AllFreeNovel
Share Us
With a heavy kathunk, the car shifted and dropped an inch. My heart fell all the way to the bottom floor, because for one fraction of a moment I was absolutely convinced I was about to witness my sister fall to her death.
Stop, my inner voice commanded. STOP.
The elevator went still, but when I glanced back to Genie, her eyes had returned to normal. So there were limits to this gift. I could only execute one command at a time. Either I held the elevator in place, or made Genie move. I couldn’t do both.
“You have to help me.” I stared right at Lucas, with my mind focused more on the car than on him. “Please.” My expression must have shown an impressive amount of desperation, because he didn’t even pause.
“What do you need?”
“I can keep it from falling, but I need you to grab her.”
“Secret, that’s impossible, you can’t—”
“I can,” I shouted. “Don’t question it. Just believe me
. I can.”
His expression told me he believed I might have lost my mind, but I hoped he still trusted me enough to do what I needed him to.
“Lucas, you have to do this for me.”
He heaved a sigh then got down on his knees, crawling towards the elevator doors.
“Morgan, keep the doors open,” he said, lying flat on his stomach. “Eugenia? Genie? It’s Lucas, can you hear me?”
I couldn’t hear whether or not she responded, I was too busy keeping all my attention locked on the elevator.
Stay.
Morgan pulled the doors back a few more inches, and the metal groaned in protest. An agonizing, white-hot spear of pain smashed through me, like a physical blow to the skull. I staggered, straining to keep concentrating.
Stay.
“Come on, baby girl, just a few more steps and I’ve got you. That’s right. You got it.” Lucas’s tone was comforting in a way mine hadn’t been. Even I believed his words as he cajoled her forward. I would have gone to him too.
The car screamed, pressing against the open brass doors, grinding metal on metal in a high-pitched wail. A fist closed on my brain and squeezed, forcing me to shut my eyes if I was going to keep it up.
Stay.
“I’ve got you. You got it. I’ve got you.” The relief in Lucas’s voice and the sudden cry from Genie gave me enough hope to open my eyes slightly.
Genie was in his arms, and Lucas was helping her to her feet.
I let go of the thought, and the moment I did the doors jerked open, forcing Morgan to release them. An instant later the car scraped against the doors in an ear-splitting shriek, and the elevator fell, plummeting all the way to the basement, leaving us staring at the empty pit of space the car had formerly occupied.
“Genie?” I stared at my sister, breathing heavily. I could barely believe she was standing in front of me, unscathed save for a few bumps and bruises.
“You saved me.” She wrestled herself free of Lucas and moved to embrace me, but Morgan caught hold of her arm and tugged her back.
“Not so fast.”
“Morgan, what are you—?”
“You thought I’d come all this way to help you? Either of you? You thought I’d let it go?”
My mind was too full of fear and confusion to understand what she was talking about.
“Whatever you think you need to do, don’t.” Lucas lifted his hands and spoke in his most soothing, alpha voice. “We can work this out. You want back in the pack? Fine. Christ, you want your old position back? We can do that. Just let go of the girl.”
