Free Theta Waves Book 1 (Episodes 1-3) by Thea Atkinson Page B

want to leave," she said.
    He placed one palm against the wall, leaning against it, considering. "I suppose you can do whatever you like."
    "You won't stop me?"
    He shrugged. "It's a free country."
    "I don't have any clothes."
    "Then I suppose that makes it a little difficult, doesn't it?"
    She ignored that. "And I have one smear that you took from me. I want it back."
    "That I can't do."
    "You will."
    "I won't. You spent almost 48 hours coming down from the last batch. You're clean. You should stay that way."
    "It's not your decision to make."
    "Of course it isn't," he said. "But I didn't go through all of that just to give you your poison right back." He went over to the dresser beneath a window and rattled a drawer, pulling out a fresh pair of jeans that he stuck his legs into. Pulling them up, he said, "You can leave if you want to, but you should know that they'll be more of me. And this time it won't be a lowly mayor sending a Huntsman after you."
    "He can't come after me anyway," she said. "You –"
    "I killed him, yes." There wasn't a note of contrition anywhere in his voice. "I had to. But that doesn't mean we got off Scott free."
    "No one cares about a little thing like a murder anymore."
    "You'd be surprised," he said. "On the streets, maybe. Results of cheating husbands and wives, perhaps. All sorts of reasons to take another life: all of those are acceptable, I suppose. But not what we've done."
    She eased herself down on the chair, on the very edge, unsure. "And what is it that we've done?" She fixed her narrowed gaze on his. "Especially when I've done nothing. When it's you who did the killing."
    He laughed at that. "You've done the worst. Do you really think I'm working for the mayor?"
    "But he's supposed to be cleansing his district of zealots. That's what he said. That's why I was there. He hired you to arrest me."
    He pulled a spruce colored T-shirt over his head that made his eyes seem all the more green when he regarded her.
    "Seven months ago a man began spouting things about being able to change things. About his soul evolving. About the fact that maybe things weren't finished here like we all expected."
    A dark suspicion crept online her spine. "How long have you been watching me?"
    He smiled. "You first saw me four days ago." The way he said it, the very focused way he watched her face, she knew it was a lie.
    "How long?"
    "Come on, Theda. You know how long." He had the grace to look uncomfortable.
    Her mouth went dry. "My first trick. You knew him."
    He nodded. "Your first was the Beast's son."
    She noted the use of the past tense. "Was?"
    Ezekiel nodded. "A zealot is a zealot. He killed him. But not before He tortured information out of him. Or should I say, had information tortured out of him." The smile returned, but this time it snaked over Ezekiel's features in a way that made her spine tingle in realization and revulsion.
    "You tortured him."
    He spread his hands to his sides, palms up. "What choice did I have? It was him or me. A man doesn't say no to the beast."
    "And now it's me or you, I suppose." She was off the chair without even realizing she stood, backing toward the door. His re-vision stole back into her consciousness, and she felt again so clearly a sense of panic that she couldn't breathe.
    He was next to her in moments, before she could twist the handle of the door or bolt down the steps. His hand was on the small of her back, pulling her toward him, making her hips meet his. His other hand had found a way to capture her fingers, pulling them forward so that her palm met his chest. She could feel the thudding of his heart.
    "Once I saw it," he murmured. "Once I saw it all, I couldn't go back. I couldn't let them do to you what they planned." His eyes were searching hers and she felt trapped there, pinned by the force of the emotion in his voice.
    "If you saw it all, then you know what happened to you."
    His eyelids fluttered closed, remembering. "I do. I forgive you. If there is