Avenged (Altered #2)(36)

She’d spent her life trying to make people happy because their happiness made her happy.

Was that what she was doing? Trying to make Nick happy? How could she know what she felt for him was real?

They’d only met a week ago. Granted, she’d listened to how he felt about her, but was he seeing her clearly? The girl she saw in his head…she wasn’t sure she knew that girl.

Bottom line, Nick felt something for her, and she admitted she felt something for him. But everything felt so jumbled. She’d always worried how everyone else felt, playing peacemaker, and doing the right thing. She trusted too easily, and she cared too much.

Maybe this was too fast. Her mother would have warned her—she would have told her that her thoughts were lustful and bad or some other nonsense.

Kitty had been impulsive a few times since her parents died. Each time, it had gotten her into trouble. When she’d followed Jeremy, when she’d tried to escape with no plan, when she’d lashed out in the laboratory. She might be being too careless. Maybe a little caution wouldn’t be a bad thing.

Nick could break her heart, and she didn’t know how much more she could take.

Apparently Nick didn’t realize how much his offhand observation had rocked her. He was stretching, his face taking on that intent look he got when he focused. In his mind, he was preparing himself to tackle this problem, to work hard and perfect his new abilities. The way he worked hard and perfected everything.

“Let’s see. Any idea about the strength and strategy gift? Know how they harness it?” he asked.

She shook her head, still unable to speak.

“Huh. Well, let’s try the other thing, then. Moving stuff. How’d Blue say she did that?”

“She…” Kitty cleared her throat. “She said she asked stuff to move. That she thought it, and it happened.”

“Right.” His brows furrowed, and he rolled his shoulders and stared across the room.

A long moment passed. Kitty tried not to stare, not wanting to stress him out. Nothing happened.

Finally, she said, “No worries, it’s probably…”

But her words died as the blanket on the other cot lifted in the air.

When Nick turned, his eyes wide, she nodded. “I see. Well, we have some work to do, then.”

In the meantime, she needed to rein in whatever was spiraling between them. The room was small, pushing in on them. She only had to hold it together for another day, then they would be gone.

Only another day.





Chapter Eleven


“Again.”

If Nick wasn’t so emotionally threadbare, he might have laughed. Kitty had embraced her new role as taskmaster with relish. She stood across the room, her hands on her hips, her brows low.

The sun was setting outside. He’d tried to call it quits earlier. She looked tired, and he suspected her exhaustion wasn’t only physical. Watching him struggle through the change must have taken more out of her than he could even imagine.

“You’re almost there. I could breathe that time, so you’ve learned to hold me still and let me breathe. Now you can master moving me.”

“I watched Blue and Luke do this easily.” He shook his head at her. “Why did this take all day to learn?”

“Because you’re a massive perfectionist?” she offered. “Honestly, you’re trying too hard. Blue and Luke didn’t have time to think about it. They had to learn fast. We were running for our lives, remember?”

He supposed, but it frustrated him that it was taking so long. They didn’t have time for him to be slow on the uptake.

“It hasn’t been that long. You’ve only been changed since this morning. Give yourself a break.”

He snorted. He wasn’t used to not being good at something immediately.

“The rest of us mortals have to practice at stuff.” She fake-gasped. “Imagine. The horror.”

He smirked at her, but didn’t dignify that with a comment. He needed to get this before tomorrow. He didn’t have time to waste.

He was having a hard time concentrating, though.

He’d thought they’d turned a corner this morning when he woke up. Even before that, when they’d kissed. God, that kiss…Thinking about it now, he wanted to reach for her. To breathe in her smell, feel her soft skin.

After he woke up, she’d hugged him as if she never wanted to let him go.

Then she’d found out that he could move things with his mind, and she’d pulled back again.

He’d been trying to figure it out. Kitty’s feelings toward Blue and Luke hadn’t changed after they got telekinesis. At least, not that he knew. Surely that wasn’t what changed her toward him.

If that wasn’t it, he couldn’t figure it out.

He might not understand, but he’d followed her lead. He’d wondered if she might need some space. To think. He imagined it had been hard, watching him be sick. He didn’t remember the details, but it hadn’t been pretty.

One thing he did know for certain: she’d saved his life.

He’d burned. His entire body had been pain. When he’d wanted it to be over, when he couldn’t take any more, she’d been there, a whisper at the back of his mind.

Stay with me, she’d said. Stay with me.

He’d refused to fail her.