Devin's Mercy [Shifters of Mystery 4] (12 page)

wouldn’t be pleasant. Not to mention, someone would have to mate

these boys to stop the pain. The thought of anyone mating these

young men made Mercy want to kill something.

True, they were in their late teens by appearance, but that thought

still curled his stomach.

He began to unstrap them, looking around silently for something

the two could wear. The best he could do was sheets. Mercy wasn’t

sure where their clothes were and wasn’t about to stick around to find

them.

One wrapped the sheet around him like a toga. The other just

wrapped the white fabric around his waist a few times. Mercy knew

going out the same way he had come in wasn’t going to happen.

Walking to the window, he checked outside to see a guard

standing close to the tree line. That was going to be a problem. His

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eyebrows lifted a fraction when he saw Sage sneak up behind the

guard and take him out.

Guess Sage didn’t need to guard the rooms since everyone was

already in one rescuing the humans.

Once Sage gave the all clear, Mercy lifted the window quietly and

waved for the boys to go. With the sheets wrapped around their slim

frames, Mercy had to help them. Sage hurried to the window and

lifted the young men down one at a time, and then did the same for

Monterey and Isaac’s rescued youths.

Something was niggling in the back of Mercy’s mind. This had

gone a little too smoothly. Martin usually wasn’t this careless. The

man was a maniac, but dumb he was not.

When they almost reached the truck, Sage grabbed his cell phone

from an inside pocket and shoved it to his ear.

Mercy was helping the two men hurry along when he saw the way

Sage was looking. It was a mixture of anger and worry. “We’ll be

there as soon as we can.”

“What’s wrong?” Mercy asked.

“It seems we weren’t the only ones planning an attack.”

“What does that mean?” Mercy demanded as he opened the truck

door and helped the humans inside.

“It means our home was just invaded by more of Martin’s men.”

“How would they know we weren’t home?” Mercy could feel

panic welling up inside of him. If anyone hurt Devin, he was going on

a search and destroy mission. No one would be safe from his wrath.

Sage shrugged and then hurried into the truck, but Mercy knew

the man was blaming Devin for the leak, but the only thing on

Mercy’s mind was getting back to Devin. He had promised the man

that he would be safe.

And Mercy planned on keeping that promise.

* * * *

82

Lynn Hagen

Devin’s head snapped up when he heard something coming from

the woods. He knew he feared the dark forest, but he also knew that

he wasn’t hearing things just because of his fear.

And apparently he wasn’t the only one who heard the noise. York

glanced up from across the fire, glanced toward the woods, and then

looked at Devin. Before anyone could say a word, half a dozen lycans

came rushing out of the woods.

“Run!” York shouted.

Devin was frozen to the spot. He watched Keegan, Martin’s beta,

heading his way, and he couldn’t get his limbs to move. All his past

beatings, his nightmares, were coming back to him in a rush. A hand

was on his arm, pulling him toward the house when he finally

snapped out of it.

“Get your ass moving!” Pat shouted at him.

He wasn’t sure where Pat had come from, but was glad the man

had come for Devin. Keegan would have killed Devin if Pat hadn’t

grabbed him. The beta hated Devin with every breath he took.

Jeremiah shifted into his
vârcolac
form and raced from the house.

William, Santana, and Sylvester shifted as well. Pat, York, and Devin

were defenseless. Only mated werewolves could shift, which Pat,

York, and Devin were not.

Devin looked around, trying desperately to find something he

could use as a weapon. There was no way he was just going to stand

here while the others fought. And Devin wasn’t taking any chances of

being captured again.

He would die before he allowed anyone to drag him back to

Martin. When he looked up and saw Keegan, Devin also saw the pure

black of evilness in the lycan’s eyes. It was eerie, but Devin wasn’t

going to cower this time. He was going to fight.

“Martin wants his pet back,” Keegan taunted.

“And he sent his lackey?”

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Keegan laughed, the sound chilling Devin’s bones. “I see you’ve

grown a backbone since shacking up like a whore with these men.

Charles wants you back as well. He says he wasn’t done with you.”

For one moment in space and time, Devin was hurled back into

Charles’s grasp, feeling his claws digging into Devin’s skin, mauling

him. Devin snapped his eyes to Keegan, feeling the cold brunt of

anger rising in him. “Then he’ll have to settle for my dead body.”

Keegan shrugged his furry shoulder. “I don’t think he’s too

particular.”

Devin could see the hate in the beta’s eyes and knew Keegan

despised Charles as well, but not enough to leave Devin alone. In that

moment, Devin wished beyond anything that Mercy was here. He

wasn’t a fighter and knew Keegan would win in a hand-to-hand

tussle.

The others were fighting off the invaders, but no one was near

enough to help him against the beta. Devin was on his own.

He parroted Keegan’s moves, trying to keep the lycan at bay as he

scrambled to come up with anything he could use to defend himself.

There were power tools on the back porch, but Devin seriously

doubted a drill motor would do him any good.

And that’s when he saw the ax underneath the drill motor. Now all

he had to do was get it, wield it, and hit his mark—easier said than

done. Devin had never picked up an ax in his life. Inching closer to

the porch, Devin dove for the ax and then rolled away in time before

Keegan landed on him.

“What are you going to do with that?” Keegan laughed. “The

damn thing weighs more than you do.”

Devin swung the ax outward, but Keegan jumped back, dodging

the sharp blade easily. “Come on, pet. You can do better than that. Do

you need me to show you how to kill with the damn thing?”

So easy.

So impossible.

84

Lynn Hagen

The blade was so close to Keegan that Devin could see the lycan’s

death, yet he couldn’t wield the tool he decided to turn into an

instrument of death properly. In the back of his mind, he knew

Keegan could easily take it from him.

The beta was playing with him.

Teasing him.

Showing Devin how truly powerless he was.

Devin gritted his teeth. Not today. No, today he was going to take

back some of the power that had been stripped away from him. Today

Devin was going to kill one of the men responsible for his beatings.

And Keegan was going to die.

He just had to figure out how to do it.

Keegan surprised Devin by leaping forward. The move was so

quick that Devin barely had time to raise the ax.

But he did.

And now Keegan’s body was impaled on the sharp blade.

Devin fell backward, the beta following him down, his eyes

glazed over.

There was so much blood.

Too much blood.

Devin pushed Keegan off of him, crawling backward until his

back hit the porch. He stared at the dead body in front of him,

watching as Keegan’s blood slowly spilt from his body.

He had killed the beta.

Devin began to laugh. He laughed so hard that it turned into tears.

He found himself lying on the ground—crying.

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85

“Mercy!”

Mercy ignored Pat as he headed toward the steps. He had to make

sure Devin was all right. They had come back to carnage in the

backyard, and Mercy didn’t see Devin anywhere. He was worried out

of his mind. There was so much blood in the backyard that Mercy felt

queasy.

The four of them had stopped and dropped the human teenagers

off at a well-known friend’s house on their way back. Mercy knew the

humans would be taken care of and sorted out. To everyone’s relief,

none of them had been injected before they were rescued. That took a

load off of Mercy’s mind.

And then he came home to this.

“Mercy, damn it. Will you stop? It’s about Devin.”

Pausing on the bottom step, Mercy turned. “Talk fast.”

“We were attacked.”

“I’m aware of that fact by the body count out back.”

Pat shook his head. “Stop being an ass and listen. Keegan went

after Devin.”

Mercy felt the air leave his lungs as he stared at Pat. The beta had

gone after Devin? There was no way the small man would be able to

defend himself against Keegan. The beta was a brute, muscular, and

downright nasty. “Where. Is. Devin?” he asked through clenched

teeth.

“Devin grabbed an ax and defended himself.”

Mercy quirked a brow. “He did?”

Pat nodded. “He killed Keegan.”

86

Lynn Hagen

Mercy nearly stumbled back. That was not what he was expecting

to hear. “Devin killed Keegan?” He turned, running up the stairs. He

wasn’t sure what he was going to find when he flew into his bedroom.

Closing the door behind him, Mercy walked over to the cot and

sat down. He placed his hand on Devin’s shoulder and pulled it back

quickly, seeing blood coating his hand. “You need to shower, Devin.”

The man was lying on his cot, still wearing Keegan’s blood. “Are you

hurt?”

Devin turned over, his eyes hollow. “No.”

“Devin?”

The man looked almost comatose. Mercy was getting worried. He

pulled Devin up from the cot and carried him to the bathroom. Once

he had the door closed, he started the shower and then stripped Devin

down.

“No worries,” he said when Devin lay naked in his arms. “You’re

safe.”

Devin didn’t answer him, and Mercy hadn’t expected him to. He

managed to get his boots off, tossed the things in his pocket up on the

counter, and then climbed into the shower fully dressed, cradling

Devin in his arms as he washed the blood away.

“Come back to me, Devin.”

Devin just lay there, unblinking.

“You defended yourself. There is nothing wrong with that. It

doesn’t make you a monster. I promise,” Mercy softly crooned to the

man as he washed the remaining dried blood from Devin’s hair.

Mercy glanced down to see one lone tear slid from Devin’s eye.

Not sure it was the right thing to do, he leaned forward and kissed the

tear away. “You’re safe, love.”

The change was slow, but soon Devin was curled up in Mercy’s

arms, crying. Mercy slid down until he was sitting on the floor of the

shower, holding Devin close to his chest, comforting him. “You did

the right thing. If you hadn’t killed Keegan, then he would have killed

you.”

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87

But Devin didn’t answer him. The man continued to cry. Mercy

was beginning to realize that Devin was not only mourning the fact

that he had taken a life, but for his past, for what had happened to him

before coming to Mystery.

So Mercy just held him.

Time seemed to stretch on into eternity, but soon Mercy stood,

still cradling Devin in his arms. The water had turned cold. He

grabbed a towel from the cabinet and wrapped it around Devin and

then exited the bathroom.

“Is he okay?” Sage asked as he walked up the stairs to the second

floor.

Mercy shook his head. “Can you get mine and Devin’s things

from the bathroom?”

Sage walked past him, not saying a word as he did what Mercy

asked. Mercy gently set Devin down on his bed, pulling the covers

over him. He had to get out of his wet clothes. Sage came into his

room, setting Mercy’s belongings on the dresser, tossing Devin’s

clothes on the floor next to it.

“I really thought he was on Martin’s side.”

Mercy pulled off his soaking wet shirt. “And now?”

Sage crossed his arms over his chest, staring at where Devin was

lying. “He’s the same guy we remember, just screwed up in the head

now.”

Mercy watched as Sage left the room and closed the door behind

him. He finished stripping down and then pulled on a clean pair of

boxers. Locking his bedroom door, Mercy crawled into the bed next

to Devin and pulled the smaller man into his arms.

“Sleep.” He brushed his hand over Devin’s wet hair and then