From Burning Ashes (Collector Series #4) (11 page)

“I miss money.” Croygen put his hand to his
heart. “I used to roll around naked on the piles I
inherited
. Those were the days.”

“Wow, I didn’t need that image in my head.” I
rubbed at my temple with exaggeration. It was a complete lie. The
idea of Croygen naked, rolling around on anything, wasn’t a bad
thought at all.

But his statement triggered something in my
memory. “Wait.” I pushed off the table. “That’s right!”

“What?” Ryker’s eyebrows knitted
together.

“Money. I have some.” Excitement bounced me
on my toes. “Daniel opened an account for me. I’m also his
beneficiary if anything happened to him.”

“Like how much are we talking about here?”
Croygen’s face lit up like a Christmas tree, but Ryker’s scowl grew
more dominant. It appeared so slight I was sure I imagined it, but
I could swear I saw his tattoo flicker.

“I don’t know, but it had to be quite a bit
to cover Lexie’s medical bills and for us to live on.”

“Where is it?” Croygen leaned forward, his
eyes dancing with dollar signs.

“The one he opened for me?” I glanced at
Ryker. “Bellevue.” It was in the bank we found the files and video
Daniel had left for me. “The one I’m a beneficiary of is probably
through a trust fund and will have to go through a lawyer or
something.”

“Then what are we waiting for? Bellevue, here
we come.”

“No.” Ryker’s response was immediate and
ardent.

“What?” Croygen’s head swung to the Wanderer.
“Why the hell not?”

“Because.” Ryker rolled his jaw, his
expression severe.

“There better be more to it than ‘because’
for not getting
money
,” Croygen replied.

“Because I said so.”

I pinched my lips together. “Because
you
said so?”

Ryker’s gaze sprang to mine like a leopard,
ready to attack. “Yes.”

“You are not in charge here.” I slammed my
palms on the table. “Nor are you the boss of me.”

“Here we go again. Mommy and Daddy are
fighting.” Sprig jumped off my shoulder, crawling down to the
table. “Retreat! Retreat!”

Ryker took no notice of Sprig. He placed his
hands on the table, inclining forward, matching my pose. “Someone
needs to be, especially when you are not thinking with your
head.”

“I think with my head.” Croygen grinned.

“But neither of your heads actually holds a
brain,” Sprig retorted. Sprig and Croygen began to quarrel back and
forth, but I ignored them and focused on Ryker as we fought for
dominance in a stare-down.

“I’m going to retrieve the money, and I am
going to get Annabeth,” I seethed. “You can either help or get out
of my way.”

“Then go.” Ryker folded his arms,
straightening.

This was a trick.

“But this time I won’t follow you back to
DMG.” His nose flared. “Because if you think they aren’t still
watching that place, waiting for you, then you’re a fool.”

Muscles along my back strained, and I could
feel anger growing. I hated when he was right. Especially now.

“I know you want to go after Annabeth. I know
you want to get your money.” His voice softened and his shoulders
dipped down, relaxing his stalwart stance. “But we are being hunted
by a lot of smart, powerful people. DMG and Vadik will have groups
scouring Seattle for us. They will not leave a stone unturned. They
will expect us to go searching for resources or try to retrieve
people we care about. We can’t make a move without a solid
plan.”

I grunted. I
really
detested when he
made sense. It was so unlike me to act without thinking. I had
always been levelheaded and smart. Lately I felt my emotions had
taken over. My heart, finally let out of its protected box, threw
itself around like a whore. Damn feelings.

“Okay.” I breathed out through my teeth.

“What?” Croygen spurted. “You mean we’re not
recovering the money?”

“No.” My jaw wanted to lock down at the next
part. “He’s right.”

“But it’s
money
,” Croygen whined.

“We’re still getting dinner?” Sprig sat at
the edge of the table. “Or breakfast…lunch…a snack…dessert. I’m
really fine with any of them.”

My regard ran from Sprig to Croygen. “You two
really are alike.”

“What?” both exclaimed in unison, flailing
their arms, eyes wide.

I burst into laughter watching them look at
each other, shrugging their shoulders at the same time.

Lexie groaned in her sleep, pulling my
attention, watching the boney figure engulfed by the blanket.

Sighing, I turned back to the guys. “Okay. No
money and no powers mean we need to steal the old-fashioned way.”
Food and water were necessities and not something we could go
without. Clothes were also important. All of us, except Amara, were
still in bloodstained scrubs. Quite noticeable.

“You mean the tedious human way?” Croygen
moved away from Sprig and came toward me.

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“Everything humans do is tedious.” Amara’s
voice came from behind me. My back muscles automatically clenched.
I didn’t bother to turn around. “What are you guys planning?” She
walked up to Ryker, holding a large bottle of water and a bundle of
bananas.

“What is that?” Sprig pointed to the yellow
fruit. “You, purple tart, you got bananas? They taste and look like
dwarf droppings. You did it on purpose, didn’t you?”

We all knew she did it intentionally, but the
potassium would be good for Lexie.

Amara winked at Sprig. “Oh, you don’t like
bananas? I totally forgot.”

“She’s trying to poison me.” Sprig stood on
his hind legs.

“Sprig, calm down,” I exclaimed.

“Not with those things in the room. They will
assassinate me in my sleep. Wrap their slimy peels around my neck
and force me to eat them.”

“What if they were coated in honey?”

“You have honey?”

“No.”

“Ahhh, why, cruel world? Why?” He flopped on
his back. “Is this the way I’m leaving this world? Death by
banana?”

“One could only hope.” Croygen grabbed one of
the bananas and unpeeled it, tossing the skin onto Sprig as he
stuffed the banana into his mouth. “Yum, so good.”

“Ahhhhhhh!” Sprig scrambled out from under
the skin.

“Croygen, really?” I shoved my hands on my
hips. He only smiled at my raised eyebrow. “It’s like having two
five-year-olds.”

“He started it!” Sprig stuck his tongue out
at the pirate.

“I started it? You did, gerbil.”

“Did not.”

“Did too.”

“Both of you stop it,” Ryker shouted.
“Now!”

“Uh-oh. Daddy just put his foot down.”
Croygen crossed his arms, sitting back on the desk.

“I’m about to put my foot up your ass,” Ryker
threatened, rotating his head back to Amara. “And to answer your
question, we are figuring out how to get more supplies.”

“I’ll go with you.” She placed her hand on
Ryker’s bicep. “You and I always made a good team.”

Breathe. Breathe. Breathe
, I chanted
to myself. “No,” I snarled. “I’m going.”

“But you guys said you don’t have your
powers. I do.” She nodded at Croygen and me with an impish smile.
“Let them stay behind together. I think they want some alone time
anyway.”

“Hell. No,” Ryker growled, his expression
hard. “Zoey’s the best thief even without magic.”

“I’m going,” I affirmed. Since Lexie was
still asleep, I was all right with leaving her for an hour or two.
The argument switched to who would go with me.

Ryker and I were firmly against Amara, so she
was forced to stay back. Since I didn’t trust her alone with Lexie
for a moment, Croygen begrudgingly accepted his role as babysitter.
Ryker remained terrified to be alone with me, but stated adamantly
he would not let me go out into the night by myself.

“She won’t be alone. She has me.” Sprig ran
for me.

“Sprig, stay here. We’ll be back soon.”

“Oh, masturbating garden gnomes. If there is
food involved, I’m going.”

“Masturbating garden gnomes?” My eyebrows
lifted.

“Not something you want to see.”

I could see both Ryker and Croygen cringe in
agreement. “Now you have me curious.”

Ryker motioned me to the door. “I promise
you, you don’t want to know. You will never look at a vegetable the
same way again.”

I groaned.

“Told you.” Ryker smirked and held the door
open for me. Even with his lightened mood, I could see the tension
behind his eyes and in his shoulders. Fighting the desire to hurt
me was probably worse than I could imagine. But he stayed at my
side.

Sprig settled on my shoulder, gripping my
hair, now back to its original brown color. I missed the purple,
but with Amara here, I wouldn’t dye it the same as hers again.

“Croygen.” I turned back to the pirate and
nodded at Lexie. “Guard her with your life.”

His expression flushed solemn in a beat, his
voice deep. “I will.”

I knew then there was no one in the world my
little sister was safer with. If you had told me in Peru not only
would I see my sister again, but I would be entrusting her life
without question to Croygen, I would have checked myself into an
institution. But here I was. Not only did I trust my life with him,
but I knew he would protect mine and Ryker’s, obligation or
not.

Life was seriously twisted.

I gave Lexie one last look then disappeared
through the door and followed Ryker into the night, where
everything hunted me.

Including him.

The Target store downtown was operating
again, providing people with most of the essentials they lost in
the storm but at gouging prices. Leave it to “the Man” to profit
from the suffering, though it was nice to have so many things all
in one place again. The security guards were always there,
protecting the closed store from the gangs and the desperate.
Ryker, Sprig, and I got in through the ventilation on the roof,
moving through the ceiling ducts to the breakroom. The door was
locked, but it didn’t take me long to open it.

“You still have it,” Ryker said, waving me
in.

“Easy.” I brushed my hands together with a
shrug.

“No. What would be easy is if we could have
jumped in here.”

“Yeah, that would have been nice.” I missed
that power in particular, and I only had it for a brief moment.
Ryker finally got most of his back and still couldn’t use them.

We gathered food and water with backpacks we
“borrowed.” Next on our list were toiletry items, like
toothbrushes, toothpaste, and soap.
Oh boy, here’s to baby wipe
“baths” again
. Then we moved to the clothing department.

“Should I feel bad I actually have money out
there and am still sneaking in in the middle of the night robbing
them blind?” I picked up a pair of soft, stretchy, skinny jeans and
held them up to me.

“They will be just fine without your money. I
promise.” Ryker shredded off the scrub shirt and grabbed a black
T-shirt. I watched him through my lashes, heat spiking up the back
of my neck. No one should be that ripped. His body was the stuff of
legends. Even more so because of his scars, which told a story of
what he had been through in his life.
I caused some of
those
. My eyes would not move away from him. I watched his
tattoo ripple under his muscles as he slid his arms into the
shirt.

He looked up; our eyes caught in the mirror.
He stopped. Both of us went still as we stared at each other. His
gaze became intense, his white eyes burning into my soul. My heart
thumped, thinning my breath.

A flicker of light sparked in his eyes and
down his neck, sucking the air from the room.
It’s back.
I
had seen it earlier
,
a good sign. Maybe our powers would
eventually return. I also knew what the flickering meant.

Love or hate.

Kill or fuck.

It could be either, and in that moment I
almost didn’t care. All I could feel was my skin tingling
everywhere with need. I just wanted him to touch me. To feel his
hands on my body.

“
Bhean?
” Sprig exclaimed. I snapped my
eyes away from Ryker back to the sprite on a shelf in the kids’
section. I gulped in air, my lungs twitching. When I peered back at
Ryker, the shirt was on, and he was walking away. The moment was
gone.

“Yes?” I took another gulp of air and walked
over to Sprig.

“Look at this bear’s backpack. I have to have
it!” He held up the toy, and I chuckled.

“Winnie the Pooh.” A smile covered my mouth.
The iconic bear had a honey jar-shaped backpack strapped to it.
“Yes, you two have a lot in common. He loves his honey too.”

“Winnie the poo? Like in poop?”

“Pooh.”

“Poo. That’s what I said.” Sprig yanked at
the backpack straps. “Strange name. Did he poop a lot or something?
I mean, honey can do that to you sometimes.” He banged the bear’s
head against the wood. “Take it off, Mr. Poo. It’s mine.
Mine!
”