From Burning Ashes (Collector Series #4) (9 page)

“And you adore him.” I craned my neck to look
at him. Our eyes met, and for one brief moment I almost forgot
there was anyone else in the room and we weren’t really speaking.
Swiftly his gaze clouded over, he whirled around, and strode out of
the room. The door slammed behind him.

“And there goes the
ultimate
pain in
the ass.” Croygen thumbed over his shoulder at the door where Ryker
exited.

I couldn’t disagree.

Amara rolled her eyes and followed Ryker
out.

“And there’s the runner-up,” Croygen
grumbled. “Sometimes they tie.” His crush on Amara seemed to have
diminished some.

Ryker might be a pain in the ass, but at
least I knew I could trust him. Amara’s willingness to backstab
anyone to protect herself and to get what she wanted frightened me.
She wouldn’t think twice about turning on me. It was in her nature.
What she was.

I needed to find out why she was here, but
right now Lexie stayed my priority.

“You need to rest.” I eased my sister down on
the mattress. “Your body is still trying to recover as the drugs
leave your system.”

Her gaze darted to mine, fear resonating deep
in her brown eyes.

“I’ll be here when you wake up. I
promise.”

She sighed and laid back. I pulled the
scratchy blanket up to her shoulders. “Wow, luxury.” She peered
down, frowning at the soiled blanket. “Five stars for this
place.”

“Beggars can’t be choosers,” I replied.

“This thing is probably infested with fleas
and diseases.”

“So dramatic.” I shook my head, smiling. She
was getting back to the sassy girl I knew.

“Dramatic?” She pointed at the blanket. “Look
at it, Zoey. I think it just growled at me.”

She was a tough kid, but then she’d had to
grow up in our neighborhood. She came to Joanne’s at age three.
Sometimes I forgot she never had to live on the streets or be
without a bed or a meal, even after the big electrical storm. She
had been tucked away underground with all her basic needs met.
Unlike me.

“Lex, you are just going to have to deal.” I
stood, rubbing her head, making her dark wavy curls bounce around.
“Now get some sleep.” I kissed her head and placed Sprig near her.
She laid her head down on her arm as I strode away. Exhaustion beat
out her abhorrence to our surroundings.

Croygen watched her as I walked up to him.
“Has she always been that skinny? The girl could use a burger.”

I sighed heavily, glancing over my shoulder.
“She’s always been petite boned, but this is way past that.”

“Maybe feed her straight lard.” He folded his
arms. Both of us watched the two sleeping forms on the makeshift
bed. The moon shrank deeper into the horizon, providing little
light into the building, hinting at the coming dawn.

“How are you holding up?” Croygen nudged my
arm.

My automatic response of “fine” sat on my
tongue ready to be used. But it would be a lie, and I was sick of
lying. Instead, I leaned my head against his bicep.

“Yeah.” Croygen curled his arm around my
shoulder and drew me in. It felt so nice. In his company, I no
longer felt alone in this. We could handle whatever threat came our
way.

The problem was threats came from
everywhere…even from within our own group.

When Ryker and Amara returned, I pulled them
to the far end of the warehouse, away from the sleeping pair.
Amara’s presence remained on my list of things to deal with.

“I want you to leave.” The sheer hatred I
felt seeing her cramped my hands, compressing them in fists. “There
is no reason for you to be here.” I glowered at her. I kept my
voice low as not to wake Lexie or Sprig. “None of us trust you, and
I certainly don’t believe your reasons for being here are
unselfish. Whatever the motives are, you can take them with you as
you walk out of here. Run, actually.”

Amara licked her bottom lip, and a slight
smile toyed at her lips, which only invoked more anger in me. Ryker
stood back, but his gaze tracked us, carefully watching every
nuance of our movements. Croygen looked amused as usual. He always
enjoyed when Amara and I battled. Maybe a little too much.

“Do you think I’m here to turn you or your
human sister back over to DMG?” She took a step toward me. “Or tell
Vadik where Ryker is? Because risking my life to get him out the
first time was great fun.”

“I don’t believe you,” I countered.

“You think I had a choice in turning you over
to Vadik? I agreed to the job never believing I would fall for the
guy I was supposed to be conning.” Amara let her gaze drift briefly
over to Ryker before coolly sliding back to me. “You don’t just
stop working for Vadik, Zoey. I did what I had to do in the
circumstances given to me, but I got us out.
I
saved Ryker.
So don’t look at me like a righteous bitch. You have no idea what
I’ve had to do to survive.”

I didn’t know what she had gone through in
her life, but I still didn’t think she stayed here because she
suddenly had a change of heart.

“So what do you want?” My scuffed boots
nudged the tips of her stylish low-heeled booties. She was awful
for the ego. My scrubs and shoes fell flat at being intimidating,
especially compared to her black skinny jeans, chic shoes, tight
black tank top, and leather jacket. Her long hair was pulled up in
a perfect messy ponytail. She looked like the epitome of sexy
badass. I, on the other hand, was just an ass. “Let me guess. The
stone? Is that why you are here? You think Ryker will tell you
where—”

“We all know you have it.” She cut me off.
“Let’s not insult anyone’s intelligence and pretend otherwise.”

“That’s it then. You came for the stone.”

She sighed, and her lids closed briefly over
her dark eyes. “Against everything you believe, Zoey, I’m not
completely evil. Ask the two men behind me. Both seemed to be fine
with me for decades…
until you
.”

I tried to respond, but she continued
speaking.

“You want the real truth?” She paused,
nibbling on her bottom lip. “I have nowhere to go.”

My head jerked at her claim. I wasn’t ready
for her to show me anything but attitude.

“I lost Regnus, the man who was like a father
to me. He was the only one who treated me with kindness growing up.
I’m running from Vadik as you all are.
All
I have is Ryker.
I’ve been with him far longer than you have. He has been my family.
Someone who actually cares about me.”

“Seriously?” Croygen scoffed, throwing his
arms out, and stared up at the ceiling in bewilderment. “I only
endangered my life, my men’s lives, rescued you from Vadik, all
because I didn’t care about you?”

“And Croygen,” she added.

“Turning against the two people who, I have
no idea why, actually care about you, is the way you thank them?” I
demanded.

Her lids narrowed on me. “I’m not going to
explain myself to you. I don’t care if you like me or not, but I’m
not leaving. You are just going to have to deal with it.”

My neck craned over to Ryker. “You are going
to let her stay? After what she’s done?”

“This is not going to be Ryker’s decision.”
Amara’s face lightened with a smug smile. “
You
are going to
want
me to stay.”

Laughter shot from my lips. “Are you kidding
me?”

“No,” she said. “You got this all wrong. It’s
not what I want from you, it’s what you’ll need from me.” Amara
peered down at me with superiority.

My lips hitched up in a snarl. “What could I
possibly want from you?”

Her eyes glinted like she knew she had me. “I
know where Vadik is keeping those girls.”

“What girls?”

Ryker groaned, reaching for his head.

Amara glanced back and forth between the two
of us, her expression elated. “He hasn’t told you.”

“Hasn’t told me what?” I directed my question
over to Ryker. He hadn’t revealed much yet. And the fact Amara knew
information I was not privy to came with a gut punch.

“That girl, Annabeth, you got all upset
about…let’s say Vadik is enjoying her profits at night along with
the rest of the girls who are either fighting or charming the men,
both human and fae.”

My stomach sank, twisting into a pile of
sludge. “What is she talking about?” I searched Ryker’s face,
hoping she was making stuff up. But his frown gave him away.

“I’m sorry. I was going to tell you.” Ryker
scratched his beard uneasily.

“Tell me
what
exactly?”

Ryker glanced at me warily. “Vadik may have
lost you the night of the fight when you jumped back to Peru, but
he came across something else instead. He realized there was profit
to be made from Duc’s and Marcello’s old business. Fae were already
there. Why not profit off them as well as the humans? He killed Duc
and his men and took it over.”

I struggled to take in air. A demon now ran
the fight club, and the girls who couldn’t fight had become escorts
to the fae? “Vadik? Vadik is in charge of the underground fighting
ring?”

“Yes.” Ryker nodded. “He’s made it an open
arena for fae to pay and take advantage of humans. Feed off their
sins. Drain them of their life and energy.”

“Vadik moved them to a more secured place.
Somewhere you would never look.” Amara’s smugness billowed off
her.

“How do I know you aren’t lying to me?”

“Go check the old place if you want. It will
be vacant. If you want to waste time, be my guest.” She
shrugged.

“How do you know where they are?”

“I just happened to run across this
information in Vadik’s office while stealing the keys to his
boat.”

“Boat?” Croygen perked up.

“It’s how Ryker and I escaped Vadik. You
know, when I saved his life.” Amara nodded at Ryker. “Not that he
remembers much. He was out cold, bleeding all over the deck from a
gunshot and a knife wound.”

“What?” My mouth fell open.

“Not important right now.” Ryker waved his
hand. “What’s imminent is it’s not only those girls you need to
worry about. Vadik wants you. He wanted me to find you so he could
take you away from Rapava.”

“What does he want me for?”

“At the time, he thought if I didn’t kill
you, you would make the perfect fighter and thief to add to his
collection, especially with having some of my powers along with
your reputation as a fighter.”

I jerked my head from side to side. “But as
far as he knew, if you didn’t kill me, you would die.”

“Actually, he preferred it that way. You were
more valuable to him.”

“But he’s your father!”

Ryker’s shoulders stiffened as he changed his
footing and clenched his jaw. “That’s not important to him. Or
me.”

I wrapped my arms around my torso. Even with
this new threat to me, I could sense Ryker’s pain. No matter what
kind of relationship you had with your father, it had to hurt.
Vadik would rather have Ryker dead so I could earn him a larger
profit.

“Whatever conditions the girls lived in
before, their lives will be much worse under Vadik’s hold. They’ll
be leeched off of by fae every week and die slowly. Then he’ll toss
them away and get new girls.” Ryker confirmed the truth I knew
inside.

Annabeth’s face swam in my head. The thought
of her being forced to submit to these men filled me with
revulsion. Annabeth had a kind soul. She would never recover,
especially if fae were feeding off her.

Duc wouldn’t have done things much
differently. Humans and fae could both be vile. But knowing Vadik,
he would enjoy stealing her innocence and end up selling her to the
top bidder. Vadik’s evil had no limits. Bile gagged my throat.

“Look at you.” Amara wrinkled her nose.
“You’re disgusted by Vadik, but you’re okay with what your own
doctor is doing to fae?”

My hand shot up, my fingers circling her
throat. “Don’t. You. Dare,” I seethed. “Neither is all right. And I
plan to take down both. I only hope somewhere along the way you’ll
get in my way.” That dark, crazy, unbalanced part in me lit my skin
with energy.

“Zoey.” Ryker swiftly reached my side, and I
shot him a deathly glare then turned back to Amara.

“Why don’t you tell me where he is keeping
them?” I squeezed down.

“You want to end me? Go ahead. Do it.” She
pushed against my hand, moving till I had to take a step back.
“What are you waiting for, Zoey? Do it now.”

She was baiting me. My hands shook with the
need to squash her larynx.

“Come on.” She heaved forward, leaning her
weight on my arm. “Your threat of doing something to me before you
know the location is bullshit. Plus, you won’t hurt me. Not really.
Ryker still cares about me, and you wouldn’t do anything to hurt
him. We both know it.”

A growl clipped at my throat. She was right.
And I hated her more for it. I dropped my hand.