Read The Barrier Between (Collector Series # 2) for Free Online Page A

I’ve
adopted.
    “ Zoey, where are the buns? Your father is about to
barbeque the hamburgers.” A beautiful older woman resembling me
stood on the steps, her hand shading her eyes. A large breathtaking
colonial-style ranch house stretched behind her. A handsome
gray-haired man joined her on the step, holding a tray of burgers.
His green eyes, the exact same as mine, twinkle in the daylight. My
parents.
    Arms came around my waist. “Hey.” Daniel’s voice
emerged from behind me. His lips skated over my shoulder. “Missed
you.”
    “Zoey, watch this.” Lexie waved at me from the diving
board, her long, lean legs strong and defined, as she did a
cannonball into the pool.
    My heart exploded with happiness. Yes. This is what I
want. What I’ve dreamed for years. She was the reason I made it out
of my teens and got into college. Without Lexie I probably would
have dissolved into the street life, quit school, and got money by
stealing and street fighting till I was caught. I wanted more for
her than the life we had lived. To get out of the mobile home park
and far away from Joanna.
    I looked over my shoulder at the man I loved.
Daniel’s image wavered. “Every day your feelings grow more
uncertain. Your heart is divided. Perhaps this is what you truly
want.” The stone’s alluring words spoke into my head. Daniel faded
out, and the man behind me turned into Ryker. His white eyes
flashed as he grinned mischievously at me. He kissed the curve of
my neck. “I can see your true most desires... even if you don’t
want to see them,” the stone spoke again.
    No. I love Daniel.
    Ryker’s image dissolved back into Daniel.
    “I love you,” Daniel mumbled into my ear.
    “Good thing.” My hands go to my belly, feeling the
small bump. Our baby. When I look back, Daniel’s eyes are
white. A few scars run through his eyebrows.
    “Don’t tell me this is not what you always dreamed
of, Zoey,” the stone whispered.
    Family, love, security, and a home—this is everything
I’ve always wanted but never had. The stone tapped those secret
desires. Dreams I’d never told anyone.
    “And it is only the beginning. You can have so much
more, Zoey. All you have to say is yes,” the stone murmured,
enticing me to see and want more. “Say yes.”
    “Ye—”
    “Zoey!” My name sounded from far away. I looked
around for the owner of the voice. “Zoey, let go!”
    “No, Zoey. All you have to do is say you want this
and all your pain and loss will be forgotten. You can have them
back. Your sister. Daniel,” the stone cajoled. “Say it. Yes.”
    “Y—”
    A sharp sting sliced across my face, snapping me out
of the dream.
    The stone didn’t say anything, but I could feel it
trying to hold me there, flashing more images of Lexie, of parents
I never had. Of Daniel and me making love before the figure above
me shifted to Ryker. Rocking deep into me, producing a moan to
burst from my mouth. Intense desire gripping me, making me
tremble.
    “Zoey, wake up.” My body shook, breaking me of the
stone’s hold. “Open your hand.”
    My lids fluttered open. Ryker stood over me. His
hands clasped my arms, shaking me.
    “Drop it,” he demanded. His face contorted with
wrath.
    It took all my strength to uncurl my hand. Finally,
the stone slipped from my grip and landed on the rug.
    Air shot back into my chest, and I bolted into a
sitting position with the need to fill my lungs. Ryker bent down,
his arm sliding around my back and helping me stay upright.
    “You all right?”
    “Holy shit,” I mumbled, glancing at the
innocent-looking stone on the floor.
    Ryker’s brows furrowed, and the crease between his
eyes deepened. He sat back on his butt, rubbing his forehead. “What
were you doing, Zoey?”
    “I was being nice and pulling off your boots so you
could sleep.”
    His frown inched down farther.
    “Soooo.” I pulled my knees to me. “That’s the Stone
of Destiny.”
    “Yeah.”
    “You’ve had it this whole time?”
    He