From Burning Ashes (Collector Series #4) (21 page)

“Zoey?”

Relief sucker-punched my heart. “Yes.”

The girl on the top bunk jerked at my name
and twisted over. My initial reaction was to lurch back, but I held
the bars, forcing myself not to move.

Maria.

Her figure was a rail compared to her former
curves. Her highlights had grown out giving her curly hair dark
roots to her temples and golden brown to her shoulders, her skin
pasty and eyes dull and lifeless.

“Help me!” The crying girl started to crawl
over to me but only made it a few feet before stopping.

“Quiet,” I hissed. She would draw the
attention of the guard.

Maria’s eyes were wide with shock then
tapered, her lips curling up. “Why am I not surprised it would be
you of all people? The Avenging Angel has come down from the
heavens for us. Praise the day.”

Her bitterness was not lost on me.

“What are you doing here, Zoey?” Annabeth
didn’t rise from her bed, but she leaned over, staring out toward
where the guard was stationed, her eyes flitting frantically. The
new girl continued to wail.

“I’m getting you out of here.”

Maria snorted. “Always the hero, aren’t
you?”

I glared at Maria, then looked back at
Annabeth. “I can break these locks, but she needs to shut up.” I
motioned at the wailing girl.

Again, Maria laughed harshly. “They don’t
hear our cries.”

“She’s still bringing attention over
here.”

“No. No. You can’t be here!” Annabeth’s eyes
pleaded with mine. “Zoey, you need to get out of here now.”

I shook my head. “I’m not leaving without
you. I can get you out.”

Sorrow flittered over Annabeth’s features.
“You can’t.”

Then Annabeth moved her leg, and I saw she
was chained to the bed by her ankle. My gaze drifted to Maria then
down to the new girl. They were all chained to the bunk beds,
giving them only a few feet of freedom to move.

“Help me. Please. I didn’t do anything wrong.
I shouldn’t be here. I never took money. It was just sex.” If not
for the bars I probably would have punched the new girl unconscious
just to shut her up. She appeared high as a kite and blathering
loudly, unaware of the true danger.

“Hey, bitch. Shut up,” Maria growled at the
sobbing mess on the floor.

My hope was deflating like a balloon.

“Zoey. Go,” Annabeth demanded. “You don’t
understand…they’ve been—”

The black-haired girl started to screech,
pounding the floor and tearing at her hair. Shit, she was coming
off the drugs and coming down hard. Guards would be heading here
soon. But how could I leave Annabeth knowing where she was and what
was happening?

“Annabeth…”

“Zoey. Run. They’ve been waiting for you.
They knew you’d eventually come here for me.”

That’s when I heard the pounding of feet
coming my way.

Holy hell.

Annabeth set her jaw. “I’m a trap for you.
I’m so sorry.”

A cry broke from my lips with
realization.

“You can’t help me if you get caught.”
Annabeth’s voice rose. “Girls are disappearing from here daily,
never to be seen again. We all need your help, but you won’t be
able to if you’re behind these bars with us. Now run!”

“Freeze!” a man down the walk yelled, as he
pointed the gun in my direction. A group clumped behind him, some
with fae swords, but most had guns. I wasn’t about to test if the
bullets were goblin made or not.

I gave Annabeth one last look. “I
will
be back.”

She nodded. “I know you will.”

I whirled around and ran.

For my life and every girl locked in this
hellhole.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

A bullet whistled by my ear as I darted back
for the roof door, flinging it open. The sound of footsteps gaining
on me bounced off the walls in loud, shrill noises. I hated going
back to the roof, limiting my exits, but I had no choice.

I shut the door behind me, fastening the
flimsy lock. It would only hold them for a brief moment, but any
time I could gain, I would take.

I took the steps two at a time, and my short
legs strained to push harder. I reached the top, grasping for the
knob. I barely touched it before it swung open, and I stumbled out
into the night.

My hope that it was Ryker immediately
vanished when a gun was pressed to my forehead. “Step out,” the man
barked. The familiarity of his voice rolled over me. “Drop your
weapon.”

“Carlos?” The man who followed Maria around
like a lovesick puppy, the one who had actually been decent enough
to me under Duc’s rule, stood in front of me, pushing a gun to my
head.

He stirred at hearing his name, but his
expression stayed hard and ruthless. “I said drop your weapon.”

“Okay.” I lifted my arms, easing down to
lower my blade. “Carlos, it’s me.”

“I know who you are: the girl Boss wants.”
His words were rote and emotionless, as if he didn’t really know me
more than what he had been told.

Shit. Carlos had been glamoured.

The door banged below. They would break
through in a moment. Some were probably already making their way to
the roof from outside. I didn’t have much time.

“Carlos, look at me. You know me. You helped
me.” I kept my hands up. “I was one of the fighters. The Avenging
Angel.”

“Avenging Angel?” he repeated, tilting his
head.

“Yes. I’m not your enemy. I only want to
help.” I licked my lips. “I want to help the girls…I want to help
Maria
.”

“Maria?” He took a step back, longing imbued
in her name. He might not totally remember me, but there was a
reason he stayed here as one of Vadik’s guards. And that was the
curly-haired girl in the cell block below our feet. He probably
talked Vadik into keeping him on. He would want to be where Maria
was. Little did he know they would glamour him to try and forget
her.

Love was more powerful than any glamour in
the world. He just needed a little reminding. Quickly.

“Carlos, you love Maria. You would want me to
help her.”

His arms began to shake, his mind and heart
opposing each other.

“Please, just let me go and I swear I will
come back and get them out. Safely.”

He grunted, his gun lowering slightly. A loud
clang tore up the stairwell followed by pounding footsteps. They
were coming. Crap. This was taking too long. “Sorry, Carlos. I
can’t wait for you to come to your senses.”

I took advantage of his sinking arm. I
grabbed the barrel of the gun and punched him hard in the face. I
swung my leg, taking his feet out from under him. But he held on to
his weapon as if it were his lifeline. I grabbed my knife off the
ground and ran.

“Stop!” I heard him scream as my toes hit the
roof wall. I glanced over my shoulder. He lay on his stomach, the
gun pointed at my back. Our eyes met. It was a second, but
something in his expression shifted, and his finger slid off the
trigger.

I swung around and jumped. As I rolled onto
the opposite roof, I heard men filing out the stairway onto the
roof, shouting. I scrambled to my feet and started to run, my eyes
on the group of men shooting at me.

“Zoey! Stop!” I heard my name bellowed from
the across the roof. My head snapped forward to see Ryker and the
reason terror was etched over his features. I skidded to a
stop.

I hit the rim, my arms waggling, trying to
keep from falling through the giant hole.

“Zo-ey!” Ryker screamed, fear curled around
my name from far away. Then suddenly he was there. His figure
slammed into my back. The ground disappeared under my feet. My
stomach plunged as my body flayed in the air, plummeting down the
hole of the building. Like a drop of water, gravity tugged me down
with speed. The ground came up fast; my head and shoulders slammed
into the cement floor with a crunch. The impact was so violent, my
nerves went numb, flattening my form to the floor.

Everything went black.

Nothing.

It could have been seconds or years when I
sensed a tickling in my soul.

Then agony. A shitload of it. Scorching up my
veins, shredding me from my body.

Death really, really didn’t like me.

####

Something tugged me from the peacefulness of
nothing, where I had no thoughts or pain. There was no me.

“Zoey.” My name rang in my ears, buzzing my
head, tugging me further from the tranquility. “Open your
eyes.”

I tried, but only a groan stung my throat. I
heard my name again. Felt a strong awareness my body was being
cradled. Warmth.

My nose filled with strong smells of trees,
asphalt, Italian food, Chinese takeout, rotting garbage, and piss.
It seemed as if each smell developed a picture in my head of
exactly what it was and how far away from me.
Okay,
weird
.

“Don’t you dare leave me,” a deep voice
whispered in my ear.

Ryker
. My heart cried out.

The pull of him carried me through the last
bit of murkiness. My lids fluttered, and I looked up to blazing
white eyes. The night sky moved behind his head, becoming so clear
and crisp I felt like I had never seen the stars before. My lashes
fluttered a few times, the sharpness almost uncomfortable at first,
but my sight quickly adjusted and landed fully on the breathtaking
man bending over me.

“Hey,” I croaked.

His lids squeezed together and then he opened
them again, his brows furrowing. “Thank the gods.” It took me a
moment to remember why he was thanking his deities, and why he
carried me in his arms.

“We got out?” I let my head drop to the side
to see around me.

“Yes.”

“Yay, us.” It was difficult to concentrate on
a landmark, but I finally recognized the area. We were near Pioneer
Square. “I’ve been out for a while.”

“You’ve been dead awhile.”

I twisted my head to look back up at him. His
jaw looked like it was crushing his teeth, grinding them into
dust.

“Hey, it’s okay. We made it out. I’m
alive.”

He shook his head. “I jumped…I had no
control. I jumped right into you.”

This had to be strange and frustrating for
him, having no command over his powers, as if he were a child
again. I spent more time with sporadic powers than I did
controlling them.

“It’s okay.”

He growled, a strange expression deepening
the anger flaming under the surface. He moved quickly through the
city, heading back to our hideout.

I experienced some dizziness, but I actually
didn’t feel too bad. Every minute my body continued to heal and
regain energy. Actually a lot of energy. My muscles buzzed with a
strange abundance of force, wanting to move and run.

“You can set me down. I can walk on my
own.”

He gritted his teeth and ignored me.

He carried me the entire way, holding me
close, which I found extremely nice, but also curious. Was he
fighting our proximity right now?

Damn this bullheaded Viking. I reached up,
brushing the lines from his forehead away. He tipped his head in my
hand, tension releasing from his jaw and eyes. He actually looked
at peace.

When we got back to the warehouse, I heard
Amara call for us. She was either really quick at getting laid or
she never went. Sadly, it was probably the latter. It had likely
been more a test for Ryker to see if he would stop her.

“Not right now,” he shouted back.

“But—”

“Not the fuck now!” Ryker roared, then took
me into the breakroom, slamming the door. I cringed from the shrill
sound, my eardrums pulsing. He set me down on the blankets and
stepped across the pitch-black room, lighting a candle. The space
illuminated in a hazy glow.

He turned to the door and placed his palms on
it, leaning forward. The energy shifted in the room. Anger.
Fury.

I sat up with a groan, rubbing my hands over
my face. My senses were in overdrive, causing me to feel restless
and strange. My body and head ached from the fall, but I felt no
worse than the aftermath of a fight. I had fallen at least seven
stories. My head should have splattered like a watermelon. My body
should be broken in tiny pieces.

I should be dead.

Like dead dead.

But here I sat feeling no more than slightly
bruised all over.

Ryker’s breaths became heavy, causing me to
pull my hands away from my face and glance up. He pushed off the
wall and turned to lean back against the spot, folding his arms
over his chest. He was pissed.

“What?” My words came out with annoyance. It
had already been a rough day and by the look on his face it wasn’t
going to get better. Ryker wore his lecture expression. Anger
flared in his eyes, and he looked away. “Don’t tell me. You’re mad
at me.” I stood, biting back the moan wanting to follow. Okay, I
hurt a little more than I first thought, but I was standing. That
was a plus.