Page 33 of Ravaged Devotion

“Is that how you accidentally ended up dating my brother?” Ryker demanded. “You jump him like this?”

“We weren’t dating,” Rue said, sounding small despite the bold move he’d just made.

Which somehow only made it worse, because Ryker couldn’t tell anymore, which was the real version and which was the fake.

The Rue that he knew, the one that he’d fallen for, was shy and quiet. Not weak, he’d always been capable of standing up for himself if need be, but not exactly the manipulative or overtly clever type. He didn’t scheme, that was for sure.

But the Rue Uriel had told him about…the one that had confirmed he had in fact slept with Ryder…Ryker didn’t know that Rue.

He didn’t want to.

“So you’re saying you left me behind for a guy you weren’t even serious about?” When Rue looked away, Ryker was torn all over again.

On the one hand, a part of him was relieved to hear that it didn’t sound like Rue had been invested in Ryder.

On the other…didn’t that make the whole abandonment thing worse?

If he didn’t care about Ryder but he’d left after their disagreement that day, that had to mean he thought even less of Ryker and his feelings.

Feelings he did in fact have, unlike many of the other Black Harts.

He took a pointed step away, noting the second Rue realized what was about to happen when threads of brown colored over the blue in his eyes.

“Let’s see how you like being left behind.” Ryker took off, speeding through the trees, ignoring Rue’s calls after him. He weaved through the thick trunks, disappearing among the foliage.

It took him ten whole minutes to catch up with the others, bursting out onto the path, startling most of them.

Bowie took one look and then frowned and turned the way he’d come. “Where’s Rue?”

It must have been obvious the two of them were together after all this time.

Ryker grunted and pushed past him, headed back to the lodge. His shoulder connected with the other man’s hard enough to jostle him.

“You want him so bad,” he stated, “go find him.”

With any luck, they’d both get lost in the wilderness and get eaten by something.

Then Ryker could finally put these insufferable feelings to bed.

Chapter 7:

They were halfway through dinner when Rue, Bowie, and Lenore walked in, all three looking like a mess. There were smears of dirt and twigs in their hair, a clear sign they’d been roughing it through the forest all afternoon.

Ryker sipped from his cup and glanced out the window, catching sight of the last dying rays of the setting sun. Perfect timing.

“There, can you chill the fuck out now?” Ellery picked a piece of meat off one of the platters in the center of the long table they were seated at and placed it on the edge of Ryker’s untouched plate.

“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” he drawled, popping the small morsel into his mouth, even as he tracked Rue’s movements from the corner of his eye.

The dining hall was set in a large room with a high beam ceiling and several long tables that took up the entirety of the right side. The walls at either end of the space were made of glass, the windows giving view to the top of a mountain past the trees, and sprawling forest. Twinkle lights lined some of the branches closest to the paths that could be seen leading to other parts of the resort.

“If you were going to be this anxious over him lost in the woods, you shouldn’t have left him there in the first place,” Ellery stated, elbowing his cousin who was seated on his left. “Am I right?”

Uriel nodded.

“Can you let that thing go now?” He scrunched his nose at the brown and green snake currently snoozing around Ryker’s neck.

He’d found it outside on the way back and noticed it was injured. For reasons completely unknown to him, Ryker had picked it up, brought it back, and bandaged the thing using second-skin, a medical advancement that didn’t require removal.