Page 66 of Malice
Insolence looked good on her, but she didn’t need to know that.
“Merri,” Chaos growled while Grim sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“You’re not leaving me behind.”
“Absolutely not,” I insisted. “If it’s Lucifer, we’re not just going to hand you to him like some kind of prized mare. You’ll stay here, where it’s safe.”
Merri popped her hands on her hips, staring at me like I was too stupid for words. “Oh yeah? And what happens when he just shows up here to abscond with me like some sort of Hades and Persephone reenactment come to life? What then, Mr. Horsemen? While the four of you are off who knows where unable to do a damn thing about it?”
“She has a point,” Sin conceded.
Chaos heaved a frustrated sigh. “As much as I hate to agree with him, she will be safer with the four of us to protect her.” He cut a glance at Christian, who was leaning against the wall as though winded from simply standing. “What can he possibly do to keep her from harm? A strong breeze will knock him over.”
Grim didn’t say a word, and I knew he was silently considering every possible avenue. He, perhaps even more than the rest of us, would rather eat nails than put Merri in harm’s way. It would go against his every instinct to willingly thrust her headlong into danger. The only way he’d agree to her coming with us was if he truly believed it to be the best option.
“Fuck,” I grunted as another twist in my chest set me further on edge. “There are more. We need to find them and put a stop to this.” For good measure, I turned to Christian and added, “And once we’ve secured the premises, you and I are going to have a little chat about how the hell this happened.”
Grim’s steely gaze met mine. “Fine. She comes with us, but she is never to be unprotected. Two of us at her front. Two at her back. Understood?”
The three of us nodded our agreement while Merri huffed and rolled her eyes.
“Like you could really keep me here against my will.”
Grim’s shadow swelled until a bigger-than-life-sized version loomed over her on the wall. “If you think we couldn’t, then you still have no fucking idea who we are, wildflower.”
“You heard him, guys,” Sin said, rubbing his hands together in anticipatory glee.
“Saddle up. It’s time for the four horsemen to ride.” When the only response was a series of groans from the rest of us, he looked around. “What? Was it something I said?”
Chapter
Eighteen
GRIM
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Chaos grumbled as soon as we caught sight of the gate.
Well, what remained of the now broken gate.
“Uh, buddy, I think we’ve got bigger problems,” Sin said, giving Chaos’s arm a light slap while pointing to the group of twenty-plus humans that had yet to notice our approach.
“That isn’t possible.” The disbelief in Malice’s voice only added to my unease. It most definitely shouldn’t have been possible, but here we were with a small army of unwanted adversaries armed with weapons, rage, and desperation coming for us.
“Do you think they know who we are?” Merri asked.
“Definitely not,” I said, categorically dismissing the notion. No one was that fucking stupid. “They’re scavengers in search of supplies. They have no idea their decision to come here is the last one they’ll ever make.”
I snagged Merri’s sweatshirt-covered arm and pulled her back until she was behind me. “Hey!”
“Not another word, wildflower. They might only be humans, but they’re still dangerous. You aren’t immortal.”
She huffed in frustration but didn’t refute my claim. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t surprised. Me saying something true had never seemed to stop her from disagreeing before. She liked to argue for argument’s sake when it came to me.
We had minutes at best before the horde noticed us. “Divide and conquer?” I asked, glancing at Chaos.
“My favorite game,” he replied, his voice edged with violence.
“I would have thought you preferred Hide the Salami,” Sin muttered under his breath.
