Excerpt!
He doesn’t meet my gaze. “To protect the people you cared about. You were afraid of what your power might do to us if you stayed.”
What I would do…
My nostrils flare as I touch my fingertips to the hard metal surface of my collar. If I loved Ezra like he thinks, then of course, it would make sense for me to want to leave him. No one is safe around me when I’m in control, let alone when I’m not. I can only imagine the sort of danger I was exposing the people I supposedly cared about to merely by being in the same vicinity as them.
Shame spreads through me like a rush of heat. I avert my gaze. “You know what I’m capable of.” It isn’t a question.
In my head, I hear these same words but in Nolan’s voice. He told Ezra the very same thing in my vision. “Surely, I don’t need to remind you what she’s capable of.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Ezra nod.
“Then why rescue me?” I’m dangerous, and he knows it. So, why? “Why bring me back if you know what I am?”
Ezra unhooks his hand from mine and grabs hold of my shoulders, turning my body to face him. He trails his fingers down my arms, trapping me in a new type of shackle.
My breath catches when our eyes meet and he whispers, “For the same reason you keep seeing me in your head.”
He inches toward me once again, but this time, I don’t move, held still by each crippling beat of my racing heart. It’s strange. Considering what I’m capable of, I’ve never felt more powerless. My mouth shapes a number of syllables, but no sound exits my throat. I’ve lost my voice, and even my brain can’t work out what I should say. I don’t know whether to push him away or embrace this mystifying connection between us.
Ezra takes another step, the tension in the air between us almost palpable. I can feel it against my skin, in my hair. I can taste the peculiar tang of it on my tongue.
“I don’t remember—” I finally manage, breathless.
A smile beams across his face with a light that is far too bright against my personal darkness. If he comes any closer, I might accidentally smother it and I’m now realizing that’s the last thing I want.
“It’s okay.” Unconcerned with the risks, he bends forward until our faces are nearly touching. Shallow gasps beat against the inside of my lungs as the hazel depths staring down at me pin me in place, using my heart as an anchor to keep me still.
I couldn’t move even if I wanted to.
Leaning closer, he breathes against my lips, “I’ll remember for both of us.”
Feared by many. Frightened of few. Torn between humanity and the monster she’s become.
When Wynter surrendered to the DSD two years ago, she thought she was protecting her friends. Lured by the promise of a cure, she hoped she might finally be rid of her devastating disease or, at least, be on the path to controlling it. But Dr. Richter was never interested in curing her.
With a collar around her neck keeping her unstable powers in check, Wynter is transformed into an unstoppable weapon. Compelled to do the State’s bidding, she kills without feeling, remembering nothing of the people she gave herself up to protect. Her only thought is to obey.
When a mission goes wrong, triggering suppressed memories, Wynter finds herself determined to piece together her past. But as she uncovers the truth, she realizes it’s no longer clear who the real enemy is, and with the threat of war looming, she must again make a choice. Can she escape her role in the impending destruction?
Or is she doomed to remain a monster forever?
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Author bio:
M. A. PHIPPS is an American author who resides near the ocean in picturesque Cornwall with her husband, daughter, and their Jack Russell, Milo. A lover of the written word, it has always been her dream to become a published author, and it is her hope to expand into multiple genres of fiction.
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