Ryan stared down at her with disdain.
“Because I don't want to deal with you in Papilio. It's a new order.”
Beth didn't ask him, just held his eyes in a contemplative glare.
“No? You won't ask? Well, mine—of course.”
He smiled.
“I was always meant to be leader, and I've worked these past five years for the revenge I needed for true joy, Beth.”
The use of her name was not intimate.
It was frightening.
Ryan's eyes flicked to Jeb and Jacky. “Stand down, or I'll stabilize you into forever.”
“You,” His eyes burned holes through her. “I know where you're going.”
Beth didn't ask but gave solemn eyes to Jeb instead. His face was a mask of hate and anger—not for her, but for his inability to protect her.
She clamped down on her emotions.
“Where?” Beth ground out.
“Sector One.”
Beth burst from her position and ran in the opposite direction.
Ryan easily caught her around the waist, tearing her into the bathroom. He locked the door and forced her face to look into the reflection, his fingers biting into her chin to keep it stationary.
His image smiled at her.
Her dark looks contrasted with his light. Whoever said evil was dark had never danced with the devil.
She heard the door crack with the weight of a massive shoulder being thrown against it.
Jeb.
A wave of heat consumed them.
Then they were gone.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Beth was not fully healed, hurtling through the pathway with Ryan clamped onto her like a second skin.
Upon landing, the first thing Ryan would do was subdue her.
That was what Beth would have done to control another. That was what they had been trained to do.
Beth knew how to subdue others without killing them.
Her last thought before they burst out of the pathway in a free fall was the struggle she would have in getting away from Ryan.
Ryan had been in charge of the sector jump, but Beth was the strongest jumper they had, and her worry had translated into a more specific location of her choice.
She had the advantage of surprise.
The water slapped her face hard as she landed.
Beth ignored the pain and dove deeper, having sucked the air from the atmosphere as she fell.
Beth came up for air and immediately began swimming away from Ryan.
She moved true—hard, then she turned over and heaved backward.
Ryan was approaching fast behind her.
His reach was longer.
Beth didn't panic; she had never been prone to that.
Instead, her arms sliced the water as she flicked her eyes behind her, finding the shore easily.
It was a quarter kilometer away.
Doable.
Ryan trained his eyes on her while he attacked the water that lay between them.
He ate the distance as she moved backward.
Ryan began to gain, only two body lengths away from her.
She poured on the speed, her arms smooth propellers in the water, churning her backward.
Beth hadn’t been wearing shoes when Ryan had taken her, and that helped. Ryan’s combat boots were like lead weights that slowed him.
Beth felt something solid underneath her back and stabbed soft sand with arms that shook with fatigue and spent adrenaline.
She scuttled backward and turned to her hands and knees then jumped to a standing position.
Her sodden clothes added unacceptable weight.
Beth ran forward, staggering on the sand dune that led to the crest of the hill. Sweeping sea grass, a solid wave of bleached green, whispered in the slight breeze off the shore.
She heard splashing behind her and drove harder toward the top of the hill.
It wasn't a Reflective sector, most materials were banned. But she needed only the smallest thing to jump.
Anywhere but here. If she found a reflection small enough, Ryan wouldn't be able to follow her.
Beth's eyes scanned the environment: grass, sand, sky… no buildings, no glass—certainly no mirrors.
She couldn't go back to use the water—Ryan was behind her.
Beth picked up speed, moving into a sprint, arms jaggedly pumping by her side in a brutal rhythm as she made the top of the hill, only to grind to an abrupt halt against a wide muscular chest.
The air plowed out of her, and she made an oofh sound.
Beth would've bounced off had it not been for the hand that circled her forearm, gripping it to steady her.
Dark eyes, as brown as her own, regarded her with guarded amusement, and Beth balked. Reflectives knew every species and sub who resided in all the explored sectors. She found herself kissing distance from the most dangerous one.
Bloodling.
The fangs gave him away.
She could hear Ryan's breath as he barreled up behind her.
Beth remained quiet. She knew what awaited her at Ryan’s hands.
She tried to take the new threat in stride.
After all, the male bloodling had not killed her.
Yet.
“Take your hands off my prisoner, bloodling.”
Ryan's voice sounded so sure.
The bloodling studied Beth, his dark eyes roving each part of her face, moving down to her soaked clothes.
Beth realized every part of her body was on full display before him. Despite the dire circumstances, Beth found she could still be embarrassed.
His eyes snapped to hers. “Why are you uncomfortable that I look at you.”
Oh, Principle.
Before she could answer, his eyes narrowed, black brows falling over his eyes.
“Who has put these marks on your face?” His suspicious face swung to Ryan behind her.
“She doesn't appear to be a prisoner by choice, Lance Ryan of Sector Ten.”
Silence.
“She is payment to Dimitri.”
Payment?
More silence.
“What is your business here, my tiny frog?”
The bloodling's face was hard but his eyes held a tender edge as he regarded her.
Frog?
Beth looked at the silent faces of other bloodlings, one of several demographics on Sector One.
They were all terrifying. One was known for its brutality. Ryan’s need for payment could only mean one thing: he had been jumping there to entering in illicit sports, barbaric bribes… any multitude of things.
Beth shored up her confidence, but he could scent her anxiety, his nostrils flaring, his eyes fast on her face.
“I… Ryan claims that my home world is in… upheaval.” Beth simply didn't know how much of what Ryan had said was true. The odds of it being all lies wasn't looking good.
“What does Papilio have to do with your presence here?”
Tell the truth. He’ll scent a lie. All bloodlings could.
“I was on a jump, and it went badly.”
The understatement of that was profound. Saying less was definitely more.
His eyes roamed the wounds of her face, the latest of which Ryan had put there.
“I smell his abuse on your face,” the bloodling said decisively.
He leaned forward and Beth tensed.
“I will not harm you.”
His nose skimmed her face, stopping at each wound, leaving none without his attentions.
When he finished, his face was like stone as it turned to Ryan.
“Leave.”
Beth could hear the pause, feel it.
“No, she is my prisoner to do with as I want. I was hunting her down when you bloodlings got in the way. This is Sector Ten business.”
Bullshit.
“Tiny frog,” the bloodling began.
“I am Reflective Beth Jasper,” Beth replied. She didn’t like or understand the amphibian nickname, but
it made her uncomfortable.
Hades, but it all does.
“Jasper, like the stone?” His eyes held warmth as they touched her face, and Beth felt well, whole.
She gazed into those dark pools and everything became calm, clearer. “Yes,” she said, her mind growing fuzzy as she gazed into his eyes.
“Jasper!” pain split into her head, and she felt herself being pulled against the bloodling male.
“He had you in thrall that fast, mongrel.”
“Who do you call ‘mongrel,’ hopper?” The bloodling's response was immediate.
Ryan was quiet.
Beth's head tipped back, and the bloodling, who was close to Jeb's size, stroked the damp hair off her forehead.
“Shhh, Beth Jasper.”
Her mind told her to struggle out of his hold, to run from them all.
Then a vague instinctive response unfurled deep within Beth in answer to his touch.
That quickly, she knew what foreign blood she held.
It was not just any species in Sector One—but bloodling.
Still, in her heart, Beth was Reflective.
She would plan her future, not be taken in the ever-changing current between two sectors—and two males.
She was capable of great calculation.
Beth tentatively touched the pale-gray skin of the bloodling's neck; it was all she could reach.
Color bled across his cheekbones. Dark-ebony hair was tied at his nape, and it fell forward as he leaned to hear what she was going to say.
Beth rose on tiptoes, her palms on his chest for balance.
“Save me from him, bloodling. Don't let him have me.”
His nostrils flared as his pupils dilated in response.
“Never, blood of my blood,” he replied.
“Jasper—no!” Ryan yelled.
Beth turned in the arms of her new captor, staring Ryan down as bloodlings strolled casually toward him.
There was no pity left in Beth, only survival.
She would do what she must.
*
Jeb was frantic as fuck.
That prick Ryan had hurt Beth and taken her to Sector One. He could taste the tailwind. As if I had any doubt.
He kicked the broken shards he'd made of the door, and they skittered across the cheap floor covering.
He'd seen Beth’s eyes as Ryan's forearm lay pressed against her throat.
Jeb was haunted by the fresh memory of her wide eyes.
He would not have to be if he could just get to Sector One. His gaze went to Jacky.
“We need to go.”
Jacky was clearly shocked. “I'm not going anywhere with you crazy-ass loons!”
Jeb marched over to Jacky, his pulse a deep abiding pain in his throat.
“Listen and listen carefully.”
His eyes bore down on the Three teen. Jeb experienced a minor flicker of guilt, knowing how he would need to emotionally hack away at the boy.
But his soul mate was in danger.
Jeb's gut clenched at the thought of her in the tender care of that psychotic, Ryan.
Jacky's mouth clamped shut.
“Your parents are dead.”
Jacky's brows rose. “Really? Ya think? ’Cause I was totally there, dude. And it sucked ass.”
Jeb's eyes closed. He counted to ten.
Opening them again, he plowed forward, “You have no other guardianship, so it falls to me. My soul mate has been taken by a man that was tortured on Sector One for his transgression against her.”
Jacky's face fell. He was beginning to understand the magnitude of the situation. “Holy crap.”
“Yes,” Jeb said in a terse clip, hoping he'd reach him with reason.
“It is the most dangerous sector of the thirteen. I can't take you there. We'll have to return to Papilio…”
“That's now fucked up?” Jacky asked, the disbelief plain on his face.
Jeb let out the pent-up frustration in an explosive breath.
“Yes.”
“Well, as I see it, if that assjack, Ryan?” Jeb nodded, and he continued, “If Ryan was telling the truth, then anything could be happening there.”
“I will find Kennet and Calvin, and they can help me retrieve Beth.”
“If ya can.”
Jeb's fists clenched.
“Listen—Merrick, you're a bad-ass Reflective and all, but Ryan handed you your ass with that gun…”
“Stabilizer.”
His eyes sailed upward in a hard roll. “Whatever. And your girlfriend isn't without skills. Just in case you hadn't noticed.”
Jeb scrubbed his face. “I don't have time to defend the indefensible. Ryan took me by surprise. I've never had a fellow Reflective turn.” Jeb scowled.
“Beth is not my girlfriend.”
“She's something.”
“She is my soul mate.”
“How does that work?” Jacky asked.
“I don't have the time…”
“I can't help unless I know the why.”
Merrick caught a disbelieving bark as it escaped him, and it sounded as if he were choking. “You're not going to help. I will sequester you from harm in Papilio, collect reinforcements, and rescue Beth.”
Jacky folded his arms. “You think you got it all figured out, but I know ya don't.”
Jeb clenched his jaw.
“Let's go.”
“No. Piss off.”
Jeb moved toward him.
“I'd rather take my chances on Earth, than deal with all your stupid shit.”
Jeb's mind worked. He was honor bound to take the boy, who had been orphaned in part because of their interference.
He felt a stab of shame.
It didn't stop him from doing what he must.
“What of Madeline?”
The Three teen, who had just seen the death of his parents and brother within a year of one another, lost the bravado that had been the glue keeping his emotions together.
“No,” Jacky said, his face crumpling.
“She might not be safe in Papilio,” Jeb pressed.
Jacky's hate-filled eyes latched onto Jeb.
“You bastard.”
Jeb couldn't deny the truth. “Yes.”
He stared at Jeb a moment more.
“Fine. Let's go.”
They walked to the bathroom, where the mirror captured their faces: Jeb's set in stone, the boy's resolved.
Jeb let the mirror, the purest conduit of transfer, guide them. A locator wasn't necessary.
They would be home to Papilio shortly.
Or whatever was left of it.
*
Jumping to Jeb's home world was usually akin to slipping on a comfortable pair of shoes.
Not this time.
He landed in the wood that bordered the vineyards and the greater quadrant of Barringer.
He and Jacky lay on the mossy floor of the wood, catching their breath. Jeb's eyes adjusted to the gloom, his heart hammering against Jacky's back.
“Let go of me.”
Jeb released him, and Jacky turned and stood.
Jeb's breath caught in his throat as he also stood and got a hard look at Jacky.
It was true then—all of it.
“What the hell is your problem?” Jacky asked.
“It has been five years.”
“Yeah? That's what numb nuts said.”
Jacky threw up his arms into the air and laughed. “Like his traitorous ass can be trusted.”
His eyes narrowed at Jeb's silence.
“Why are you lookinʼ at me like that?”
“You'll see when we get to my place.”
Jacky's eyes narrowed. “I don't like secrets, Merrick.”
Jeb turned. “Let's just see if my domicile is secure, and we can go over our… options from there.”
Jacky stewed. He seemed to come to terms with how limited his options were. He basically had none. “Eff—fine.”
They began walking toward town. Jeb
stuck to the shadows, and Jacky followed him closely.
Twice, he fell down and swore. “I'm graceless! What the hell…?”
“Quiet.”
Another curse, then trampling after Jeb again.
When Jeb was finally within sight of his dwelling his stomach dropped.
Every window bore automatic bars, the main entrance had a steel-reinforced secondary door, and the roof had sprouted spikes through the thatching.
Jacky's mouth was agape. “What is this? Armageddon?”
“An apt analogy,” Jeb replied dryly.
“How do we get in? It's a damn fortress!”
Jeb lifted his thumb.
“Ah, yeah, that's right—you guys have pulse tech like us.”
Not exactly like.
Jeb was cautious, creeping along the building's shadows, not liking the absolute silence.
“This is creepy.”
Jeb agreed.
Finally, he came to the back entrance and slid his thumb into the pocket that housed the thumbprint-reader pad.
The door whispered open, and they slipped inside. When it closed behind him, Jeb skirted the elevator, taking the stairwell like a man being chased by the devil himself.
He heard Jacky follow him, not as smoothly as before, but that was to be expected.
After he’d placed his thumbprint to another pulse reader, his dwelling door opened.
Five cycles of dust greeted Jeb. The staleness of an uninhabited dwelling that was empty of life surrounded him like a decomposing cocoon as Jacky entered at his heels.
“Go to the cleansing room and look in the mirror. Not the short one above the sink, but the full-length one that hangs behind the door.”
“What? Why?” Jacky asked, slightly out of breath.
“It's easier.”
“You are so screwed up.” He stomped off.
But Jeb's mind was on Beth.
He barely heard the hoarse, surprised shout from the cleansing room.
Jacky was just suddenly there.
“Explain this,” Jacky said, running a palm over the surface of his body.
“It's been five years,” Jeb repeated, already walking to his bed to cram gear into his pack. He needed to find Calvin and Kennet—like yesterday.
“Merrick.”
Jeb turned.
“Tell me why I look like a guy now.”
Jeb's eyebrows jumped. “You need me to tell you that you're clearly male?”
Jacky sighed. “You're humor sucks donkey dick. Tell me why I was almost thirteen thirty minutes ago, and now I'm…”
“Nearly eighteen.”
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