The Powerful Pride of an Immortal (Immortal Supers Book 4) by Kurtis Eckstein (ebook reader for surface pro .TXT) 📗

waste time. It seemed like a lot of her responses to questions where one-word answers, so long as a single ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ would get the job done.

Probably also was necessary in order to answer people’s quick thoughts, since a person’s capacity to think was significantly faster than their capacity to verbalize those words.

Finally, she swallowed her last bite and took a sharp breath, abruptly looking at me with a serious expression, with her tone coming out significantly more irritated than I was expecting. Almost harsh.

“Do you have any idea how many situations I’ve been in, where mere seconds would have made a difference?”

I looked at her in surprise, completely shocked by how aggressive she suddenly was.

“A lot,” she continued, beginning to sound sarcastic. “Literally, life and death – the difference just a few seconds. So, forgive me for making this my only priority right now, even if it’s a long-shot.”

Damn.

“Okay, I get it. Sorry.”

Her expression immediately softened as she looked away. “No, I’m sorry.” She sighed. “We just passed someone who was pissed, and I…” Her voice trailed off.

My eyes widened in shock. Without thinking about it, I reached out with my second-sight, finding some guy a few cars back silently yelling at his dashboard, probably to someone on the phone, his face bright red with rage.

Shit.

I put the car in autopilot, since the car’s AI would assume the destination at this point, and turned toward her.

“Winter, I…”

I didn’t know what to say.

She turned her head fully away, looking out the window. “It’s fine.”

No, it wasn’t fine, but I couldn’t exactly say that. “Can I help?”

She flinched, not responding.

“Can I help?” I repeated more seriously.

She hesitated, before speaking softly, her gaze still turned away. “Emotions and thoughts are pretty closely intertwined. If I’m latched onto someone close by, then it helps.” She looked back at me, her pale green eyes vulnerable. “It helps a lot.”

Now I was confused.

“But I thought you said–”

“Temporary,” she interjected. “I told you it was temporary. It wears off unless I put in the effort to maintain it.”

“Is that hard to do?” I asked seriously.

“No. Easy.”

My brow furrowed. “Then why?”

She sighed and looked away again. “Because you expressed displeasure to the idea.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Has that ever stopped you before?”

“Usually, no.”

Was she serious? Was it because I asked her to be respectful, since I was being respectful to her? Did she take that to mean a lot more than how she was talking about the women in my life?

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. We were almost to the office, the car pulling off the interstate now. It was only a short trip down the paved road leading up to the massive building in the near distance. Barely a minute tops, at this slower speed.

“Winter, I honestly don’t think I’m the best person to help you, since I’m not sure I’m that stable myself.” I paused when she looked at me, her expression unreadable. “But I think it’s important you remain as stable as possible for this job we’re going to be doing. So please. If it will help you, then do your thing.”

She hesitated. “And what about afterward?”

I shrugged, taking control of the vehicle again so I could park out front. “I mean, I guess that’s up to you. It’s your superpower, so if you feel like I’m a good pick, then do it. But don’t not do it, because you think I won’t like it. Do whatever you need to do to feel stable yourself. If you want to latch onto me, or whatever it is you’re doing, then just do it.” I sighed. “Whenever you want. For however long you want.”

She looked away. “Okay.”

“Are you going to do it?” I asked, uncertain if she was acknowledging my statement or agreeing.

“Already did.”

Wow, seriously? Just like that? I supposed it made sense, considering I never felt it the first time to begin with.

“So,” I continued, a hint of playfulness in my tone. “If I got back on the interstate to chase down that enraged guy, then what?”

She rolled her eyes, focusing on me. “Then, I’d be fine.”

“Really?” I said skeptically.

“Yes.”

I just shook my head in disbelief, opening up my door to get out. Winter joined me, and we began walking toward the steps to enter the building.

It was strange to think that all it took was for her to supposedly latch onto me, and suddenly she would have been fine just a few moments ago. She wouldn’t have blown up. Although, I had to admit I was glad to hear her perspective on things, even if it came out harsh.

This situation mattered to her, and she was taking it very seriously, even if her urgent reaction might be unwarranted for this particular assignment.

Knowing we needed to meet Jackie in her office, we headed up the elevator after getting inside, with there being a surprising amount of activity for a Saturday. Then again, I recalled Lexi saying that people had a Wednesday to Saturday shift, as well as there being those with Sunday to Wednesday shifts, indicating that they were open every day of the week.

For some supers here, this was just a normal workday to them.

Once we got to the office, I saw that nearly half the office was empty, but I still got a few ‘Hi’s’ and ‘Hey Sam’s’ as well as a ton of gawking in Winter’s direction. I mean, she was objectively hot. And it was doubtful her goth appearance was the reason heads were turning, because we had a guy with stark red hair who loved his hornets, and plenty of others who had odd colored reality enhancement contacts, or other things that made them look a little different.

Not to mention, my glowing shifting blue eyes were far crazier than Winter’s black lips.

That being said, yeah, she got a lot of stares.

Unfortunately, just as I was getting ready to knock on Jackie’s door, it swung open abruptly with Radley of all people