From Burning Ashes (Collector Series #4) (17 page)

I climbed to my feet, taking inventory of the
rest of my body. The wound was closing at my temple, blood
congealing there. Other than a few cuts and bruises, I was fine.
And most of all I didn’t have an arrow sticking out of my chest. If
it had touched me, it would have come with us, and I’d have been
dead, jump or no.

Ryker saved me. Saved all of us.

He got his feet, helping Amara up.

“You guys all right?” I asked.

“Yeah.” They both nodded. They also had
surface nicks, but nothing serious. I took a relieved breath.

“Where are we?” Amara asked, brushing herself
off, twirling her head around, and looking down the lane.

“Pioneer Square,” Ryker responded, heading
toward the alley opening. “The guy I was fighting reminded me of
this son of a bitch I did a job for years ago. He owns the
Mediterranean restaurant right there.” Ryker pointed to the back
entrance of a hole-in-the-wall joint. “Obviously why we ended up
here.”

“Huh. That’s kind of funny.”

“Why?” Ryker glanced over his shoulder at
me.

“Well, I was about to be speared like a shish
kabob. Kind of fitting, don’t you think?”

Ryker’s lips thinned and he turned away,
checking the street, and then motioned us forward. “The garage is
actually not far from here.”

Amara brushed by me. “I think it’s
hilarious.”

Yeah. Even more so if I actually had been
impaled.

On our ten-minute walk, Sprig’s snores
provided traveling music. When we finally made it to Joey’s, my
feet hastened the moment I saw the sign. Two people remained on my
mind.

“Croygen?” I ran into the garage. Tools,
cars, and parts stuffed the place. The smell of oil, metal, and
gasoline saturated my senses, stinging my nose.

“We’re here,” his voice rang back.

Relief zipped through me when I saw him. He
sat on a bench seat that had been pulled out of a car. Lexie curled
up on her side next to him, her head on his lap.

I rushed to them and dropped to the ground,
needing to touch her and make certain she was really there. Sweat
beaded on her face, and she struggled to breathe.

“She’s burning up.” He frowned. “She’s gotten
a little worse just since we’ve been here.”

I brushed back her hair, her labored breaths
slashed at my heart. What did I do? Was getting her out of DMG
actually her death sentence? I pulled Sprig from my bag and placed
him next to Lexie. He nuzzled into her stomach, falling into a
deeper slumber.

“We’ll let her sleep for a bit more, but she
needs to drink something soon to stay hydrated. If we can get food
down her, even better.”

He nodded in agreement. Amara’s and Ryker’s
footsteps sounded behind me.

“Garrett found you guys, clearly.” Croygen
tipped his chin at our wounds.

“Yeah, but Ryker jumped us.” I stood up.

“Really? That’s good. Your powers are coming
back then.” Hopefulness clipped Croygen’s words.

“Yeah, but we both are still poor at
controlling them.” Ryker scoured his thumb over his forehead.

“Still, it’s something.” Croygen
shrugged.

I twirled around taking in our new location.
“Are you sure Joey is all right with us being here? She doesn’t
need to work or anything?”

“Not lately. Not many needing an oil change.”
Ryker wandered around, investigating the dark corners and hiding
places. He thumbed back toward a door. “There’s a shower in the
employee bathroom. The hot is actually cold, just warning you.”

Amara immediately darted in the direction he
pointed.

“Not going to ask how you know that,” I
replied.

“Good thing. I’d rather not sleep with one
eye open all night.” Ryker poked his head into a room, flicking at
a light switch. “Great. No electricity.”

“Shower doesn’t work either.” Amara stomped
back into the room. “And with no electricity, the refrigerator and
microwave in the breakroom are useless.”

“Those taunting little sluts.” Croygen
stretched his arms above his head, yawning.

Amara rolled her eyes, mumbling under her
breath. She made her way to where Ryker was, helping him search the
other rooms attached to the garage.

I grabbed the bags and took them to the
windowless breakroom. While in Target, I added flashlights and
candles to our plunder, considering we might have to stay in places
like this. I struck a match and lit one of the candles. The walls
glowed with dim yellow light. The room contained a table with four
chairs, and cabinets lined one wall. A sink and a microwave were
next to a refrigerator. The bathroom entrance was to the right.
Posters about customer service and a board with the employees’
schedules covered the walls.

Turning back to the sacks, I set out the
food, water, and medication, finding the wipes and cleaning the
blood off my face, losing myself in thoughts.

“I’ll sleep in here during the day.” A deep
voice came from behind. I twisted around to see Ryker stepping into
the room, the candlelight flickering off his features. “And do the
guard shifts at night.”

“I can do them too.”

He shook his head. “Amara will help.”

My jaw cracked.

“You can’t be guarding and taking care of
your sister. She needs you more.”

The bristling anger evaporated as fast as it
came. “She
is
getting worse.” My voice splintered.

“We’ll figure it out.” Ryker took a step then
stopped, balling his hands into fists. He looked down at his shoes.
“Garrett is on our trail, and Vadik won’t stop till he has us.” He
shoved his hands in his pockets, his voice cool. “I know you want
to take down DMG, but right now I’m thinking we need to get out of
Seattle for a while. Get some distance.”

My head bolted up, my mouth opening.

“Before you speak.” His eyebrows went up.
“I’m not suggesting we leave Annabeth to her fate. We go after her.
Soon. Maybe tomorrow night we check Vadik’s place out. Figure how
best to get her and then get us the hell out of here. We are just
sitting targets in this town.”

Maybe if we had a chance to breathe, Lexie
would have time to get better, to heal. I could get her stronger
drugs. We could have a moment to plan how to destroy DMG.

“Yeah.” I met his eyes. “Sounds like a plan.”
Our gazes remained on each other. Desire was always there, boiling
like a volcano, but this time I also felt its pain, the raw agony
of being so close, yet so far apart. His white eyes pierced into
mine, holding me prisoner. Neither of us moved nor spoke. Love and
hate. Pain and pleasure. The air crackled, simmering over my skin,
caressing my nerve endings.

“When I saw that spear heading for you…” He
trailed off, his voice a rough whisper. He ran a hand over his
head. “I want to touch you.”

I sucked in through my teeth. “I want to be
touched.”

Ryker’s pupils dilated, his tattoo flickering
down his neck. A growl hummed in the air. He stood in front of me
before I could even blink, shoving me with his bulk until my back
slammed into the counter.

“Where?” He licked his lips.

“What?” My head spun at his nearness, wanting
to feel his heat seeping into my body.

“Where do you want to be touched?”

Air. Thoughts. Logic. They all vanished. I
knew if I had them, I would know we were playing with fire, and one
of us would end up barbequed.

“Show me.” He placed his palms on either side
of the counter, boxing me in.

A warning bell deep in the back of my brain
went off.

“Ryker…”

“Show me,” he demanded, his eyes blazing
hotter. There was a fine line between the brutal Wanderer and his
oath, between the man who liked it rough and kinky to the murderous
robot who just wanted to strangle the life from me. But the danger,
the thin line between the two, only urged me on.

I trailed my hands down my body to my jeans,
slowly unzipping my pants. Ryker leaned in farther, rumbling as my
fingers trailed along my underwear line. “Where do you want my
fingers, human? My tongue?”

I dipped below the fabric, a breath exhaling
from me, imagining it was him. The man didn’t even have to touch me
and I was beyond ready.

“Deeper.” His voice strained with gruffness.
His words became unclear. More alarms were going off, but I could
only respond to his demand. “Harder.”

I groaned as my fingers moved quicker. On
either side of me, the lip of the counter snapped, crumbled into
bits, falling onto the linoleum.

“Imagine that’s my tongue.” He leaned into my
ear. “Licking you.” My head fell back, his hot breath on my neck
was too much. He whispered and breathed in my ear until I
climaxed.

“Ryker. Please,” I whimpered. “I want it to
be you touching me…inside me.”

A strangled sound came from his chest. “I
can’t.” The words were so soft I barely heard them.

“Yes. You can.” My body felt like a live
wire, and it didn’t care about the repercussions. It just wanted
him.

He went still for a moment, then grabbed my
hand, pulling it from my underwear. He brought it up to his mouth,
curling his tongue around my fingers and nipped them.

I was done. Thankfully the counter behind
held me up.

His grip on my hand constricted, his eyes
shutting. “You taste so damn good,” he muttered, his lids squeezing
together. When he opened his eyes, the man was gone. The robot had
taken his place.

“Shit,” I said under my breath. I didn’t even
get the whole word out before his body crushed into mine.

“I should have made you get me off first.” He
snarled, his eyes cold, but his touch heated as his hands skimmed
up my chest to my neck, his thumbs pressing down lightly on my
vocals cords, as if he got off flirting with my demise.

“Go ahead.” I stared straight at him, pushing
against my instincts to kick and fight back. My voice struggled to
talk. “Kill me. End this.” Maybe if I died again my fae side would
save me, looping this whole cycle into action again, or maybe I
would truly die this time. I was willing to find out. I was tired
of fighting him.

My eyes closed, compelling my arms to stay
limp at my sides. He squeezed tighter, then his hands froze. A roar
bellowed from him, forcing my lashes open. Ryker’s fingers dropped
away, stepping back from me. His face twisted with pain. I inhaled
air into my lungs but didn’t move, my gaze burning into him. The
fae part quickly healed the pain in my throat.

He leaned over his knees, groaning and
pounding his fist into his leg. Then he stilled.

“Fuck!” Ryker raked his hands over his face,
standing back up. He kept his face covered, his breaths becoming
measured. He dropped his arms, but his eyes would not meet mine. We
stood in heavy silence for a long time. Then he finally spoke.

“When this is all over.” He cleared his
throat, his arms locked down at his sides. “I’m going away.”

It felt like someone dumped a bucket of ice
water on me. “What?”

“I can’t do this to you. I’m not just hurting
you; I’m killing you.” He swallowed, his gaze still not able to
meet mine. “I can’t do this to myself either. Do you know how hard
it is to be around you? How torturous this is?” He set his jaw.

“Where would you go anyway? The oath will
always draw you to me.”

“It eases a bit the farther away I go. I’ll
have to live with it. But I can’t be this close to you and not be
able to touch you.”

I saw the verdict was settled. He pushed out
his chest. “You’ve already decided this. Nothing I can say will
change your mind?”

“No.” He shook his head and rolled his
shoulders back, his expression cool and firm. “I will stay till we
get Annabeth and can find you guys a safe place to lay low for a
while.”

“You aren’t going to help with DMG?” I
snapped. My defenses bucking up. “They still have your axe.”

He shifted on his feet.

“You’re just going to abandon us when I…we
need you.” I was being completely unfair, I understood that, but my
pain lashed out.

“Zoey, don’t make this harder. I’ve talked to
Croygen. He will stay with you and help with Lexie. I’ll come back
and assist when you are ready to fight DMG. Croygen knows how to
contact me.”

He was actually leaving! All my past
insecurities flamed up in my chest, clogging my air waves.
“No.”

“I don’t want to.” He glanced at his boots.
“I have to.”

“What about the stone?”

“I’ll be taking it. You don’t need that
burden as well.”

“No!” My reaction blurted out with fire.
Possessive energy chewed up my throat. “You’re not going to take it
from me!”

“Take it from you?” His lips thinned. “Jesus,
Zoey. Do you even hear yourself?” He lifted his arms toward me. “Do
you even notice what it’s doing to you?”

“What are you talking about? It’s not doing
anything.”

He snorted crudely. “You don’t even see it.
You’ve lost weight, you get the shakes like a druggie. Headaches,
moody. Possessive. It’s slowly destroying you.” He took a step
toward me. “I should have never given it to you. It was selfish of
me to make you carry the burden. I can’t watch it continue to hurt
you. Give it to me.” He held out his hand.

A crazed overprotective feeling fumed up,
engulfing me till I couldn’t breathe. I took several steps
back.

“No.”

“Hand it over or I will take it.” He regained
the space I put between us.

My hand went to the small blade in my boot,
tugging it out, my brain not even taking in what I was doing or
saying. Only reacting.

“If you dare try.” I held up the knife to his
chest, the tip poking into his breastbone. “Don’t fucking touch me
or
the stone. I will kill you, Ryker. Don’t test me. I will.
I swear.” I strained through my teeth, fury lurching down my
arm.

“And don’t fucking
challenge
me,
human.” His tattoo and eyes both sparked, his nostrils flaring. “It
will end far worse for you.”