Avenged (Altered #2)(30)

After the briefest moment, his arms tightened around her and his mouth swooped down, covering hers again. Except this time, he wasn’t still. His lips played across hers in a dance of movement and moisture, firm, straightforward, and assertive. Like him.

Thank goodness he was holding her. Her head swam with the feeling of it. She only had him in her senses—his taste, his smell.

Her first kiss, and it was magical.

He pulled at her lips with his, soft and insistent, the ebb and flow of it making heat flow to her stomach, to her breasts. Her fingers found his hair—that thick, silky dark hair—and she rubbed at it at the nape of his neck, pulling him closer.

Nick held her against him, firm and tender. He was so much bigger than her; he practically surrounded her. She would have expected to feel overwhelmed. Threatened, even. But there was so much care in his touch, so much reverence in his lips, she only felt safe.

At home.

Through the burn, she almost didn’t hear them coming.

She tensed and pulled back. She immediately missed his mouth. “The laundry. Kenny. He’s with them.” Kenny hadn’t been with the laundry guard two days ago.

There was a pause, as if it took him a moment to figure out what she was talking about. Then he cursed under his breath and carefully lowered her to the ground, his arms remaining around her until she was steady. “Right. The laundry.” He ran his hand over his face. “Kenny.” He glanced around as if trying to remember where they were. She found his disorientation, so out of character for him, adorable.

When it seemed to click, his eyes widened. “Right. The laundry.”

“You said that.” She grinned.

“No, no.” He put his hands on his hips. “Remember what we said. Hopefully Kenny has something for us. Distract the others so I can talk with him again.”

“Yes, Nick. I remember.” They’d only been over this a dozen times. She could remember a plan, for heaven’s sake. Even with her brain muddied by kisses.

“Right.” His brow furrowed. “Kitty, listen….”

She held up her hand to stop whatever flood of apology he was about to unleash. She already knew him well enough to know it was coming. Nick acted—or reacted—quickly, and if he felt he’d screwed up, he apologized as fast. Quick to fire and quick to cool, that was Nick.

“Stop,” she said. She couldn’t listen to an apology for that kiss. It would ruin it. “I started it. I wanted to kiss you.”

His eyebrows lifted. “You did?”

“Yes. I did.” She didn’t go on, because she didn’t know what else to say. Under his gaze, her face heated. When would she stop being embarrassed by what she wanted? Old habits…

The lock at the door wiggled and creaked, saving her from this conversation. Two guards stepped inside, one taking each side of the door, holding their guns in front of them. As if she and Nick were armed. But she supposed her gifts were their own kind of weapon.

Kenny stepped in and Kitty’s heart picked up. The soldier didn’t make eye contact, going to the pile of dirty clothes in the corner. They’d placed them as far from the door as possible, for this reason, so Nick and Kenny might have some time together.

She glanced at Nick, and he nodded.

She nodded back, turning to the guards at the door. She stretched her thoughts to cover both of them, her mind spinning. She needed a distraction.

The one on the left was creeped out. He wasn’t changed, and he was afraid of her. The other was changed, with the enhanced strategy and strength that Seth and Jack had. She heard his gift in the way he spun the possibilities in his mind, so fast it might have been inhuman. Like a computer.

She found it interesting that people exposed to the drug didn’t get the same skills. She didn’t understand why some received extra speed or strength and others got the ability to move things with their minds. As far as she could tell, the changes were driven by different personality strengths. A lot of the soldiers seemed to get the strength or strategy, with fewer developing telekinesis. Blue and Luke were telekinetic, and she’d attributed it to their connection with their surroundings and with others’ emotions.

She still hadn’t met anyone else like her.

In front of her, the changed soldier started to piece things together, to question what Kenny was doing.

She needed to act fast. She focused on him. Talk to her, talk to her, talk to her, she thought.

After a long moment of her staring at him, he finally asked, “Do you have what you need?” As soon as the words left his mouth, he looked immediately awkward, as if he’d started a conversation with a circus performer. Why did I say anything?

His partner thought the same thing. He even turned to glare at him. Good, their focus was on her, then. Not on what Nick was doing.

“Oh, yes.” She offered her sweetest smile. “This tiny room with no privacy is completely comfortable.”

Their identical looks of confusion almost made her laugh as she tried to think of a way to keep them talking. “You’re changed then, but he isn’t?” She nudged her head to the one who was afraid of her. Then she lifted her hand and said in a stage whisper aside, “Poor guy. They didn’t think he would make it did they?”

The insulted soldier took her bait. He sniffed hard. “I’m glad. I don’t want to take that stuff. You are a bunch of weirdos.”