Page 82 of Ravaged Devotion

Ellery clicked his tongue. “He refused the Black Hart title and won’t take a room at Castle Black. Doesn’t sound like he’s willing to be one of us at all. Just because he likes sitting on cock—”

Ryker grabbed the nearest item and chucked it with all his might.

The water bottle pinged off Ellery’s shoulder, clattering to the floor.

“Damn it! That hurt, asshole!” Ell shot to his feet, but a shush from Uriel had him stilling. “At least your anger management issues still flare when Stepbrother isn’t around. We’re going to need it.”

“Not leaving the rest enough time to prepare was smart,” Uriel said. “But it doesn’t help us narrow things down.”

They’d sprung their plan on the group to ensure no one could sneak off and…do anything. Ryker didn’t know what, but that was because he still didn’t have a clue who could be behind all of this. Or why they’d bother. He couldn’t even be certain he was an actual target. There was a good chance he’d merely drawn the short end of the stick by being the last one on guard duty last night, and that’s why the creatures had attempted to speak to him and not someone else.

Mind games?

“If it’s one of them,” he guessed, “they could have opened a door and let those things inside. But they haven’t. Why?”

And would they?

“Maybe they don’t have control,” Ellery suggested. “Come on. These things are still creatures. Animals.”

“Or ghouls,” Uriel put in, but they ignored him.

“They’re feeding them information,” Ryker said, “that much we know for sure.”

“How? How are they getting them to sound exactly like us?”

“And to what end?” Ell asked.

“Murder? Revenge?” Ryker shrugged. “Hell if I know.”

“Against the company?” Ellery pursed his lips. “That pans.”

“The board is made up of a bunch of selfish pricks.” Ryker’s father being top of that list. “But they’re probably all dead now, so why are these things still here? Why hasn’t the fog lifted?”

If they’d gone fishing in the middle of the woods, where these things clearly lived, it was pretty safe to assume Rhys and the others had been killed off already.

“Perhaps whoever started this has lost hold of the situation.” Uriel brushed the edge of a blind out of the way and peered outside. The music had cut off a few minutes ago, Ellery hitting pause on his device once they’d safely entered the pool house. “Either it’s one of the people who’s stuck by us, or it’s one of the missing workers.”

“Could still be a third party as of yet unknown to us,” Ellery corrected.

“Ideally, if that’s the case, they’ll find them when they do their sweep.” Ryker didn’t want to think about that. About how he’d left Rue there with a potential threat. Still, it had to be safer in there than out here. “Let’s come up with a plan to take one of those things down.”

At least that was something they could focus on in the present.

The rest would have to come.

Chapter 17:

“Anything?” Lenore asked from where she stood watch at the doorway to Cosima’s office. She and Rue had partnered up for the search, while Bowie had stuck with Penn. They’d already swept the first and second floors, with the rest of the group having moved on to the third.

Rue had insisted on staying behind and checking Cosima’s office for clues. As of right now, they were in the dark—both figuratively and literally thanks to the power going out—and he couldn’t stop thinking about Ryker’s theory that none of this was an accident.

On paper, it sounded farfetched. Someone controlled the weather and…what? Summoned monsters from the mist? The universe was vast and all, but even it had its limits.

Probably.

Hopefully?

Fuck. Rue didn’t know anymore. All he knew was Ryker was out there with those things, despite the fact he believed someone in here was setting them up. Clearly they’d targeted him, since the mimic had known when he’d be on guard duty last night and had specifically called out to him.