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“Your word is what I wipe my ass with each morning, Garrett.” Ryker’s lip hitched up in a snarl.
was no longer the collector. I was the collected, the hunted—a specimen to test.
“And you’re a fucking ray of sunshine.”
Without a word, I somehow knew he felt this, too. Something shifted. We both finally accepted the other as a partner.
“Zoey!” Ryker’s deep voice boomed. As gravity dragged me into the lake, all I thought was, He said my name. He actually said it and not simply “human.”
His hand came to my face, turning my head to him. “Fuck. Your lips are blue. You’re blue all over.” He climbed to his feet.
“Weakness has nothing to do with it. It doesn’t make you vulnerable to admit you had no control of a situation. What makes you powerless is putting the blame on yourself and easing it off the culprit. To take on what he did and make it your own.” His voice stayed deep and soothing. He remained matter of fact, but the words struck me deeply. “And you are one of the toughest humans I ever met. You are anything but weak.”
The simple but needed words, especially from him, broke me. He sat in obvious discomfort, watching me cry before he finally pulled me into his arms.
My neck snapped up, his white eyes burrowing into mine. They no longer intimidated me. They now were my lifeline, bringing me back to earth.
“Wait,” I whispered. He stopped and half turned. “Stay.” I couldn’t be alone.
I could have sworn I heard him utter, “And what about your heart?”
Losing him was the reason I wanted to destroy everything in my path. Seeing him made me stop. Having him alive changed everything.
“You came back,” I whispered.
“You left me!” The words flew from my mouth. “You left me alone. I was better off without you. I wish you never came into my life.”
“Enough!” He slammed me into the wall. My head bobbed off the tile, creating a vehement hiss. My dangling legs kicked wildly to hit any part of him I could. “STOP!” he bellowed and threw me back onto the counter. He thrust himself between my legs, pressing my arms back into the glass. My ribs suddenly came back to life, protesting the harsh movement.
scoffed. “No. You’re fae. We’re nothing to you. You care nothing about human lives.” He stood straight, his shoulders ramming back. “I care about one.”
“With or without the powers, I would have come back for you.” He yanked open the squeaky door and slid out into the dark night,
Ryker rolled his eyes. “Fuck sake, Zoey. I was getting us something to eat anyway. I happened to run across a drawer with candles in it. Seemed fitting for tonight. So blow the damned thing out.”
Not unless we produced our own seers.”
“My father was a top molecular biologist, and they recruited him to generate human babies with the seer gene.” Daniel’s hand went to his mouth, rubbing absently before he let it drop again. “You are an experiment, Zoey. You were one of those who came from my father’s experiments... Daniel’s Kids.”
Over the last fifteen years, eleven of the subjects died of the same sickness. Twelve years ago, my father finally discovered the strand of DNA that was defective. A weakness you all have. By then it was too late. It’s only a matter of time.” Daniel’s throat bobbed as he swallowed. Sadness seemed to cause his shoulders to droop. “Your headaches. The nosebleeds. I knew what they meant—what was slowly happening to you. It made me realize my true feelings for you, to know I had little time with you left.” Air stilled in my lungs. “You’ve actually lived longer than my father estimated, but... you
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Dr. Rapava must be stopped.
“Crush the DMG and find a way to live. You deserve the best this world can offer you. Take Lexie and live the fullest lives you can. Love and have lots of babies. I want all your dreams to come true. If anyone can survive a weakness in her genes, it is you. You are too much of a fighter.” He took a gulp. “I love you, Zoey Daniels, no matter how you came to this Earth.”
“Breathe,” Ryker’s voice mumbled next to me. He squatted next to my chair, one hand on my thigh, the other on my back.
He stared at me; his expression worked itself into a stone sculpture. “You are dying, and you’re concerned about me getting my magic back?” His face grew red, muscles in his jaw clenching with rage.
A hint of a smile grazed his mouth.
Everything happened in a split second as I barreled toward him. I would protect him somehow. I could not let them hurt him or take him from me. Every moment we shared, every memory flashed through my mind: the time he covered my torso with his own to keep hypothermia from taking me; stitching his wound in the bathroom; the first time he dressed me; the time he undressed me; and the night we talked about how I wanted to follow my dreams to South America and open a refuge for disabled children in orphanages, to relax at a local dive bar, drinking cold beer on a hot humid night. This vision had
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