Adaptive: A Young Adult Dystopian Romance (The Elite Trials Book 2) Read online

  His brows lowered. “I did not.”

  “You did! I saw her hit the ground. I saw her blood.” My palms began to sweat as I tried not to remember what she’d looked like.

  “You saw a shoulder wound, nothing else. I had to stop her from putting a bullet in your head, Lune!” His voice rose in anger.

  So did mine. “You’re lying! This isn’t the first time you’ve murdered someone who stood in your way. When I’ve lived out my usefulness, will you kill me next?”

  He bared his teeth. “Don’t tempt me. And I’m not lying. I only kill when I have no other choice.” I wanted to scream at the casual way he said it, like killing another human being was a natural part of life. He must have read something in my expression because he added confidently, “You won’t shoot.”

  My nostrils flared. “Oh?” I cocked the hammer and sighted down the barrel. “Wanna bet?”

  For a split second, alarm shone in his eyes. Then his face blanked. And he charged. I had one painfully clear moment of indecision. To shoot or not to shoot. But if I fought like him, would I become him? Cold, callous. A monster. Exactly what Renold wanted. My instincts were to pull the trigger, end the threat. But what if I was wrong about him? What if he hadn’t killed Yukiko?

  I blinked and the moment passed. I made a new decision. With only a handful of feet between us, my aim shifted and I squeezed the trigger. The shot knocked him back, but he didn’t fall. I wasn’t sure who was more shocked, him or me, as he staggered to a halt within reaching distance. But he didn’t lunge for me. Or the gun. Instead, he stared down at himself and slowly peeled back the right side of his coat, exposing his shoulder. There, a dark red stain spread over his shirt.

  His mouth soundlessly opened and closed. Then, “You . . . you shot me.”

  I swallowed hard, trying not to gape at the blood or I’d throw up. I made myself shrug and say, “It’s just a shoulder wound.”

  Disbelief colored his face. The emotion remained fixed in place as he looked me up and down several times. And then he did something I’d never heard Ryker Jones do before. He laughed. A real laugh. “You,” he wheezed, then grunted in pain, “really have changed.”

  My brows lifted. “You do realize I’ve shot at you before, right?”

  “Yeah, but this time you thought it through first. And won,” he said, gesturing at the gun still pointed at him. Did I detect admiration in his voice?

  Now probably wasn’t the time to tell him I had terrible aim with a gun.

  Instead, I whispered, “You’re insane.”

  He shook his head and huffed a laugh. “That makes two of us.”

  Were Ryker and I having a moment? Like some bonding thing where sworn enemies discovered they had something in common and . . . Ah crap. The last memories I had of our time together before we’d been separated chose to click into place right then. I remembered patching him up after he’d risked his life for me, I remembered Bear. Bear. Oh no. Had the guards killed him? I remembered Yukiko tackling me to the snow when I’d swiped at her with my dagger. Well, that explained why she hadn’t liked me at first. I remembered the panic, the fear that Ryker was dead. In our final moments together, I had considered him my friend.

  And I remembered the last words he had said to me.

  The day you were kidnapped, I was there too.

  I grimaced as the needle slid through Ryker’s flesh.

  “This is definitely bringing back memories,” I muttered, finishing the last stitch. At least I didn’t want to stab his eyes out this time. Maybe a little, for Yukiko’s sake. But resisting the urge was easier now, like the new me had tempered the old somehow, granting me more control of my reactive body.

  Ryker frowned. “How so?”

  “You don’t recall the time I stitched you up when you should have been dead?”

  “Oh. That. The memories are hazy. Too much blood loss or something.”

  I rolled my eyes. “That’s putting it mildly. So you probably don’t remember what you said to me either.” I chewed on the inside of my cheek, wondering if I should even bring it up again. But now that my memories were back, I wanted to fill in the many gaps of my sordid past. Needed to make sense of it and figure out once and for all who were allies . . . and who were enemies.

  When Ryker shook his head, I shoved caution aside and blurted, “You said you were there. The day I was kidnapped. That you tried to stop Bren from going to the lake. What were you doing there? Why don’t I remember seeing you?”

  As I fixed a bandage over his wound, I felt his muscles tighten. I paused. Maybe he hadn’t meant to disclose that information to me. Oops.

  I leveled him with a look. “You might as well just tell me. I’m not in the dark anymore about what’s been happening around here. I know about the human trafficking and the mutated abilities. I know that you’re a Sensor like Bren. Were you forced to kidnap kids too?”

  His face hardened. For a second, I wondered if he’d kill me for possessing such information. Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut, but it was too late. I narrowed my eyes in return, waiting for his reply. Finally, just as my eyes began to water from holding his intense gaze, he looked down. I let out a slow breath. Staring contest challenge: two points for me, none for Ryker.

  “I was born into it,” he began, his words clipped as if saying them was the last thing he wanted to do. “The Recruiter Clan. Asheville. They were my home up until two years ago. When Bren came along, things changed. I saw his innocence, something I’d never known, and when I saw it destroyed, piece by piece . . . I tried to stop him.”

  He shifted uncomfortably, rearranging his shirt to cover the bandage. “Since I was old enough to walk, I’ve been taught to listen but not be seen. It’s why you never saw me at that lake. It’s why you didn’t see me in Tatum City until I wanted you to. I know many things, things I’m not supposed to, so I’ve made a few enemies over the years. It’s why I was handed over to Renold who gladly took me in for my skills. If it weren’t for him, I’d be long dead, so I owe him my loyalty.”

  So many things about Ryker made sense now. He had only been nine or ten when I was kidnapped that day at the lake. I didn’t want to feel kinship toward him, but I sort of did. He had tried to preserve innocence the way I had with Asher and Iris. There was only one thing that troubled me. “Why do you remember me from that day, but Bren didn’t?”

  His face cleared of emotion as he looked me in the eye and said, “He tries to forget, that’s why. The memories are too painful.” With that, he stood, wincing as he slowly rotated his shoulder. “Story time’s over. We need to find Bren if he’s still out here. If not, we better head back to Tatum City and explain what happened to us.”

  Even after everything he said, I still had so many questions. I needed to know one more thing before we continued on. “Ryker, what do you know of the place you were imprisoned in for the last couple months?”

  He shrugged, then grunted, pressing a hand to his injury. “The guards weren’t very chatty. They enjoyed interrogating me though.”

  A lump formed in my throat that felt a lot like guilt. I had been treated like royalty in comparison, completely oblivious that Ryker was locked away. Or even existed, for that matter. Did this mean he had no clue that I’d found Bren? That Tatum City’s Elite Guardian was a spy? But I knew, which was probably why Yukiko had been willing to kill me. To protect those she cared about. At the same time, she’d been crying. For me.

  Stars, I really screwed things up.

  I swallowed past the ache. “Did they . . . did they torture you?”

  “No, not physically. They used this serum though—”

  Ding.

  Suddenly, his expression darkened. “Lune, what’s that?”

  “What?” I followed his gaze to my front pants pocket. My handheld! I couldn’t believe it still worked this far away. Maybe Jaxon was trying to reach me. At the realization that I hadn’t said goodbye to him or Bells or Dominic, that they’d probably been told I was a trait
or, my heart sank. I pulled the device out. “It’s for messaging. I’m sure they’re just wondering if—”

  Without warning, Ryker lunged at me. I shot to my feet, but before I could do anything else, he snatched up my handheld and threw it to the ground. “Hey,” I protested, bending to pick it up. He was faster. The heel of his boot came down on the device with a sickening crunch. I stared at the splintered wreckage, first in shock, then sadness as I remembered Bren’s final message to me. I would never get to read it again. Next came hurt and anger. My hands curled into fists as I yelled, “What did you do that for?”

  He was in my face now, glaring daggers. “It can track our location. Either you’re ignorant or working for them. Which is it?”

  My mouth opened, but I was completely speechless. What was I supposed to say to that?

  “Answers. Now,” he barked. When I remained mute, his hands fell on me, searching, grasping. I hissed and knocked them away, but he yanked me close with that viselike grip of his. Warm breath gusted over my face as he said, “Did they chip you? Are you chipped?”

  “Let her go,” a new voice growled, low in warning. We both froze at the sound of a gun cocking.

  But the voice. That voice.

  I slowly turned my head and there stood Bren.

  A very angry Bren. The furious look in his eyes was solely trained on Ryker who hadn’t released me yet. I drank in the sight of him, for a moment forgetting the danger I was in. He was alive, and I didn’t see him hauling along a string of kidnapped children. I could still stop him. I could save him.

  “Bren,” Ryker said calmly, too calmly, and finally let go of my coat. He didn’t step away though. “I’m surprised to see you still out here and not safely tucked inside Tatum City. What are the odds that you’re here, at the very spot that was drawn on a map for me to find? You wouldn’t happen to be double-crossing the Supreme Elite, would you?”

  My heart skipped a beat at the bold accusation. Bren’s face gave nothing away. He took a step closer, but didn’t lower his gun. “And why would you think that?”

  “Because you’ve double-crossed before. And because I think your loyalties have recently shifted,” he said, sliding me a glance. It was barely there, but I saw a corner of Bren’s mouth twitch. Recalling what Ryker had revealed about his past, how he was trained to notice things, my stomach flipped. What was he up to? I thought he’d wanted to make amends with Bren, help him complete his mission. I was thrown for a loop once more at his next words. “How’s Isabella?”

  Bren stilled. So still that my eyes widened in alarm. Crap. I was missing something here. He lowered his gun, then stuck it into the waistband of his pants as he sauntered even closer. The way he walked, as if approaching trapped prey, put me on edge. When he was a yard away, he simply said, “Don’t ever say my sister’s name again,” then unleashed himself. His fist plowed into Ryker’s jaw, sending the shorter man reeling.

  I sucked in a gasp as he did it again. And again. With a fury I’d never seen before. “Bren,” I shouted, springing into action. If he kept this up, he would kill Ryker. I couldn’t let him for so many reasons, the greatest being that I knew he’d never forgive himself. “Bren, stop!” I threw myself between them, knowing the move was stupid, knowing he wasn’t in his right mind, but it was the only way.

  His fist struck my cheek.

  The pain was instant, spreading over the entire left side of my face as I fell back into Ryker. The salty taste of blood filled my mouth where I’d bitten my tongue. Everything stopped then. There was only pain and Bren’s expression. They were one and the same in that moment. The horror bleeding onto his face hurt to watch. I reached a hand out in reassurance, wanting him to know that it was okay, but was distracted by the feel of Ryker’s gun slipping free of my waistband.

  No, I silently screamed as Ryker pushed me aside and raised the weapon. I could do nothing, nothing as the gun whipped through the air, bludgeoning Bren’s skull. I managed to yell Bren’s name as his eyes rolled upward and he crumpled to the ground, but I made a grave mistake. I lunged for him and not Ryker. The cock of the gun was loud in my ears as I pressed shaking fingers to the pulse at Bren’s neck.

  “I’m sorry, Lune. I was hoping for a different outcome than this,” Ryker said, then ordered me to get up.

  My lips quivered, in anger and hatred. I wanted to rip his heart out for this betrayal. “You can stick that fake apology up your—”

  Cold steel pressed against the back of my head. “Up. Now.”

  I did, never taking my eyes off Bren, even when Ryker forced me to stand in front of a tree. But when he produced familiar-looking wrist restraints and a length of rope, my attention snapped to him. My muscles coiled, preparing to strike.

  “Don’t even think about it,” Ryker warned and raised the gun again.

  “You won’t shoot. You’re my Keeper, remember? You’re supposed to keep me alive,” I taunted, trying to gauge his reaction, his ultimate goal. I shifted to the side. A shot fired. The sound exploded in my ears, momentarily stealing my hearing. Wood splinters pelted my face and I bit back a yelp as one sliced open my cheek.

  Ryker slammed me against the tree a second later, knocking the wind from my lungs. “You’re right, I won’t shoot you,” he growled in my still-ringing ear as he slapped the restraints onto my wrists. “But I’ll do to you what I did to Bren if you don’t hold still.”

  It only took him a few minutes to have me firmly trussed to the tree. I prayed that Bren would wake up and save me, but Ryker tied his hands together too. Then he disappeared into the woods. By the time he returned, my wrists were already sore from trying to free themselves. I blinked stupidly when an ATV rumbled to a stop next to Bren. Had Ryker pretended that our machine died for this very scenario?

  But no, another backpack was slung over his shoulders. The possessions must have belonged to Bren. I watched, curious despite myself, as Ryker unzipped the pack and produced a simple brown box not much wider than a book. He glanced at Bren’s unconscious form, then at me, before slowly opening it. I held my breath as a feeling settled into my gut. A certainty, that whatever was in that box was important.

  As he flipped the lid back, Ryker’s eyes widened. He looked at Bren again, and something like indecision crossed his face. Maybe, just maybe, I could get through to him then. “I thought you were going to help him complete his mission. I thought you were going to resolve things left unsaid between the two of you.”

  He stared at Bren a moment more, then closed the box. “I am,” he replied softly, all of his earlier fire gone. “This is me completing what he started. But you don’t know everything, Lune. If you did, you would understand why I have to do this. We’re not so different, you and I.”

  My chin wobbled as I fought to keep tears from escaping. I told myself that they were tears of rage, but I couldn’t lie. Stronger than the hate and anger was a deep-seated hurt that he would do this after all we’d been through together. “I was wrong about you.”

  “How so?” He refused to meet my eyes.

  “I thought you were my friend.”

  His entire body stilled. For several silent seconds, he blankly stared at the box in his hands. Then he carefully zipped it inside the pack once more and whispered, “I’m no one’s friend.”

  He left me.

  After lugging Bren’s limp body onto the ATV, he freaking left me tied to a tree. He didn’t take the backpacks though. My eyes were drilling holes into all three of them just out of reach. I assumed that he would come back, at least for the packs, but when?

  “Man, I thought they’d never leave,” a voice said from behind me. I jerked against the ropes in surprise. “I can’t believe Ryker found the legendary Brendan Bearon. At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Easter Bunny popped out of the ground and planted a wet one on me.” The cackling sound that followed sent a cold sweat racing down my spine.

  No. It couldn’t be. Life wasn’t that cruel. Please, no. Gritting my teeth, I yanked against
my bonds with everything I had.

  There are worse things than death.

  Ryker’s words decided to haunt me at the worst possible moment, when my nightmares were materializing and I couldn’t escape them. Sure enough, the two men who had chased me through a city and up a mountain strolled into my line of sight, identical expressions of glee on their faces. Thane was sporting a grizzly new scar right above the beard line on his cheek and Skervvy walked with a slight limp. Maybe Ryker hadn’t been the only one shot that day at the cabin.

  What had felt like a lifetime ago now came rushing back.

  “Those boys have it bad for you,” Skervvy went on and casually removed a throwing knife from his belt. My heartrate kicked up another notch as he deftly flipped the blade in the air, catching it over and over. “What makes you so special? I can’t put my nose on it.”

  Thane snickered at the lame joke. “I’m willing to sniff test her and find out.”

  “Get anywhere near me with that heinous thing and I’ll chop it off,” I said menacingly, but when they both crowed with laughter, I struggled not to wet myself.

  “Let’s get going before Ryker returns for his pretty package,” Skervvy said, making a beeline for the backpacks. That left Thane to untie me. I hadn’t forgotten our last encounters and how he couldn’t seem to keep his hands to himself. Sure enough, as the ropes loosened, his knuckles brushed my chest. I didn’t react. Not yet. He needed to free my legs first. When the last of the rope fell and I felt groping fingers on my thighs as he slowly straightened, I attacked.

  Wham.

  Knee to nose. The satisfying crunch of bone breaking was almost better than cutting the ugly thing off. He needed to learn not to get so close. Before I could push him away with my still-cuffed hands, fire speared through my arm. A scream lodged in my throat, but I choked it down, glancing at the source of pain to see Skervvy’s throwing knife embedded in my bicep. Shock rendered me immobile, long enough for Thane to regain his sight and shove me against the tree.