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An acidic smile curved Devon’s mouth. “I’m sure she’s devastated that I got free.”
He sighed. “I know you two don’t get along well, but she wouldn’t like to see you dead.”
Devon snorted. “Don’t kid yourself.”
Another sigh. “Devon—”
“Look, I have to go.” Because, really, what more was there to say?
There was a long pause. “All right. If something else happens, I’d like it if you could notify me immediately.”
As she couldn’t make him any promises, she simply said, “Take care.” Devon rang off and took a deep breath.
“I don’t like the way that asshole speaks to you,” said Tanner. “Like he’s entitled to know what goes on in your life when he’s never made himself a real part of it.”
Devon shrugged. “He’s a Prime. They’re spoiled and used to having their way. Kind of like you.”
“I can’t even deny that.” Sensing that she didn’t want to talk more about Finn, Tanner prowled towards her and said, “Cleaning’s done. Did you manage to unpack all your things?”
“Yes. I had some help.”
“Good.” He hauled her close, loving how her heartbeat instantly kicked up. Just that easily, hunger slammed into him, as if her need could in an instant become his. “I’ve never wanted anything the way I want you.” He snaked a hand around her throat and tipped her head back. “Tonight … I want to fuck you here, in this apartment.”
Devon hummed, not seeming to feel the least bit uncomfortable exposing her throat to him. He fucking loved that. “Why?” she asked.
Because he wanted her to have that memory of him in her bed. Wanted her to think of him as she lay on it, even if there was someone else lying beside her.
He dipped his head and pressed a kiss to her pulse. “We could sleep at my place, but I highly doubt you’ll want to leave this apartment after all the trouble you’ve just taken to get it ready.”
“You’re right on that.”
Knox’s mind touched his, buzzing with a sense of urgency. Tanner, we need to talk. Where are you?
Brow wrinkling at the Prime’s curt tone, Tanner replied, The apartment where Devon’s staying for the time being.
Meet me at your apartment as fast as you can. Just that quick, Knox was gone.
Both curious and put-out by the interruption, Tanner lifted his head and pressed a kiss to her mouth. Unable to tell her about Knox’s ability to pyroport, he said, “I need to go grab some things from my place.” He slowly pulled back, hesitant to leave her for even a minute. “I won’t be long.”
Strolling into his own apartment no more than a minute later, he found Knox and the other sentinels waiting in his living room. Knox stood near the fireplace, his muscles taut, his expression hard. Except for Levi, who’d propped his hip against the wall, the others were seated. One glance at each of the sentinels’ faces was enough to tell Tanner that they had no clue what the emergency meeting was about.
Uneasy, Tanner didn’t take a seat. “What is it?”
Knox’s nostrils flared. “I’m sure you all remember Mattias Ranger.”
Kind of hard to forget someone who Knox once flung into an ants’ nest after the kid tried hurting Larkin. Mattias was Ramsbrook House’s biggest bully.
“He’s dead,” clipped Knox.
Shock stiffened every muscle in Tanner’s body, and all he could do was join the other sentinels in staring dumbly at their Prime.
“You may remember that I told Muriel to give me a list of whoever she wanted to be notified of Dale’s death,” Knox added. “Mattias’s name wasn’t on that list, but his cousin’s name was.”
“Noah,” Levi remembered. “Both their parents died in a car accident. Noah’s father was the driver.”
“Yes,” said Knox. “And Mattias blamed Noah’s father for the deaths, so he made that kid’s life a misery. Dale and Muriel befriended Noah, and I think they made things bearable for him to an extent. When I contacted him to inform him of Dale’s death, he wasn’t just horrified, he was shocked. Because Mattias was mutilated in the exact same way as Dale and Harry.”
Larkin sucked in a breath while Levi spat, “Fuck.”
Keenan pulled his flask out of his inner pocket. “That makes three people from Ramsbrook who’ve been—”
“Four,” corrected Knox.
Keenan did a double-take. “What?”
“Joseph Morgan was also on Muriel’s list,” said Knox. “He wasn’t taking my calls, but I didn’t think much of it until Noah told me about Mattias. On a hunch, I paid Joseph a visit. All I found was his mutilated, decomposing corpse. He’s been dead weeks.”
“Weeks?” echoed Larkin.
Knox nodded. “Looks to me like he was the first to die. And I’m not sure about any of you, but my view is that we were wrong in what we initially thought. Harry wasn’t killed because he knew something that Sloan wanted kept quiet. Someone is targeting people who stayed at Ramsbrook.”
