by A. M. Hardin
“I need a drink.” He laughs. “You’re freaking exhausting.” He says it with a smirk so I know he’s just kidding.
“How about you go get us drinks so I can go to the restroom. Then we can go find out from Hunter when we’re leaving. Or when your replacement gets here to dance with me.”
He pauses. “I don’t think you should go alone.”
I roll my eyes while we walk off the dance floor, both of us breathing heavily and sweating. “I’m going to the bathroom. Not the mall. I’ll be fine. If I need something I’ll call for you or one of the guys.”
“Fine. But I’m walking you to the bathroom. Meet me in the bathroom hallway when you’re done and I’ll have your drink for you.”
I give him a mock salute. “Yes, sir.”
He chuckles. “Whatever, just stay out of trouble, sweetheart.”
Kai walks me to the bathroom door, walking away after telling me again to wait for him in the hallway when I’m done.
I resist the urge to roll my eyes by the time he’s out of sight and use the restroom. While I’m washing my hands a chill slithers down my spine and I look around the room, not seeing anything.
The bathroom door opens and I tense, relaxing when I see it’s just a woman coming to use the bathroom. I chuckle to myself at my jumpiness.
Everything’s fine. No one is here to hurt you. You’re just paranoid as shit, I mentally chastise myself.
I turn the water off and turn around to step away from the sink only to back up into it in shock. There is no fucking way he’s here right now.
How the fuck did he find me so fast?
“Jerome,” I whisper, my heart pounding painfully in my chest.
10
Chapter Ten
Mercy
“What are you doing here, Jerome?” I ask, clenching my fist at my side.
“Aww, no hug for me? I’m hurt little Mercy,” he tsks sadly.
“Sorry I don’t hug bastards who enjoy beating the shit out of kids.” I look behind him into the stall the woman had gone in only to realize that he must have somehow disguised himself as the woman when he came in because she’s nowhere to be seen and the stall is wide open.
When the hell did he learn that kind of trick?
Jerome invades my space. His stringy black hair hits me in the face when he rubs his nose against my cheek. “Now, my dear, is that any way to talk to the one who’s meant to be with you?”
Grinding my teeth together I push him back. “That’s a fucking joke if I’ve ever heard one,” I snarl. “Kidnapping me as a kid for your master doesn’t mean that I’m meant to be with you.”
A sick grin spreads across his face. “Ah, but it does when my master says that after he has your babies you’ll belong to me.”
What the fuck is he talking about? Babies? What babies?
“I belong to no one.” I lift my dress enough that I can grab for my dagger I have strapped to my thigh and pull it out. “How the fuck did you find me?”
He lets out a dark chuckle. “Oh, my dear. You should have known that we have our spies everywhere. Especially within your little Order.”
“That may be so, but this was an almost last minute stop so it wasn’t common knowledge that we were coming here. Who’s working with you?”
“Maybe if you come with me, I’ll tell you,” he suggests, still wearing a gross smile.
“Go back to hell,” I snap a second before thrusting my dagger into his chest. It won’t kill him but it’ll distract him enough for me to get the fuck out of here.
“Hunter! Bathroom!” I mentally shout out for help while I rush towards the bathroom entrance. I wasn’t quick enough though.
I’m jerked back by my hair and Jerome throws me into the full length mirror behind me. I groan in pain as glass shards stick in my body.
Fuck that hurt.
Jerome walks over to me after pulling the dagger out of his chest and waves it at me in a tsking motion. He grabs my hair in his fist and tilts my head back so I’m looking at him. “Now, Mercy, that wasn’t very nice was it?” He presses the dagger's tip against my throat, using the flat side to lift my face up to his, scratching my throat enough for a drop of blood to fall down my neck. “I’m going to enjoy breaking you all over again, my beautiful Mercy.”
“Fucking hell! Hunter! Kai, anyone, where the fuck are you guys?” I shout out again a split second before the bathroom door bursts open and the whole team is there.
“Jerome. What are you doing with Mercy?” Hunter asks, almost casually, if it weren’t for the hardness in his jaw, you wouldn’t have known that he was pissed. The guys around him are all vibrating with anger, even Talon.
Jerome curls his lip. “She’s mine Hunter. Go away and let me deal with her.”
“I can’t do that Jerome.”
“Why not?” He growls while he grips my hair tighter to pull me to him. Not realizing what I was doing while he was talking to Hunter.
I’m done with this shit. “You’re nothing but a pussy, Jerome,” I say quietly. Jerome tilts my head back forcefully, painfully, to make me look at him.
“What did you just say to me?” He spits.
“You’re. Nothing. But. A. God. Damn. Pussy,” I bite out while infusing flames to the dagger I had grabbed while he was distracted and lift it so I can slice into his arms.
Jerome cries out when I make contact and lets me go falling to his knees while he cradles his arms to his shaking body. “How did you do that?” He gasps out in pain while the fire runs through his veins.
Ignoring Jerome, I limp around him as quickly as I can to get to the guys. With my back feeling like it was shredded open, it definitely was not very fast.
Warwick pulls me into his arms as soon as I get near enough to the group, since he was the closest person to me, and places himself in front of me protectively.
Our group watches Jerome writhe on the floor for a few more heartbeats before anyone moves. As Hunter goes toward him, I reach through the bodies around me to grab for his arm.
“Leave him, we need to go.”
Hunter meets my eyes and searches my face. Probably seeing the urgency there, he nods. “Alright. Let’s get out of here.”
Warwick helps me wrap my limbs around him so he can carry me out to the car, since I have a large shard of glass sticking out of my back, as well as the other smaller ones that are making me walk too slow for their tastes. I may heal faster than a human, but I don’t heal as well as other supernatural beings might. Depending on which species they are.
When we get to the van Warwick helps me lay on my stomach on the bench while Talon grabs some gloves and pliers to get the glass out of my back.
Hunter gets into the drivers side and starts moving once everyone is situated. Talon takes a pair of scissors and cuts my dress off my back so he can keep it out of the way.
“Are you going to explain why we had to leave Jerome there instead of finishing him off?” Hunter asks from the front.
“This is going to hurt,” Talon warns as he pulls the larger shards of glass out of my back, making me wince and whimper softly in pain.
“The Order’s not safe for me,” I manage to get out in panting breaths.
“What does that mean?” Kai asks.
“Someone told Jerome I- Jesus fucking christ! Shit on a motherfucking brick Talon! Warn me before you spray that shit!”
Kai, Parker and Warwick chuckle. “Did you just tell Talon to shit on a brick?” Warwick asks.
“Yes,” I hiss as Talon pulls another chunk of glass out.
“Can you finish explaining?” Hunter asks, sounding impatient.
“Someone inside the Order told Jerome where I’d be. Which means that he knows that you guys were meant to be there, protecting me. He most likely didn’t come alone.”
“Who all knew we were going to my club tonight?” Talon growls from above me.
“The Head Orderly,” Hunter answers, “us, and probably a couple others.”
�
��Xena knew,” I admit, “but she wouldn’t betray me.”
“You’d bet your life on that?” Parker asks.
“Absolutely.”
Talon finishes bandaging my back and helps me sit up while I use my dress to cover my front from the guys. Warwick tosses me my clothes that we had stashed in here for the mission. I smile gratefully at him before quickling throwing them on.
“Hunter,” Talon grumbles from behind me. “Go to my place, it’s closer than anyone else’s.”
“You guys have your own places?” I ask, curious.
Parker chuckles. “What? Did you think we lived at the Order?”
I shrug unapologetically. “Yeah, I actually did.”
“My home is also large enough for everyone to have their own room,” Talon says while pulling his phone out to text someone.
We’re silent for several very long minutes. “What are we going to do about the mission tonight?” I finally ask.
The guys all look to Hunter who lets out a breath. “I don’t like that Jerome knew where you were going to be when we hadn’t even decided we were doing it until earlier. I’ll call the Head Orderly and tell him we won’t be working for a while until we know for a fact it’s safe for Mercy when we get to Talon’s.”
“Are you sure he’ll go for that?” Talon asks.
“He’ll have no choice. Mercy do you have your phone on you so you can call your uncle and tell him what’s going on?”
“Yeah, I’ve got it with me.”
“Call him.” His tone brokered no arguments, but I still rolled my eyes as I did as he ordered.
“Hello?” My uncle asks over the line.
“Roderick, hey, uh, I’m not going back to the Order-” I start, but before I can get the reason why out he’s swearing at me.
“Why the fuck are you not going back there? God damn it Mercy, it took a lot of huge ass favors to get your ass protection and to allow you to stay there!” He shouts.
I’m pretty sure everyone in the vehicle can hear him since I had to pull the phone away from my ear while he yelled. Their chuckles kind of gave it away too. Even Talon was smirking at me.
Dicks.
I roll my eyes, even though he can’t see me. “Roderick! If you’ll stop bitching at me and listen for a damn second you would know that it isn’t safe there for me.”
“What the hell do you mean it’s not safe for you?” He demands.
“Jerome found me.” I pause while my uncle curses over the phone before continuing. “He claims that someone told him where I was, that he had people on the inside. I believe him for the simple fact that I wasn’t even supposed to be where I was when he found me. Only a few people outside the team knew.”
“Fucking shit!” Breaking glass echoes over the line, followed by pounding, like he’s beating the hell out of a wall or something. After a few minutes the noises of destruction stop. “I’m so sorry, Mercy,” my uncle rasps in a broken whisper. “I failed you. I failed my brother.”
“Uncle, you haven’t failed me or my dad. Keep my mom safe for me. As long as you do that, I’ll be happy.”
“It’s not your mom they want!” He shouts.
“Well I don’t know what they want with me and I really don’t want to fucking find out. I’m not willing to take the chance that they’ll go after mom to get to me. Keep her safe.”
He sighs heavily. “Fine. I’ll keep her safe. In the meantime, you need to keep yourself safe. Be careful, stay vigilant and if anything happens, call me.”
“I will. Thank you, Roderick.”
11
Chapter Eleven
Mercy
I groan as a knock comes onto the bathroom door. As soon as we got to Talon’s, he showed me to my room. It had a connected bathroom with a huge bath in it. I found some healing herbs and bath salts under the counter and took advantage of them. That was about an hour ago. I’ve been in bliss since I got in this bath and now it looks like reality is coming knocking. Literally.
“Yeah?” I call out.
The bathroom door cracks open and I raise my brow. These guys have death wishes apparently.
“Sorry, I couldn’t hear you well and figured this would work better,” Hunters voice travels through the crack. He didn’t open it any more than was necessary for me to be able to hear him. Thank god.
“It’s fine. What’s up?”
“I need you to meet us in the living room in a few minutes. There’s a healer here who can help speed up the healing process for your back and we also need to talk. There’s a clean pair of clothes for you.”
I mumble a curse. “Alright, I’ll be out in a sec.”
Hunter closes the door and I hear his footsteps receding as he walks away.
Five minutes later, I walk out of my new room towards the voices down the hall, my bare feet making little sound as I move.
Walking into the living room I pause when I see an elderly woman sitting on a chair with a coffee cup clasped in her hands and the guys all scattered throughout the room. Talon, being the only one standing and facing the entrance where I was coming in, noticed me first.
“Mercy, this is Georgette, a family friend,” he introduces us when I get close.
I give the new woman a soft smile and a nod, trying not to shiver at the way her eyes rake over my body before finally meeting my eyes and looking at me like she can see straight through me.
“You’ve had a hard life, child,” Georgette rasps, her tone compassionate.
I say nothing in response to that. Truthfully, I don’t know how to respond to that.
“What do you mean?” Kai asks from the chair beside her.
Georgette meets my eyes. “That’s a story that you all will find out shortly, I’m sure. It ties in to your questions that you have for the girl.”
Fucking lovely. I try not to groan as I realize what the woman is.
She’s a fucking Psychic. Usually they come from a human mating with a witch. There are the rare cases that human parents give birth to a Psychic, but the last Psychic that was from that kind of parentage was several hundred years ago and is long dead. They just have this ability of knowing everything. Well, nearly everything. They’re also masters at healing. Those are the only abilities they have. Psychics are notoriously nosy and extremely pushy when it comes to getting answers.
The guys exchange looks before looking between me and Georgette.
“Come here, child. Let me take a look at that back, see if we can’t hurry along the healing.”
I nod and stand in front of Georgette with my back to her. She lifts my shirt enough that she’s exposing my entire back to her, but isn’t exposing my breasts to the rest of the room.
I stiffen when I feel her place her hands over my back, the cuts were hurting, and I was still pretty self-conscious with my scars. However, here I was, showing a majority of my scars to a woman who I didn’t know, so she could heal me enough so I didn’t get even more scars on my back.
A heartbeat later warmth spreads over my back and I feel the cuts knitting themselves together quicker than they would have healed on their own. They had stopped bleeding but they were still there and slowly healing. Unfortunately it’d have taken me at least a day to heal them without help.
Georgette takes her hands off my back and pulls my shirt back down, covering me again. “Alright. You’re all set dear.”
Turning to face her, I give her a smile. “Thank you.”
“It’s what I do,” she says with a small shrug while she stands to leave. Halfway to the door she turns to look at me. “Be careful who you trust Mercy. Those who you thought you could count on are sometimes the ones you need to be most weary of.”
With those last words she walks out, leaving me with my mouth open, gaping after her.
“Freaking hate Psychics,” I grumble before plopping down on the chair Georgette was sitting in.
Parker and Warwick chuckle, nodding their heads like they agree.
I look around, meeting everyone�
��s eyes before asking, “So what did you guys want to talk about?”
“Jerome,” Hunter says simply after looking at something on his phone and putting it in his pocket.
I tense. “What about him? He’s a bastard.”
Hunter chuckles humorlessly. “Yes, I’m well aware of that. What I need to know is how do you know him? Why is it Jerome is the one that’s after you? When I was informed there were people after you, no one mentioned him or his boss.”
“You need to know that?” I ask skeptically.
“Yes, if we understand why he wants you we may be able to come up with a way to stop him.”
I bite my lip, unsure. This will essentially be opening myself up to all of them. I haven’t done that with anyone but Xena and even then, it took a long time for me to tell her the details.
“Is this what Georgette was talking about? About you having a hard life?” Kai asks carefully.
I wrap my arms around myself in a weak attempt to shield myself from the memories and move to stand in front of the window to look out at the blackness of the yard.
“Mercy, we need answers,” Hunter urges gently.
“I know, just… just give me a second please,” I murmur loud enough for them to hear me.
I debate for a minute where to start, then decide to get it done and over with.
“You know my family, right?” I see the guys nod in my peripheral. “I don’t know a lot on the specifics about why I was taken, but I’ll try and fill you guys in as best as I can.”
“That’s fine, just what you know,” Hunter assures me.
“My dad, he was friends or business associates or something with Jerome’s boss though he kept him away from me and my mother. I never understood why he kept me locked in my room whenever he came to visit. I was at a neighbors house playing one night when I was eight and I ended up coming home while he was there. I didn’t know he was there or I wouldn’t have gone in. I would have waited at my friends house, but I wasn’t thinking of anything but getting home and having time with my dad. I walked into the living room and heard my dad and some guy arguing in the kitchen. I was worried that him and my uncle were fighting so I went to see if I could help.
