Page 83 of The Merciless

“Ray.”

Her head snapped back, a wave of panic crashing over her.Angel,she thought as she got to her feet haphazardly,he’d been too close.

“No,”she whispered shakily and didn’t even turn to Akash before pointing down at him, “Don’t get up.”

She heard his scoff and turned her deathly glare upon him, “Don’t.”

Akash’s jaw ticked. But he stayed down.

Ray’s gaze darted around in a daze and–

Justfroze.

Her hands flew to her lips as she saw thehavocthe bomb had created. She saw the faint touch of red all around it, people she didn’t recognize sticking out from underneath the pile of broken bricks. All dead.All red.A gasp left her throat,Miranda had done this. Had murdered in cold blood.

She was as bad as Maya Larsen, if not worse.

Ray forced herself to look past them, scanning the crowd for everyone. Scanning the crowd forhim.That fear, thatpanicwas climbing its way up her spine, threatening to choke her as her body swayed back. Ray’s heart was like a terrible beat ofwarin her chest when she righted herself. Took a breath. And began looking again. Immediately, she caught the pink highlights.Where Myra was,Ray thought with a brief step in their direction,Irene was as well.

She saw two heads move close to them and breathed out a sigh of relief as she saw the twins stir awake as well.

Her head snapped to the left, her gaze narrowing in an attempt to catch strands of blonde hair when…yes, there they were.Ray's chin dipped when she saw Neera’s body rise next to Cameron’s, her hands visibly shaking as she lifted her head to stare at her.

End this.Her eyes screamed,end this now.

Ray didn’t have to wait for long. Not when she heard the brief rustle behind her.

Her ears hollowed out, a dangerous calmness settling in her nerves as she looked sideways without turning her head. Her foot shifted back, her hands not moving from her sides in case she gave away the small advantage shedidhave.

Miranda Andrews was a soft reckoning behind her, probably in search of a gun through the bodiesshe’dmurdered. A soft growl left her tongue,

“Youkilledthem.” She snarled softly and didn’t have to look back to know Miranda was listening, “You murderedyour own people.”

“Pity it didn’t do the necessary damage.” Came Miranda’s dry response.

The response brought bile up her throat, the mereideaof using people likethat–

Ray rolled her shoulders back.

And caught a brief movement up ahead.

Ray had never turned this quickly in her life. But when she saw the dark chocolate locks and that crumpled shirt of his, she knew she’d done the right thing.

Stupid,she yelled at herself as she saw Angel’s amber eyes glow under the moonlight.

Saw the cuts on the side of his face. Replacing the first one she’d ever given himwith the graze of a bullet. She saw his chin dip. Saw another shadow rise behind and strike the same pose Miranda did behindher.

They both stared at one another for a second.

She had one bullet left in her gun. A red knife and that was all.

She didn’t know what he had left but knew it was enough when a look of pain flickered on his face.Come here,he seemed to plead as Ray jerked forward,come to me.Maybe this was stupid. But it was something no one saw coming. Not Miranda. Not Martin.

And the underworld might not agree with many rules. But they believed in one.

Never, no matter who, no matter when– shoot someone in the fucking back.

She exploited that rule to her full degree. Suddenly, Ray was moving so fast thateverythingblurred around her. Away from the debris that separated up, both ran diagonally until they met at its very edge.

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