7
Kaige
I was comingout of the gym when I ran into Gideon—almost literally, since the guy never looked where he was going when he was staring at one of his tech devices. One of these days he’d walk right into a wall.
“Any update about who this Storm prick is?” I asked automatically.
Gideon tore his gaze away from his phone’s screen for long enough to raise an eyebrow at me. “Believe me, as soon as I’ve got anything, you’ll be among the first to know. How many times have you asked me in the past twenty-four hours already?”
“I want a go at him,” I said with a grumble.
An uncharacteristic smile tugged at Gideon’s lips. “I’m sure Wylder will let you at him first.”
Electronics aside, I had to admit that in the past couple of weeks, he’d been a little more… relaxed, or cheerful, or some other word I didn’t normally associate with the computer guru. I couldn’t help suspecting it had something to do with Mercy. She’d had a pretty major effect on all of us, it seemed like.
All the more reason I should get to pummel that X-scarred asshole’s head in for threatening her. And killing that cat. Who the hell went around carving up innocent animals just to send a message?
When we reached the foyer, Wylder and Rowan were standing by the door, their heads bent together in conversation. My spirits lifted with the thought that they might be planning another excursion to see Mercy, even though we’d just checked in on her two days ago and we did have to keep a low profile about it. Waiting two days seemed like ages to me.
As we ambled over to join them, Hector stalked past us. A massive bruise was blooming over his right eye, another coloring his left cheek. Damn.
When he’d headed outside, I tipped my head in the direction he’d gone and asked Wylder, “What the hell happened to Hector?”
Wylder sucked a breath through his teeth. “Dad lost his shit on him. He just heard from Jasper Herald that the Demon’s Wings don’t want to get involved in this shit, which is apparently deeper than Jasper expected, so he’s withdrawing from our alliance. It works in our favor, really, since he contributed men already and we haven’t done anything for him, but Dad wasn’t happy. And he took out his unhappiness on the nearest available face.”
I couldn’t say hearing that surprised me. Ezra Noble wasn’t exactly known for gentleness. At least Wylder could be glad his dad didn’t turn his fists on him… not that Ezra hadn’t been plenty hard on Wylder in other ways.
None of our dads were winning Father of the Year awards, to put it mildly.
“News about the Storm is spreading fast, huh?” I said. “We don’t even know who he is or why he wants Paradise Bend so bad.”
Rowan shrugged. “I don’t think it’s that complicated. We heard from the Steel Knight guys that he sees the county as a good jumping off point to make more power grabs, and it is prime territory. Ezra’s been increasing his empire for years. If someone could just grab all of the Nobles’ operations and make them their own, they’d be making a lot of profit out of that war.”
“It wouldn’t be that simple,” Gideon said.
“Of course not. But it’d probably be simpler than building the same connections and businesses up on their own from scratch.”
“We haven’t lost the war yet,” Wylder said. “Paradise Bend is and will always be our turf.”
I nodded, feeling adrenaline pump through me. Whatever was coming, we were ready for it.
“What are you guys talking about?” a voice said from behind me. I spun around to find Axel there, a cigarette dangling from his lips.
“Have you forgotten the no smoking in the house rule already?” Wylder said with an edge in his voice.
Axel took out the cig with a smirk. “It’s not lit, so technically not a crime. Are you going to answer my question?” He gave us a pointed look.
“Like most people around here, we’re talking about the guy who thinks he’s going to take the county from us,” Rowan said mildly.
Axel made a skeptical sound. “You kids have been busy lately. Always coming and going. I don’t remember Ezra giving you any missions.”
Wylder grimaced at him. “My dad gives me leeway to make some of my own decisions, you know. We have work to do. We can’t sit around while our enemies are already moving against us.”
“So you’ve been going down into the Bend, then?”
“That is where this Xavier and his men appear to be operating from,” Gideon replied, his voice flat.
“Funny. I’d imagine that’s where Mercy scampered off to also. I don’t suppose you’ve run into her at all.”