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“Please, Astrid, calm down.”

“Not until you—have toswear—you will help me.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Then, I can’t lie down and relax.”

His voice was raised as he asked, “How can you be so stubborn and dismissive?”

“Apparently, as easily as you can be about yourself.”

“Fine! Fine!” He threw up his hands. “I’ll stay with you, but I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

She looked at him. “Really? You aren’t going to fight me on it?”

He shook his head.

“Ok, great,” she said and smiled, her green eyes shining in her victory. “Now, we need to go to Louisiana and—"

“No. We aren’t leaving here. Something happened, and they found you. Have you used your abilities recently?”

Astrid sat back and tried to remember. “I think so… The dead grass—yes, I used my abilities to circumvent the broken sprinkler system.”

The man dropped his head into the palm of his hand. “You gave yourself away to make your yard look better?”

“Hey, I didn’t know that was a possibility.”

He looked up at her. “Evander used to worry about how you never listened and kept using your powers, so I know you were warned a long time ago not to do anything to expose them. And both Elliott and I have been warning you since you got here that women like you keep getting taken.”

Feeling sheepish, Astrid sank down on the bed a little. “Ok. I probably should have put that together. I think I was just preoccupied with everything else.”

For the first time since she woke, the guy laughed. “Jump first, assess later.”

“Don’t make fun of the patient,” she said and pulled a sheet up to hide from the embarrassment she felt at that moment. “Is it possible to get my work stuff? Because the projectdoesn’t have much longer, and I can’t afford to be offline for a day.”

“Um, I don’t think that is a good idea.”

“Why?”

He let out a long sigh. “Because they trashed the place after I got you out safely. Your devices are destroyed.”

Astrid turned away, her mind working quickly. When she looked at him, she had an idea. “Do you have devices I can borrow?”

“Sure. But, um, I’m pretty sure they’ll notice the changes.”

“What do you mean?”

“Elliott has upgraded most of my devices, and I’m now completely reliant on a few things he’s designed.”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s a geek, for lack of a better term. He builds tech all the time, just out of boredom. It’s very obvious when you start to use it, and it makes it difficult to return to the old stuff.”

She shrugged. “If I give you the money, could you get me a few devices?”

“I can send someone to get them for you, sure.”

“Ah, right. You aren’t letting me out of your sight.”