Beautiful Moves (Shifting Steel Book 3)(50)

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.”