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cameras—thoroughly—and came up empty. Either he’d told her the truth or they were a lot better at disguising them than the guards at the compound ever were.
    She’d stayed away from Noah’s office, the bedrooms. Her privacy had been violated without thought, over and over. She wouldn’t do that to anyone else but she’d lost count of the number of times she’d walked passed Seth’s room.
    Noah had assured her Seth’d follow his standard practice of showering and changing in one of the guest rooms before he left, “slinking away” in the dead of night. His words. But she hadn’t been able to make herself stop and knock, even hours later. Not yet, anyway.
    She took a deep breath when she walked into the expanse of the spacious kitchen. Again. This was another room that had been banned at the compound. She’d been able to order whatever she’d wanted, whenever she liked, but it was one place she’d wanted to explore above all others.
    She trailed her fingers against the cool granite of the counter top. And that’s when she saw him.
    Devon gasped, raised a hand to her thundering heart. A man was standing against the wall, utterly still, his gaze trained on her, predatory, watchful. She must have walked right by him.
    “What—what are you doing?” she managed.
    “I live here.” His voice was low, flat. “I’m Christian.”
    She wet her lips. Knowing who he was should have reassured her, except his dark eyes were fixed on her with a glassy sheen that chilled her to the bone. If anything, her heart beat even faster.
    “Ah, I’m— I was just—”
    “I know who you are. Why you’re here.”
    Of course. He would. Her mouth went dry and goose bumps broke out on her skin. She couldn’t see him very well, couldn’t make out his features but knew he hadn’t moved a muscle.
    “Um…”
    Devon took a step backward. And then another. Between one heartbeat and the next his arm snaked out, firm fingers locking around her forearm. Her pulse jumped, her breath lodged in her throat.
    “Careful,” Christian bit out. “You were going to—”
    “Get—get your hands off me.”
    He released her so fast she stumbled. He stepped back, eyes wide, hands raised. Devon felt the sharp jolt to her stomach, the tingle along every limb, the surge of a quiet fire throughout her entire body.
    “Fuck,” he said, his voice hushed. “That’s wild. Micah said it was strong.”
    She swallowed, looked down at her hands as the reality of what she could do, what she was capable of, rushed through her. The surety of it, the rightness of it. The abject fear of it. All collided, all at once. Along with the sinking feeling in her stomach—because he’d merely been trying to stop her from backing into a chair.
    “Oh God, I—I’m—”
    “Some advice?” Christian rasped, cutting her off. “Your ability is a tool, a very powerful tool. Don’t let anyone turn you into one.”
    It was cryptic to say the least, but she was way too rattled to try and figure it out. Christian inclined his head, took a step backward.
    “Wait. Um…Seth, do you know if…” She cleared her throat. “Is he still—”
    “He hasn’t left. I didn’t mean to scare you,” he murmured.
    And then he was gone, melting back into the shadows. The sinking feeling turned to an empty ache she couldn’t do anything about because she should have been the one to apologize.
    Devon retraced her steps back up to the bedroom wing. She stopped in front of Seth’s door and just stood there like the idiot she was, the coward she was. Again.
    Dammit.
    She tried, she really did, but she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t force herself to lift her arm and knock on his door.
    She wanted— needed —answers. He had them, but it was last year’s hike all over again. When she’d planned to make her move, something held her back. And who knew? If Seth hadn’t come along, maybe she never would have gone through with it anyway.
    * * *
    “You don’t know the names of