Page 70 of Ravaged Devotion

It was still there, brimming just beneath the surface. Bubbling up whenever he was reminded of how Rue had gone radio silent the second everything with Ryder had gone down. How he’d come back, only because Rhys had insisted, and had gone so far out of his way to avoid being caught alone with Ryker.

Knowing the reason behind that, that he hadn’t run out of grief over Ryder’s loss, or because he hadn’t wanted Ryk, helped soothe most of the anger, but it didn’t dampen it completely. How could it, when leaving had still been Rue’s choice?

He’d decided running away would be better than confiding in Ryker.

Ryk wasn’t done punishing him for that.

Call him petty.

But helping him out could be punishment too.

“Want me to do it for you?” He chuckled, then stepped forward, letting go of Ishleen despite her protests. Rue didn’t retreat when he advanced, which earned him a proud grin, and then Ryker was in front of him, capturing his head between two hands, tipping his head into the perfect angle to receive his lips.

Ryker sealed their mouths together, laughing again when he heard gasps from behind him. He didn’t hold back because of the audience, forcing Rue’s lips to part with teeth and tongue. He poured all of the pent-up anger and desire into the kiss, knowing exactly how he’d look to the rest of the room.

Like a man possessed.

Like he was starving.

To his credit, Rue didn’t try to pull away. He leaned into it, seemingly unaware of what he was doing, hands clutching at Ryker’s chest, grabbing fistfuls of his shirt to pull him in even closer.

A moan had just slipped out of him when something slammed against the rectangular window by the refrigerator.

They pulled apart, but only long enough for Ryker to position himself in front of Rue, eyes going to the glass where smears of something gray and sticky now coated the other side.

“Anyone get a good look at it?” Ellery asked.

Everyone shook their heads no, too startled to speak.

“Rue!” Eulalie’s voice was muffled, but clear. Something large shifted in the fog, but aside from its shadowy outline, they couldn’t make anything out. “What are you doing? Rue, help me!”

Ryker gave his back to the window, clamping his hands over Rue’s ears. He growled when he saw how shaken the other man already was by the phantom voice, how pale, any signs of the flush that’d colored his cheeks from their passionate kiss diminished.

“Don’t listen,” he instructed. “It isn’t real.”

“Rue!” the monster outside continued to call out, the accuracy uncanny. “You’re brothers! Rue!”

“Get out!” Ryker barked the order, but he wasn’t talking to the creature, and everyone else seemed to gather as much.

Some of them collected their plates and brought it with them, others left theirs behind, but everyone stood and rushed to the exit, practically fleeing from the kitchen even though up until this point, it’d been one of the safest locations.

Lenore followed the rest, stopping only when she realized that Bowie wasn’t doing the same. She turned back, but Bowie was already at Rue’s side, tugging on his arm.

“Let’s go,” Bowie urged.

Ryker had had enough.

He slapped him away, and Rue really must have been out of it, because he didn’t scold him for the act. So he took it a step further and glared. “Get the fuck out.”

“I’m not leaving him alone in this room with that thing,” Bowie snapped, “or with you.”

“Get out before he ends up even more traumatized from having to watch me break your neck.”

They stared one another down for a moment, but then the creature slammed against the window again, startling Bowie.

With a curse, he spun on his heels and left, though he didn’t go far, pausing just outside the doorway.

“Sweetheart.” Ryker ignored Bowie, angling Rue’s head a second time, until their eyes met. He watched as some of the confusion clouding Rue’s gaze dissipated the moment he registered who was before him.