Page 147 of Ruthless Reign

Mine.

As two blacked out dune buggies came into view outside, their rear ends fishtailing as they screeched onto the basketball courts and raced toward the gaping hole in the wall, I saw dark hair whipping back from the driver’s seat of the one on the right.

My eyes burned.

My heart fucking sang.

Séamas was screaming now. “Who the fuck is that?”

It’s Ava Jade, bitch.

The Sons opened fire on the buggies, bullets sparking on the metal frames as the off-road vehicles bounced violently onto the debris outside. They found a makeshift ramp in a chunk of fallen wall and flew into the opening, forcing the circle of the devil’s Sons and the man himself scattering apart as they landed hard, skidding as the brakes tried to engage on slippery ground.

Before they even stopped, Rook and Corvus were up out the tops of the vehicles, rifles butted against shoulders, firing merciless rounds into the disbanded Sons’ retreating backs.

This was it. We couldn’t let him get his hands on any of us again.

I had my gun back up, watching, searching through the mess of running bodies for Sloane. For Séamas.

Where are you?

Where are you?

“There!” I shouted, pointing to where Sloane was kicking the head of a Son into the ground until his bones caved it. Her hands still bound. Mouth still gagged. She’d slipped away. We just needed to make sure they didn’t get their hands on her again.

Kaleb killed a Son who ran for her, sending him sprawling onto the floor, giving Sloane the opportunity to run away—to run toward Damien in the back corner.

I couldn’t find Séamas, but my gaze locked on Ava Jade and her Crows, and I knew what I needed to do. They needed cover.

Rook jerked back as a bullet tore through his shoulder and I killed the Son who fired it. Completely unperturbed, Rook reloaded his machine gun and fucking wooped as he started to fire again.

Over the cacophony of sound, I could’ve sworn I heard him holler. “I fucking missed this shit!”

Ava Jade’s gun ran out of ammo, and she switched to her blades. So many more than I remembered her having. They were strapped in long lines in an X across her chest and in violent streaks of silver down her legs from thigh to calf. She threw them like a goddess of death, every single one seeming to find its mark.

A Son further away, crouched behind a vending machine, got his sights on her a fraction of a second before she saw him. She moved to throw her blade, but my bullet found him first, piercing him through the eye.

She whirled to see who stole her prey and her eyes widened as they landed on me. A smile curled up the edges of her lips. She tipped her head to me, and a flush of pride filled my aching bones.

“There! He’s getting away!” Kaleb called.

Séamas was sprinting from hide to hide, almost completely unimpeded, making for the hole in the wall he’d created.

“He’s mine!” Damien’s voice above all others in the room. Final. Absolute.

He’d only be Damien’s if he didn’t get away.

I aimed near his feet and fired.

Miss.

Again.

Missed.

Fuck!

One more time and I hit my mark, clipping Séamas in the ankle, making him trip and go down in a snarling heap as the two Sons with him attempted to get him back on his feet.

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