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20
Mercy
Xavier watchedthe retreating cars and threw back his head with a raucous laugh that echoed through the streets. “Sniveling cowards,” he roared, and swept his arm to urge his men onward in the battle. “Kill them all except the girl. She’s mine.”
“Not if I have anything to say about that,” Kervos announced from behind the car next to ours. He raised his gun just as another wave of gunfire swept over us—and a bullet caught him between the eyes. He collapsed on the ground with a red blotch expanding over his forehead.
My mind froze, my thoughts seeming to stutter. Kervos’s eyes stared at the sky, his body totally limp. Just like that, he was gone.
The first man who’d really supported my bid to lead the Claws was dead.
And not just him. Even as we fired back as well as we could, Nobles and Claws were dropping all through the maze of cars. I saw Sam’s friend who’d helped us move yesterday’s cargo fall, and then one of the men who’d been laughing at Kaige’s story in the dining room just an hour ago. My vision swam, my body wobbling with a momentary dizziness.
Wylder yanked me down below the level of the car just as a bullet whizzed by where the top of my head had been. “What the hell are you doing?” he said, but he sounded more panicked than angry. “You’re going to get killed.”
Like everyone else was. I shook myself, willing my mind to focus. Forcing my gaze away from Kervos’s lifeless body.
Too many men were dead—good men. And I didn’t even have time to mourn them.
I had to make sure the ones still living stayed that way. That was my job as their queen. I hadn’t come here to embark on a suicide mission.
The words stuck in my throat before I could propel them out. This wasn’t how I’d wanted the battle to end. “We’ll be slaughtered if we keep fighting,” I said. “We have to get out of here, regroup, or the war ends here. With the Storm winning.”
Wylder’s jaw tightened, but after a moment, he nodded. “Damn it,” he spat out, and then waved to the nearest men. “Pass on the word. We’re cutting our losses and moving out. Get to whatever cars aren’t boxed in and head back to the mansion—or Claws to their own headquarters. Keep firing at the Storm’s forces to cover each other, but getting out of here alive is all that matters now.”
“Are you sure, Mercy?” Jenner called over from a few cars away, but I saw his gaze catch on Kervos’s body. Horror flashed across his face.
“We have to live to fight again another day,” I said.
We took off through the maze of cars, bobbing up just long enough to fire at the Storm’s men as well as we could. They were pushing toward the wall now. I didn’t realize they’d already gotten some of their explosives there until the firstboomechoed through the air.
The impact of the explosion shook the ground beneath our feet and threw me forward. I tried to twist myself into a flip to land more steadily, but my wounded thigh gave out. Instead I crashed to the ground, scraping my chin on the rough concrete.
Kaige grabbed my shoulder, hefting me up. “I’m fine, I’m fine,” I insisted, but he stayed right beside me as we took off running again, Wylder close at my other side, Gideon right behind us.
I didn’t even bother trying to shoot anymore. All that mattered was getting to the cars at the edge of the mess. My legs pumped under me, my teeth gritting at the pain searing from my wound. That doctor would have beenreallypissed if he’d known he was releasing me to get into this kind of trouble right after.
The Claws and Nobles who’d already been near the fringes made it to the outer cars first. A few tore off down the street in the vehicles they managed to grab. Others fell under the next barrage of bullets. We paused, panting, just a few car lengths from a Ford we could grab—as long as the driver had left the keys in it.
Just as we braced to make a final run for it, a furious bellow split through the air from behind us. The gunfire went momentarily quiet. I craned my neck around to see Xavier still poised on the pickup truck, his face now ruddy with rage as ifhehad any reason to be upset with how the tide had turned.
“You fucking cowards,” he bellowed after us, spit flying from his mouth so wildly I could see it even at a distance. “Playing stupid fucking tricks. You’ll find out what thieves get. I’m going to make you pay even more than I was already planning. No one will even be able to recognize you when we’re through.”
“What is he talking about?” I whispered to Wylder, who shook his head, looking totally bewildered.
We couldn’t exactly ask the lunatic. At his urging, the Storm men charged straight at the rest of us, firing off whatever shots they could take as they closed in on our remaining forces. A couple of them leapt onto the hood of a car and mowed down three Nobles who’d just reached an accessible car.
Wylder grimaced and shot both of the assholes down with a few squeezes of his trigger. More cars were peeling away from the mass. We sprinted toward the Ford, my breath rasping in my throat. Gideon was starting to wheeze.
Just as we came up on the car, Jenner leaned over the back of the one next to it and spewed bullets from a rifle at the advancing Storm men. He bought us just enough time to dive into the vehicle, Kaige taking the wheel. He twisted the key that’d been left there, its original driver probably having fallen nearby assuming he’d be coming right back to it, and rammed his foot down on the gas.
I stayed crouched in the back seat next to Gideon as the car swung around and raced away from the waterfront property. I squeezed his arm in a soothing rhythm, and his breaths started to even out. He raised his head, meeting my eyes with a haunted look in his. “We lost too many men out there.”
I choked up abruptly. “I know.” I couldn’t even say yet how many we’d lost, how many the Storm’s people had killed that I hadn’t even seen.
I sat up slowly, brushing shards of glass and bits of gravel from my clothes. My heart was still thundering, but we’d left the horrific scene behind. The street we were racing down now looked almost peaceful in the mid-morning light. I sputtered out something halfway between a laugh and a sob.
Gideon eased upright too, his gaze dropping to my leg. He sucked in a breath. “Mercy, you’re bleeding.”
