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18
Mercy
I directedSam and his friend toward the right corner of the room. They were carrying a wooden crate between them. “Put it there with the rest of the boxes.”
They did as I asked and heaved the crate to the top of the last of the neatly stacked rows.
Gideon came in after them, carrying his tablet. He ticked something off on the screen. “That’s the last one.”
Beyond the garage-style door, Kaige waved off the truck we’d used to carry the stash from the old furniture store to a different Noble property where hopefully Xavier wouldn’t discover it again. The factory had reinforced windows and doors in case it did face an attack. Wylder had gone to fill his father in and get approval to have a new contingent of guards posted here.
Kaige watched the truck leave and then came inside, dusting his hands as he walked. “So, that’s all wrapped up.”
I turned to Sam. “You guys must be tired. Thanks for your help.”
He gave me a teasing salute. “Anything for the Queen of the Claws.”
I laughed. “I think we’re good now. Why don’t you go back to the house and relax for however long we get before we have to be on the move again?”
He and his friend nodded, and they headed out.
“Probably won’t be very long,” Kaige muttered. “After the stunt we pulled off this morning, I’d bet Xavier is pissed. We humiliated him in front of his own men.” He glanced at Gideon. “Which was a total genius move. I’m just saying… he won’t be happy.”
Gideon shrugged with a newfound assurance that I had to admire. “Whatever he throws at us, we’ll be ready.”
Kaige’s gaze roved over the stacked crates—the wooden ones along two of the walls that held the weapons… and the few large plastic ones against another wall that held the remaining Glory. “At least the prick didn’t get his hands on all this.”
As if drawn by a magnetic pull, he walked up to one of the plastic containers, his expression hardening. Setting his hands on the edges of the crate, he glared at it as if he could incinerate it with the force of his eyes alone.
“Kaige,” I said softly, “you can go now too. Gideon and I can finish going through the inventory.”
He shook his head and straightened up again with a grimace. “I’m fine. I just hate that we have to be a part of this twisted system that’s hurting so many people. Nowwe’rethe ones handing out Glory, getting the junkies even more hooked.”
“It was the best option we had in the moment,” I pointed out.
“Maybe. I wish we could have found some other way, any way except for this.” The tendons on his neck flexed as he began to pace the room, his fists clenched at his sides. “You didn’t see them that day, Mercy. Willing to break their own city just to get a hit. Those people…they’re sick. And instead of helping them, we’re only making the situation worse.”
I dragged in a breath, my chest tightening. “I don’t like it either. And I get why you’re upset. Just remember that it’s only for a few more days until we’ve gotten rid of the Storm, and then we can destroy any Glory that’s left in the county. We’ll support the people already hooked on it any way we can.”
“Wylder and Rowan have already been working on that,” Gideon piped up. “They were encouraging people to take lower doses than the Storm’s men suggested so they’ll start to wean off. I mean, we didn’t say that’s why, but it’ll work the same way, and the people just think they’re getting to stretch their supply longer. They didn’t seem to notice any difference in the effect, so they were happy to go along with it.”
“Well, that’s something,” Kaige grumbled, but he didn’t stop pacing. “We should have figured out how to crush Xavier and all the rest of those Storm assholes by now. We only have a few days left. I just want to march right out of here and smash them all to pieces.” He took a swing at the empty air.
“You’ll get your chance to smash them,” I promised, walking over to him. He came to a halt and let me wrap my arms around him, hugging him. As I bobbed up on my toes to embrace him more tightly, the wound on my thigh protested, but the pain was dulled by the medications Frank had sent over.
Their numbing effect didn’t do anything to mute the thump of my pulse as Kaige stroked his broad hand down my back. He sighed and leaned into my arms, and an ache filled my chest.
Under his tough shell, Kaige had such a soft heart. He cared about the people not just in the Nobles but all of Paradise City and the Bend, and he wanted to do right by them. Maybe he didn’t always show it in the most graceful of ways, but that was just who he was. I wouldn’t have asked him to be any different.
I pulled back to look up into his warm brown eyes. His musky scent with its gingery bite engulfed my senses, and I closed my eyes to inhale it deeply.
I’d waited too long to confess my feelings to Rowan, and maybe I’d never get to now. I didn’t want to lose my chance with Kaige too.
“What?” he asked in his sexy baritone voice, as if he sensed I was working up to something. His hands slid down to the small of my back, his palms rubbing soft circles there.
There was no backing down now, not from our war and not from the feelings I’d never expected to grip me so powerfully.
“I love you, Kaige,” I said.
