Page 173 of Rattle the Cage

Rubin.

A shiver ran down my spine, one I tried to control.

It took everything in my body to remain still, calm and steady. The whole event gave me the creeps.

“My acolytes. Welcome!” Rubin’s voice rang out over Valemont’s town center as he held his hands up to the sky. His robes shifted as he moved.

Looking closer, I saw a peek of clothing underneath. Something slick. Like a workout top.

But before I could get a better look, the crowd cheered and chanted for him. Desperate, adoring wails came from beside me.

It made my blood fucking boil.

All of this religious bullshit made me want to throw up. The sound of Rubin’s prayers sent me right back to Heirs, like I was a little kid shaking my leg in the pews until a nun smacked the back of my head and told me to be still.

As I moved, the followers around me took me in. Their gazes became confused by me, clearly impure by their standards.

Blinking slowly, I tried to recenter myself.

I needed to be calm here. Tess needed me.

Looking over the crowd, I spotted her hood a few yards away. Cyrus stood just behind her. A couple steps and Cyrus could sweep our girl up into her arms and evacuate.

As Rubin prayed over the crowd, I watched Lola move toward the front of the crowd, somewhere she could easily reach Rubin. Next to her was a towering dude with a short boxed beard.

Must be Travis.

It wasn’t long before Rubin was finishing his bit, the cameras moving around him as he thanked his followers. “It is because of you that He is always watching. We will cleanse this place of evil.”

As Rubin turned to leave his stage, all I could think about was Jane. That night in the parking lot. The way he moved, the way his facial hair shaped his face.

My eyes widened.

It was him.

Rubin had cornered Jane in that alley. Cyrus had chased him off before we could identify him.

He was hurting those women. Taking them back to his compound and getting them addicted to DMT. He supplied the drugs that killed Jane.

Fuck.

The crowd thrashed forward, each follower hoping to be touched by their Messenger. A blessing from a false prophet.

As Rubin moved toward his luxury SUV, I searched for Lola in the crowd. The plan was in motion. But if I was right that Rubin had hurt Jane and then took his retribution, Lola was in more danger than we realized.

85

TESS

The crowd rushed forward, my body moving with them as they rushed toward Rubin.

He didn’t bother to meet with his followers anymore, he has plenty of notoriety now, enough to ignore the people so desperate for the “prophet’s” love.

“Please, Messenger!” One man begged from next to me as he lifted his hand to the sky.

Fuck.

I tried to keep my footing, feeling the throb of the crowd pushing me forward.