No Mercy (Dark-Hunter 18)

"Ha!" he shouted triumphantly.

Dev snorted. "Lucky shot." But it hadn't been lucky. Dev had used his powers to put the ball in the correct pocket. Nick had no idea.

Feigning disgust, Dev had pulled his money out and handed it over to Nick. "Next time, kid, it's double or nothing."

"Bull. Next time I'm not taking the chance that I could miss."

Dev jerked his chin toward the money in Nick's hand. "So what are you going to do with all that?"

Nick folded it up and slid it into his pocket. "I'm going to take my mom to Brennan's to eat for Mother's Day. She's never been there before and she's always wanted to."

Dev clapped him on the back. "All right, Pool Shark. Have a good time. I better get back to work before you completely clean me out."

Nick had reset the table while Dev went back to his station at the door.

Sam swallowed at his kindness that made her ache deep inside. Dev, unlike Nick, hadn't changed a bit.

"What are you doing?"

She jumped at the sound of Nick's deep voice behind her. "I was just looking at your photos."

Nick moved forward to see the one of him and Dev. There was a sadness in his eyes that actually brought a lump to her throat. "We had a lot of good times back then. My mom used to save and frame everything she could."

And she'd put them on the wall and then rotate them out at random times--it'd been a game she'd played with Nick to remind him of the things she thought were important in his life.

Friends. Family. Smiles.

His mom had been a great lady.

Sam cleared her throat. "You and Dev look pretty tight."

"He was always a good friend to me which is why I'm glad you sent him home."

His words didn't match the feelings she got from him whenever he was near Dev. Nor did they match the emotions she was picking up from him right now. "Then why do you hate him?"

Nick stiffened. "I don't hate him. I'm just mad--basically at the entire world. Dev let my mom leave Sanctuary with a Daimon disguised as a Dark-Hunter."

"Dev would never--"

"I know, Sam." She felt his pain as he said those words in a trembling voice. "He had no idea he'd put her in harm's way and I know he'd have never done it intentionally. But I can't get over that night and I can't forgive anyone who had a hand in her death. I just can't."

She could understand that. "It's hard to live with that kind of guilt all the time."

"You've no idea."

"You're wrong, Nick. I know exactly what it's like to watch the people I love more than anything be slaughtered while I was powerless to save them. I, who trained my entire life to fight, couldn't save the very people I'd vowed to love and protect. How could I not be there to save them?"

A tic started in his cheek. "How do you live with it?"

She answered honestly. "Angrily. Every single day. Every single night. I want blood and all the killing in the world never changes it. Never eases it."

He let out a tired sigh. "So this is how I'll feel forever?"

"Unless you can find another reason to live. Find something that gives you peace."

He looked down at her. "Have you found that peace?"

Yes, she had. But it was so corny and cliched that she couldn't bring herself to admit it.

"A wise man once told me that peace has to come from within. We have to learn to like ourselves before we can find our place in the world."

Nick curled his lip. "Acheron."

She smiled. "He's said it to you, too?"

"No. We don't talk much these days, but it sounds like something he'd say." His gaze turned dark. "Don't trust Acheron, Sam. He's not what he seems."

She sensed....

Sam concentrated, but she couldn't get a handle on it exactly. There was something Nick knew that none of the rest of them did. It was like he was hating Acheron for the same thing he protected about him.

It made no sense, but there was no denying what she felt. Nick did know a major secret about Ash.

And he knew one about himself that he would die before he gave up.

"How do you mean?" she asked, trying to get him to verbalize what she was sensing.

He refused to elaborate. "Believe me, there's a lot more to him and he's not really on our side." With that, he walked off to leave her alone.

Sam scowled at his hostility. Part of her knew there was a lot more to Ash than he let others see, but she didn't believe for one instant that he could ever hurt any of them.

Nick on the other hand...

She didn't trust him at all. He was infected by evil. She was sure of it.

Her heart heavy, she started back to her room, wishing Dev were with her.

I did the right thing.

He was safe and that was all that mattered.

Sam had just reached her room when she felt her hand beginning to burn. Hissing, she blew air across her palm, trying to soothe it.

Just when she was ready to scream from the pain, it stopped burning.

To her instant horror, she watched as a design drew itself across her flesh. There in her palm was a mark that looked like a tribal bear claw.

Oh shit.

She was mated....