by Jami Gray
He lifted his head and nuzzled her. ‘We came to an understanding.’ He lifted his head and held her gaze. ‘He knows I’m giving Reaper his name, and he’s expecting you to be at my side.’
Catching the question under his statement, she held his gaze and opened her heart. ‘Grew up thinking there were no such things as knights in shining armour. Until you came along, I figured I was just fine taking the dragons on my own.’ Being this honest scared the shit out of her, but there was no going back, not now, not when there was a chance at claiming something beautiful.
The big body surrounding hers stilled and he narrowed his eyes. ‘You still thinking of going it alone?’
She arched a brow trying not to let her nerves get the better of her. ‘Actually, I’ve been thinking it might be in my best interest to take on a partner. You know, someone to watch my back.’ She met his gaze and made her offer. ‘And maybe help keep my heart in one piece. You up for the position?’
His ‘Hell yeah,’ was lost as he took her mouth with a toe curling possessiveness she never thought she wanted and set a match to the ever ready fire blazing between them.
* * *
Shortly after Havoc left to get them something to eat, Mercy was startled awake by a knock. Not at the door, but at the window behind her. Grabbing the blade tucked under Havoc’s pillow, she ignored her body’s protests and rolled off the side of the bed, putting it between her and her window visitor. She fought not to wince as her bandaged feet hit the rug. It helped when she realised it was Math’s face staring at her through the glass. ‘What the fuck?’
Not wanting to walk, she crawled over the bed, grateful she’d put Havoc’s t-shirt back on, and shuffled to the window. She shoved the window open. ‘What the hell, Math? There’s a perfectly good door over there.’
Math threw a leg over the sill and climbed in as she backed up until the bed hit the back of her thighs. Then she sat on the edge of the bed. Math dropped into the chair. ‘You okay?’
‘You care?’
He frowned. ‘That’s a stupid ass question.’
‘Is it?’ She tucked her lingering hurt away, knowing emotion would get her nowhere with him. ‘Last time we spoke you made it damn clear we were done.’
‘Don’t be such a stubborn bitch, Mercy.’
‘Hello kettle, I’m pot.’
He grimaced and blew out a hard breath. ‘Look, I get that you’ve gone and claimed the Vulture as yours, but I’m not ready to get all buddy-buddy with them.’
‘And why is that?’
He leaned forward, elbows on his knees. ‘Ask Reaper.’
She canted her head to the side, wondering yet again if her boss—ex-boss—was psychic. ‘You sound certain I’ll be talking to him.’
‘Won’t you?’ When she didn’t answer, he smiled. ‘Known you a long time, darling. Watched you spend years convincing yourself you don’t deserve it, but now …’
When he trailed off, she couldn’t help but urge softly, ‘What?’
His face gentled and something wistful drifted through it. ‘You’re finally happy.’
Stunned at his unexpected insight, she could only look at him her mouth hanging open.
The momentary softness disappeared under his normal stoic mask as he continued, ‘Don’t know how he managed to convince you, but I’ve got to give the bastard credit, he did the impossible.’
‘Math, I—’
He held up a hand, cutting her off. ‘Look, don’t have much time, but I wanted to make sure you were okay before I head out.’
And didn’t that statement stoke all sorts of worries. ‘Where are you going?’
Math’s face was grim but determined. ‘I’m going to follow that bitch back to her master.’
Yeah, that was the answer she figured he’d give. Knowing there would be no talking him out of it, and besides, she wasn’t sure she wanted to, she asked, ‘Then what?’
There was nothing pleasant in his smile. ‘Then we’ll find out if we all really are on the same side.’ He got to his feet and brushed a hand over her cheek. ‘Tell Reaper whatever you feel you need to share. Fair warning, be prepared to duck when he loses his shit. When he calms down, let me know.’
And just like that, he truly let her go. She stood up, wrapped her arms around Math, and whispered around the lump in her throat, ‘Be careful, Math.’
His arms came around her and she felt him drop a kiss on her head. ‘You too, Mercy.’ He gave her one final, gentle squeeze and stepped back.
She followed him to the window, watching as he swung out, then she leaned out the opening. ‘Math.’
He turned.
‘Good hunting.’
He gave her a fierce smile and slipped away.
She watched him disappear into the night, only turning away when the door behind her opened and the man who held her heart walked in. ‘You okay, babe?’
She crawled over the bed and met Havoc as he came to a stop by the edge of the bed. Getting up on her knees, she wrapped her arms around him and took his lips in a fierce kiss. When she drew back they were both breathing heavy.
‘What was that for?’
‘Math just left, he’s going after Greer.’
Havoc’s arms tightened around her as his gaze went to the window and then came back to her. ‘Alone?’
‘For now.’ When lingering doubts began gathering in his gorgeous eyes, she was quick to add, ‘If he needs help, he’ll let us know, but I think we need to get to Pebble Creek and get your friends up to speed before he gets in too much trouble.’
He dumped the food on the bed next to her and pulled her close. ‘You stayed.’
Catching the burgeoning hope in his voice, an unexpected lump settled in her throat, making her voice husky. ‘Of course I did, we’re partners now, right?’
Something bright and beautiful crossed his face, erasing the shadows in his eyes. ‘Yeah, we are.’
‘Good.’ She pressed in close and put her mouth up to his ear. ‘Just so you know, Havoc, I love you.’
He buried his hand in her hair and pulled her head away so he could take her mouth in a searing kiss. When he lifted his head and whispered, ‘Love you too, babe,’ she found her balance was rock steady even as he stood by, arms ready.
Thanks for reading Beg for Mercy. I hope you enjoyed it.
If you’d like to know more about me, my books, or to connect with me online, you can visit my webpage jamigray.com, follow me on Twitter @JamiGrayAuthor, or like my Facebook page.
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Reviews can help readers find books, and I am grateful for all honest reviews. Thank you for taking the time to let others know what you’ve read, and what you thought.
You’ve just read a book in my Fate’s Vultures series. The other book in this series is Lying in Ruins.
This book was published by Escape Publishing. If you’d like to sample some more great books from my fellow Escape Artists, please turn the page.
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ISBN: 9781489255198
Title: Beg For Mercy
Copyright © 2018 by JAMI GRAY
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises (Australia) Limited, Level 13/201 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 2000.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
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