Beautiful Moves(Shifting Steel Book 3)(27)

I have to get out of this place. Maybe there is still time.

Of course, she had tried to force her way out, but the beastly men that  guarded her were able to withstand her curse. Granted she hadn't  unleashed everything she had in her. Honestly, Ella wasn't really sure  of the magnitude or reach of her gift. She just knew that when the walls  and ceiling trembled, like they were ready to come crashing down, it  frightened her. Ella wasn't quite ready to end it all in a crush of  concrete. And she certainly wasn't about to chance collapsing a part of  the hotel, hurting others.

Ella wished she spent more time practicing and learning about herself,  rather than fearing what she was capable of. She had unanswered  questions that were hard to tease out, particularly since she was locked  inside four concrete walls. She always thought she had to have a  straight line of sight to move things, but Ella didn't know if that was  truly the case. Could she shut her eyes and picture a place she'd been  before, then give things a shove?

Most often her gift acted like a pebble dropped in a pond. It seemed to  move outward in ripples. When Ella was close to an object she had higher  accuracy and precision, than when she was further away. If she  practiced could she fine tune and focus her skill, or would it always  act like a shockwave?

Ella glanced over at the pair of guards sitting by the metal door. One  was reading some magazine, while the other played on his cell phone.

Perhaps you're going about this all wrong. Maybe instead of brute force you need to try finesse.

But what could she do? When she attempted to repel Drake, he forced his  way past her unseen defenses and held her tight, as if her curse was no  more annoying than a swarm of gnats. Something about the beasts blunted  her gift. Maybe they had inhuman strength, like she had an inhuman  skill.

Still Ella wanted to knock the two brutes on their asses, and throw  anything she could get her hands on. Unfortunately, there was nothing in  the room besides the lumpy mattress she sat on, and the two chairs her  babysitters occupied. They caught on fast to her tricks.

Ella smiled as a childish idea occurred to her. She looked at the screws  holding the chairs together, and imagined she held a screwdriver as she  willed them to move counter clockwise. Ella rolled over on her  mattress, facing the opposite direction as she worked on loosening the  hardware. It required a mental dexterity that was more taxing than  pushing dice one way or another.

She glanced at her progress, and had to turn away again before one of  the brutes saw her proud smile. Ella worked on the other chair. Then  tried them both at the same time, hoping the chairs would collapse at  once. The closer Ella got, she had to turn over and watch the fruits of  her labor. They would know she was to blame once it happened. There'd be  no hiding it.

Just a little bit more.

Creak. Thud. Thud.

"What the fuck?" the bald guard snarled as he picked himself up from the floor, and stared at the ruined chairs.

The one with the crew cut and a neck tattoo, eyed her menacingly as he dusted himself off.

"You're lucky you're off limits," he said with a calm demeanor that was more frightening than if he got pissed.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Am I supposed to be happy about being held against my will?" Ella couldn't help the sarcastic defensive reply.

"You tried to rob our alpha. You're getting off easy."

"I'm sick of babysitting this bitch," Baldy groused. "I can't believe the shit she's done."

"Maybe you should've been paying better attention, rather than sitting  down on the job," Ella retorted, not appreciating the bitch comment.

Neck Tattoo walked over, grabbed the mattress, and yanked it out from  under her. Ella went sprawling backwards, hitting her head against the  wall.

"Now, none of us have anything to sit on. Happy?"

Ella desperately tried to control her outburst, but the fear and anger  got the best of her. The mattress exploded filling the room with  stuffing. It swirled and whipped through the air like a blizzard.

"Are you fucking kidding me!" one of them cursed.

Someone came at her through the haze of churning fluff. Ella scrambled  out of the way and ran toward the door, but hit a solid wall of flesh.  The man gripped her arms, making her cry out.                       
       
           



       

"Stop it," Baldy choked.

The man shook Ella violently, rattling her teeth together.

"Let me go," she screamed.

"It's not happening freaky bitch."

Ella kicked out blindly. Baldy grunted when her foot struck him. Rather than releasing her he shook harder.

There was a waft of air and the roiling polyfill flooded the hall.

"Put her down," Drake growled, exposing his fangs, as he loomed in the doorway.

The whirlwind of stuffing instantly dropped to the floor when Ella saw  the stormy expression on Drake's face. The vein in the side of his neck  was throbbing, and his eyes had taken on that frightening inhuman glow  again. She knew she was pushing her luck when their inner beasts pushed  to the surface. Baldy set her on the floor and Ella stumbled back from  the enraged man.

Drake looked around the room.

"Chase, what the hell is going on?" Drake asked Neck Tattoo.

"Your guest decided to play with the chairs, then turned the room into a winter wonderland."

Ella opened her mouth to reply, then closed it when Drake fixed her with that terrifying stare.

"I've had enough of this. You will fucking bathe, and put on something  besides those rags," Drake barked. "And you will do it without pitching a  fit, or I'll take the god damn fire hose to you, then pull off this  belt and show you what happens to little girls who misbehave."

Ella flinched. She knew she reeked, she could smell herself. That's what happens when you don't shower for days.

"Maybe I would, if Cue Ball didn't insist on supervising."

Ella screeched when Drake crossed the room in the blink of an eye. He  gripped Baldy by the neck and shoved him up against the wall. Drake's  long sharp canines were a scant breadth from the man's face.

"What did I say about Miss Roulant?" Drake rumbled so low Ella felt it reverberate through the room.

"No one touches her," Baldy choked out, as his face turned beet red.

"And what did I find?" Drake's beast was shifting across his face. His  claws were biting into Baldy's neck. "You, holding her a foot off the  floor," he snarled his knuckles turning white as they tightened around  the man's neck. "Then I hear you're sniffing around her. Are you  challenging my claim?"

"No," Baldy wheezed, his eyes bulging.

Ella started trembling when she heard the bones in Baldy's neck crunch.  Drake was choking the life out of his own man. Baldy had roughed her up  and was generally a creep, but Ella couldn't bear to watch Drake murder  him.

"Please stop," she begged.

She couldn't help but reach out with her gift to grab at Drake's hand, but it did little good.

"Don't fucking interfere," Drake snarled at her. "I don't have patience for ignorance or betrayal."

Ella backed up until she hit the wall, and watched in horror as blood  started pouring down Baldy's throat, and his eyes rolled back into his  head. Drake dropped the limp man to the floor, then turned toward Ella.  She wrapped her arms across her chest and tried to erect a barrier  around herself.

"Dump him out in the dessert," Drake commanded Neck Tattoo, as he took out a silk handkerchief and cleaned off his bloody hands.

Drake reached out and gripped Ella's wrist, tugging her out of the small room.

"As I was saying, you will bathe, get dressed, and behave. Do we understand each other?"

Ella nodded as they entered the elevator. She hadn't been permitted to  leave the small concrete room in days, except to use the bathroom. Ella  knew she should be looking for an opportunity to free herself, but she  was too freaked out, having just witnessed him murder a man. Ella didn't  dare piss Drake off further, with a botched escape attempt. It was  taking all she had just to keep from flipping out.

"The response is, yes sir." Drake's hand tightened on her wrist to emphasize his point.

Ella's eyes widened, but she didn't dare cop an attitude.

"Yes sir," she murmured.

When the elevator opened again, Ella was stunned by the sight that  greeted her. Drake brought her to the penthouse, instead of some new  clandestine concrete bunker. Much like Drake's office, the penthouse was  ostentatious. There was a mix of leather, high-end textiles, antiques,  art and electronics. She had a clear view of the Vegas skyline through  the wall of windows. It looked gorgeous as the sun dipped low on the  horizon. But that was the last thing on her mind.

"I don't have to tell you not to destroy anything, do I?"

"No."

"No, what?"

"No sir," Ella replied flatly.