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“I’ll bet. That would be terrifying.” He pulled his hand back and bit his lip.

“What are you thinking?”

“Since you can control water… I’m wondering if that’s why you are having a different sort of reaction. I’m still going to have Elliott finish the tests to see if there was anything else, but it’s possible it’s an adverse reaction to direct electrical currents. I know that they use different ways of… disabling women withabilities, but this seems like a very different kind of reaction than what we’ve seen or heard about.”

“Do you mean kind of like an allergic reaction?”

He looked thoughtful. “Kind of. Yeah. It’s a somewhat encouraging sign since they don’t have enough understanding of your kind to know what works. It’s entirely concerning, though, since it means women with abilities are at greater risk since they can be harmed or killed when these malicious miscreants attack.”

“So… you think there are people after women with abilities?”

The man looked at her, clearly assessing how much to tell her. “Yes. My organization knows that women like you are targeted. They don’t seem to know about shifters, so they were not expecting your incredibly quick response to being Tased. But they figured out where you lived and that you have abilities. Do you know how they were able to figure that out?”

Astrid closed her eyes and thought back. “It wasn’t because of you, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“Exactly what are you remembering to make you say that?”

She opened one eye and looked at him. “I heard you blaming yourself.” Closing the eye, she said a bit defiantly. “I don’t know why you think that at the moment, but I think it’s ridiculous. The reason they found me was because of myself.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I don’t know, but it sounds right.”

“That’s not my experience. Now that you are doing better, I’ve got someone coming with test results in a bit. I’ll leave him with you to—"

“I don’t want to be left with someone else.”

“It’s not your choice.”

“I can just up and leave.”

“That would put you at much greater risk. Especially since you are not fully recovered.”

“Well, that won’t be your problem if you decide to leave.”

He shook his head and turned around. “Don’t be difficult, Astrid.”

“I don’t want to spend time with Elliott.”

The man looked over his shoulder. “So, you remember Elliott?”

She looked up at the ceiling. “Yeah, he stopped by after I… called his brother.”

“Which one?”

Astrid turned her head and looked at the man. “Cooper. I don’t remember why. Wait – I was trying to get in touch with Elliott.”

“There you go. You can talk to him later.”

She frowned. “I don’t think I need to. He wasn’t able to help me.”

“What did you need?”

“I don’t remember.”

“Then how do you know he wasn’t helpful?”

“Because he was here for a few minutes, then just left.”