Page 148 of Ruthless Reign

“We need to get down there,” Hardin said, moving before he even finished talking.

“Come on, Vixen,” Kaleb spoke quickly, reaching a hand back to me to help me down. “They’re going to pin down the Crows.”

I nodded, shifting onto the balls of my feet to climb over the desks and jump the three steps down to Kaleb.

But I wasn’t going to help the Crows. With Hardin and Kaleb added to their lethal foursome, they’d be fine. Someone needed to make sure Séamas didn’t get away.

I needed to make sure.

I couldn’t live knowing he was still alive out there. That he might show up at Hardin and Kaleb’s house like he showed up at my apartment. Or at Damien’s place.

He wasn’t getting away this time.

As Hardin and Kaleb moved into easy position with their cousins, I slipped along the bleachers, staying as low to the ground as I could as I moved.

“Vixen!”

“Hawk!”

I met each of their stares and shook my head.

“Stay there,” I shouted, making a hand gesture I hoped they could decipher and would listen to. Just this once. Listen.

The Crows needed them. They didn’t need me.

I searched for Aodhán as I went, suddenly vividly aware that in all the chaos when Ava Jade and the Crows came crashing in, I lost sight of him. I’d been preoccupied trying to make sure Sloane got away—that Séamas didn’t—that I didn’t look for him. Not right away.

What if he…?

I shook my head, tracking every movement in my peripherals as I pushed to the blasted hole in the wall. From the ground, it was hard to see what was happening, but two quick shots in that direction made my breath catch. They sounded like they were aimed at me, but they hadn’t hit anywhere near me.

Skidding to a stop, I slammed my back against the shadowed side of a trash bin and peered around it.

My grip tightened on my gun, finding Aodhán there, blocking the path of his father, the two Sons who’d been flanking Séamas dead on the ground.

With Séamas’ back to me, I couldn’t hear what he was saying to Aodhán, but I could see how it made his son’s face pale and tighten in response.

Aodhán held a gun pointed at Séamas but didn’t fire it.

Either he couldn’t, or he was holding Séamas there for Damien.

Whichever it was, Séamas seemed to gather that Aodhán wasn’t going to fire and started to advance on Aodhán.

He shot Séamas in the arm and something savage and cruel blossomed in my chest, fucking thrilled to see him hurt. To see him suffer.

Where was Damien?

If someone didn’t take him out soon, he was going to find some way to slip away.

I shifted, pushing up onto my knees to see through the throng of fighting bodies behind me, searching for Damien. I couldn’t see him.

And this couldn’t wait.

When I slipped from my hiding place, Aodhán’s gaze locked on mine for the briefest second before flicking away. Not wanting his da to know I was there, I figured, which gave me an idea.

With all the fighting far behind us and only corpses between here and where Aodhán stood with his father…

If I could just get there…

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