Read The Change (Unbounded) for Free Online Page B

overweight Laurence, whom I’d presumably have the chance of outrunning.
    His face twitched in what might have been a poor attempt at a smile. “Ava wants you to stay here.”
    “Ava doesn’t own me.”
    Irritation echoed in eyes so dark I had to call them black. “Sometimes people have to be protected from themselves. So they won’t do something stupid.”
    I searched for something to say, and Cort’s comments about Ritter’s hatred for the Emporium came to mind. “Oh, but wouldn’t that be Emporium rhetoric?” I said it mockingly because I had no idea really who the Emporium was, except what the others had told me, and for all I knew they were making everything up. I was pleased to see Ritter flinch.
    “Stay put before you get us all killed.” The confident way he spoke told me he wasn’t accustomed to being disobeyed.
    I turned and went the other way, sprinting now. But somehow he was there before me, blocking my path. I ran into him before I could halt my momentum. Strong hands grabbed my arms. I beat at his chest. “Let me go!”
    His hands tightened on my arms, his fingers biting painfully into my skin and bringing my struggle to a quick end. “You’ll have enough time to act like a mindless idiot later,” he gritted. “You aren’t starting tonight.”
    “What kind of monsters are you? My family thinks I’m dead! Do you know the pain they’re going through?”
    His face was expressionless. “Right now the only thing I care about is that you’re wasting my time.”
    “What do you care about your precious time? You’re Unbounded, remember?”
    “Am I?” He lifted one dark brow.
    More mind games. I yanked myself from his grasp and lurched into a run. I hadn’t gone five steps before he blocked my path again, one strong hand gripping my arm, his mouth twisted in a grim smile. It was no use. He was too fast. I’d never seen anyone move the way he did. “How?” I asked.
    “Years of practice.”
    “See? Unbounded.”
    He shrugged. “You’d better go inside.”
    “Or you’ll make me?” I didn’t know what had overcome me. Usually, I wasn’t into confrontations—or hadn’t been since law school. In my family, I was the peacemaker, the one to smooth everything over. The one who felt guilty when she didn’t deliver what her parents expected. What was happening to me?
    I didn’t want to change. I wanted to remain who I’d always been. I wanted my life back.
    My turmoil must have shown in my face because Ritter’s grip loosened slightly on my arm and something akin to pity chased across his face. “It’ll be okay.”
    “It’s not okay!” I went up on my toes to shout as close as I could to his face. With luck someone in the neighboring buildings would hear and come to investigate. “I want my family. I want Tom. I want out of here!” Tears came then, the flood I’d been holding back. I felt the fabric of my heart rip, a small hole becoming as large as the missing pieces of my life. What if they meant to keep me from my family forever? I started to slump to the ground, my hands coming to my face to block out this whole terrible nightmare.
    As if I weighed no more than a bag of salt, Ritter picked me up, slung me over his shoulder, and stomped back to the warehouse, barely halting to fling open the door. I struggled half-heartedly, but it did me no good. Every part of him was solid as if he’d been working out for years.
    Probably centuries.
    I hated him. I hated all of them.
    I closed my eyes, forcing away the tears, already angry at myself for giving into despair. No. I would not give up. I’d find a way around whatever Ava chose to put in front of me, especially this block of human stone.
    “Sheeze, Ritter.” Stella looked up from her computer screen, once again wearing her headset. “I hate to remind you, but that sort of behavior went out of style centuries ago.”
    He set me down, his eyes running over my body. “If you ask me, there’s something to be said for