“You told Cam, didn’t you? About your Google search?”
“How do you know?”
“It is in his eyes when he looks at me. Doubt. Fear. Why would you do that? You could have asked me and I would’ve told you the truth.”
Mateo gritted his teeth, the reality of being held down beginning to suffocate him. “Tell me the truthnowthen.”
“You do not deserve it. Cam is fighting a war believing I am not the man he loves. You deserve todie, enforcer.”
Mateo didn’t blink, perhaps because he knew I would not kill him. Because heknewI loved Cam too much to take a brother from him. It was sad that he did not believe I loved him enough for anything else.
I rolled off him. “I am dead because my parents wished me so. There was a funeral. There is a grave. I could not be myself even if I wanted to, but Alexei Ivanov is my name. Do not forget it, or we will talk like this again.”
Coughing, Mateo took his place again at my side. I was not naïve enough to believe I had frightened him; he was a Rebel King after all. But as the derision in his fiery gaze lessened, perhaps I had convinced him. Lucky me. I did not know why I cared for his approval, but a tiny, irritating part of me did.You should not threaten his life then. It is not a good way to make friends.
“That’s it,” Mateo murmured as if we hadn’t just grappled to the death in the dark. “They’re all out.”
Something shifted inside me, shoving aside the messiness I’d brought into Cam’s already chaotic existence. Into Saint’s. IntoMateo’s, even. My soul marbleised. Emotions cut off, dead and buried until I found a safe place in time to bring them back to life. I tracked a burly biker as he heaved himself onto an obnoxious Harley Davidson, all brawn no brain, and rumbled to the gates, locking them behind him, taking a final scan of the compound that was about to be razed to the ground.
His stance was casual. Relaxed. Perhaps he was innocent. Just a man who rode bikes. But if Mateo didn’t know his face, he belonged to Butch Crow, so I possessed no reservations about blowing his world to smithereens.
The man rode away, and in a moment of perfect symmetry, the phones Mateo and I carried buzzed in unison, lighting up with a single text.
Cam:it’s on. light your fire.
That was it, no details of the plan in motion, and I didn’t expect them. The burner phones were secure, but detailed messages took time Cam likely didn’t have right now. “They will have to separate,” I murmured to myself as much as Mateo. “Saint will chase the shipment down while Cam fights Butch Crow and McGif on the road.”
“Saint won’t leave Cam.”
I spared Mateo a glance. “You are sure?”
His nod was grim. “As I can be in this unholy mess. Setting those kids free matters to Saint, but not until Cam’s safe. Even when I thought you were full of shit, I knew you felt that way too.”
“You do not think I am full of shit now?”
Mateo sighed, already uncurling his body from the ground and dropping to a crouch, ready to run. “I think it doesn’t matter and it never did. They’re my brothers. I love them. If you do too, that’s enough for me.”
I joined him on the balls of my feet, anticipation rolling through me in cold waves, joining forces with the fear I could not contain, no matter how many iron bars I slammed over the gate. “Promise me something, enforcer.” At his nod, I continued. “If they separate to be heroes, help me protect them.”
Mateo pushed the detonator into my hands. “Always.”
25
Saint
We waited in the mud, an eerie calm blanketing us as I tracked the progression of the Crow bikes on the burner phone, connected via radio to Rubi scouting ahead, alone and vulnerable, like we all were if the numbers he was giving us were true.
“They got two-to-one on us. We need those fucking Russians.”
I concurred with a heavy sigh. Nash had already sent Viktor our location, but we’d heard nothing back.
Hadn’t heard from Alexei either. Or Mateo. And something—everything—about this night felt like the apocalypse from hell. My heart screamed for Alexei. I needed him close. But I was worried about Cam too, and I couldn’t leave him.
I wouldn’t.
The dots grew closer. Rubi cursed and the comms line crackled.
“Keep your head down,” Cam growled. “Don’t do anything fucking stupid.”