The Powerful Pride of an Immortal (Immortal Supers Book 4) Kurtis Eckstein (psychology books to read TXT) 📖

gums were mostly pink though, just a few black freckles spotted throughout.

“Happy now?” she asked, picking up her fork again.

“You really didn’t have to show me. But yeah.”

She rolled her pale green eyes. “If it’ll get your mind off it, then it was worth it.”

I scoffed. “So what does that mean?” I asked sarcastically. “That you’ll show me the rest of you too, fur and all, just because I’m thinking about it?”

She glared at me, her pale green eyes narrow. “Not like I could stop you.”

I just shook my head and resumed eating.

Honestly, I was a little curious, but I wasn’t going to be disrespectful by looking when she clearly didn’t want me too. She’d already told me before that she’d punch me in the face if I did, and while I wasn’t at all afraid of getting hit by her, even if she was stronger than she looked, I also wasn’t going to ignore her wishes.

As we finished up almost at the same time, I stood to put my plate in the sink. “Are you full now? Or did you want more?” I asked, doubting she did.

However, she didn’t respond again.

I looked back at her, raising my eyebrows.

“Fine. I’m still hungry.”

I went back to the table, let her take her last bite, and then grabbed her plate to add two more enchiladas to heat up. Once she was eating again, I sat back down and stared at the wall. We were both silent for a long handful of minutes while she ate, before I finally asked her what was on my mind.

She should have known anyway, but either she wasn’t paying attention to my thoughts, or she’d gotten in the habit of not answering questions people hadn’t asked out loud.

“So why exactly are you here?” I wondered, finally looking at her.

She waited until she swallowed to answer. “I told you.”

“Is that the only reason? To keep an eye out?”

She hesitated. “I’m also keeping everyone stable.”

My eyes widened in surprise at that. “Stable?” I repeated. “What do you mean?”

She took another bite of food, and this time I didn’t become irritated by it, because I felt like she was going to answer. And sure enough, after she swallowed, she did.

Winter sighed heavily. “It’s part of my superpower. I can mostly just hear thoughts, but I can also exert some control over other people too.”

Now I was alarmed. “Shit,” I hissed.

“No, no, no. Not like mind control, or even like me putting thoughts in your head. Instead, I can keep people more emotionally stable. Like your claustrophobia thing earlier? That was me.”

My eyes widened in surprise, completely shocked that she was actually awake, and then a little annoyed to realize she was truly just ignoring me.

She quickly continued. “Or, if it’s something more serious, like if someone is depressed and about to jump off a bridge, or they’re pissed and about to go on a killing spree. Usually, they will still feel those emotions, but I can reign it in just enough to prevent them from taking action.”

“That kind of sounds like mind control,” I contradicted.

She shook her head. “It’s really not. It has to do with how the brain works. For example, the more escalated someone becomes, then the more their frontal cortex begins to shut down – the part of the brain that’s responsible for reasoning and higher thinking. And if someone gets really escalated, then they basically become all instincts and stop thinking rationally altogether. My superpower can keep that from happening though. My ability affects the limbic system, the part responsible for emotions, and keeps it stable while also keeping their frontal cortex up and running.”

I scratched the back of my head. “Okay, so what’s that mean, exactly?”

“It means it’s not mind control. If someone enjoys killing people, then I can’t stop that. All I’m doing is keeping people level-headed, so they don’t make rash decisions that they might only make because they are angry, depressed, traumatized, or whatever.”

“Huh.”

“So like your claustrophobia. If it flared up, you might freak out. But it didn’t flare up, you didn’t freak out. That’s not me controlling you, it’s just helping you remain stable. Same with the two upstairs. I’ve helped them keep it together. That’s all.”

“And what happens if you stop using your ability?”

She took another bite, chewed, swallowed, and then responded. “I mean, I’m not using it right now. And when they wake up, they might be okay, and if they aren’t then I could use my ability again, but usually a good night’s sleep helps it feel like there’s some distance between you and any trauma you’ve experienced, especially after I’ve used my ability on someone.”

“I wouldn’t know,” I admitted.

Surprisingly, she grinned at that, like she sincerely thought it was funny that I didn’t sleep. It was strange to see her smile after being so gloomy.

“And who exactly told you to do this?” I wondered. “Is this a CDS thing, or was your aunt involved?”

She looked away.

I waited.

And waited.

Just as I was about to speak up, she cut me off, her tone quiet. “Ms. Hendricks did ask me to help,” she admitted. “But that was because she thought the worst. She assumed everyone got blown up, and that only you would be left.” She finally looked at me, her pale green eyes almost appearing ashamed. “She wanted me to keep you stable, so you didn’t become an enemy.”

My eyes widened in surprise. “I wouldn’t become an enemy.”

“Not even if the two women upstairs were dead right now?”

I sat back in my seat as I thought about that. “I–”

She cut me off. “You don’t know,” she interjected, even though that was not what I was going to say. “You really don’t know, because you’re calm right now. Remember what I said? People sometimes make stupid decisions when they’re angry. So while you don’t think you would, you can’t truly know right now, because you’re calm. You’re level-headed. And because they aren’t dead,” she added.

I thought about that, knowing she