Well, fair enough. She had no intention of meekly climbing into his car.

It wasn’t hard to pretend to stumble. She went down, biting back a groan as her throat and her twisted arm took the full weight of her body where Austin restrained her.

For a moment she choked at the tight band of his arm around her windpipe while the socket in her shoulder popped. Then with a muffled curse, he released her. She dropped to the ground and rolled onto her back.

He was already moving to restrain her again, kneeling on one of her arms while he leaned hard on one elbow at the base of her throat.

She barely paid attention. The moon cast his features and the bulk of his shoulders in shadow, but she could see him well enough.

This time the lightning did not just flicker at the edges of her gaze. Instead, it filled her vision entirely. Power illuminated her body from within. Tucking in her chin, she focused on his chest and released.

Power blew out of every pore in her skin. When it punched into him point-blank, it lifted him into the air and threw him several feet away. He landed heavily, with an audible thump.

For a moment neither one of them moved.

Get up, she told her body fiercely. Move.

Easier said than done. She rocked onto her side, letting the spike of renewed pain out in a hiss as she dragged first one knee underneath her torso, then the other, balancing her weight on one hand while the arm that Austin had twisted hung uselessly at her side.

Austin groaned from where he had landed. He was stirring too.

She beat him upright, just barely. Fighting to stay on her feet, she waited until he straightened. He stared, his expression full of uncomprehending shock.

“What the fuck was that—”

There was so much lightning she could barely see through it. Her body couldn’t contain it all. It blew out of her, and she hit him again.

This time the blow spun him around. He twisted and fell as hard and gracelessly as he had before.

That gave her the chance to secure her balance. Sucking air, she took her first real breath since he had hit her. Something ground in her chest as her lungs expanded, but the oxygen helped to clear her head.

She swiped at the wetness obscuring her left eye, watching warily as Austin coughed and moaned. Her phone was in the house, resting on the kitchen counter. She couldn’t call for help until she got inside. She couldn’t run to get to it, nor could she run away.

She might be able to hobble. And it seemed like too much damn effort to suck in a deep enough breath to scream for help—if any of her neighbors were around to hear it. Her ribs were giving her hell.

Meanwhile Austin struggled to get up again.