My pulse hiccupped. I reached into my pocket and yanked out the silver chain. When I held it up to the streaks of sunlight that penetrated the alley, Xavier paused, frowning.
Every nerve in my body screamed at me to squeeze the bracelet tight and tuck it away where he’d never find it. I’d clung to this last concrete memento of my mother for fifteen years. But I didn’t need it to remember her. I understood the full sacrifice she’d made for me now. And I knew with absolute certainty that Mom would have cared less about me holding onto it than about protecting me any way she could like she hadn’t managed to before.
I wasn’t really an angel anyway, little or otherwise.
“This is the last piece of my mother I have left,” I said, closing my fingers around it. “If you want her so badly, you’d better go get it.”
Xavier’s eyes fixed on my hand with a sudden flare of longing. The next second, I hurled the bracelet into the strewn debris along the edge of the alley.
Xavier dove after it, nearly dropping his gun in his haste. I sprang at the wall. Using the uneven texture of the bricks to brace my shoes, I spun and launched toward the wall kitty-corner, bouncing back and forth between the sides on a diagonal. Sweat beaded on my forehead at the pain in my thigh I was ignoring.
Xavier let out a cry of triumph—and I flung myself in one final leap to grab the sill of the open window.
A roar echoed up from behind me. I didn’t look back, only hurled myself through the window. Gunfire sputtered in my wake, chipping the ledge. I sprawled on the floor in a vacant apartment and shoved myself to my feet.
“This isn’t over!” Xavier bellowed after me. “You’re going to realize eventually that it’s going to come down to you or me.”
* * *
I met up with the guys by the base of the hill that led to the Noble mansion, my feet and my thigh aching. I fought the urge to sink down on the sidewalk. The somber expression on all their faces only made my spirits sink more.
“You couldn’t stop him,” I said.
Wylder blew out a frustrated breath. “We couldn’t get close enough. The cops came by again and totally failed too. He’s too smart and too fast.”
“And has too much ammunition,” Kaige grumbled.
“We’ll regroup,” Gideon said. “It’s barely noon. We’ve got the rest of the afternoon to come up with the right approach—and we don’t even know that the Long Night won’t consider the deal fulfilled already.”
I was pretty sure he wouldn’t, but I couldn’t bring myself to say that. “All right,” I said, and limped over to the car.
I’d only just made it to the doors when my phone buzzed. I didn’t see how it could be good news, but I pulled it out anyway. I didn’t recognize the number.
“Hello?” I said.
“Is this Mercy Katz?” said the voice at the other end.
I hesitated. “Yeah. What’s this about?”
“I’m calling from the Paradise Bend County Hospital. We have some good news for you. You’re the contact for Rowan Finlay? He’s just woken up.”