“I will. You’re moving in with me.” Daphne smoothed Emma’s hair back.

“Daff. That’s not giving Emma space. Let her get her power back.”

Emma’s power was back. It throbbed between her and Flint. But neither of them were watching it. Which was confusing the heck out of Emma. The colors zipping around them were fascinating.

Magical power came in many colors. Shiori’s was always purple, Daphne’s green. Emma’s tended toward the blue side of purple. That one shade that no one ever agreed upon. Purple or blue, everyone had an opinion. Neither of them said boo about her swirling power, and they always did. Shiori had practically majored in “don’t show your powers to anyone” for the majority of her life, while Daphne reveled in Halloween and had a large collection of sun hats with wide brims and pointy caps.

“How can she work if she moves in with you on the other side of town?” Carter was pacing at the end of the bed.

“She’s not going to. She can come live with me.” Daphne put her hands on her hips.

“Daphne,” Shiori ground out.

A monitor on the wall bleeped louder.

“This is exactly why you can’t all be in here.” The nurse stepped between Daphne and Emma’s bed.

“I heard we have patients awake. We don’t need to take them to the races.” A short, dark-haired woman came into the room. “Mirabel, what’s going on?” She glanced around the room. “Right, the same thing that’s been going on all week. Out.” She put her finger up and her hand straight out. “I don’t care if you own the hospital now. All of you out. Thank you for your donation. But visiting hours are over.”

Mia scurried out like a reprimanded toddler, and Daphne followed her.

Carter said, “Dr. Swan,” and huffed as he walked by.

“I do appreciate your donation.” She gave him a tight-lipped smile.

Shiori bent down to Emma and kissed her cheek. She whispered, “You can do what you want. And I will support you.” She gave Emma’s hand a quick squeeze and nodded to the nurse and doctor.

Dr. Swan turned to the window. “You too.”

Vivianne rematerialized from her spell. With shoulders hunched, she left the room.

“How are you feeling, Miss Davis?”

“It’s Emma. I’m good, I guess.”

The doctor completely ignored the sleeping shifter at her side. “Mind if I do a quick exam?”

Emma gave a one-shouldered shrug. “Sure.”

Dr. Swan did the normal human things. She listened to Emma’s heart. “Open your mouth. Right, your throat’s a little sore. Mirabel, can you give us a moment?”

“Sure, doctor.”

The door closed. “You don’t really need anything for your throat if you don’t want it, but I wanted to talk to you about this growth on your chest, in private.”

Emma smiled. “It’s large.” She liked this doctor.

From her lab coat, the doctor pulled out a prism kaleidoscope. The base was gold and the moving disc at the top shimmered with an opalescence. She held it up to her eye and scanned all around Emma’s body and then Flint’s. “Uh-huh. It’s exactly as I thought.”

“What is it, doctor?”

“Your energies have joined. They’re combining. Has anyone told you how you ended up in the same room?”

“No.” Emma shook her head.

“Right. You’ve got quite the crew who care about you—both of you do. But they all seem to be missing the big picture. When they brought you into the emergency room, Mr. Larsen came with you. He passed out as they were bringing you in from the ambulance.”

Emma’s fingers found their way into Flint’s inky black hair.

“They put Mr. Larsen into the trauma room next to yours. You were both stable. Then we took Mr. Larsen for some scans. Both of your pulses dropped low, to the point of almost nonexistent. They brought Mr. Larsen back. Then you went up to X-ray, and the same thing happened again. We brought you back, and both of you got better almost immediately. Actually, it was Mirabel who had a hunch. You had your burn, but Mr. Larsen, we had no idea what was going on. We took him out of the emergency room on a gurney ride away from you, and it happened again. This time when they brought him back, instead of putting him in the room next to yours, they put him in the same tiny trauma room.”

Flint moved his leg.

Dr. Swan paused to take Flint’s pulse. And nodded. “Right, where was I? Yes, we brought you upstairs, and Mr. Williams had all kinds of things to say about you being in the same room with Mr. Larsen. But when we showed him the data, he acquiesced. He was listed as your point of contact for emergencies. Mr. Williams insisted on the best room in the hospital, and then we waited for your energy to rebuild. Which I’m glad to say it has.”

Emma sighed. After the first little incident the first week at the school house, Carter made her add him and Shiori to her medical contacts. “So, I can go home?” She wanted to do all kinds of things, most of which involved water.

“I’ll want to do some tests. But yes, I think you’ll be able to go home soon. I’m not sure what caused your powers to join. Or if they will separate on their own.”

“You’re saying Flint and I might be stuck together like conjoined twins?” Emma didn’t need the machine behind her to tell her that her body was going haywire. Being stuck to a male who didn’t like you would do that all on its own.

“No. I’m not saying that at all. You’re awake, and now we can try separating the two of you slowly and safely while you’re here. I’m putting the no visitors rule back on the room for the rest of the night. Let us know when Mr. Larsen wakes up, and we can try some experiments. I’ll have the nurses bring in a light meal. It was nice getting to talk to you, Emma.” Dr. Swan left the room.

And Emma was left alone with the growth on her side who had a growth of his own.

“Is everyone gone?” Flint lifted his head.

“You’re kidding me. You’ve been awake this whole time?” Emma wanted to be mad at him, but it was envy she felt instead.

20

Flint wasn’t a coward. At least, he’d never been one up until now. But facing a room full of family members and Emma’s friends, plus Mirabel—who wasn’t so much an ex as a friend with a one-time benefit—plus Dr. Swan . . . Yeah, no thanks.

Pretending to be asleep while inhaling her apple cinnamon scent had been easy. “Sorry about that. I did pass out, though. For a few minutes, or a minute.”

She smiled at him.

Flint pulled his nose away from her. “I’ll get out of your way.”

“No. Don’t go.” Her arm tensed around his body, holding him in place.

“I should get up.” Flint didn’t move. He didn’t want to move.

“Please stay.”

“I’m pretty sure this is against hospital policy.” His wolf chuffed.

“You don’t seem like the type who cares about policy.”