Page 44 of Obey

“Definitely. Devil’s paid them off and they’re on this side. Lock, stock, and barrel.”

I felt her shrug in my arms, the movement slight and very resigned. “Then I guess we have to kill them.”

I turned to her, surprised. “We?”

She looked up at me and gave me a heart-melting grin. “We. I’m not letting you fight this fight by yourself, Knight. I’m not letting you fight anything by yourself ever again.”

I hadn’t known I was waiting for something like that from her, but the moment she said it, the moment she said that she wasn’t going to leave me alone ever again, the world around me shifted. Settled.

Grew solid in a way it never had before.

This was my girl. My Saraya. And she was willing to fight for me, and for our future.

And that was all I needed to know.

“Right,” I muttered, turning back to my bike. “Let’s go. We’re ending this today, and we’re never looking back.”

CHAPTER 20

SARAYA

WE SKIDDED AROUND THE corner and jumped directly into a bush, Knight pushing my head down just in time to avoid several bullets that came flying our way. I ducked even further, my face actually pressed into the ground, now, and tried hard to remember how to breathe.

As shocking as that might be, I’d never actively been shot at before, and now it had happened several times within a few hours. It was getting really hard to believe that this was real life—or that we were going to get out of this alive.

“Stay down,” Knight growled from above me.

I would have laughed if I wasn’t so terrified. I mean, it wasn’t like I was planning on getting up, jumping out of the bush, and doing a jig on the sidewalk while the bad guys shot at me.

Staying down seemed to go without saying.

Still, I squirmed around enough to get my hand on the gun Gemini had handed me and pulled it out of my waistband, slipping my finger over the trigger and pulling the weapon close. I didn’t like shooting and I knew I wasn’t a great shot, but if people were shooting at me, I wanted to be able to shoot back.

I knew, too, that at the moment, I was the only one close enough to back Knight up. He’d come back alone, though several of his men had streamed in right after him. They’d all gone for the clubhouse, however, riding right past where Knight and I were having our little reunion in the middle of the street.

They weren’t here to watch his back.

I was.

Around us, the world was falling apart. I could hear shouts, screams, and gunshots, men shouting at each other to stand down—or that they would never—and then screeching as they battled with whoever they were fighting.

It was fucking chaos out there, and I wasn’t even seeing it. When Knight eased up on the pressure he was putting on my back, I moved enough to be able to see through the branches of the bush, and took in the scene.

There were bodies everywhere. I didn’t know whether they were friend or foe, but I could see cop cars piling into the area and bikes shooting from left to right as men left the clubhouse and entered the fray. Bullets were flying, chains were swinging, and bikes were crashing into each other. Then, something happened and one of the cop cars actually exploded, sending a wave of heat shooting over us.

Knight and I ducked back down, trying to shield ourselves from the sudden heat, but it didn’t relent, and Knight jumped up, dragging me to my feet by my hand, and started for the corner of the building. I ran as fast as I could manage to try to keep up with him, but his legs were so much longer than mine that he was pulling me through the air every time I left the ground, giving me a feeling that I was half running and half flying. We made the corner of the building seconds later and ducked around it, coming to a stop against the wall.

I leaned back against the still-cool brick, breathing in and trying to will my skin to return to normal temperature. What the hell was going on with the men out there on the street, who hadn’t been able to escape the heat? Were they melting alive?

I cringed at the thought but peeked around the corner, desperate to see. I may only have been with the Banshees for a week or so but those men were already my family. I couldn’t stand the thought of them being harmed.

When the smoke cleared, the street was empty. Evidently, the heat had driven everyone to some sort of shelter, and my gaze darted back and forth as I tried to find the Banshees out there. I didn’t see a single one of them. The clubhouse looked completely empty at the end of the street, and I suddenly wondered where they’d all gone.

Had all our men just disappeared? Had they run? And where the hell was Mandy? She’d been with me when we left the clubhouse but I’d lost track of her when I saw Knight.

I would never forgive myself if she’d been hurt. I’d been her partner at that moment and had deserted her, and if she’d been arrested or even killed thanks to my sudden absence...

A head popped up in one of the front windows in the clubhouse, and my eyes went to it. I saw a blonde head and a serious face, and a moment later I recognized Mandy.