The Barrier Between (Collector Series # 2) (25 page)

I did. I really did.

“Zoey!” A sting slashed across my face. Ryker’s voice
broke into my mind.

“Ignore him. He doesn’t see how much happier he will
be as we do. He’ll be so grateful. He wants his own pain to end as
well. He doesn’t think he is capable of love. But he is. And you
will show him.”

“Dammit, Zoey. Let go!” A growl echoed in my
eardrum.

“Don’t you want him to be happy, Zoey?” the stone
questioned. “Do this for him too.”

There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do for him.

“Ye—”

A pain so intense clogged my throat. My word turning
into a scream. I burst from the space, my eyes jerking open, my
hand releasing the stone, which then crashed onto the tile floor
and slid away from my grasp. Ryker squatted next to me, a lit match
between his fingers. He huffed out the tiny fire. His mouth
clenched in a firm line.

I seized my hand, turning the sensitive part to me.
It was red, and a small welt bubbled around the burned skin. “You
burned me?”

He glared at me, his head lifted in a challenge.

“What? You couldn’t actually pry my tiny little hands
open?”

He snarled and grabbed my arms, sitting me up,
pushing me against the tub. When did I get on the floor?

“The stone gives whomever is holding it unbelievable
power and strength. It doesn’t want you to let it go. I couldn’t
have pried your hand open with a crowbar and the strength of four
more men. You had to do it yourself.”

“You had to burn me?” I mumbled to myself, holding my
blistering hand to my lips.

“Don’t even fuckin’ start with me.” Fury smoldered in
his irises; every word he spoke was clipped and forced.

The shame I pushed away earlier came flooding back,
scalding my cheeks. What could I say for my actions? I wanted to do
it. My attention landed on the stone, innocently lying on the floor
under the sink. I wanted to crawl after it. It was still under my
skin, the voice calling to me to pick it up again. To let it and
myself have all we ever desired.

Ryker stood, with a hand towel he grabbed the stone
and shoved it back in his boot. I fought the desire to go after
it.

“Zoey.” Ryker snapped his fingers in my face, drawing
me back to his crouched frame in front of me. When he had my focus,
he tilted his head as if to say,
What do you have to say for
yourself
?

I pulled my knees to my chest, covering my face with
my hands.

“Do you know how dangerous and stupid touching it
was?”

“Yes.”

“Then what in the hell were you thinking?” He stood,
rubbing at his head, his voice a hoarse whisper. “Tell me!”

I bolted up, not liking him towering over me. I
already felt like a child around him. “I’m sorry,” I spat at
him.

“No. This was far too reckless for an
I’m
sorry
.” He folded his arms, his face red with anger. “Not even
considering the fact Amara and Croygen are in the other room. What
if Croygen was the one to find you? Game over. He would have the
stone halfway to the Orient by now.” He struggled to keep his voice
at a low volume.

“Why haven’t you told Amara the truth?”

“Oh no. We’re not talking about me,” he growled,
taking a step closer to me. “What the hell were you thinking?” he
repeated.

Embarrassment fueled my own anger, and I challenged
his step with one of my own. “I wanted for one second to have my
happy ending. To have the life I always dreamed about. The ones
I’ve seen on TV. To have more than the sucky life I was given.
Because it seems the moment I might get something good,” I took
another step, my toes flushing up to his, “it’s taken from me.”

My meaning was not lost on him. His eyes softened
before he squeezed them shut, then opened them to stare at the
floor. “I understand the impulse. Don’t think I haven’t wanted to
do it myself a time or two, but you need to be stronger than the
stone. There is a reason what it offers is too good to be true...
because it is. The legends of this stone and the consequences—the
devastation, greed, and death it has caused—no matter how innocent
people first start out thinking their wishes are, it’s not worth
it. You think bringing back people from the dead is natural? There
are always costs. Huge ones.”

The hope of my dreams coming true popped. I gritted
my teeth, forcing back emotion. Ryker drew me into his chest,
wrapping his arms around me. “I am sorry, Zoey. I know how much you
want Lexie and Daniel back. To have a different life. To be away
from all this.”

I raised my chin up, my gaze meeting his. “Not from
you.”

He stared at me for a couple of moments. His hands
slid up my neck, cupping my face. He leaned in to kiss my forehead.
“Promise me you will never handle it again. We’ve been through far
too much shit for me to lose you to a
rock
.”

I nodded my head against his shirt. “I promise.”
There were several other things he’d lose me to first. His arms
constricted around me and his lips pressed against my forehead
again. I let myself drown in his smell, his huge arms, and warm
body. This was all I needed. Where my true peace and happiness
lay.

My determination to stay away from the stone was
ardent, but I also knew how quickly the resolve could change. It
knew my cards and would play them against me. There was no question
I had my weaknesses, and the stone would find ways of breaking me.
I only hoped I wouldn’t shatter when we collided again.

Ryker escorted me back to bed, making sure I stayed
there. He laid on the floor next to me, his eyes glued on mine.
After a while I could no longer handle his guarding gaze and rolled
over to my other side.

Brown eyes glowered into mine, flaming with wrath.
Amara shifted, sliding her face closer to mine. “If I see you go
off with him again or are alone with him in any way,” she
whispered, “nothing will stop me from butchering you into tiny
chunks and feeding you to your monkey. Stay away from him, human.
You do not belong in our world, and I will take you out of it if
you persist.” Without letting me respond, she whipped around to
face the other way, her hair slapping me in the face.

My blood boiled with the need to fight her—to take my
pillow and shove it over her face. The day she and I will come to
blows, one of us might not be walking away.

Hostility rose along with the sun, clogging the room
with a suffocating presence. We couldn’t help but knock into each
other as we got ready, but it made us recoil and back away.
Everyone moved around each other like bumper cars. Amara and
Croygen circled me like I had cooties. Human cooties. The feeling
was more than mutual.

Setting a bag of honey mango chips in front of Sprig,
I got dressed. It would only tide him over for a while, but he sat
quietly on the windowsill, eating his pre-breakfast.

“Can’t we glamour the guy downstairs and get another
room? Or how about we go to a nice hotel?” Amara grabbed the thick
long-sleeved top she wore yesterday, holding it with a frown. “It’s
so hot here.” It actually was a lot cooler today, but compared to
the snowy mountains of Mongolia, it was blistering.

All morning she pranced around in her bra, repeatedly
turning down my offers to borrow one of my shirts. Normally, it
wouldn’t bother me. It was no different from a bathing suit, but
besides her clear insult to me, her confidence in being so
minimally dressed drove me crazy. She knew she was perfection,
causing people to stare, and she enjoyed it immensely. She banged
into Ryker whenever she could.

Croygen, dressed in his leather pants and black
shirt, nodded in agreement. “I’m used to heat, but I’m usually on a
ship with the cool wind blowing.”

“Ship?” I smiled. “You really are a pirate, huh?”

“Tradesman.”

Ryker snorted, earning a glare from Croygen.

“If we are going to stay here another day, I need new
clothes.” Amara threw the top on the bed, brushing back her hair
off her face. It fell back over her arms, cascading in dark violet
waves.

A scream built in my chest. I needed to get away from
this room and the people in it.

“We’re staying here.” Ryker sat down, giving me a
sharp look, before he turned away, pulling on his boots. “I’m not
dealing with Vadik without a solid plan. We have one chance. We
can’t blow it.”

“We can make a plan, but why don’t we get the stone
first? Make sure it is protected.” Amara rolled her hair back into
a messy bun. “I don’t understand your delay in getting it. We are
only risking it being taken.”

“We are doing this my way.” Ryker stood.

Amara groaned and rolled her eyes, mumbling something
under her breath. All I could make out was “stubborn” and “just
like him.”

“If you don’t like my decisions, there’s the door.”
Ryker’s arm was rigid with tension as he pointed.

Amara sucked in a breath, her lids lowering. Friction
zipped across the room, settling on each other’s locked gazes.

In the last day, I’d seen Ryker lose his temper a
lot. It was strange, but Amara brought out the worst in Ryker. It
also clarified their relationship to me. They probably fought
constantly, but they made up with the same intensity. My lungs
clenched inside the walls of my chest as an image of their tangled
bodies, wrapped in heated passion, occupied my thoughts. My
shoulders shook, trying to brush off the vivid illustration. My
hands balled into fists, my nerves twitching under my skin. I knew
my temper. If I didn’t get out now, it would not be pretty.

Ryker’s gaze drifted to me, his eyebrows lowering as
I shoved on my boots.

“You guys do what you need to; I’m going out.” I
grabbed my bag.

Sprig squeaked and moved toward me.

“Sprig.” I held up my hand. “I need to be alone for a
bit. Stay here.”

He stopped, dropping his arms at his sides, staring
at me.

“Where are you going?” Ryker strode across the room,
following me.

“
Bh-ean?
”

Ignoring Ryker, I addressed Sprig. “I’m sorry, buddy.
I know sprites don’t understand being alone, but I need an hour or
two. Okay? I’ll take you to Izel’s tonight.”

He nodded. “It’s enchilada night.” He stuffed another
chip into his mouth.

Ryker’s hand grabbed my elbow, stopping me from
reaching the door. “Where the hell are you going?”

I yanked free of his grasp. “I don’t know. Anywhere.
I simply need to get out of this room.”

“Let her go, Ryker.” Amara waved at the door. “She
needs some time to herself.”

Some might think she was being supportive and nice,
but I knew better. Everything she said was designed to get me as
far away from Ryker as she could... then she could move back
in.

Ryker noticed my mood and stepped between Amara and
me. My body convulsed with the need to end our feud now, along with
the necessity to let out all my pent-up anger and sadness.

“Zoey,” Ryker said my name softly. When it didn’t
break my attention on Amara, he grabbed my chin, turning my face to
his. His navy-blue rimmed white irises stared down on me. My
shoulders drooped, my breath exiting from its tight hold.

“Why don’t you guys go and get what you need? Get the
lay of the town. We’re going to go out for a little while.” Ryker
kept his gaze on me as he spoke. “We can reconvene tonight and
start planning.”

“But—” Grabbing Amara’s arm and shaking his head,
Croygen stopped her mid-sentence.

“Sprig, there is food in the fridge. Honey on the
counter. You will have to survive till we get back.” Ryker left no
room for a debate.
Amara’s going to love this.
He turned me
around, opened the door, and walked us through it. The instant the
door clicked behind us more tension drizzled from my muscles. His
hand stayed on my lower back as he walked me downstairs.

Now it was my turn to ask, “Where are we going?”

The side of his mouth hooked up. “It’s a
surprise.”