3
Rowan
Of all theplaces I could have come face to face with this ghost of my past, I’d never have expected it to be one of the Nobles’ spare bedrooms.
Mercy Katz’s gaze cut to me again, her words ringing in the air, the pale blue eyes that had once gazed into mine shining with love now filled with pure venom. Of course she hated me. All she knew was that I’d broken my promise, abandoned her… I’d never meant to look back.
It shouldn’t have affected me now. I wasn’t the boy she’d known anymore. I’d quickly climbed the hierarchy within the Nobles and stood at the right hand of Wylder Noble despite joining only a few years ago. There were many people other than her who hated me.
But none of the others had ever bothered me like this.
Her dress had ridden dangerously close to her upper thigh where she sat on Wylder’s bed. It clung to her body, damp and darkened with… blood? Wylder had mentioned a bullet wound, and someone had bandaged her arm.
The outline of her underwear showed against the thin fabric. My cock twitched in spite of everything. Tendrils of her hair had come loose from a carefully made chignon that spilled down her neck. But most dangerously tempting of all was the fire burning inside her. She commanded attention.
From the way both Wylder and Kaige were watching her, I didn’t think I was the only one who’d noticed. My jaw clenched.
“We should talk about this,” I said to Wylder. There was no fucking way I was letting her into my life again. If I’d ruined hers, then my relationship with her had ruined mine just as much. I wanted her nowhere near me ever again.
Wylder glanced at me. “I haven’t agreed to help her yet. I just want to see what the kitty’s made of. If you’ve got ideas on that score, I’m all ears.”
He jerked his head for the rest of us to follow him and strode out of the room without a backward glance.
I gave Mercy one last look before I turned on my heel and followed. Fury flashed in her eyes at the brisk dismissal. For a second, the thought of the loss she’d just endured, the horrors she must have witnessed, gnawed at me.
But I had no choice. I had to protect what was mine, including the life I’d so carefully built in the years since I’d parted ways with her. I couldn’t let it all go to hell all over again.
Music from the party trickled upstairs, the noisy, nonsensical beat of it grating on my nerves. It was past midnight already, but the festivities weren’t showing any sign of dying down.
Wylder came to a stop on the landing, looking down over the partygoers in the main foyer. Writhing bodies danced to the music. A few of them were singing along to it in off-key voices that made me want to take my gun out.
Was I upset at them or Mercy?
“She isn’t good news,” I said. “Forget testing her—just get her out of here.”
Beside me, Kaige shrugged with the flirty smile that always came out when he was about to put a move on some chick. My hackles rose before he even spoke. “I don’t know. She seems like she could be a lot of fun.”
Gideon leaned against the banister with his hip, his analytical gaze as penetrating as always. “We do have to consider the territorial implications. Colt Bryant took down the entire Claws. That’s going to have an impact.”
“Is that necessarily a bad thing?” Kaige said. “Haven’t we been getting news of them stirring up trouble?”
“The Claws were the most powerful force in the Bend, and Colt massacred them in one night. He’s cold and precise,” Gideon replied levelly. I’d never witnessed the guy raise his voice, but he always managed to get his point across nevertheless. “That makes him a potential threat, one we have to consider.”
Wylder turned to me. “How do you know the girl?”
The question caught me off-guard even though I should have seen it coming. There were rarely things that Wylder didn’t catch. He had a crazy knack for making people spill, which was why his father used him for most of the interrogations.
I cleared my throat. I knew lying wasn’t an option. He would catch my bullshit right away. “She and I dated for a while back in high school. Before I moved to the city. I was surprised to see her—and vice versa—that’s all.”
He nodded, but I could tell he wasn’t exactly satisfied with my vague answer. “I’m not saying I trust her, and it sounds like you know her better than we do. But Gideon’s right. She raised some fair points about the Bryant prick getting out of hand. Andsheknows him better than any of us do.”
I sucked in a breath, but Wylder’s eyes were still trained on me, as if he were waiting for some reaction. He obviously suspected something else was going on between Mercy and me, but I wasn’t going to give him any more information. That was completely unrelated to the gang, and I kept my private life out of this business.
Before I could protest, a flash of limbs and pale skin threw herself at Wylder. He scowled down at the girl who was now practically hanging off him.
“Wylder, I was looking for you all over the place.” Gia’s voice was slurred from all the alcohol she must have consumed. The skimpy outfit that she was wearing threatened to fall off any second, and the mounds of her breasts were all but exposed.
All the sight did was make me think of Mercy in that bloody dress.