Gideon had come up beside Rowan, his beloved tablet tucked under one arm, his smooth face as detached in its alien beauty as ever. I’d almost have thought it didn’t matter to him that they’d happened to find me if he hadn’t jumped out of the car as fast as the others. There was a stiffness to the way he held himself now as if he wasn’t sure what to do with himself. I didn’t know what to make of that, but then, I rarely knew what to make of the Nobles’ tech expert.
Rowan was still standing uncertainly next to Wylder. When I looked at him, he swallowed audibly. His voice came out so gentle I’d almost think he’d transformed back into the boy I’d believed he was five years ago. “Let’s go, Mercy. We can sort the rest out in the car.”
There was still one part of this that didn’t make sense. I fixed my gaze on Wylder again. “How did you even know where I was?” It was awfully convenient, wasn’t it, that they’d shown up right after I’d given Colt’s men the slip and known exactly where I’d be?
I wasn’t expecting Wylder’s lips to twitch with amusement. He glanced at Gideon with an arch of his eyebrows.
The other guy swung his tablet out, and I saw a map with a blinking light on the screen. “It was actually very simple,” he said in his usual cool tone. “It seemed plausible that we might need to locate you at some point for one reason or another, so I attached a small tracking device to both of your bras.”
Now it was my turn to gape. “You did what?”
He shrugged, as nonchalant as if he were saying he’d put on a load of laundry for me. “It was the most reasonable option. You only had two, so you’d nearly always be wearing one unless you were asleep, and the structure makes detection much less likely than most other clothing.”
If it’d been anyone else, speaking any less practically about it, I’d have been totally creeped out. I looked down at my chest. I was still a little creeped out. “Can you de-tracker them?”
Kaige let out a rough guffaw. “I dunno—seems to me it came in pretty handy.”
It had. If I hadn’t been able to get away from Colt’s people, I’d have been awfully grateful for Gideon’s apparently nonexistent sense of personal boundaries. But still…
“We’ll come back to that subject later.” I glanced around, apprehension prickling down my spine. I didn’t like hanging around in my ex’s territory either, and my lingering worries had fallen away. For the guys to have gotten all the way here from Paradise City, they must have left before I’d gotten away from my captors—and why would they have already been heading out in search of me if getting me kidnapped had been their own plan? “All right, let’s get out of here.”
All four of the guys moved—but not toward the car, toward me, as if they thought I needed a full contingent of bodyguards just to walk the ten feet to the waiting Mustang. Oh-kay then. Kaige’s hand hovered by my elbow as they ushered me to the curb, and then he dove into the backseat even though he’d been riding shotgun before.
Well, I wasn’t against sitting next to him. As I climbed in after him, I noticed Wylder eyeing us as if he was debating claiming the other seat next to me. But it was his car. He marched back to the driver’s seat with an oddly annoyed air.
Gideon got in beside him, and Rowan grabbed his previous spot in the back. He sank onto the seat, leaving a few careful inches between us. “I’m glad you’re all right,” he said quietly as Wylder started the engine.
Even though he’d gone out of his way to sit next to me, Kaige stayed strangely silent. His hands were balled into fists on his lap, the veins standing out in their backs, looking ready to pop.
“You wanted to know what happened,” I said in an attempt to break the awkwardness of the moment. “It was the Steel Knights. They ambushed me on the sidewalk and dragged me into a van. Colt was there waiting for me.”
In the driver’s seat, Wylder stiffened. “Colt was there?” he said before I could go on.
“Apparently he wanted to oversee the operation personally.”
The Noble heir’s voice came out even more strained than it’d been when he first found me. “He’s a walking dead man. That’s an open challenge to our authority. He came right up to our gates and grabbed you—it’s a fucking act of war.”
“I’m sorry, Mercy,” Kaige burst out, sounding so agonized that my gaze jerked to him. His hands had somehow clenched even tighter, his face flushed with more anger that he now seemed to be directing at himself. He smacked his palm. “If I’d paid enough attention to the van—if I hadn’t suggested the run to begin with—I should have been keeping a closer eye on things—”
I stared at him for a second before my voice caught up. “It’s not your fault. How could you have known Colt would do something that bold?”
Kaige and I had hooked up, and he’d been flirty with me even when he was angry with me before, but I wouldn’t have thought he’d be this affected by me being in danger. Or was it just a matter of honor for him, having failed his duty to the Nobles?
Kaige grimaced as if he couldn’t accept the excuse I’d offered, but Gideon broke in, aloof as ever. “What did they want with you? Obviously not simply to kill you, or you’d be dead.”
“Thanks for pointing that out,” I said sarcastically, kicking the back of his seat. “Colt wanted information… About the plans my father was supposedly making against him, and about whether I’d given anyone information about the Nobles.”
Rowan frowned. “Why would he ask that?”
I hesitated and decided now wasn’t the best time to tell them Colt had claimed they’d put him up to it—and that I hadn’t been totally sure he was lying until a few minutes ago. Their combined reaction might blow the roof off the car. Maybe never would be a good time to mention that.
“Probably all part of his stupid paranoia.” I paused. “He did seem to be working with someone else. He took a call while I was there… He said some things about having made a deal to get what he wanted.”
A deal that still could have been with Ezra Noble. My gaze settled on the back of Wylder’s head and his fiery auburn hair, so like his father’s. When would be a good time to bring that possibility up?
“It’s not like anything your dad was planning matters anyway, considering—” Kaige stopped, snapping his mouth shut, but the unspoken words hung in the confined space of the car. It didn’t matter now because Dad and the rest of my family were dead anyway.
“I didn’t mean it that way,” he added quickly.