Gage: Just wanted to check on you and make sure you’re okay. You bailed so quickly last night.
Nina: Hey! Gage said you left???
Gage: You there?
Gage: I hope you didn’t get in too much trouble. Let me know if you need anything.
Nina: Dude, why aren’t you answering my messages?
Nina: Man, you missed it. Grey had to be taken to the hospital.
The last text makes my heart sprint in my chest as I frantically text her back.
Me: What do you mean he went to the hospital? What happened?
She doesn’t answer right away, probably because it’s so early. Truthfully, I don’t expect her to answer until at least noon, so when I receive a message from her as I’m heading downstairs, I’m shocked. But what’s in her text shocks me even more.
Nina: Dude, don’t ever message me this early again! The only reason I’m responding is because I had to get up to pee. But anyway, I’m not sure exactly what happened. From what people were saying, someone tasered Grey last night and he passed out.
Me: Is he okay?
Nina: One of his friends said he was released from the hospital, like, an hour after he was taken there, so I’m assuming he is. Seriously, though, I want to find out who tasered him and shake their hand. That asshole totally deserved it.
She’s right, but that doesn’t mean I feel any better about the reality. The reality that I’m fairly sure my kiss is what tasered him.
Chapter 3
I’m feeling a bit gloomy over the message I received from Nina. Not that I care that Grey got a little hurt. But it’s hard dealing with the fact that a simple kiss from me is what did it to him.
As I exit my bedroom, with a Charlie Brown sized frown on my face, I bump into Max. And by bump, I mean literally walk right into him with so much force that I knock my head against his chin.
“Oh gods, are you okay?” Max asks as he steadies me by the shoulder.
I nod, pressing the heel of my hand against my forehead as I tip my head back and meet his gaze. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t paying attention.”
He offers me an adorable lopsided smile. “Neither was I, or I would’ve put a stop to it before it happened.”
I start to return his smile when his words click. “Wait. How would you have stopped it?”
His lips kick up into an amused grin. “With my powers.”
“What sort of powers?” A memory dances in my mind of seeing glowing, green eyes my first night here. Seconds later, I fell asleep. Or, well, more like passed out. “Wait … Did you, like, hypnotize me my first night here?”
Max pulls a wary face. “It’s not really hypnotizing so much as pushing a thought into someone’s mind.”
“That sounds an awful lot like hypnotizing,” I say with amused suspicion.
He chuckles. “Maybe you’re right, and I’m sorry I did it. I just panicked when you looked out the window and saw us wandering off toward the forest.”
“Where were you going anyway? To one of your”—I make air quotes—“ ‘tournaments?’ ”
He shakes his head, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his black jeans. “I was actually working that night.”
“You mean, tracking an outlaw?”
His brows dart up in surprise. “How’d you know about that?”
I shrug. “Foster explained it to me after Ollie chased me into the bathroom. He said Ollie helps you track creatures.”