Tangent (A Liminals prequel novella) by Maree Anderson

Revealing his lethal power could save her... or doom them both.

For two years, lone wolf Rix has protected Lily... and lied about his true feelings. Best to keep treating her like the younger sister he never had, because how could she possibly love a hulking great lummox like him? Then Lily vanishes, and Rix discovers someone is snatching liminal kids to use in covert experiments. Rix will risk it all to find Lily. And once he tracks her down his plan is simple: phase in, grab her, get the hell out. But Lily's merely bait for the real target: Rix.

Vaughn Kincaid, the man behind the experiments on lims, is a driven, sadistic bastard-even his own sons are horrified by the things he's done. He won't hesitate to torture Lily and use her as a means to control Rix. Rix's only ally is Kade, one of Vaughn's long-term lab-rats. But despite Kade's willingness to share information, he has an agenda and Rix isn't convinced he can be trusted. To keep Lily alive, Rix may have to reveal the dangerous liminal ability he's kept secret his whole life, and risk becoming the one thing he's vowed never to be again: a killer.

(Novella-length prequel to Liminal, Book 1 of the Liminals series)