I never imagined that I would be faced with my own mortality again and feel annoyed by it, but faced with Travis Gatlin—or Trigger as Drew called him—that’s exactly how I felt. He was arrogant, dismissive, misogynistic and high on power. The president’s patch on his cut told me exactly why he felt that way, but the way he treated women as though they were second-rate citizens… that just made me mad. Not a good frame of mind to be in, even as our backup came in.

All of the anger and frustration I’d been holding onto died the moment I saw Deeks’ reaction to Autumn and the situation she was in between two of the Navarro Riflemen. Deeks had never been a particularly predisposed to public reactions. Much like Drew, he preferred to hold onto his stoicism and make people guess what he was feeling rather than give anything away. Tonight that was not the case. The moment he saw the bruises blossoming on the side of Autumn’s face, his features contorted with rage, making him unrecognizable. The cry of impotent rage fell from him only moments before the two men at his back grabbed at his arms before he could lunge forward, pulling him away from Autumn and the two men that still had her on her knees between them.

I wanted to do something to stop the look of pain in his normally kind eyes. I wanted to reassure him that everything would all be okay, but if I went to him now, I would just give the Nav’s more ammunition to throw in our faces and eventually use against us. I couldn’t offer to put myself in her position because that would worsen the situation and undermine everything Drew was trying to achieve here. Sacrificing myself wouldn’t earn me any points with any one of the guys, either.

All I could do was stand and watch helplessly as Deeks fought to get to Autumn, and the bastard Travis laughed in glee at the scene he’d created.

“Found out whose old lady this is,” he supplied coldly, his laugh still rolling through his words simply to antagonize Deeks all the more. He nodded at one of the men, and before anyone could stop the order from happening, Autumn was backhanded on the other side of her face, snapping her head to the side nastily.

The sick fuck was enjoying hearing Deeks react to the abuse against the woman he loved. He was also enjoying Autumn’s reluctant cries even as she tried to hide them from Deeks. Trigger, or whatever his fucking name was, was orchestrating all of this to get a reaction from us, but he hadn’t counted on how many of us were slowly filling the small space around us.

“Stop it,” I hissed, aware that Slater was hovering close enough to grab me if I took off. “What is wrong with you?”

Travis didn’t even blink in my direction. For him, it was like I hadn’t spoken at all. Instead, he turned to Drew as a couple more Hounds filtered in behind us.

“Quite the pack of howlers you’ve got here in Babylon, Tucker.”

Drew’s face turned dark, his need for vengeance now shining like slippery oil. “You have no idea,” he said roughly. “And, if I remember rightly, you guys never travel anywhere in big numbers because you prefer to slip into the background and shoot people in the back of the head rather than fight them up front.”

“Less messy,” Trigger said with a wrinkle of his nose. Not many men could stare into Drew’s eyes when he was glaring at them the way he was doing and pretend to be cute.

“So by my reckoning, the four men who have joined you are all you’ve got. Maybe two hiding away with a good sniper rifle somewhere.” Drew’s eyes searched Travis’ wildly, before a small smirk took over, baring a few of his bright teeth. “Or maybe not. Five it is.”

Travis dropped his smile, his face turning to stone. “Be careful who you make a full enemy of, doggy.”

“I’m past caring about my enemies. The world hates us. We’re figuring that out. So give me whatever the hell you think you’ve got.”

It was as though the goading was a signal. Like a pack of wolves hunting together, the Hounds began detaching themselves from the shadows and circling the group. Now we had a head count, and all of Travis’ men were accounted for, they were daring the Navs to make a move. As much as I appreciated our strength in numbers, I had a feeling Travis and his men would fight to the death if they had to.

There was a difference between being on a power trip and being a leader, and the two extremes were right here in front of me. Drew wanted to win, there was no doubt in my mind about that, but he wasn’t willing to sacrifice the men he loved for that victory. Whereas Travis wanted to win at all costs, no matter what. Drew operated on loyalty. Travis on control. It was amazing seeing the contrast first hand, and the recklessness of the Navs terrified me.

“All I need is a confession, Tucker,” Travis said to Drew like there were only two of them in this entire situation.

“I confess that I’m going to tear you apart if you don’t let our lady go and get the fuck out of Babylon.”

Travis smiled wider. “Try again.”

“I confess that I’m not going to let this go once you’ve ridden away. You should watch your back.”

“Strike two.”

Drew stepped closer as he stared down on Travis. “Let. Her. Go.”

Travis glared at Drew as he clicked his fingers behind him, and right on cue Autumn let out another cry as the man on her left struck her with his fist, this time making her whole body fall forward so she bent over on her knees, her arms tied behind her back and her ass in the air.

I took a step forward, only to be stopped with Slater’s arm around my waist, ready to haul me back and off my feet. Deeks shouted and growled like a caged tiger ready to tear out the throat of anyone stupid to come close enough, but he too was still restrained. I was so torn between doing what I needed to and my natural need to protect Autumn, and it took everything in me to bite my tongue and follow Drew’s silent orders.

It was the misplaced sound of female laughter that had us all looking at each other to find out where the noise was coming from. There was only a single second of confusion before our gazes followed Drew’s and we realized it was Autumn who was laughing maniacally. Her face was inches from the ground, and blood was pooling beneath her mouth. In a flash, she raised her head like a feral animal, spun on her knees and sunk her bared teeth into the leg of the man who’d just struck her.

His cries of agony were instant, and as soon as she’d bitten him wildly, she tore her face away, lifted it up in our direction and showcased a face soaked in her attacker’s blood.

Deeks inhaled sharply, realizing she wasn’t going down without a fight, but the man who she’d bitten was falling backward, trying to clutch his leg where she’d ripped the material, and his skin, clear away.

“Bitch!” he shouted through gritted teeth. “She fucking bit me!”

“Jesus Christ,” Travis muttered, half amused, half irritated. “She’s giving me no choice, Tucker. Neither are you. Lies are punishable by death.” His hands moved quickly—quicker than seemed humanly possible—pulling out a gun from the inside of his cut, spinning it around and aiming it directly at Autumn’s head. “You should have confessed.”

I watched with dismay as his finger curled around the trigger. Travis, being the sick dramatic fuck he was, glanced at Drew in challenge, his fingers squeezing slowly. I wanted to scream. I wanted to do something, but Slater pulled me back, my legs kicking in the air as he twisted me away. Before I had so much as registered what I was seeing, three bodies circled the corner, the smallest of the three skidding to a halt and lifting a gun that looked out of place in his hands. He took the shot without hesitation, only a millisecond before I heard Travis’ gun going off.

I twisted in Slater’s grip, even as he started to throw me onto the ground to cover my body with his. My eyes were on Autumn as the man she hadn’t bitten cried out in pain and went down. He, in turn, brought his gun up to shoot, while Travis turned his gun on the man who’d clipped his hand at the exact second he’d tried to shoot Autumn. The second Drew saw the opportunity to catch Travis off guard, he launched himself at the Nav, knocking the two of them to the ground as the grunts of their struggle filled the air through the echoes of the shots that still rang in our ears.

I was under Slater before I could see what happened next, but my brain processed the faces now that I was out of the line of fire. The three men who’d saved Autumn’s life had been Kenny, Tate, and Rubin. It had been Rubin who’d fired off the shot at Travis, sending Autumn’s intended bullet astray.

I struggled under Slater’s weight and tapped his arm, forcing him to lift his body from mine so he could see me. “Protect Drew.”

“But–”

“He’s your president!”

“Ayda–”

“Slater.”

He growled and lifted his head, scanning the area briefly. He wouldn’t abandon me because Drew would have told him not to, which meant I would have to take a risk and remove myself from the equation. Drew needed all hands on deck, even my kid brother, who was, apparently, holding a gun, too.

I would kill Kenny later.

I’d planned on getting myself out of the area so I was one less thing for them to worry about. I was planning on trying to keep the people of Babylon away from the area until this dangerous dispute was settled, but as I ran in a crouch toward the corner that would take me to the front of the building, I saw something that needed my attention more desperately.

Jacob.

With a gun.

Jacob with a gun pointed in the general direction of Autumn and Deeks.

Oh, hell no.

I didn’t really make the decision to move. My actions were more instinct driven. I raised my leg and kicked with as much force as I could muster, satisfied only when his shot went into the dumpster with a loud ding, and the gun fell from his grip landing less than four-feet away. Before Jacob could decide to go after his weapon, I raised mine and aimed it directly at his head.

“Be smart.” I growled, circling so I could see the gunfight turned fistfight behind me. Someone was going to get killed. I had to stop this.

I met Jacob’s eyes and shook my head in disgust.

“Enough!” My shout was short and sharp and somehow managed to break through the mess going on around me. Most of the men Travis had brought with him were down and far more bloodied than The Hounds, but that didn’t mean we weren’t sporting our own injuries. “I’ll shoot him.”

Drew’s cry of my name was filled with anxiety as he turned on the ground and shot his hand in the air. “Ayda, no!”

He was too late. Travis hadn’t stopped moving in the confusion created by my threat. He had his eyes on me as he marched forward with a wild, manic glint in his eye. My hand trembled only when he was within my reach, and no matter how much I wanted to turn the gun on him in self-defense, I couldn’t seem to move. Jacob’s derisive laugh cut through me as Travis reached for my gun and slipped it from my grip.

I didn’t know exactly what I expected to happen at that moment, but his movement was so quick, I seemed to have a hard time tracking him. Before I could cry out in surprise, Travis aimed my gun at Jacob’s face and pulled the trigger… not so much as wincing as we were both coated in the backlash of blood spatter of the shot. The breath sawing in and out of me stopped all at once as I stared at the satisfied smirk on Travis’ face as he slipped the gun right back into my hand.

“You just did me a favor, sweetheart.”

Jacob’s body seemed to take forever to fall, the dull thud coming as Travis headed back to the center of the fray, while I stood breathless and unmoving.

What the fuck had just happened?