Page 135 of Ruthless Reign

“All right lads,” he called as Sloane came to join him at his side. “And ladies,” he added with a nod to her and to me. “This is it. We make our stand here and make it fucking count. Do not hesitate. We take no prisoners. We show no mercy.”

“Because you can bet your asses they’ll show none to you,” Sloane added. “These are the men who came this close to blowing all your families to kingdom come. They killed your friends. Your brothers.”

Damien took Sloane’s hand. “But today they’re the ones who die. Not us. No mercy.”

“No mercy!” the Saints in the room echoed, Hardin and Kaleb’s voices rising with every other one until the words echoed in my head.

No fucking mercy.

For what they did to Kaleb.

To Damien.

To Toby.

To me.

No. Fucking. Mercy.

I felt the chant down to my bones. It vibrated in my blood like a drug, singing in my veins until every hair stood on end.

I didn’t realize my hands were clenched so tightly that my fingernails were carving bloody half-moons into my palms until Kaleb tried to take one of them into his.

“Take your places,” Sloane bellowed. “You know what to do.”

When our eyes met, she gave me a meaningful look, bobbing her head once as if to tell me you got this. I nodded back.

“Hawk, let’s move,” Hardin growled, corralling me toward the doors to follow Kaleb and Aodhán. The Sinners followed close behind us. Right now, they were our only ace in the hole.

Séamas wouldn’t expect them to be here, so they wouldn’t be here when the Sons arrived. Well, not visibly, anyway.

Hardin and I would be in the main office.

Kaleb and Aodhán would be in the counselor’s office opposite us.

And hiding in the classrooms between here and the gymnasium would be the rest of the Sinners.

Damien wisely said we couldn’t all be in one place. We had no idea where they would attack first. Or how.

I mean, surely they wouldn’t just walk right in?

If Damien was right, they’d come at us from every entry point at once, thinking splitting themselves up wouldn’t be a risk since they still outnumbered us. Then it was our job to pen them in. We wouldn’t let anyone get back out.

With the majority of the Saints in the gym, the Sons would all make their way there eventually. It was up to us to make sure they all got there and take out as many as we could along the way.

I crouched next to Hardin behind the wide desk in the office, trying and failing to contain my short, hard breaths as I took out my gun and turned off the safety.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Hardin settled a hand on my lower back, and I turned my face to him.

He breathed in long and deep and out slow, eyes fixed to mine.

A knot formed between his brows as he drew one of my hands to his chest, making me feel his breathing. I tried to mimic it. Breathing in for as long as I could and then out as slow as I could. I did it again. Once more. And felt the pins and needles on my scalp begin to fade. The feeling return to my fingertips.

A cold sweat covered my chest, but it didn’t feel like it was going to freeze me solid anymore.

And then I heard the unmistakable sound of vehicles approaching outside and my pulse spiked.

---