Mercy's Protectors (Mercy Ashby Book 1)

by A. M. Hardin

  “You won’t be lazy for long, jackass,” Hunter calls out while he dodges a kick that Mercy sends his way. “You’re in here with me next, Parker.”

  Kai and I laugh when Parker’s face falls a little. None of us have been able to beat Hunter yet. It’s honestly shocking that Mercy’s held her own for the most part since I’ve been in here.

  I wince when Hunter does one of his fancy ass moves and knocks Mercy on her back.

  Oops. Spoke too soon.

  Mercy lays on her back for a minute, breathing heavily. She lifts her head up and stares at Hunter before grinning at him. “Teach me how to do that!”

  Kai, Parker and I laugh. Hunter smirks and holds a hand out to her. “Maybe later.” He turns to face the three of us. “Parker. Get your ass over here.”

  Parker groans. “Damn it.”

  Mercy laughs. “At least I’m not going to be the only one landing on my ass today.”

  With nearly everyone asleep later that morning- since we’re all still on a nocturnal schedule- I set out in search of Hunter, knowing that he sleeps the least out of all of us. I’m hoping that he has heard something in the investigation that the Head Orderly was doing.

  Walking into a sitting room I find Hunter standing at the window, looking outside with his phone pressed to his ear, speaking to someone so low that I can’t hear him.

  The only thing I know for sure is that whatever Hunter’s hearing on the other end is not making him happy because he’s tense and his knuckles are white from where he’s gripping his phone in his grasp.

  After a few, very long minutes he hangs up the phone, his muscles still bound tight. He throws his phone on the chair beside him and lets out a sigh, loosening the muscles in his shoulder.

  “Everything okay?” I ask when he’s less tense.

  Glancing over his shoulder at me he shakes his head. “This is fucking ridiculous. It shouldn’t be so goddamn hard to find a fucking spy. Especially for that son of a bitch.”

  My eyes widen. “There’s no news? At all?”

  “Not a fucking thing.”

  We’re both quiet for a minute before I break the silence. “Hunter? Have you thought about what Georgette said the first night we got here?”

  “The warning she gave Mercy? About the ones she thought she could count on and needing to be weary of them?” Hunter asks, clarifying.

  I nod. “Yeah. What if her uncle or her friend are the ones who told Jerome where she was?”

  He thinks about that for a while. “I think it’s more likely that it was her uncle over her friend, seeing as her friend had been locked up for a while now.” He pauses. “Or, it could be whoever her uncle trusts that he told Mercy to trust with her safety.”

  “So what do we do?” I ask.

  He blows out a breath. “We’ll stay here for another day or two but then we need to move on before someone tells Jerome or Payne that we’re here and sends them after Mercy.”

  I gape. “We’re running?”

  He shakes his head. “Not running. I need to figure out a few things about why Payne wants Mercy so badly. To do that I need to talk to my father and see what he knows.”

  “So when will you do that?”

  “I’m leaving tonight after I get some sleep. I shouldn’t be gone long but we don’t need anymore nasty surprises like the one we got when we walked into the fucking bathroom to find Jerome with Mercy.”

  “Or just finding out that Mercy knew Jerome,” I mutter, still more than a little shocked at the revelations that occurred the other night.

  He doesn’t respond to my words, instead he continues looking out the window. “I’ll let the others know my plan tonight before I leave. If anything happens and I don’t answer any phone calls, you know where to go to get in touch with me.”

  I nod. “Alright. I’ll see you tonight then.”

  He makes a noise in his throat in response while I walk out of the room.

  14

  Chapter Fourteen

  Mercy

  I double-blink at the red-eyed demon standing in front of us with his arms crossed, not fully understanding what is going on.

  “What do you mean you’re leaving?” Parker asks, no hostility in his tone, just plain curiosity.

  “I’ll be back, obviously. I just need to talk to my dad about a few things,” Hunter explains.

  “About what?” Kai asks.

  “About me,” I assume. Judging by the slight wince on Hunter’s face I’m right and he didn’t want me to know. “Why not just say so?”

  Hunter sighs. “It's not just that. I need to ask him a few things about Jerome. Why he's after you as well as a few things about Payne.”

  “Okay but all of those things involve me,” I point out.

  “Yes, to some extent it does involve you but there are few other things I need to know,”

  Hunter says vaguely.

  I watch Hunter for a few moments, trying to decide if he’s telling the truth. Since I don’t really know him that well and most demons are accomplished liars, I’ll never actually know. I tilt my head in acknowledgement when he raises his brow at my silence.

  “Talon will be taking you all to the next safe house tomorrow evening. If I’m not back by then I’ll get in touch with you guys and find out where you guys are if you move before then.” The room fills with murmurs of agreement. “Any questions?”

  A shit load if I’m being completely honest, but they aren’t exactly for Hunter or the guys to hear, so I keep quiet while the others shake their heads. Hunter tilts his head and disappears in a blink.

  “I really hate when he does that,” Parker mutters.

  “Teleport?” I ask.

  “Yeah, he will just pop in and out at random times just to fuck with us when he gets bored.”

  I stifle the smile forming on my lips. “Well, hopefully he doesn’t try that with me because I’ll hit him while I’m screaming.”

  Kai and War chuckle. “That’d be a sight to see,” Kai admits. “Maybe he should do it just so we can watch your reaction.”

  “Fuck you,” I choke through a laugh. “Don’t be an ass. I hate being snuck up on.”

  “All the more reason to see that reaction,” War points out with a grin.

  I shake my head at him. “Whatever. It’s so not happening.”

  I look up at movement in my peripheral and watch Talon leave the room. I frown and meet War’s eyes from across the room. War subtly shakes his head and shrugs one shoulder.

  I let out a sigh and stand up from my seat on the couch. Stretching my arms above my head I say, "I need to go for a run or something." Hunter's announcement made me tense, freaking out about what he'd find out or what he wouldn't find out.

  "Make sure you use the gym, Mercy," Warwick says with finality.

  I roll my eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I know not to leave the house War. I'll see you guys later."

  After walking to my room to change into something more suitable for a workout I walk into the gym and pause at the sight of Talon swimming in the pool on the other end of the gym.

  Huh. I didn’t think cat shifters like swimming.

  I mentally slap myself when I catch myself staring at his movements, watching his muscles contract with every stroke.

  The guy has a fucking pool in his huge ass mansion. What the fuck is up with that shit? I remember growing up I was always telling my mom that I wanted a pool but she always said no. Then when they got me back from Payne there was never a guarantee that we'd be staying in one place for long so we didn't have extra stuff besides just what we needed. It was shit, but I understood it. I still understand it, but I won't lie and say I'm not slightly jealous that Talon's house has a damn pool inside.

  Biting my lower lip, I shake my head at my inner rant. Pulling my phone out, I start my playlist on my way to the treadmill and place it in my back pocket. Turning the treadmill on I start to run, needing to clear my mind of all the bullshit that's happened since my mom saw Jerome last week.

&
nbsp; “Mercy? Please say you can hear me.” Xena's voice echoes through my mind, very faint. Almost like we're too far away to hear each other well.

  “What's wrong? Why are you talking to me through telepathy instead of a phone?” She always calls on the phone, and rarely uses telepathy. The tone she used is making me even more anxious too.

  “I don’t want to take any chances,” she answers vaguely. “You mentioned something about getting into a fight with a girl when you first got here right?”

  I stop the treadmill and frown. “Yeah. What about it?”

  “What was her name?”

  “Ada.”

  Xena's quiet for a few minutes. It takes everything I have not to push her to explain.

  “She's gone,” she finally says.

  “Gone? What do you mean gone?”

  “I mean, she's gone. They've put out an alert for her. She's been missing since the night you went to the club. Since she was supposed to be on a mission that night, no one was worried.”

  I look up and see that Talon's out of the pool, watching me while he dries himself off. I raise a brow at him questioningly, but he doesn't look away. Instead, he meets my eyes boldly, still watching me as my eyes run over his body. Finally, I manage to tear my gaze away from the water dripping down his hard, sculpted body to the v above his shorts and answer Xena.

  “Maybe she's still on the mission?”

  “They don't think so. Someone else has gone missing too.”

  I narrow my eyes and pull my phone out to see if my uncle had messaged me. He didn't.

  “Who else is missing?”

  “Some guy named Aiden.”

  I blink. Aiden? What the hell?

  “What does Aiden going missing have to do with Ada disappearing?”

  “Probably nothing,” Xena says softly. “But, it just seems like too much of a coincidence that the one person you had a problem with and someone who was supposed to be friends with your uncle or at least friendly with him went missing within a week of each other.”

  "Everything okay?" Talon asks, coming up beside me, a frown on his face.

  "I don't know," I admit out loud, biting the inside of my cheek because I don't like not knowing things. "That's what I'm trying to figure out. Give me a minute."

  “So you think it's connected?” I ask Xena, going back to our conversation.

  “I think it's highly possible. I think they're going after people that have some sort of connection to you. In any sense of the word.”

  “Xena, are you-?”

  “I'll be fine. Don't worry about me. Worry about yourself. You guys need to leave whatever place your at tonight, no later than a couple hours from now. If you wait, it'll be too late.”

  I curse inwardly. “Alright. Keep me updated, let me know that you're okay and that they haven't taken you.”

  “I will.”

  Looking up into Talon's ocean blue eyes, I have to fight to keep myself from staring. His eyes are gorgeous. "We need to leave."

  "Leave?" He questions, raising a brow. "Why?"

  "Xena reached out to me. Have you guys heard anything from the Order about what's going on there?"

  "No. The only thing we've been keeping on their ass about is who betrayed you."

  I let out a breath. "Well, there have been a couple disappearances there. Ada and Aiden are missing. Xena isn't sure that it's connected but she doesn't think it's a coincidence."

  Talon's eyebrows raise and he blows out a breath. "Fuck. Let me make a few phone calls and I'll see if I can get us out of here in a few hours."

  I narrow my eyes at him. He’s acting weird. He isn’t talking like he is disgusted that he has to talk to a half-demon. He’s actually sounding... civil.

  "Are you okay?" I ask, catching him off guard.

  He gives me a funny look. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

  I purse my lips. "Never mind, it's nothing. Xena said that if we waited too long it'd be too late. She didn't specify what it would be too late for, but I'm assuming she means for us to get out of here."

  He scratches the side of his head and nods once at me. "Got it. Go let the guys know we're leaving tonight instead and get your shit packed."

  I open my mouth to respond to the bossy attitude he just dished out at me but before I can even say anything, he turns and walks out of the gym.

  Seriously? What the hell is with almost every single guy I know and that fucking "you, woman, do as man say" mentality. It pisses me off.

  Ugh. Whatever. I put my phone back in my pocket and head upstairs to talk to the guys.

  As I'm zipping up my duffle bag I pause when the lights cut off.

  Shit. Xena wasn't kidding when she said we didn't have time. It's been a half hour since I talked to her.

  “Mercy, where are you?” War asks.

  “I'm in my room. Just finished zipping up my bag. I'm good to go. What about you and the others?”

  “We're good to go. Wait there. I'll be up there in a second.”

  “War, you don't need to come up here. I'm walking out of my room now.”

  He doesn't respond so I quietly make my way down the hallway towards the stairs. The second I get to War’s side at the top of the stairs I hear the glass shatter in the room beside us.

  "Shit," War hisses. He grabs my arm and shoves me into the room beside the one we had heard the glass breaking.

  “Seriously, War? I don't think this is the best place to be.”

  “Hush.They're already downstairs so we can't go down there.”

  “How the hell do you know that?”

  He gives me a look and I roll my eyes. Of course, on top of telepathically communicating to the others he could have heard them better than I can. The curse of being half-human. Nothing is as strong in us as it is in a full-blooded demon.

  “So are we just going to stay here?”

  He snorts quietly. “No. You are while I go take care of whoever it is that's coming in through the room next door.”

  I narrow my eyes at him. “Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I can't help.”

  His face softens as his eyes roam my face. “I never said you were incapable. I'm just saying that I'm going to go first and take care of whoever it is that's in there. It shouldn't take too long. If I need you, I'll call for you.”

  I purse my lips, still not happy with this plan but I nod anyway.

  War brings a hand up and cups my face, brushing his thumb against my lower lip, his eyes heat as he looks at me. My heart beats against my chest as he watches me.

  “I'll be back.” His voice strokes my mind while he drops his hand and makes his way to the door.

  I watch as he disappears out of the room and wait for about thirty seconds before slowly making my way to the front of the room, not willing to sit and wait for someone to come get me.

  “Mercy, we've got downstairs cleared for now. What about upstairs? Did any make their way up to you?” Talon asks.

  “War's dealing with at least one in the room to the left of the stairs. He wanted me to wait in the room next to it, so that's what I'm doing. But I'm not going to be waiting for long,” I warn him.

  “Give him time.”

  I stick my head out of the room, peering down the hallway and making sure it's clear before I step out. I slowly make my way to the entrance of the next room where I can hear War fighting with someone inside. I want to call out to him telepathically to make sure he's okay and that there's only one, but I don't want to distract him.

  “Fucking hell. Mercy, you and War need to stay upstairs and make sure there's no one else up there.” Kai curses in my head.

  “Why?”

  “Jerome just showed up with a lot more friends and he's not happy. Help War get rid of whatever fuckheads are upstairs then get your asses down here and into the tunnel.”

  “Tunnel?”

  “To get out of here.”

  “Got it.”

  I quickly make my way to the room where I hear War fighting with someone
and freeze for a split second before taking action.

  Of course the stubborn ass demon didn’t call me. I roll my eyes and pull a dagger off my hip, infusing it with my flames before tossing it straight into the back of one of the five other demons in the room going after War.

  Everyone pauses and stares at him when the demon falls to the ground whimpering, attempting to pull the dagger out of his back. I didn’t hit him in a spot that would kill because I wanted my flames to do the job for me.

  “Why is it that you can never trust a man to ask for help when he needs it?” I ask. All eyes turn to me and War makes a pouting face.

  “Now that’s just rude, Mimi. I had it handled.” He says with his lips twitching.

  One of the demons hisses at me with a snake-like tongue, through his reptilian face, showing he’s one of the lesser demon breeds that have come after me before.

  I can’t help but smile internally. Jerome underestimated me. Yet again. Can’t say I’m shocked.

  The demon I had stabbed into the back has finally stopped moving and breathing on the floor.

  The snake-dude looks at the male on the floor before glaring at me. “What did you do to him?”

  I smile. “I didn’t do anything besides stab him.”

  He hisses. “In a non-fatal spot! Why is he dead!”

  My grin widens as Warwick raises his brow at me, seemingly as shocked as the others. “Because, though my flames can’t kill all demons, they can kill the lesser demons like you, Mr. Snakey.” I deliberately taunt him and am pleased when his face turns a nasty shade of... orange? What the fuck is that all about?

  Note to self: do a bit more research on demons to make sure I don’t hit any nasty surprises in the future.

  “Bullshit!” Mr. Snakey shouts, pulling me out of my train of thought. “Half-breeds don’t have strong enough flames for that!”

  “They do.” I casually pulling my other dagger off my hip. “Well, I do,” I correct while infusing more flames on the new blade. I twirl the dagger in my hand while watching the demons in front of me, trying really hard not to laugh at the wary looks they shoot from me to my flaming dagger.