Brave (A Wicked Trilogy 3)

Somewhere in the middle of the night, Tink fell asleep, and so did Fabian. I offered to take over driving, but Ren was insistent to keep going. I ended up dozing off with Ren’s hand resting on my thigh.

It was the sudden pitching forward motion and Ren’s arm smacking me in the chest that woke me hours later. I grunted, my eyes flying open.

All I saw at first was the dark road and the faint glow of red taillights. “What’s going on?”

“Faye has stopped up ahead.” Ren reached for the cellphone as Tink and Fabian stirred to life in the back seat. “She shouldn’t be stopping.”

I looked out the window and saw literally nothing but darkness. “Where are we?”

“About to cross into Arizona.” He lifted the phone to his ear. “The other group is ahead of—”

Lights flipped on several yards ahead, the glaring intensity blinding as it pierced the blackness.

Fabian was suddenly leaning between the two front seats. “What the—?”

The night air erupted in gunfire.

Chapter 22

At first all of us were frozen, so shocked by the sound ripping apart the night sky. The gunfire hadn’t reached us, but that meant nothing. Bullets could travel quite some distance.

“Someone is shooting at them!” Tink all but flailed behind me. “Let me out. Oh my Queen Mab, let me out!” He rattled the door handle. “I am so going to kill them shooting at my new friends! I’m going to go full Tink on them!”

“You hit the childproof locks?” I asked.

“Damn straight.” Ren whipped around. “I need both of you to stay in this damn car until we know what the hell we are dealing with.”

Fabian leaned forward. “I am a prince. I can—”

Ren slammed on the gas and jerked into the left lane a second before I saw the car gunning in our direction.

“Holy Christ,” I shouted, grabbing the handle above the window.

The car came out of nowhere—out of the damn desert! The engine of the SUV roared as we gained speed, nearing where Faye was trapped.

“I don’t give a fuck what you are,” Ren said. “But if we’re being shot at, then there’s a good chance they know who is in these cars. Meaning, those aren’t regular bullets in those guns.”

Understanding hit me. “You think it’s the Order?”

“Who else would be shooting at us in the middle of the night, in the middle of fucking nowhere?”

“If that’s the case, then they knew we were coming.” Right now, we didn’t have time to really delve deep into that theory.

“We need you alive,” Ren was telling Fabian. “Try to stay in this car and not get dead. Because pretty sure a bullet to the head is going to put you down long enough for them to take that big head off your shoulders.”

“It would, but I am faster than a bullet.”

“Can you both just stay where you are?” I demanded. “At least—”

Our back window exploded without warning. Glass shot through the car. Spinning in my seat, I saw the strangest damn thing ever.

Fabian had Tink pinned down on the seat, covering Tink’s body with his.

Okay. Fabian had just earned some bonus points, but was Tink hurt?

“Tink?”

“I’m doing just dandy,” he called out, voice muffled.

“Get down, Ivy.” Ren reached for me with one hand, yanking me down so I was flattened on the center console.

“What about you?” I protested.

“I’ll be fine.”

“That’s so—”

“There’s a gun in the glove compartment.” Ren rubbed my back. “Get it, but stay low.”

Muttering under my breath, I inched over and yanked open the glove compartment. Reaching inside, I grabbed the Glock. It was heavy in my palm.

As Order members, we were trained in guns too, but we didn’t use them often, usually preferring the more quiet stab-you-to-death method. “I can shoot.”

“Give me that.”

“Screw that,” I hissed. “You’re driving.”

“I can multi-task.” He pushed down on my back just as my window shattered.

I gasped as glass pinged off my back. “Ren.”

His hand fisted the back of my shirt. Tires squealed as he slammed on the brakes again. “I’m fine. Hand me the gun, Ivy.”

Cursing under my breath, I broke Ren’s hold and popped up in my seat. I whipped toward the broken window, ignoring the crunching glass. Extending my arm, I fired several shots at the sedan spinning out in front of us.

“Dammit!” Ren shouted, grabbing ahold of my shoulder again, pushing me back down. “Are you out of your mind?”

“Are you?” I demanded. “You can’t drive and shoot at the same time. You’re not James Bond.”

“Let him be James Bond,” Tink said from where he was plastered to the seat. “Let him—”

The back right-side window blew out, pelting Fabian as the shards of glass flew sideways.

I peered up through the seats, noticing that the sedan was now behind us as we blew past the car Faye was in. Ren cut between the two, leaving the road. The ride turned bumpy as he swerved to the left. I felt the SUV go up on two wheels as we spun out.

“They’re behind us again,” Fabian advised rather calmly. “I do believe they either intend on shooting us until we die or causing us to crash.”

Dust poured through the shattered windows. Fabian was right. They were obviously trying to kill all of us.

Cursing again, I rose as Ren shouted at me. “Stay down!” I yelled at Fabian.

The fae’s eyes widened as I leveled the gun over his head and pulled the trigger. The sedan behind us suddenly veered to the left, fishtailing until it skidded to a halt yards away.

“Holy crap,” I whispered. “I think I got the driver.”

“That’s my girl,” Ren murmured a second before yanking me back down.

Taking out the driver didn’t stop this. There were probably more people in the car. Faye and crew were trapped, because their cars hadn’t moved. Who knew if they were even alive? We needed to bring out the big guns. And we did have one—one we needed alive at the end of this, but one who could probably unleash the Kraken on these bastards.

“Stop the car.”

“What?” Ren demanded.

I wiggled out from under his hand. “Stop the car!”

He glanced at me, and who knew what he saw in my face, but he strung together an impressive string of f-bombs before hitting the