Free Dangerous Lovers by Jamie Magee, A. M. Hargrove, Becca Vincenza Page A

face. I’d forgotten I was holding her. The possibilities of this fact horrified me so greatly I was almost afraid to draw in air.
    Where her hand touched my face, I felt a seeping cold sensation, much like medication through an IV, and all red thoughts disappeared. Incredible calmness washed over me. Finally deciding I could move without risk of breaking her, I brought my hand up to cover hers with my own.
    “Akira,” Olivia chastised, “don’t—”
    “She needs it, Gram,” Akira interrupted, then looked back at me. “Let me take some of it away.”
    I was still staring in stupefied wonder at the strange girl in my lap, but I assumed Olivia agreed to whatever Akira was going to do because she didn’t remove her hand from my face.
    Let it go, Alexa. It was Akira’s voice in my head, and my mind felt too muddled to truly consider it. My eyes seemed involuntarily locked with hers . Let me take it. Let it go and let me take it.
    I felt a cold, pulling sensation on my mind that seemed to reach all the way down to my core, like exhaling, exhaling all the way through to my soul.
    I clasped her hand and removed it from my cheek. She gave me a look that said she didn’t approve, but didn’t fight me.
    “No.” My voice was much stronger than I’d expected.
    She smiled that adorable smile and tugged my hair so that my ear was close to her lips. “Sometimes you have to allow others to hold onto that for you,” she whispered. “You’ll be no good to anyone if you refuse to let it out when it comes so close to breaking you.”
    Akira hopped off my lap and walked stiff-backed over to where a small vase of flowers rested on the window sill. She grabbed the vase and spun around in a circle, launching it at the wall. The vase shattered into pieces. Marching over to the remains, she stomped and stomped and stomped on the helpless plant until it was beyond revival or recognition. Then she returned to her toys.
    I turned to look at Olivia, hoping she wouldn’t punish the little girl. As weird as it was, I felt like I understood why she’d thrown the vase. Hell, a few seconds ago, smashing a vase wouldn’t have seemed like a bad idea.
    Olivia looked as if she’d been expecting this. “Feeling better?” she asked.
    I nodded. “Akira?” She jerked her head up, an angry expression on her face. Then, she took a deep breath and relaxed her face.
    “Yes?”
    “What—what did you do? What are you?”
    She giggled. “I’m a Searcher, and I took it away from you. There was too much for you… too much for even a Warrior to carry alone.”
    I didn’t have to ask what it was. I knew. She’d taken away the effects that the events of the last couple of days had had upon me. She’d taken away the hurt and pain and anger I always worked so hard to keep hidden. She’d seen into my soul. I felt oddly vulnerable and… grateful.
    “Thank you.”
    She winked at me and returned her attention to her toys. I was starting to fall in love with this child.
    Beside me, Nelly and Jackson were silent. No doubt they were confused, and I felt no need to explain things. It was petty, but I felt smug about the fact that, for once, I wasn’t the one in the dark.
    Olivia was waiting for me to continue, so I took a deep breath, deciding to ask the only question that really mattered. “Okay, so the Lamia found us. They’re probably still hunting us… What do we do now?”
    “Now, you rest. You look like you haven’t slept for days and you will need your strength for what is to come. Tomorrow, you head for New Jersey,” said Olivia.
    “What’s in New Jersey?”
    It was Jackson who answered me, the first time he’d spoken since our arrival.
    “Two Rivers… Two Rivers is in New Jersey.”

Chapter Fifteen
     
     
    Olivia gave me and Nelly the spare bedroom and provided Jackson with a pillow and blankets to sleep on the couch. I got to take a shower, and it was the best thing I had felt in days. Returning to the bedroom, I found Nelly