Dean directed me to drive the car off the park grounds. Instead of taking the direct route into town, he ordered me to turn right onto a course that would circumvent the more populated neighborhoods. In the backseat, he swilled tequila and sang along to the rock song on the radio.
“Hey, princess. Want a drink?” he asked as he rested his arms on the back of the passenger seat. The bottle hit me in the shoulder and I jumped, my reaction making him laugh.
“No? You think you’re better than me, don’t you? You and your rich daddy. At least I’m not a freak.”
He laughed again, and the sound sent shivers up my spine. We passed the lagoon, the moonlight shimmering on the surface of the small body of water, and I remembered Asher had brought me this way on his motorcycle to show me the “Edge of the World.”
I didn’t plan what I did next. My body took over, and my foot stepped harder on the gas. The tires squealed when I took a fast right turn onto the street that led to the viewpoint.
Dean shouted, “Stop the car!”
I did the opposite. I stomped on the gas pedal until it pressed to the floorboard.
The gun was pressed to my head, the cold steel digging into my temple. It was a useless threat since he would kill himself if he shot me, forcing me to lose control of the car. He cursed as trees rushed past, and it registered that he wasn’t wearing his seatbelt.
The car’s headlights picked up the cement barrier at the end of the deserted road. The tires chewed up the distance between us, and I took a deep breath and never took my foot off the gas. The peaceful night splintered as metal screamed and buckled. Glass shattered, and my body was thrown forward against the seatbelt. Then, silence reigned again, and the pungent scent of the gases from my deployed airbag filled the car.
A surge of adrenaline coursed through my body. My ears rang, but as far as I could tell, I felt no worse than before the impact. No movement came from the backseat, and I undid my seatbelt as fast as I could with my left hand. My door wouldn’t budge more than a few inches. Twisting in my seat, I placed both feet on the side panel and shoved, gritting my teeth against the pain. Finally, it opened wide enough for me to slither out.
I was almost free when a hand gripped the back of my sweatshirt. Panicked, I fell back and the door closed on Dean’s arm. He yelped and let me go so abruptly, my momentum carried me to my hands and knees. My broken wrist collapsed under my weight, and I cried out. Dean moved about in the car, and I dragged myself up. Ahead of me the dirt path led to the cliff with trees and thick shrubs to either side. Behind me lay the road I’d driven down. Not a soul in sight in any direction.
Hide, Remy! Get a move on, girl!
Turning, I stumbled onto the dirt path. When I rounded the bend, the edge of the cliff dropped a hundred feet to the ocean below. The path continued to the left along the edge of the cliff, and I followed it a ways before weaving my way into the shrubs and trees. I’d only gone a small distance when a bout of faintness forced me to lean against a tree for support.
My hand went to my side and came away stained with blood. The wounds at my waist had reopened. Sliding to the ground, a small opening appeared in the brambles just big enough for a body to crawl into, and I inched my way in. Collapsing flat on my back, I stared up at the night sky, framed by a bleak canopy of stripped branches and snarled ivy. I couldn’t fight any more.
I give up.
In the distance, footsteps stomped along the path. It seemed so far away as the stars spun above me in dizzying patterns, and my body shut down. Cold, exhausted, beaten.
No more running. No escape. Hopeless, hopeless, hopeless.
“Hey, Remy . . .”
I would die.
“Come out, come out.”
I was dying.
“Give up, princess. Nobody cares about you. This is over.”
I am dead.
“Found you.”
Asher, forgive me. I love you.
C
HAPTER
T
HIRTY
D
ean dragged me out of the brush and dropped me at the cliff’s edge. His sideways glance made his intention clear: He would throw me over the side. His smile scraped along exposed nerves, until one solid, blunt realization cut away from the others.
I don’t want to die.
Some last reserve of strength I didn’t know I had surfaced. I morphed into a wild animal, kicking and clawing at him, as I tried to escape his grasp. Fingernails scraped across his face and came away with skin. A fist bounced off his chin, one heel landed a sharp blow to his thigh, and he cursed. Screams pierced the night air as we struggled.
“Shut up!”
Grabbing my arms, he jerked me up. The top of my head collided with his chin, and he stumbled back, his hands loosening their grip. Freed from his control, I rolled several feet away and rose to my knees.
Dean’s eyes clouded with murderous wrath, and steel flashed in moonlight as he aimed the gun. My eyes squeezed shut, my arms rose to cover my head as if to deflect a bullet, and the gun fired, the shot exploding over and over again in a discordant echo.
“What the . . . Where did you come from?” Dean sputtered.
Asher’s energy burned strong and brilliant. Terrified I was hallucinating, I peered up at him standing over me with a curious half-smile on his beautiful face.
I wanted to shout, “He’s behind you!” Even as the words formed on my lips, Asher collapsed, folding to his knees mere inches from me with pain tightening his features. The heat wave of energy waned, the warmth of it shimmering like a mirage, and I understood.
Asher had stepped in front of the bullet.
His brow furrowed, and his skin paled. When he bowed forward, I caught him against me with one hand, staggering beneath his weight as my broken wrist bent between us. Warm liquid seeped through the back of his shirt, dampening my fingers. His forehead rested against mine, his heart skipping against my chest at its familiar abnormal pace.
“Run,” he begged, in a hoarse whisper. “Remy, run!”
Leave him behind, he meant. Sacrifice his life for mine. As if I could. As if my body would obey such a command. “Never.”
Not without you.
Warm fingers wound through my hair, and Asher’s eyes stared into mine, anchoring me. “I heard you calling to me, love. I’m sorry it took me so long to get here.”
Dean’s angry threats drifted away on the wind as Asher’s energy surrounded me in swirling invitation. “Take it, Remy,” he demanded. “Save yourself.”
“Asher!” He fell sideways to the ground, and I didn’t have the strength to hold him upright. A bullet wound to an immortal should have been all fireworks and no pain. What happened when that immortal had been made more human through bonding with a Healer like me? Asher’s heart stuttered and slowed as he fought to stay conscious long enough to help me heal myself using his power. He could die because of me. Because of Dean.
Rage scorched a vicious, boiling path through me. Without hesitation, I plucked Asher’s energy from the air with his help, taking what he willingly offered, praying it wouldn’t kill him.
We’d only guessed at what happened when we both lost control. We knew his body hungered for the human sensation mine brought when I died. We’d thought mine sought to cure his immortality.
Oh, Asher, we were wrong. So wrong.
The devastating current of Asher’s power met no resistance in my weakened body. The weeks of using Asher’s energy to heal myself, the times he’d demonstrated his power, the way he’d held my ability hostage—none of those moments prepared me for the full force of his energy scorching through me. Suddenly I understood how he’d tempered his strength to protect me, and the steely control it must have taken to fight his instinct to overpower me.
I had no such control, and like a Protector, I absorbed all he had to give, and the implosion of his energy felt like the sun had risen inside my body. Blistering, sweltering pain as my body lashed his power to the exhausted remnants of my own, transforming me. My heart sped up as I became something new—unstoppable, indestructible, invincible.
Immortal.
This is what it felt like to become immortal, I realized.
It shouldn’t have been possible. Only Protectors could become immortal. Still, Asher unknowingly sacrificed his immortality for my mortality, and the mystery of me, of what I was, snapped into focus.
As the seconds ticked by, Dean grew impatient. His flighty eyes gave evidence of his desire to escape. Killing us would be the easiest way to get away clean. No witnesses to hinder his getaway, plus the added bonus of revenge against me for humiliating him.
In an instant, I thought of six ways to kill him. With the power surging through me, I could move as fast as Asher, and Dean’s weaker human body couldn’t stop me. I could snap his neck before he took his next breath, and it took everything I had to remain still, to stop myself from murdering him.
I won’t be him.
My hands flexed at my side and I rose to my feet so quickly, Dean blinked in confusion.
Before me, Asher lay dying. The air buzzed and crackled, electrified by the
hum
of my latent rage toward a man who’d stolen everything from me.
Leave, you fool. Before it’s too late.
Struggling for control, I took a step forward, and Dean’s finger nudged the trigger.
“No,” I said.
A red bolt of lightning struck him, and every bone in his hand snapped with a sickening
crunch
. The weapon dropped from his useless fingers, and Dean clutched his arm in startled agony, his mouth forming a surprised “O.” Cruel eyes landed on me and took in the calm certainty in mine.
“You don’t ever get to hurt me again.”
An incensed howl escaped his throat, and he reached for the gun at his feet. He fired off a shot, shock flitting across his features when I disappeared and reappeared unharmed six feet to the right of where the bullet bounced off a large rock. Frustrated, Dean corrected his aim, the crack of successive shots punching empty air as I sped through the clearing until I stood three feet in front of him, ready to take him down.
In the distance, two sets of feet crunched over rock and loose dirt, moving too fast to be human.
Protectors.
Distracted for a moment, I turned to see Lottie and Gabe Blackwell entering the clearing at full speed. Even as they skidded to a stop, Dean’s arm wrapped around my neck, yanking me backwards, and the gun pressed to my temple. For one instant, habitual fear crept back in and my limbs froze, paralyzed by terror.
“Stay back!” Dean shouted as the Blackwells crept forward. Confusion and fear had his arm tensing around my neck so I strained on my tiptoes against him. Lottie’s face collapsed when she realized her brother lay dying.
My fault, my fault.
I considered flinging myself over the edge of the cliff with Dean to stop him from hurting anyone else.
“Remy, no!” Asher fought to sit up. Intense and low, his voice strummed my raw nerves. “Please, stay. I need you. This isn’t a tragedy,
mo chridhe,
remember?”
Somehow, Asher knew my thoughts, even without his power, and that gave me hope. Behind me, Dean tensed with indecision and fury at finding himself surrounded.
“You must be Dean,” Gabe said.
“Who the hell are you?” Dean snarled.
“I’m the one who’s going to help you get away,” Gabe answered, smoothly.
A light clicked on for Dean. “You’re Protectors.”
Gabe gave an elegant nod.
“Why would you help me?”
“Because you’re going to do something for me.” He flicked a casual glance my way.
Dean barked a laugh as he grasped Gabe’s meaning. “That’s priceless! You want me to kill her for you? Consider it done.”
“No!” Asher shouted. “Gabe, what are you—?”
Gabe didn’t look at his brother. “You misunderstand me, human. See what she’s done to my brother? In love with a human!” he spat. “She’s made him weak, an albatross around our necks.”
Dean shot him a calculating glance. “You want me to kill your brother?”
“It shouldn’t be too difficult. Afterward, you can leave and take that with you.” He gestured toward me with a wave of his hand.
Asher and Lottie both looked shocked, but Gabe ignored them to stare at me.
“The only good Healer is a dead Healer, right, Gabe?” I asked, bitterly.
“I told you where I stood the last time we spoke, Remy,” he answered in the same careless tone.
Two things caught my attention. He called me Remy, and the last time we spoke he’d told me not to forget my training.
Then, Dean said, “You’ve got yourself a deal,” and swung the gun toward Asher, his finger nudging the trigger.
Everyone’s reactions registered in slow motion. Asher’s eyes met mine with a good-bye. Lottie moved to shield her brother. Gabe raced toward Dean, ready to free me because he knew what I’d do. He’d often accused me of forgetting who was Protector and who was Healer in my training. He knew nothing could incite my powers like my desire to protect Asher.
He was right.
The bullet never left the chamber. All movement stopped when a second blast of red lightning slammed into Dean. He screamed when his body absorbed every wound he’d inflicted on me. Twin bullet holes, broken wrist and fingers, burns, bruises—they struck him at once and he released me. Twisting out of his reach, I met his anguished stare emotionlessly.
In mindless terror, he scrambled backwards, far too close to the cliff’s edge. Arms windmilled when his foot met air, and he lost his balance. With Asher’s power flowing through me, I could have stopped it from happening. I could have reached him in time, but I did nothing.
Dean’s face contorted, and his hands clawed air, seeking purchase in a void, and I watched him disappear over the edge, his eerie shout echoing.
In the stark silence that followed, Asher’s labored breathing sounded loud. Recalled to myself, I forced the power down, trying to regain control. I dropped to my knees at an unconscious Asher’s side a second before Gabe. I saw Lottie’s fist swing before Gabe did and caught it in my hand an inch from Gabe’s nose. Both Protectors stared at me in shock, but my attention had snagged on the fact that I couldn’t feel Lottie’s skin against mine. Already I was losing myself. Time was running out.
To Lottie I said, “It’s not what you think. Gabe would never betray Asher. He knew I’d do whatever it took to save Asher. You know that’s true.”
She glanced at her brother, and I dismissed her, releasing her fist to face Gabe who crouched a short distance away. “Thank you.”
Suspicious green eyes studied me. “You’re different, Healer. I’d say you were like us if I didn’t know that was impossible.” He looked scared for the first time when he glanced at his brother. “What’s going on here? Why isn’t Asher healing?”
“He’s dying. He sacrificed his power to help me, but I can save him if you’ll both trust me.”
“Are you strong enough?” Lottie took in the blood seeping through the sweatshirt and the wounds on my face.
“Yes,” I lied without an ounce of guilt.
Gabe wasn’t convinced so easily. “If you die saving him, we lose him just the same.” His soft words made his decision clear. He would not help me if it put my life at risk.
It was easy to lie with Asher’s life hanging in the balance. “I’ll be fine, Gabe.”
My answer convinced Gabe and he went to stand with his sister. Leaning over Asher, I watched until they stood several feet out of reach before I whispered, “Tell Asher I loved him. I’m so sorry.”
“No!” Gabe sprang forward to stop me, but it was too late.
My lips brushed Asher’s, and I loosed his power with a sigh, the vines of our energy spreading and unfurling through his body as I healed him. His power had blended with mine until the bifocal line separating them had disappeared. Immortality was mine, but I’d never wanted it, especially without Asher at my side.
I knew he’d make it when I felt his mouth moving against mine in a sweet kiss and his arms closing around me. Full, hard lips formed to my softer mouth, and our breath mingled in a relieved sigh. This kiss was different than all the others. I’d always wanted to kiss him like this, without one of us having to worry about staying in control. When my fingers traced his face, I knew he felt me. Then my body took over, and I let it happen without a fight.
To save him, I made him immortal again. My life was the cost we’d both pay when my body absorbed his wound on top of the injuries I already had.
He jerked in my arms.
Too late, love. Don’t hate me.
His injury cut through me, and he transformed once more into the powerful one, the immortal one. As I’d known they would, his Protector instincts took over, sensing a dying Healer nearby. Without his volition, his body stole my energy, absorbing it. This was the one thing he’d feared most.
Forgive me.
I felt Asher go to war inside himself, battling to stop his body’s reaction. Willing himself to die to save me.