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“Any deal with him is a deal with the devil,” Wylder said with a growl in his voice. “He admitted it himself—he’s one of them, which means he’s equally or even more dangerous than either the Storm or the Red Shark. Look at what he’s already threatened to do.”
I sucked in my breath, my thoughts finally settling into some kind of order. “I totally agree that he’s dangerous and that we can’t really trust him. But how can we say no? The alternative is to let him come in and steamroll over not just the Storm’s people but all the rest of us. From the way he’s talking, he doesn’t care if he has to paint the whole county in blood just to clean the slate—people from all the gangs, innocents caught in the crossfire. It’ll be awful.”
Wylder frowned, but I could see the wheels turning in his head.
“He gave us one week,” Kaige said. “We can’t do shit in that.”
“It’s still better than the no time at all we’d have if we refuse to even try,” I said. “The Long Night is going to give us information and resources—that help might be enough for us to get the upper hand quickly.”
Rowan tipped his head toward me. “I agree with Mercy. This way at least we get a chance to do things our way and survive. Lord knows what will happen if he sends his own men in.”
“Chaos,” I said, thinking back to my vision. “Utter, bloody chaos.” The Long Night’s words echoed in my head,There won’t be anything left for you to call home.
Wylder let out a rough breath. “I see what you’re saying, and I know you’re right. No way in hell am I giving up and rolling over. Winning this war is going to be hard for more reasons than just the Storm, though.”
I looked at him with a tug of my heart. “What do you mean?”
“This guy came to me instead of my dad. Dad won’t be happy about that, which is just going to add to the friction that’s already there between us.” He closed his eyes for a second, his expression tightening, and I knew he’d made a decision. My heart thumped faster.
I couldn’t fight for the Bend on my own, and the other guys would follow Wylder’s lead. I needed him by my side.
Wylder opened his eyes to gaze at the closed door for a long moment. Then he said, “There’s nothing we can do about Dad’s hurt feelings now. We have to make the best of what we have. And that means fighting as hard as we fucking can. It’s still our territory too, and we’re not going to let any asshole crash in and take it from us, no matter what special secret group he’s part of.”
My body began to thrum with anticipation. Now that we were agreed, I didn’t want to wait to get started. I could feel the seconds passing us by.
“They’ll never own Paradise Bend, not really,” Wylder finished.
I sat up straighter in my chair and looked at the other guys. “Everyone’s on board?”
Rowan and Gideon nodded despite their solemn expressions.
Kaige sighed. “I still think this is insane, but I don’t think it’s going to stop being insane no matter what I do. I’ll always have your backs.”
“I guess we’d better let him know, then,” I said.
Gideon scanned the room again. “Is there a button somewhere we can press, or…?”
We examined our surroundings for a few minutes, and finally Rowan went over to the door and knocked on it loudly. One of the men in the collared shirts opened it and peered inside. Behind him, I could see the long stretch of a corridor with big bay windows at the end, the green of foliage showing through the glass.
The building must be huge. I couldn’t think of any place like this in Paradise Bend. Where exactly were we?
“We’re ready,” Rowan said. “We’d like to give the Long Night our answer.”
The man’s lips thinned. “I hope for your sake that it’s the right one.”
Rowan returned to the table, and we sat there in silence. A few moments later, the door swung open, and the Long Night walked in. This time he was alone.
The dull thud of his loafers on the plush carpet was the only sound in the room. Instead of sitting down, he stopped behind one of the chairs, his hand clasped over the top. “So, what have you decided?”
“We’ll take your deal,” Wylder said. “We get one week. You don’t make a move on any of us until then. And you fill us in on anything useful you know about the Storm.”
A triumphant smile came over the Long Night’s face, and his silver-blue eyes almost glistened. “I’m glad to know you’ve decided to take my help after all. I must admit, I was starting to have my doubts. Stubbornness could become one of your fatal flaws, Mr. Noble.”
“I like to see it as a virtue,” Wylder retorted.
My throat had constricted now that we were setting this deal in motion. “What exactly are your conditions?” I said abruptly. “We don’t have to take down the Storm himself, do we?”
The Long Night let out a low, humorless laugh. “Of course not, girl. You’d never get close enough to him. I doubt he’ll even set foot in your little county himself. I’m not going to ask for the impossible. I only want his men out of Paradise Bend—permanently. You need to beat them and beat them well enough that they’ll have no interest in returning.” He gave us all a narrow look. “Do you accept those terms?”
For a second, I couldn’t breathe. Beat them that definitively—in a week. It was hard to imagine. But like I’d said earlier, what choice did we have but to try?
“I’m in,” I said.
“We all are,” Wylder put in, speaking for his inner circle as well. The other guys tipped their heads.
“Excellent.” The Long Night rubbed his hands together. “I’ll have you driven home and see that you receive the resources I promised immediately. I’ll even give you a small reprieve—your week will start tonight rather than right at this moment. Seven nights from today, I want all trace of the Storm gone from Paradise Bend. Good luck.”
