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“Gods, these are good,” Rey said between one massive mouthful and the next.
“It’s the cinnamon and nutmeg.” Devin turned back to the pan and blamed the definite flush warming her cheeks on the heat. “Slow down. The bacon is almost ready.”
“I’m plenty hungry.”
Something in his tone had her turning with a curious tilt of her head as she met the smoldering umber of his eyes head on. Cheeks on fire, Devin ducked her head to hide the furious blush. She didn’t like it when he said things like that. They made her uncomfortable with his attention, the compliments sitting heavy on her shoulders. It was easier when he just took what he wanted, keeping his mouth shut about how beautiful he found her.
“Whatever,” Devin whispered to the stove, sliding the pancake onto her plate. She pulled the bacon from the oven, setting the flat, crispy pieces on another plate. After arranging it all on the island, she went to sit beside Rey.
At least he was letting her eat on her own more often than not.
“I have to go into the club today.”
Devin almost toppled back off the stool when she swung around to face him, something far too close to hope daring to rear its dreadful head. Rey ground it beneath his heel without even looking at her, stabbing his stack of pancakes.
“Wear something comfortable. We’ll be there a while.”
Devin’s shoulders crumpled. Hunched over her plate, she added an unseemly amount of butter and syrup. She bared her teeth at her food when Rey made a sound of admonishment, her fork spearing the sodden layers before he could think to do something about it.
While she’d had time to reconsider her suicidal thoughts, Rey still didn’t trust her. Even if she didn’t try to kill herself, she would try to run. That much they both knew. So, she still tagged along, a little bitch at his heels wherever he went. Meetings, errands, the club, and once to a massive mansion far outside the city, though he’d made her wait in the car. It would have been the perfect moment had a large black man not stood sentry at the door, looking down his nose at Devin as she squirmed under his scrutiny.
Two bites into her breakfast, Devin sighed and let her fork clatter against the plate, her appetite lost at the prospect of being dragged around the city. Dropping from the stool, her leaden steps carried her to the bedroom, where she pulled on a pair of leggings and a loose t-shirt. Shoving her feet into the comfortable new shoes, she shuffled her way back. Pointedly ignoring Rey as she cleaned up the few dishes she’d used, her lip curled as she scraped her plate clean.
Rey sighed but said nothing as he shrugged his way into his coat before tugging Devin into his side. Arm slung low on her hips, he led them from the apartment to his waiting car.
* * *
Devin blew a raspberry at her reflection in the bathroom mirror as she washed her hands. It was difficult to align the fresh-faced woman, who looked in the prime of health, with the miserable ache residing in her chest. She was alone and lonely, afraid of what came next, all while under the thumb of an Alpha who professed his care.
Coming out of the bathroom, Devin collapsed into a chair opposite Rey’s new desk. She stifled her yawn only because he pulled his dark brows down in warning. Turning his attention back to his conversation on the phone, he ignored her.
Studying the man, she traced the hard line of his jaw with her eyes. The fullness of his lips moving with words she didn’t listen to, only the deep timbre of them as they resonated through the room. It was a powerful voice, and not just when he used it against her. Devin could admit he was attractive. All rippling muscle, smooth ochre skin, inky hair. It was the rest of him she had an issue with. The overbearing refusal to give Devin her life back, professing his… what? Love?
Devin almost snorted at the very idea. He didn’t love her.
He knew nothing about her, but thought he knew what was best for her. It rankled, scraping her nerves raw with each day that passed.
Lip curling in disgust, Devin readied for another argument that would serve to change absolutely nothing. As she leaned forward, mouth open to bite off some sarcastic remark, the door opened and slammed into the opposite wall. Sounds filtered in, the roar of a male gone mad, the crash and boom of the club being ripped apart.
“Fight. Downstairs,” Beau shouted, though he was already racing down the hall.
Rey slammed the phone down, vaulting over the desk as if it was nothing. He spared Devin a single glance before he grabbed her up and tossed her over his shoulder. Bouncing down the hall hanging down his back, Devin silenced her shrieks of outrage as the vicious sounds became clearer. Rey couldn’t be bringing her downstairs with him. Devin refused to believe it, even as he took the stairs two at a time with her balanced with his arm over her thighs.
Watching the world fly by at a dizzying speed, she couldn’t hold back the scream when he tossed her through a doorway. It didn’t matter, the sound buried under the multicolored layers of several other women’s sounds of fear, though theirs didn’t come to a hard stop as they crashed into a male body.
Jackson. His herbal and clean scent washed over her at the same moment his arms caught her. Careful, gentle, he set Devin on her feet and urged her to the back of the crowd. An expression laden with guilt cast over his shoulder at the terrified dancers, he backed Devin deep into a corner.
“You need to stay here no matter what.” Earnest gaze striving for the stern command Rey would have given her, Jackson became a living wall between her and the chaos beyond.
“What’s going on? Who’s out there?” Devin tried to break free, but Jackson sidestepped to keep her there.
“Is it Kahler again,” one of the dancers asked in a plaintive whine.
“It can’t be,” someone else insisted.
“It’s going to be okay,” Jackson said, raising his voice for the benefit of all the women locked in the room, though he kept his gaze centered on Devin.
“That’s not an answer,” Devin hissed, shoving at Jackson’s broad chest.
