The Barrier Between (Collector Series # 2) (37 page)

“Oh no.” Ryker stepped between us. “Absolutely
not.”

“What’s wrong, Ryker, are you afraid your
human
is going to get hurt?” Amara stepped closer. “At one
time you were the one wanting to fight the humans. Even kill them.
But now little Zoey has made you all fluffy inside.”

His jaw clicked.

I licked at the rain falling on my lips, feeling the
fire in my belly to fight. “Come on, let’s see if you can back up
your words, because so far I’ve only seen someone get the drop on
you, while you cried like a little damsel, and Ryker did all the
fighting.”

Amara’s brown eyes flared. Taking the bait, she
dislodged her blade from the dirt.

“Oh, I got Xena the Warrior Princess all flustered.”
I winked at her then turned to Ryker.

“Zoey, stop.” Ryker grabbed my arms, pushing me back.
“Both of you. Stop.” When neither of us looked like we wanted to
back off, Ryker yelled at Croygen. “Hey, you could help out
here.”

Croygen folded his arms, shaking his head. “No
fucking way. This is hot.”

“Let her go, Ryker. Think your human needs to be put
in her place. You’re not always going to be around to protect her
substantial
ass,” Amara snapped.

Ryker glared at Amara over his shoulder.

“I’m shocked your boney one can hold such a massive
stick up there.” The fervor building in me rubbed at my muscles. My
mouth salivated at the thought of my fist messing her perfect face.
Something it wanted to do since the moment I saw her.

Ryker’s hands clenched my wrists firmer, walking me
away from Amara.

I tried to wiggle free. “Let. Go. Of. Me.”

Ryker’s white eyes latched on to me. He watched me
for a moment before he let his hands drop and stepped back.

This fight had been coming for a while. It was bound
to happen at some point, and we all knew it. And we could all
pretend it was about the human/fae thing, but it wasn’t. Not
mainly. This was about Ryker.

It stung my pride to think I could fight over such a
petty thing—a man. But as a street kid, you had little, you battled
for anything belonging to you, or what you wanted to belong to you.
In my gut Ryker was mine. Ownership over a person was wrong. I
understood this, but it didn’t take away the basic feeling.

Amara swung her sword, barely giving me a moment to
respond. We circled each other and crouched low like cheetahs
hunting dinner. As I blocked it, she shifted the opposite way,
moving in close, and elbowing me in the face. Warm liquid slipped
from my nose. The taste of tangy metal coated my mouth.

Bitch
.

The anger in me was roaring. I needed to pummel her.
The image of me ramming her face into the mud over and over flashed
in my head.

Jump, Zoey
.

I did... but not at all near her. I stood yards away
on the other side of the field.

“Why the hell did you jump way over there?” Croygen
hollered over.

Amara swiveled around, sneering at me. “Come on,
Zoey. Are you ready to quit so soon?”

I gritted my teeth and jumped back. The sensation
didn’t inflict dizziness or require too much concentration like it
had before. It simply happened when I wanted. When I had intent to
move, the powers were completely mine. But
where
I landed
seemed to be the problem. Once again I arrived yards away from my
target. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ryker pinch his nose and
shake his head.

“Try again.”

I jumped next to Ryker. I huffed, my nails digging
into my palms. This was embarrassing.

A burst of laughter came from Amara. She bent over,
one hand holding her stomach, the other let the sword drop to her
side. I didn’t hesitate to take advantage. I barreled forward and
slammed into her, taking her to the ground. Her sword went flying,
sinking into the murk.

She got on her hands and knees, grappling for her
sword. My foot squashed down on her hand before she reached it. She
let out a cry and swiped for me. I moved over her, my feet
straddling either side of her rib cage. Amara rotated her arm,
grabbed my ankle, and tugged me down. I stumbled to the side. She
rolled out from underneath me and popped up. Mud coated her from
her neck down. Speckles of mud spotted her nose like freckles, but
she still looked gorgeous, like a cover shoot in a jungle.

What the hell? She can’t even look bad in a
fight
?

With a grunt, she ran for me. The force she used to
collide into me sent both of us back to the sludge in the field.
She climbed on me, and her fingers wrapped around my throat,
squeezing down. She mumbled in my ear, “Whatever is going on
between you and Ryker ends now. This is your last warning.”

I grabbed her fingers, trying to bend them back.
“Ditto.”

Jump.
This time when I opened my eyes, I was
across the field but so was Amara. Her fingers still wrapped around
my throat. A wicked smile coiled the corners of her mouth. “Didn’t
you know? If you are touching someone, they come with you.”

I felt dumb because this should have been obvious.
Ryker and Sprig always jumped with me, if I were touching them. But
in the moment I believed I could jump away from her.

Stupid.

Embarrassment transformed into fury. The roar in me
filled every place that felt pain, loneliness, and fear. The
buzzing in my ears turned out to be shouting I heard beside me. The
dark part of me, the one who would kill if need be, was taking
over. I was sick of playing by someone else’s rules.

My fist hit her nose, then her cheekbone. I could
feel the crunch of my knuckles, but nothing more. She fell off me
and I got to my feet, ready to pounce.

“Zoey. Stop.” Ryker’s voice moved in close behind
me.

I lurched for the woman on the ground.

A large hand darted in, cupping my hand, before I
could hit Amara again. Then my body was lifted and dragged away.
The arms held me tightly. A steady heart beat against my shoulder
blade.

“Calm down,” Ryker whispered in my ear. His warm
breath curled around my ear and down my throat. The feel of him
pressed against me. All of him.

“No,” I muttered. I wanted to fight against him, to
protect my heart. Stop the way his heartbeat and body could still
me.

He kept his arms wrapped around me, my chest heaving
with hatred and adrenaline.

Croygen moved over to Amara, helping her up. Her
lashes stayed low, glaring at me. Blood leaked from her mouth and
her cheek swelled up, already hinting at the bruised bone
underneath. Anger stiffened her frame, but she didn’t move to come
after me.

“Can I say how hot that was?” Croygen pointed to both
of us. “Especially the rolling on the ground in the mud.”

Ryker’s arms dropped, and he stepped away from me. I
turned to see him and stopped in my tracks. Fury expanded over his
face, his shoulders rolled up as the wrath moved down his body,
reaching his clenched fists. Foreign words I didn’t recognize
rumbled under his breath.

Uh-oh.
Viking was pissed.

He swung away, his hand rubbing his stubble.

“Why are you mad? You wanted us to fight! And I
kicked her ass!” I spit mud from my mouth, laced with my own
blood.

He whirled around on me. For some reason seeing him
like a bull ready to charge plunked me down to earth, fast.

“Because you can’t fight fae with your fists,” he
growled. “And you have no control over my... your powers. You will
lose in a fight. And you will die.”

“Then you kill me first,” I screamed back. “Problem
solved.”

“Don’t tempt me.”

“Do it! Stop whining and act. End all this bullshit
now.”

He stared at me; fury raged behind his eyes. He let
his head fall back, splatters of rain bounced off his forehead.
“Fuck,” he shouted into the sky. Without another word he spun
around, stomping away from us.

“Ryker, wait!” Amara ran after him. I stood in place,
watching them walk off together.

“You got some balls challenging him like that.”
Croygen sidled up to me, nodding after Ryker. “Most fae warriors I
know wouldn’t even do that... except you seemed to have a power
over him no one else does.”

“No, I don’t.”

He grinned, peering at me. “I’m impressed, human.
You’ve got some moves.”

I glanced over at the pirate. His black hair was
slicked back, wrapped tightly in a knot, except a single strand
hanging limply down his face. “If you say
for a girl
, I will
pummel you.”

He held up his arms in surrender. “I wasn’t. You
fight fair for a girl, guy, human, or fae.”

I shifted back on my heel, my eyebrows furrowing.
“Thank you.” It came out more as a question.

“I know. I’m shocked I’m complimenting you. Believe
me.” He chuckled. As I walked, his footsteps joined mine. “I also
can’t deny seeing you kick her ass didn’t bring a smile to my
face.”

“What?” I cringed. The adrenaline was waning, and my
body was starting to feel the effects of four hours of training and
the fight with Amara. “Don’t you care about her? Love her?”

“Yeah.” He sighed heavily. “That doesn’t mean I can’t
see her for what she is—a self-serving uppity bitch who probably
deserves to be put in her place a time or two. But all those things
make me love her more. She’s had a hard life and doesn’t put up
with crap. She’ll go after what she wants and doesn’t sugarcoat
things. I like that. She is who she is.”

“Yeah. Sure.” I stared at Amara’s lithe frame walking
close to Ryker’s.

“If it wasn’t for the Wanderer, you two might see you
have more in common than you think.”

“So... I’m a self-serving uppity bitch?”

“No. She’s not only those things.” Croygen kept his
strides even with mine. “She’s brave, tough, stubborn, and
fierce.”

“Funny, I didn’t hear sweet or kind in there.”

“Think we both know Amara is neither sweet nor kind,”
he replied, glancing over at me. “And you aren’t either. Not unless
you let someone in, allow them past the barrier. She’s the
same.”

It was strange hearing about Amara from a different
point of view. It wasn’t pleasant to think we might have more
things in common besides Ryker.

The rain let up as we continued to the room, being
replaced by the wind whistling down the ravines of the mountain
range into the village. Croygen stayed with me, waiting when I
straggled far behind everyone else. He seemed a lot more relaxed
around me, like we shared something no one else could understand
and had bonded by the misery of wanting those we couldn’t have.

“This is strange,” Croygen mumbled.

“What?” I cringed, rubbing at my sore ribs. Amara was
petite, but damn she had a bite.

“The turn of events.”

“Huh?”

Croygen shook his head. “Nothing.”

I was about to ask him for further explanation, but
my attention was grabbed by two little girls playing kickball with
some neighborhood boys in the streets. One couldn’t have been older
than five, the other appeared around eight. What caught my
attention wasn’t that they were the only girls among the boys, but
what the girls were wearing. They had on my clothes, the items
Ryker had thrown out the window the night before. The white
T-shirt, once covered in blood, now with pink spots stained across
the front, adorned the five-year-old. The shirt fit her like a
nightgown. The other girl wore the torn yoga pants. She rolled them
so her bare feet could locate the ground, which kept tripping her
when she ran, but she clung to the pants as if they were a prized
possession. She called out to one of her teammates and giggled.

Life was tough for these people, but they lived life
here simply and happily. It struck me as being both beautiful and
sad. It was beautiful because they were happy with what they had,
but sad because they never let themselves dream about achieving
more. Most would be born here and die here; only a few going off to
the big city to struggle to make a living. Most Americans, even the
poor, were better off than a lot of countries. But here in their
childhood innocence, it seemed most of them were happy. With no
shoes, raggedy clothes, and a deflated ball in the mud, they were
in heaven.

“Come on.” Croygen kicked at the back of my heels,
herding me into our building. Tired, wet, and muddy, I crawled up
the stairs. If I had the energy to jump, I would have done it.
Using magic exhausted my human body. I didn’t tire out like other
humans, but I still wasn’t used to the powers.

When we got back to the room, Sprig was jumping on
the TV. “Can we go to dinner now? Those papaya chips only lasted me
ten minutes. I’m starving. Pam wants to go to Indio Feliz’s for
dinner. It’s our anniversary... and I wanted to take her—”

“Sprig!” All four of us shouted at once. “Shut
up.”

He sat back on his hind legs. “Wow. A roomful of
grumpy assholes. They’ve all turned Viking, Pam! Retreat! Retreat!”
He grabbed his goat, tucking her in his arms as he jumped over to
the bed, leaping between gaps in the pillows and tugging the top
one over his head.

I couldn’t fight the smile he put on my face. At my
lowest times, Sprig was able to cheer me up. I went over to the bed
and snatched the pillow off him.

Sprig took in my disheveled appearance and squeaked.
“They have become rabid, Pam. Hide!” He grabbed the pillow out of
my hands and tugged it back over their heads. A snort of laughter
hiccupped from my chest.

“Okay, stay there till we get immunized and clean,
then we’ll go to dinner. Okay?”

He didn’t respond.

“All right?”

“Yes. Only because I would
die
from starvation
anyway,” he responded.

“Yes. Positivity. Good,” I quipped.

Amara was in the shower before I could even move to
the dresser. Croygen quickly claimed the one down the hall, leaving
Ryker and me alone.