Devin's Mercy [Shifters of Mystery 4] (6 page)

“I wanted you to come downstairs. There are things we need to

discuss.” Sage glanced past Mercy’s shoulder and then turned on his

heel.

“I’ll be downstairs,” Mercy said to Devin before closing the door

and walking downstairs, pushing the image of Devin from his mind

because Mercy had no clue what to do about what he was feeling

inside.

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Lynn Hagen

Devin rubbed his hands down the front of his jeans. He was

nervous as hell, but wanted to know what was going on. If Sage was

going to put him out, or exact his revenge for Devin’s part in what

happened back in Mystery, he wanted to know.

Blowing out an uneven breath, he opened the bedroom door. The

hallway was quiet. Devin strained to hear as he slowly walked out

into the hallway. Soft voices floated up to him from downstairs.

Taking a step in the direction of the stairs, Devin began to

descend. He was trying his best not to let any of the steps creak. He

wasn’t even sure if they would, but Devin didn’t want to take any

chances that anyone would know he was coming down. Pausing at the

bottom of the steps, he listened once more. The voices were clearer

now, enabling Devin to make out the conversation.

“Kell tells me that Devin willingly worked for Martin. How could

you argue that point?” Sage asked.

“Because we’ve known Devin his entire life, Sage. We don’t

know Kell that well. How could you take his word over someone who

has been nothing but loyal to us?” Mercy asked.

“Loyal?” Devin heard the scoff clearly in Sage’s voice. “You call

what he did in Mystery loyal? He was working with Martin. He

attacked Jeremiah. We may not know who to believe when it comes

to one person’s word over the others, but I
saw
what Devin was about.

There is no disputing those facts. He shouldn’t be free to roam the

house.” Sage’s voice became lower, softer. “I know you’ve cared

about him for years and it hurts to know he isn’t who we all thought

Devin’s Mercy

39

he was, Mercy. You have to face the truth. Devin isn’t the man we

watched grow up. Martin has poisoned his mind.”

Devin held his breath. His thoughts were reeling. For one, Sage

thought Devin was a mindless puppet, doing Martin’s bidding

willingly. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

And two, since when did Mercy have feelings for him? If the man

had, Devin would have noticed right away. He had sniffed behind

Mercy for years, watching, waiting for any outward sign that the man

was interested.

It didn’t matter anymore, though. Devin didn’t trust anyone now,

not even Mercy. It angered him that not only Martin, but Charles had

taken something so precious from Devin. The trust he once carried for

all of his friends was now crushed, lying in tatters on the floor at his

feet.

Charles had not only raped his body, but his mind as well, leaving

Devin an empty shell and emotionally bankrupt. He wiped at his eyes

as he turned to go back upstairs when he heard Mercy. The guy’s

voice was so low that Devin almost missed what he was saying.

“I don’t give a
fuck
what you saw. I know Devin. If you don’t

want him in your home, then we will leave, but I’m not turning my

back on him. It seems too many have done that already.”

Devin heard the accusation in Mercy’s voice. It was razor sharp. It

stunned Devin that Mercy would not only stand up for him, but leave

his friends in order to…what? What did Mercy think would happen

between them if he took Devin someplace else? He may not be

willing to turn his back on Devin, but Devin wasn’t sure what was

really going on. He stood there confused, trying to figure things out

when he heard the footsteps too late.

Mercy came into view, stopping right in front of Devin. “Why are

you downstairs?”

Devin glanced behind Mercy to see Sage glaring at him. He didn’t

really blame the man. There were mates in the house to protect, and

Devin had been on Martin’s side, as Sage accused him of. The guy

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Lynn Hagen

was only going by what he had witnessed, but a part of Devin still

stung that Sage wouldn’t hear him out or have enough faith in Devin

to know with conviction that he had only been a pawn.

Mercy believed Devin wasn’t the monster Sage thought he was.

“I was looking for you,” Devin said quickly and then turned

around, practically running up the stairs. He had to get away from

Mercy’s piercing eyes. It felt like Mercy could see right through

Devin’s lie. Not only that, but see the truth about what had actually

happened to him in those cold, brutal hours when Devin wished he

was dead rather than having Charles touching him.

He didn’t want anyone to ever find out, especially not the people

he once thought of as friends. It was humiliating to know he had no

power to stop what Martin and Charles had done to him. The men in

this house were the personification of strength. How would they

understand that Devin had tried like fucking hell to stop Martin from

using him as a punching bag? How would they further understand that

Devin had fought Charles with every breath in him, only to be

defeated and then degraded beyond his worst nightmare? They

wouldn’t understand.

Nobody would understand.

So why bother?

Devin closed the door and hurried over to his cot, wiping away the

falling tears as he climbed onto the small bed and covered up. He

wanted to hide from the world, from Mercy, and most of all, his

shame.

When Devin heard the door open, he slammed his eyes shut.

Please don’t let Mercy ask any questions.
The door closed with a

snick. Devin held his breath for the longest moment, but heard

nothing. He was too terrified to turn around and find out if he was

alone.

“You’re safe.”

Devin felt his heart hammering in his chest.

Devin’s Mercy

41

“I won’t bother you. I’m going to take a nap. If you want to move

around, feel free to do so.”

Devin remained where he was. He couldn’t look at Mercy. The

man knew. It was in his eyes. They had looked at Devin with such

understanding that Devin wanted to vomit. There was no way Mercy

understood his horrors.

He waited for what felt like forever before finally turning over.

Mercy’s eyes were closed, and his lips were slightly parted, but Devin

knew the man was a light sleeper. He had spent the night at Pat’s

house before and once or twice found Mercy sleeping on the couch.

Unable to resist at the time, he had run his fingers over Mercy’s soft-

looking lips, only to have Mercy’s eyes snap open.

The man hadn’t yelled at Devin for touching him, but Devin had

felt the warning in his dark-grey eyes not to do it again.

And he hadn’t.

Now he lay here watching the one guy he had cared about for too

many years sleeping once more. But Devin wasn’t going to touch any

part of Mercy.

Charles had made sure of that.

Shut. The. Fuck. Up!
Devin slammed his eyes closed once more,

fighting the image in his head. He didn’t want to think about…

“You’re safe, Devin.” Mercy’s husky voice was like a soothing

caress over his troubled soul.

Devin quickly turned over, fighting the tears. He wasn’t going to

allow one more tear to fall. That would mean Martin and Charles had

won. No. Devin was going to fight the warring tears. He had to. If he

didn’t, he was going to drown in his own nightmarish memories.

* * * *

Sage sat at the dining room table, staring at the men who now

lived with him, fought beside him, and felt the pain of betrayal of

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Lynn Hagen

their alpha as well. He ran a hand over his jaw, wondering what he

was going to do about Martin. “Are you sure?” he asked Monterey.

“I still have some friends left in the old pack. One of them told me

Martin has unwilling test subjects.”

“And this person verified that Martin is using teenagers for his

experiment?” Sage knew his father was becoming unstable at a rapid

rate, but he hadn’t thought the man would snatch teenagers off the

streets just to experiment on them. He knew he still wasn’t putting all

of the pieces together.

Martin was using test subjects for an injection he created to turn

humans into werewolves overnight instead of just biting them and

letting them transform on the first full moon. It didn’t make any sense

to Sage. There had to be more to this than anyone realized. Sage was

enraged that Martin would use innocent children in his grand scheme.

Martin not only wanted to take over his territory, but the man was

insane enough to think he could take over the world.

Martin wanted werewolves to rule, not humans. The alpha was

tired of the werewolves hiding who they were. Sage was as well, but

never had he even played with the idea of trying to convert as many

humans as possible to make the plan work.

But Martin had.

Martin had done more than play with the idea, but was trying his

best to implement the plan. Make it into reality. Sage’s deeply

protective instincts when it came to children reared, making him mad

with thoughts of killing his own father.

And he would, to keep the innocent safe.

Biting off a brutal oath, Sage sat back in his chair. “Does he know

where Martin is keeping these teenagers?”

Monterey shook his head, but Sage could see the undiluted rage in

Monterey’s dark-blue eyes. Nobody in this house liked children being

used in an experiment that should have never seen the light of day.

For them, the young ones represented not only innocence, but their

future. Normally, their old pack would have done whatever was

Devin’s Mercy

43

necessary to protect the lives of those who couldn’t defend

themselves.

But it seemed not only had Martin changed, but so had almost

every
vârcolac
in his pack. It saddened Sage to know the people he

had grown up with, had respected, would turn their backs on the

young. He didn’t care if they hadn’t defended him when Sage was

cast out from his old pack. He was a grown man, able to fend for

himself.

But the young couldn’t. Lycan or human, they needed protection.

They were not meant to be used as guinea pigs.

Which brought him to another matter. “Mercy, I want you to

question Devin, see if he knows anything about where Martin might

be keeping these teenagers.” Whether Devin was a pawn or not, the

man might have heard or seen something that could help them rescue

the young humans his father had kidnapped.

* * * *

Mercy slowly cut his eyes at Sage. He was getting really tired of

the man taking that tone whenever he talked about Devin. But then of

course, Mercy wasn’t entirely sure why he was being so protective of

the young
vârcolac
.
He had pushed Devin away at every turn back in

their old pack. So why was he pulling the man in emotionally

whenever someone tried to smudge Devin’s name?

“You still think he is working for Martin?” he asked slowly,

carefully. He may be angry right now, but he wasn’t going to

disrespect the alpha. Sage no more wanted to be the alpha than any of

them did, but the man needed to face the truth. It was what Sage was

born to be.

Sage sighed as he leaned forward. “I’m not trying to pick a fight

with you, Mercy. I just want to know if Devin overheard anything.”

The weariness was clear in Sage’s voice, but it didn’t settle the hairs

that had risen at the tone Sage had used in his earlier demand.

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Lynn Hagen

Mercy stood, leaving the dining room in quiet anger. Even though

he was warring with the emotions inside of him, he needed to get

away from Sage. The man was seriously pissing him off. There was

no way he was going to take any shit from—Mercy froze and then

took off up the stairs when he heard Devin’s cry. It was pure instinct

that drove him into his bedroom, ready to kill anyone who had dared

come in here to harm what was his.

Mercy not only stopped at the sight of Devin crying out in his

sleep, but the thought he had just had. Devin wasn’t his. Never would