The Barrier Between (Collector Series # 2) (10 page)

There was pain. Definitely. But my anger always
pushed it to the side, reducing it to a secondary feeling as I went
into the zone.

He jumped down for me, and I rolled to the side,
springing back to my feet.

“I’m impressed. Little human can fight,” Arlo
grunted.

“And like a
girl
.” I smiled tartly.

He dove for my legs, and I kicked up, my knee
connecting with his mouth and nose. He screamed and fell to the
ground, hitting his already broken nose. Blood trickled from his
mouth as he spit out a tooth. I jumped on his chest, my knife
primed back. “How embarrassing to get your ass kicked by a human
girl,” I seethed. My hand twitched with the need to drive the blade
into his chest. Instead, I dragged it delicately across his face,
crossing over his previous scar, playing with him. “X marks the
spot.”

Before I could drive my blade into the middle of the
X, I was lifted off him and pulled back. “Zoey, stop.”

“Let me go,” I growled, straining against Ryker. He
wrapped his arms around me as he stepped on Arlo’s neck to keep him
from moving.

“Calm down,” he mumbled in my ear. “Breathe.” He set
me down and turned me to face him, his foot pressing harder on
Arlo’s throat. Once again the moment my eyes met his, it was like
stepping into a warm bath. Everything dropped away; my muscles
relaxed. The white pools ringed with navy were my anchors. His eyes
brought me back from the brink.

He cupped my face, keeping his gaze on me. My legs
stayed put, but my upper body sagged in his hands. “I think he’s
been humiliated enough.” Ryker’s lip curved in a smile when he
glanced down at Arlo, who was struggling to breathe.

“Hey,” I huffed.

Ryker rolled his eyes. “Sorry, but you are a tiny
human girl who kicked his ass. You think his men will ever let him
forget it? If they can even stomach being minions to this piece of
shit.” Ryker stepped off him and kicked his side. Arlo struggled to
get back on his feet, coughing up blood as he sucked in gulps of
air.

When he finally rose, Ryker stepped around me,
putting himself between Arlo and me.

“You’re dead, Wanderer. So is your little pet human
there.”

One of Ryker’s eyebrows flicked up. “Piss off, Arlo,
and run fast. I might decide to let her finish the job. It will
only take her a moment.”

Arlo’s bloody face contorted with rage.

“Now,” Ryker commanded.

Arlo snarled but took a step back. Then another. A
few of his surviving men got back on their feet, and with heads
bowed, they hightailed it away from us, disappearing into the
darkness.

I let out a staggered breath.

“Damn. Wasn’t expecting to see that.” The pirate man
turned to me, sheathing his sword. “Think I might be scared of you
too.”

Ryker frowned and twisted me to him. “You all right?”
He touched my neck. My hand automatically went to the same area.
The torn skin was now molding itself together, the blood drying in
clumps, crusting around the wound. Maybe it hadn’t been as deep as
I thought, and like a paper cut, it felt worse than it was.

Or I was healing like a fae. I pushed the thought
away. The idea striking fear into my core. Was I becoming fae?

“Breathe.” Ryker sensed my impending freak-out.

“Right. Sure.” I licked my lips, my trembling hands
continuing to run along the closing gash.

“It’s true then.” The man strode over to us, avoiding
the strewn fae forms on the ground. “Why else would you associate
with a human?”

Ryker snarled and stepped in front of the man. “What
the fuck are you doing here, Croygen?”

“Is this how you thank someone who just saved your
ass?”

Ryker cocked his head.

“I guess you do.”

“When it’s you saving my ass, then yeah. You don’t do
anything which doesn’t help yourself.”

“Or that I’m not obligated to do.” Croygen crossed
his arms, resentment darting through his words.

“Believe me, if I could take it back, I would,” Ryker
sneered.

“Not surprising.”

Both men were bristling, and I sensed punches might
fly soon.

“Whoa.” I stepped between them; my hands went to
their chests. “Gathering you two know each other?”

Croygen stepped away from my hand, looking at it with
disgust.

I deduced he was also not a fan of humans.

“Yeah. Our pasts go way back,” Ryker said.
“Unfortunately.”

“The feeling is mutual, Wanderer.”

Sighing, I rubbed my temples. Another enemy of humans
and of Ryker. We were batting zero here. “Is there anyone,
besides
women, who like you?” I glared at Ryker.

“Not really.”

I grimaced.

“Thank you for your assistance. You’re free to go
now.” Ryker snarled at Croygen, grabbed my arm, and began to walk
away.

“You know it doesn’t work like that,” Croygen
snapped.

“I keep hoping.” Ryker was limping, but he
continued.

“Still see you have a propensity for finding
trouble.”

“You should talk,” Ryker replied over his shoulder.
“As usual, it’s been a pleasure.”

“I might have someone who could help you,” Croygen
yelled after us.

Ryker’s steps faltered, but he continued to walk.

“I can find Regnus.”

Ryker stopped dead, causing me to stumble. He turned
toward the pirate. “
You
were supposed to be our meeting?” He
said it more like a statement than an actual question.

“Yeah. You think Arlo would do shit for you?” Croygen
folded his arms over his chest. “Arlo has been pilfering my runs.
Following me. Trying to get a bounty before me.” Croygen paused,
glancing around. “He obviously offered the water fairies a better
deal.”

“You always were a stingy bastard.” A slight grin
hooked at the side of Ryker’s mouth.

Now I understood why Croygen showed up out of the
blue like Superman. He was the man the water fairies actually sent
us to meet. Arlo must have tricked the fairies into telling him who
Croygen was meeting and why.

“Regnus is almost impossible to find. You know him.
Discovering him on your own will be impossible. But I can help
you.”

“Why should I believe you?”

“Because I’m hoping it makes us even. Clears me.”

Ryker stayed quiet, staring down, his hands on his
hips. Finally he declared, “If you fuck with me, you’re dead. You
know this, right?”

Croygen’s lip hitched, but he forced his head to
nod.

“I am going to regret this.” Ryker breathed out,
folding his arms. “Fine. You can help us.”

Croygen glared at the Viking, looking as thrilled by
the idea as Ryker did. “I’ll be in contact with you soon.” He
pivoted on his knee-high black pirate boots and vanished.

“How did he do that?” I continued to gaze around the
empty space. “Is he a type of Wanderer too? He simply
disappeared.”

“No. The
asshole
is still around,” Ryker
called out to the shadows. Clouds were moving in, smelling of rain.
Patchy clouds drifted over the moon and dimmed the only light
source we had left.

“Fuck off, Wanderer,” Croygen’s voice called back
from the forest.

Ryker snarled. “Croygen is a type of dark fae who can
blend in with his surroundings so thoroughly it’s like he vanishes
in front of you.”

“Like a chameleon?”

“Yeah, kind of like one. It makes for a perfect
thief.”

“Ah. Is that how you know him?”

“Yes. We met trying to steal the same object. We go
way
back.” He seized my elbow again and took a few steps
down the path.

“What about Arlo? You’ve been in this area
before?”

“To Arlo, ‘this area’ means all of South America. Our
paths crossed last in Argentina. Another thief I’ve had a run-in
with. I took his woman and bounty. Didn’t seem to want to be
friends afterward.”

I shook my head. “Shocker.”

So Arlo also had a lot of reasons to hate Ryker and
want revenge, which was not good for us. “You have a lot of
enemies.”

“I’ve lived a long time.” His limp became more and
more pronounced the longer we walked. His grip tightened on my
arm.

“Are you okay?”

“Fine,” he uttered between clenched teeth.

“Stop.” I grabbed him. He teetered on one leg,
bouncing. Even with the pale glow of the moon through the clouds, I
could make out the blood darkening his cargo pants. The back of
them had been sliced open and blood poured from the slash across
his hamstrings.

“Shit, Ryker.” I bent down. The wound cut all the way
to the bone, tearing through veins and tissue, but not once did he
show he was hurt.

Because others were around
. He would never
show so-called weakness in front of anyone, friend or foe.
Except me
. A little voice tugged at my heart.

“This is really bad.” I searched around for a
tourniquet of sorts.

“I’ll be fine. Let’s get home.” Ryker swayed.

“Stop being a stubborn ass.” I pushed myself back up,
locating what I needed. I heard Ryker snort as I jogged back to one
of the dead bodies. Bending over, I unhooked the corpse’s belt and
tugged it off him.

“What are you doing?”

“This will slow the bleeding. Otherwise you are going
to pass out long before we get home, and I can’t carry you.”

“What? You can’t carry me?” Ryker hobbled over to me.
“You saying I’m
fat
?”

I laughed. Right. The man didn’t have an ounce of fat
on him. “You’d be a lot more useful fat, actually.” I squatted
down, wrapping the belt around his leg.

“What?” Ryker sucked in a breath as I cinched the
belt.

“If you were fat, I’d throw your ass in the river and
use you as a raft to take us back to our place. But if I did it
now, you’d sink. Then I’d have to save you from drowning. There’s
only so much saving a girl can do in one day.”

Ryker shook his head, a smirk playing on his
lips.

I finished and stood up, putting his arm around my
shoulders. Our progress was slow, and without him knowing I tried
several times to jump us, but the powers remained stubborn to my
call. When we finally made it back to the room, Ryker was so out of
it from blood loss he rambled and muttered incoherently.

Sprig was passed out under my pillow, and I moved him
out of the way as Ryker’s body crashed on the bed. His eyes already
closed.

“Ryker, I need to get your pants off.” I shook
him.

“About time,” he muttered into the pillow. Silence
followed and he relaxed like he was falling asleep.

“I need to clean your wound.” I tapped on his back.
“Come on, Ryker. Help me here.”

He only mumbled something I couldn’t understand. I
pushed him onto his side, unbuttoning his pants. No matter how
unromantic it was, my heart still thumped in my chest as my
knuckles brushed over his lower abdomen. His body responded to my
touch. Rising to greet my hand as my fingers worked at undoing his
pants.

Oh. Hell
.

His hand came down on mine, pressing me into him. My
gaze flew to his, but his eyes were still closed. I froze as he
unconsciously guided my hand into his pants.

Holy shit!
Alarms reverberated in my head. But
none of them stopped me; the need in my fingers to feel him took
over. The tips of my fingers grazed the fabric of his boxer briefs,
feeling the heat of him pushing past the material.

What the hell, Zoey
? I jerked my arm back and
stepped away from the bed, putting my head in my hands. A shaky
breath emerged from my lungs.

Come on. Get a grip. He’s unconscious and hurt. Grow
up.

I straightened my shoulders and stepped back, my
shins knocking into the bed frame. “Ryker, I need you to help me.”
I shook him till his lids fluttered.