Page 67 of Ravaged Devotion

“We told everyone our plan to keep watch before they went to bed,” Ryker said. “They knew the order we were doing it.”

So they all knew that Ryker would be the one on guard duty at this time.

“When we first checked in, the two of them had separate rooms,” he continued while the dread grew in Rue’s gut. “There’s no way creatures out there could possibly know that. But someone in here…”

“You think someone is behind this?” Rue felt sick to his stomach. “Why? How?”

“I don’t know. But this is clearly targeted.”

“Ryker!” Uriel’s voice came louder suddenly, followed by rapid banging against the door. The wood rattled, shaking from the force of the blows. The bench that had been pulled in front of it even moved slightly, legs scraping, though it remained in place.

A scream ripped through the air, male at first, not quite as convincing as the voice had been. Then that changed too, altering to a high-pitched sound of anger. It trailed off, seemingly echoing around them.

As soon as the sound completely dissipated, everything went still.

The two of them stood like that for a while, staring at the door long after whatever was out there had stopped trying to get in.

Ryker’s sigh broke the spell, and he lifted the gun he’d been holding, flexing his fingers around the metal.

Rue hadn’t even noticed it before.

There was an E etched into the handle.

Ellery’s emotional support blaster.

Yeah, Rue was also starting to be grateful the psycho was here with them.

He wet his dry throat. “What do we do now?”

“Wait until morning,” Ryker said. “And hope whatever that was doesn’t come back until the others are awake and we can come up with a plan.”

“If you suspect someone in the building, how should we proceed?” Rue would follow his lead.

“Let me think on it.” Ryker placed a kiss to Rue’s forehead. “I’m guessing you’re too riled to fall back asleep?”

“Yeah, that’s so not happening.”

He chuckled humorlessly. “Come on. I think I saw a deck of cards in one of the drawers.”

Ryker didn’t spare the door a backward glance.

So Rue didn’t either.

Chapter 14:

Breakfast was fruit and scrambled eggs made by Ishleen. The lot of them crowded into the kitchen the same as with dinner, though only three of the six workers arrived during the hour it took for the food to be made and them to all eat it.

Ryker sent the two that had helped with dinner, Thea and Cyril, upstairs to check the rooms once they were done eating, easily falling into the leadership role again.

His father had prepared him well, taught him how to be an overbearing asshole. How to speak in a way that demanded attention. Personally, he couldn’t give two shits about whether the other people in the building were oversleeping, or if something had happened to them. But he’d noticed the way the others had tensed, and knew it was best to give them a sense that everything was under control.

When people panicked, things got dangerous, and with unknown creatures roaming outside, there was already enough of that to deal with.

“I can make you more,” Ishleen offered when Ryker ate the last bite of eggs on his plate.

She’d taken the seat on his right, had angled her body toward him, and was clearly leaning into his space. He’d mostly ignored her, too focused on eating and gathering his thoughts, but it became impossible to continue doing so when she rested a hand over his forearm.

“You always eat a ton in the dining hall at school.” She smiled at him. All things considered, she seemed in much better shape than her friend Esti. Her hair was pulled into a high ponytail, her face clean and covered in artfully done makeup. She’d be pretty, if Ryker was into that sort of thing.