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“Cool, but dangerous.” I’m trying to be the sensible one. But deep down, I agree with Sam; knowing we can do things to her that make her powers surge to life. Uncontained. Uncontrolled. It’s hot as hell. No pun intended.
“Can you teach her, though?” Sam asks as we round the corner onto Main Street. “Would you even know where to start?”
I tilt my head to the side, considering the question. No. I’m not sure I would. But I don’t tell Sam that. “I’m sure I’ll figure something out,” I say instead, attempting to sound as confident as I’m supposed to.
Ahead, Nova moves as if she’s on a different plane. Faster, smoother, like she’s flying instead of walking, even though her wings have dissolved back inside her. She looks over her shoulder at us and grins. “Come on, boys. We said we’d be there for Kole’s opening night.” She snaps her fingers, and my cock twitches at the commanding edge in her voice. “He won’t appreciate it if we’re late because we…” She trails off, biting her lower lip in that sinfully delicious way of hers.
We quicken our pace, Sam nudging my side with his elbow. But when we’re a few paces from the door of The Cross, I stop.
The air has shifted, and I feel suddenly too hot and too cold.
Ever since The Split opened, even after it was sealed again, Phoenix Falls has felt different. There is a darkness here now, an energy we can’t seem to shift. But the way I’m feeling isn’t because of that. It’s something else.
The next time the sensation hits me, it’s enough to make me stop and brace my hand on a nearby lamppost.
“Mack?” Sam ducks to meet my eyes. “You okay, Professor?”
I try to answer him, but my mouth is dry as sandpaper and my tongue feels too big for my mouth. The sudden, overwhelming need to find Snow washes over me.
“Snow…” I mutter, searching up and down the street as if he might appear from nowhere, even though I know he’s back at the cabin because I can hear him snoring in the back of my mind.
“Nova…” Sam calls, his voice unsteady and his eyes now filled with unease.
“I need…” I sink down to the ground. There’s a tightness in my chest. A heat that winds its way between my ribs and starts to swell, pushing them apart as if it’s trying to make them rip free from my chest.
Pain ricochets down my arm and I clutch my shoulder.
“I think he’s having a heart attack.” Sam’s voice again, more distant this time.
“Go get Tanner,” Nova yells. Then her face is in front of me. Those eyes, two different colors, swimming with concern. Her hair. Like flames.
“Mack? Just breathe. It’s okay…”
But then it is dark.
* * *
“It wasn’t a heart attack.” Tanner’s voice, distant but in the same room, fills my ears. I prise my eyes open. Pristine white curtains. Pale walls. Scratchy sheets. Damn it, I’m in a fucking hospital.
I groan and try to sit up, pulling at the cords protruding from the small plastic pads on my chest.
“Mack…” Tanner takes hold of my hands. “It’s okay, buddy. You’re okay.”
“What the fuck happened?” I shove him off me, but leave the cords alone and search for water instead.
It’s Nova who hands me a tumbler with a plastic straw. I pick the straw out, toss it to the floor, then down the water.
“It’s not your heart,” she says, smoothing her hand over my chest.
Her warmth usually calms me, but right now it simply makes me grunt and pull away from her.
She glances at Tanner, and he suggests she go fill in Sam who’s waiting outside.
When the door closes, Tanner pulls up a stool and sits down next to me. “Come on, Baloo. No need to snap at our girl.”
My jaw twitches.
“It wasn’t your heart…”
