19
Mercy
“And that’show I tripped down the roof and survived the fall,” Kaige said. The dining room burst into laughter. I stood leaning against the door frame as I watched the Noble and Claws men bond and talk. The guys had swung by the Katz house this morning to discuss strategy, and somehow it’d turned into storytelling time while Jenner had whipped up a big breakfast for everybody.
“Yo, that’s sick, man,” Sam said with a shake of his head. “Was that part of your initiation?”
“Yep,” Kaige said. “We all had to go through the trials. They don’t make any exceptions, not even for Rowan. He saved Wylder’s life when we were in school—took a knife to his chest and everything.”
My smile faded. We still hadn’t gotten any news from the hospital other than they were continuing to monitor Rowan’s situation. He hadn’t woken up yet. The waiting was killing me.
“He was always loyal,” Gideon said quietly, catching my eye.
“And he always will be,” I said. “Until the end, which hasn’t happened yet.”
Wylder’s phone pinged with an alert. He checked his phone and tensed up, springing to his feet. “We’ve got to go.”
I stood up too. “What’s wrong?”
“Beckett just reached out. He says he found out his father’s men are going after the waterfront property—they’re planning on ruining the construction that’s happened so far. They’re already on their way.”
“Shit.” Even I knew how much that waterfront development mattered to Ezra. If the Storm’s people succeeded in tearing down all the progress he’d made there…
I motioned to the Claws men around me as Kaige and Gideon leapt up. “We’re going to need everyone who isn’t on guard duty or injured with us to take them down. Are you with me?”
Jenner nodded without hesitation. “We’ve got your back. Come on, men.”
“Grab all the weapons you can get your hands on,” I ordered. “We won’t have much time to strategize once we get there, but our primary objective will be to hold them off the property.”
I didn’t wait for them, hurrying ahead to catch up with Wylder, who’d already gotten Ezra on the line.
“Dad,” he said as he yanked the front door open, putting the phone on speaker so he had more use of his hands. “We need our men in the Bend.”
“What’s going on?” Ezra said almost testily on the other side.
“Xavier and his men are gunning for the waterfront property. They want to blow it all up.”
Ezra swore under his breath. His previous apathy disappeared, replaced by urgency. “I’m sending all the men not already needed in the city over. You’ll have the full Noble force at your disposal.”
Wylder smiled tightly. “I appreciate that.”
“I want the property secured,” Ezra said. “Nothing less.”
“Of course, Dad,” Wylder said in a taut voice. “You don’t have to worry about it.”
“And I intend to monitor everything that is happening there. Give the phone to Gideon.”
Wylder seemed to debate on his decision before he turned off the speaker and handed his phone to Gideon, who looked surprised.
“Yes, Ezra?” Gideon said as we hustled toward the car that was parked outside the house. While Wylder took the driver seat, I slid in next to him, with Gideon and Kaige jumping into the back. Behind us, the rest of the Claws were already making their way out of the house, hollering and shouting, pumping themselves up for the big fight.
Wylder pulled away from the curb and tore off toward the river. My stomach tied itself into a knot. We’d been planning on getting in another hit against the Storm this morning as soon as we’d finished breakfast, hitting them while they were down. Our men had been out tackling any smaller groups they came across all night. Xavier must have rallied even faster than we’d counted on. Did he have any idea about the timeline we were up against?
Gideon made agreeable noises a couple of times while Ezra must have spoken. By the time the call ended, he was frowning.
“What did he want?” Wylder said, checking from the rearview mirror.
“He asked me to see if I can remotely fix the CCTV connection on the property. It went down when the cops marched in there the other day, and with everything else going on, no one got around to fixing it.”