Read Across The Divide for Free Online Page B

was, it would have to wait. Somehow I would get back here. Alone.
    I squeezed her hand.
    Relief fluttered her lashes. Her fingers slid from mine, her eyes drifting closed.
    “Zoey?” The doctor said my name from the doorway.
    I circled around the bed and moved to the exit. As the door drew closed, I saw Liam sit, taking Sera’s hand in his. Pain and adoration filtered over his features, an expression I had never seen on him before. Emotion twitched the muscles at his jaw.
    I never knew for sure if anything happened between them, but the bond between hunter and seer was enough. It broke my heart to see his pain, no matter how much of a jackass he was. Sera was his partner. When you trusted someone with your life and could understand them without a word, the relationship went beyond love or friendship. I had it with Daniel. I didn’t want to tell Liam the loss he was going to feel when Sera passed would be unbearable.
    The door clicked and Rapava moved down the hall.
    “How long does she have?” I asked, keeping in step with him.
    “Not long. Days. Maybe a week.”
    I took in a deep breath, rolling my shoulders back. Guilt congealed in my gut. No matter what kinship I felt for her now, I kept silent.
     

     
    I followed him to the next level. There were at least two more below. The last one was restricted, needing a different card and a thumbprint to get access. I needed entry to that floor, where Dr. Boris Rapava kept all the things which would bring this place down.
    I will do it, Daniel. I promise.
    The doctor’s long legs strode along the hallway, veering down the same passage where they had locked me up. I clenched my jaw.
    “You are not the only thing that came back to us that night.” He cut down another corridor. A rush of air escaped through my teeth. The use of the word thing to describe me was like a thousand needles. At one time, he treated me with respect. Maybe even liked me.
    “What do you mean?” I kept my voice even and unemotional.
    Rapava stopped in front of a windowed room, nodding his head toward what was inside. I took a step to the glass, my eyes latching onto the little figure on the hospital bed, fast asleep.
    Sprig!
    My heart cried out. It took everything I had to hold the reaction under an indifferent facade. My lids flickered, hiding the emotion at seeing my best friend. I didn’t know if I was more relieved to see him alive or upset he was back in DMG’s hands, subject to their torture and experiments.
    “Was he part of the trade?”
    “Yes. He is our first successful animal-fae case study. This specimen is ground zero in our work here at the lab. The two of you are especially important to our continued research here, Zoey, and I hope you understand the good you are doing for mankind.”
    What a bunch of bullshit. I used to believe his notions and think we really were doing something valuable. Now who was to say one life was worth more than another? Did all those fae who had families, people who loved them, deserve to be kidnapped, dissected, and tested for the benefit of humans? Once upon a time I would have said yes.
    Looking at Sprig now, his little body coiled in a ball, defenseless and powerless to what the researchers would do to him, all I wanted was to wrap him in my arms, burrow him close to my chest, and protect him with everything I had.
    Sprig’s arm twitched, and he stirred in his sleep, coiling himself into a smaller ball. He looked scared. The entire time I’d known him, he slept sprawled on his back or curled around either Ryker’s or my head or Pam. Now his pose was defensive.
    “What are you planning to do to him?” I kept my gaze locked on my buddy. Everything in me wanted to tear through the door and snatch him up into my arms.
    Rapava cleared his throat, taking a step next to me. “Like with you, I need to understand why he worked when many didn’t. As I told you, he is the base of our research. It should not only be humans who can be used in our battle