridge, one of the dogs barked sharply, tail stiff. Adam surged forward.

Below them, barely visible against the ice-laced brush, lay a crumpled figure.

“Peter!”

He bolted down the slope, feet skidding. He wasn’t moving.

But he was there.

He was alive — he had to be.

He reached his side and dropped to his knees. “Peter. Peter, it’s me.”

His lips were blue, face scratched, and he was barely breathing.

Adam pulled off his jacket, wrapped him tightly, and pressed his body against him. “I’ve got you, Peter.”

Rusty called for the med evac as Adam carried him toward the clearing.

“Don’t let go, brother,” he whispered. “We’re going home.”

25

Peter drifted in and out of consciousness.

The world was heat and haze. Muffled voices. Cold hands. Then warm ones.

He remembered snow. Trees. A dog barking. And his brother’s voice. Or was that part of the nightmare?

When he woke fully, it was to the steady beep of a monitor and the weight of warm blankets.

A hospital.

The light was dim, and his mouth was painfully dry. His body ached, but everything seemed… intact. He turned his head slowly.

Adam was there.

Slumped in a chair next to his bed, his boots still muddy, his jacket draped over his lap. His head was tilted back, mouth parted, sleeping the sleep of the dead.

He and Adam had just gone through this with Claire. Now, Adam was here again, watching over him.

He didn’t want to wake him.

But he couldn’t help himself.

“Hey, man,” he rasped.

Adam jerked upright so fast the chair nearly tipped. His eyes flew open, then softened. “Peter.”

“You found me,” he said, though his voice was barely a whisper. “You’re a superhero, man.”

He reached for his hand. “That’s what we Midnight Sons do, right?”

His eyes filled. “I thought I was going to die out there.”

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