The Barrier Between (Collector Series # 2)

Darkness of Light

(Darkness Series #1)

Fire in the Darkness

(Darkness Series #2)

Beast in the Darkness

(An Elighan Dragen Novelette)

Dwellers of Darkness

(Darkness Series #3)

Blood Beyond Darkness

(Darkness Series #4)

City in Embers

(Collector Series #1)

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This is a work of fiction. Any references to
historical events, real people, or real locales are used
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product of the author’s imagination and her crazy friends. Any
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is entirely coincidental.

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Developmental Editor Jordan Rosenfeld (
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Edited by Hollie (
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Also By Stacey Marie Brown

Dedication

The Barrier Between

Thank You

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Sneak Peek, Octavian’s
Undoing

About Airicka Phoenix

Run.

Sweat dripped down my spine, soaking my top.
Adrenaline pumped through my veins, escalating the panic already
contracting my heart. My lungs ached as I desperately sucked in the
thin air spinning around my head. The high altitude altered my
equilibrium, and I stumbled.

A large hand shot out and caught me, keeping me from
plummeting to the ground. The six-foot-three male Viking next to me
seemed immune to the vertigo which twisted my head and stomach. But
I had no time to be sick. “I’m okay.”

Ryker looked skeptically at me before letting go and
increasing the pace. Our boots hit the unevenly paved road in
tempo, tearing through the streets packed with tourists. It felt
like we were in an old game of pinball, bouncing from body to body.
The bag against my hip thumped in rhythm with my steps. Sharp
chirps told me Sprig was awake and not having a good time in there.
I was pretty sure I heard him swear when he crashed into the video
camera and my
Art of War
book with which he also shared his
space.

“You now stopping...” a policeman cried out in broken
English. After eight times in Spanish, he was trying to see if we
would respond to what he thought was our native language. He could
have screamed out in Swahili; it wasn’t going to stop us. No matter
what country I was in, running for my life and freedom was becoming
my norm and priority.

“This way.” Ryker grabbed my elbow and yanked me down
a narrow lane. Colorful woolen bags, blankets, and ponchos hung
from racks lining the merchants’ row. It didn’t take me long to
figure out where we were in Peru, South America. Images of Machu
Picchu covered every T-shirt, postcard, and coffee cup with
nauseating abundance. And Aguas Calientes was the village nearest
the ancient ruins. It was an area I dreamed about visiting for a
long time but not running from the local police.

With another jerk on my elbow, Ryker swerved us
around a group with precision, pushing past the sightseers enjoying
their day shopping for trinkets. The late afternoon sun exacerbated
the moisture clinging to the steep rainforest mountain ravine
surrounding the village. Humidity soaked beneath my jacket,
leggings, and heavy boots. Less than an hour ago it had been
morning and cold.

In Seattle.

Only this morning we had been in the Pacific
Northwest, and I had been a normal girl. Okay, not normal, but now
I was some freak science experiment running around in South
America.

And how did we find ourselves in a remote village in
Peru?

Me.

Because an extreme fae-caused electrical storm last
month transferred Ryker’s powers to me, I now had the ability to
jump wherever I wanted in a split second. The problem was I didn’t
have the
whenever
down and not the precise wherever. None of
it worked at my beck and call, which would really be handy right
now.

“Fucking bartender,” Ryker grumbled. “He had to call
the cops on us.”

Not sure I blamed him. We magically appeared out of
thin air and crashed into his pool table. Think I would have
freaked out too.

I was curious what claims he would make against us.
We didn’t break anything, except for the case of beer he had
dropped when he saw us appear. We weren’t going to stop and ask the
cops.

“
Alto
,” another policeman shouted out. I
glanced over my shoulder. Four of them trailed close behind us,
working their way through the crowds.

Shit
.

Warmth buzzed through my muscles, an odd feeling I
had begun to experience recently. My body wanted to jump.

“Ryker.” I wrapped my fingers around his hand. He
looked over his shoulder and saw something in my expression.

Pressing his lips together, he gave a quick nod.
“Think of somewhere safe.”

I relaxed into the humming sensation, trying to think
of a sheltered location. Funny when I needed to think of one,
nothing came. It wasn’t like I had a ton of places I considered
safe. Seattle was the only home I ever knew, and it certainly
didn’t make me feel secure.

Jump, Zoey!
I yelled at myself.

Nothing happened.

“Dammit,” I swore under my breath.

The cop yelled at us again, progressing closer.

A growl came from Ryker, frustration clenching his
mouth. A nerve danced along the edge. He ducked into a backstreet,
pulling me with him, and slipped us through a maze of alleyways.
Clothes hung from webs of cords tied across the back alleys.

“In there!” He pointed at a tall woven basket holding
laundry, tucked inside an open entrance to someone’s house.

“Are you kidding?”

The nerve along his jawline twitched again. Without
ceremony he picked me up and shoved me down in the container,
slamming the lid over me.

“Feeling very Indiana Jones right now.” I curled down
at the bottom.

“Stay there and be quiet,” he grumbled, and then I
heard his footsteps retreat.

“You okay, Sprig?” I whispered, moving the bag so I
didn’t squash him.

“Not talking to you right now,” the little monkey
mumbled through my bag. I patted it in response.

The sound of feet clomping down the cobblestone froze
me in place.

“
A dónde fueron
?” One of the men asked where
we had gone. His feet moved closer to the basket.

Keep going. Move along. Nobody here
. I felt
like I was trying to perform a Jedi mind trick on them. If I could
ever get the damn fae powers to work, now would be a good time.

“Check every basket, bin, or corner,” another cop
ordered in Spanish. The accent was different here than the Spanish
I had studied, but I could grasp the basic meaning.

I felt a hand hit the top of my hamper. My stomach
sank. They would find me in a matter of seconds. Light came into
the space as the top lifted up.

Don’t see me. You don’t see me
, I repeated
over and over in my head.

A dark-haired, older, heavyset man peered down, his
dark eyes rolling over the insides of the basket. Our eyes
connected. Sweat prickled down my spine and air halted in my
lungs.

His mouth dipped open to speak, his brows furrowed.
The lid crashed back down on me. “Nothing in there,” he stated and
moved away.

A river of relief rushed through me. My head fell
back, and my eyes closed as I took a deep breath of air.

Holy shit! It worked.

This was a good and a bad thing. The stronger Ryker’s
powers became in me, the more they might not revert to him. His
chances of getting them back were getting slimmer and slimmer. If
we didn’t find someone soon who could help us, Ryker would lose
them forever.

In the last month, my life had turned a complete
one-eighty. I’d been a Collector, hunting and capturing fae. I had
a sister, a home, and a man I loved. I had also despised fae, but
now?

The top of the basket came up, the rays of light
blinding me to everything except two electric white-blue eyes
staring at me.

Ryker...

His solid hands came down, curling under my arms,
helping me stand. He was gasp worthy, either out of fear or
attraction. I still hadn’t decided. His face was striking and
distinct, with defined cheekbones and a strong jawline. A dark
blond scruffy beard covered his lower face, highlighting his full
lips. A few scars ran through both eyebrows, setting off his white
unnerving eyes. Tight braids lined either side of his head, his
hair left loose on top, almost like a Mohawk. He was in jeans, a
T-shirt, and heavy combat boots. With a battle axe strapped to his
back, he seemed to have stepped off a Viking movie set.