I look down at her small, pale fingers, and take a step back as though touching her would kill me. I’m not sure what’s going on, but I’m damn sure not going to risk something as stupid as touching her.
“I should go.”
Before I turn away, I see her drop her hand in disappointment, seeming wounded and offended, but in this moment, I don’t care. Captain Fricks give me a puzzled expression, but I don’t even try to tap into his clustered mind to see if I can catch a glimpse of his take on this.
I need to get back to Aria—now.
The second I step out of the door, I lean against the wall and release the breath I didn’t know I was holding. Closing my eyes, I drop my head back to thud against the wall, trying to steady my heartbeat. Maybe Simone will have answers. As long as she doesn’t tell Aria.
“And you said it felt like she was pulling you toward her, but she wasn’t touching you,” Simone says, summing up the last bomb of the conversation.
Tensed up and almost shaking, I nod. Nothing has felt right since I left Erin’s room. I couldn’t go back to Aria until I had some answers, because I don’t want her getting the wrong idea. I’d sure as hell never do anything to hurt her, but I think this is... something. The girl is doing something to me.
“What sort of gift could that be?” I ask, ready to call in the troops. She could be a spy with some freaky gift. God knows they’ve sent many people after us.
“It doesn’t sound like a gift, Jase,” Simone says hesitantly. “It sounds like... I don’t think you want to hear this, and I don’t think I want to be the one to tell you.”
She jumps as the table rattles under my fist. I never even realized I was slamming it down until the table cracked beneath it.
“I need answers, Simone! Now. My body is shaking, and I don’t know why.”
She mutters something about being sick of everyone coming to her for answers, and then she groans before cursing at the wall. I’m sure she would prefer to curse me, but since the RV incident, she barely ever looks me in the eyes.
“Fine. It sounds like the way counters react when they see each other. It’s different for everyone, but something everyone feels is the gravitational pull. You said she’s like you, and you feel that pull... I think—”
“No!” I bark, bending another section of the reinforced steel table as I slam my fist down in a new place. “It’s some sort of gift, or it’s something science-related. That’s why I came to you. You’re an expert. You can tell me what it really is. It’s sure as fuck not my counter. After this long, my counter isn’t suddenly landing in my lap at the worst possible moment. That’s way too fucking coincidental. This is a setup, but I need to know what I’m dealing with.”
She glares at me and crosses her arms over her chest.
“You wanted my expert opinion, and I’m giving it to you. I’ve never heard of anything causing a gravitational pull without it being someone’s counter. Counters are drawn to each other, especially during near death encounters. You almost died two weeks ago. It’s possible—”
“She wasn’t drawn here. She was brought here after she escaped from the underground holding facility.”
“They said a girl broke them out after going savage,” she says as though something inside is connecting. It’s then I read the thoughts in her mind, and I get sick.
“The night I almost died,” I mumble, my whole body awash with a numbing chill.
Simone’s sympathetic eyes make me shut out her mind. I can’t hear the things she’s thinking right now.
“She broke them out because something triggered her savage, even though there wasn’t anything going on that should have spurred such a thing,” she continues, realizing I’ve shut her out, but not sparing me the rest of the details.
“And you think... Shit. No. I refuse to believe it. I love Aria. I don’t want anyone else, and destiny can go and fuck itself,” I growl, forcing her lips to tighten.
“Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if this happened. Then Kellan and Aria could be together, and he’d stop hurting so badly. Jase wouldn’t be heartbroken like Kellan because he’d have the person meant for him.”
The second I hear her mind, I regret opening the doorway again. I get dizzy and nauseated just thinking about Kellan putting his hands on Aria again.
“I’m not giving her up.”
Simone turns her back to me, putting her attention back on the microscope in her lab.
“Then be prepared to fight. Kellan is still struggling with denying the connection between them. Aria makes it look easy, Jase. But it’s not. Everyone forgets how much more evolved she is than the rest of us. If you’re even going to attempt it, you’re going to need a lot of space from this girl. I’ve told Kellan that numerous times. Ask Aunt Araya how hard it is to deny your counter.”
That’s not a good example. Even after Hale Banner made Araya think he was betraying her, she could only deny him for three years, and that was with hundreds of miles between them. She managed to fall in love with someone else, but she never got over Hale. Fuck.
“I love Aria more than enough to manage this.”
“The longer he fights it, the harder it’s going to be on everyone. Stupid assholes. All of them. They don’t know what it’s like to not have your counter and crave them.”