The Brightest Night (Origin 3)

Trying not to laugh as Zoe started to dip to the right and then the left, I tapped into the hum of energy in my chest and pictured Zoe moving—“Oh, shit!”

Zoe’s feet skidded along the floor as she flew backward, her shirt rippling around her. Throwing a hand out, she caught herself before she slammed into the wall.

Eaton chuckled. “Well, hot damn, things just got interesting.”

“Oh my God, I’m sorry!” I started toward Zoe.

“That was freaking amazing!” Zoe exclaimed, and I drew up short. “Holy crap, it was like being hit by hurricane-force winds.” Her wide-eyed gaze swung toward Luc. “Did you see that?”

“I saw it.” A faint smile marked his lips. “Do it again, but this time, Zoe, fight back.”

“I did.” She straightened her shirt as she walked back to where I stood. “I fought back.”

“Fight harder.”

Her nose wrinkled. “Okay.” Facing me, she was all business this time around. No interpretative dance routines. Chin dipped, arms at her sides, she nodded. “Move me.”

I did what I did before, picturing her moving, but this time Zoe’s pupils flared white and she didn’t fly backward. She scooted back several inches.

“Push her back,” Luc ordered, his jaw clenching.

I pushed, fingers curling inward. Zoe’s lips pressed together, and white veins appeared underneath her skin even as she moved another foot.

“Dammit,” she growled, her tank top plastering to her stomach and chest.

A second later, she lost the battle, sliding backward. Letting up, I looked to Luc.

He was frowning. “Are you really resisting, Zoe?”

“Yes!” She threw up her arms. “I thought I had it for a moment, but she’s…” Zoe shifted her gaze to me. “Dude, you’re strong.” Her gaze flickered over me. “And your skin right now? It looks pretty damn cool.”

A wealth of pride swelled in my chest, and Zoe and I squared off once more. Zoe was able to resist for a handful of seconds the next couple of times, but after that, I pushed harder, and there was no resisting.

Zoe had to tap out shortly after that, and Luc took her place. She had volunteered to help the doc carry out general wellness checks on all the humans. I had a feeling they were checking and double-checking for any signs of a flu, even though it was highly unlikely that anyone would’ve come into contact with it.

Luc stood in front of me, legs wide and braced. I pushed—pushed hard. His shirt blew back against his body as his hair whipped over his forehead. His pupils flared intensely, and for several seconds, he didn’t move.

And then he did.

Luc slid about a foot before catching himself. White burst to life, lighting up a network of veins along his cheeks and throat. He didn’t budge after that.

Sucking in air, I shook out my arms. “That’s all I can do.”

Luc straightened, the light receding from his veins. Brackets of tension formed around his mouth. “You are powerful. We already know that, but you know what else I know?”

“What?” I caught the water he tossed me and took a drink.

“I know you are way more powerful than that.” He stalked toward me, taking the bottle I offered. “I have firsthand knowledge of that.”

My stomach tumbled a little as I watched him take a drink. “What I’m doing right now isn’t what I did in the woods.”

“True, but you have that kind of strength in you. You should be able to send me flying across the room.”

I smothered a yawn, wondering why Luc was so eager to be thrown across a room.

“Tired?” Luc stepped closer, his voice low.

Sleep hadn’t come easily since I’d awakened from my short-term coma. Well, staying asleep was the problem. Falling asleep had been all too easy. I had no idea if it had to do with the whole mutating thing waking me up, worrying about Heidi and Emery, or learning about the flu, but either way, I’d spent a lot of quiet hours thinking everything over. Dee and Archer were slated to return today, and I hoped she carried with her some update about the flu and what was really happening.

But there was something that kept nagging at me, existing just out of my reach. I kept thinking it was something Kat had said when we’d visited her, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

“I’m fine,” I told him, and then privately I added, I promised you that I would tell you if I’m feeling weird or anything. I’m not. “I don’t want to toss you across a room.”

Luc set the bottle aside. “And that is the problem.”

I stiffened.

He curled his fingers around the hem of my shirt, straightening it. “Eaton could’ve said it better.”

“I thought I said it just perfectly,” the general muttered.

Luc ignored him. “But you are thinking like a human. You’re treating us like we’re humans. You held back on Zoe. I know you did,” he said when I opened my mouth to disagree. “She shouldn’t have been able to resist at all. And you didn’t push as hard as I know you can with me. You need to stop worrying about hurting me or Zoe.”