Page 16 of Carnal Heart
His fists clench and unclench by his sides. He wants to hit me, but he can’t with the people around us. A small crowd starts to form, watching us. My body shakes with adrenaline and anger. I hate this man in front of me. All those nights he hurt me.
I deserve better.
Suddenly Devyn is standing there, right behind Remy, anger rolling off him in waves. My lips part.
His anger is like a tempting poison heating my veins. I want him. Fucking hell. I want him so badly.
Remy follows my gaze looking behind him. He straightens his shoulders and smiles.
Devyn’s nostrils flare and then, like a mask falling into place, Devyn visibly calms himself before glancing at me. All that controlled anger now hidden by a mask of indifference.
Ignoring Remy, he walks past my ex in a deliberate move, brushing against him in a silent warning before making it to my side. As soon as he’s in front of me, Devyn passes me a vibrant blue drink.
“Hello, Praeda,” he purrs, a wicked smirk curling on his lips.
Oh, fuck.
Chapter seven
Devyn
The red winking heart pin on Remy Lombardi’s blazer taunts me as I brush past him. It takes everything inside of me not to bash this man’s teeth in. As soon as I walked away from Zaiah, I pulled my earbud out of my multi-slate and slid it in place.
A small smile played on my lips, imagining Zaiah discovering the tracking program I had designed to monitor his conversations. My sweet fire was going to be pissed, and the outcome would be delicious.
But when that piece of shit, Remy, filtered through my earpiece, it took everything within me not to rip his throat out when I returned, especially when I saw the crowd gathered around them. This is another reason why I fucking hate spectacles like Praeda. Everything is a huge announcement. A show for everyone’s entertainment.
I don’t know how much clearer I can get about Zaiah being my Praeda than fingering him on the fucking dance floor, but apparently, everyone needs the words to be said out loud.
Dipping the glass of Blue Sugar in front of Zaiah’s face, I hand him his drink. “Hello, Praeda.”
A few people around me gasp as Zaiah takes the glass. I give them all a wicked smile, encouraging them to go tell all their friends.Devyn Shio has chosen his Praeda this year, and it isn’t fucking Remy Lombardi.
Lana stands just behind Zaiah with a wide grin. My gaze lingers on Zaiah’s face before returning to Remy. “Do you have a problem with my Praeda?”
Remy, beet red with fury, glares at Zaiah, his narrowed eyes seeming to envision the evil things he wants to do to my precious doll. Icy rage slides down my spine, and I place a possessive hand on Zaiah’s back.
Light. His back. The angry scars my fingers had traced earlier. If I find out that Remy did that to him, I’m going to kill the fucker, or hell, I’ll have Balthazar have his wicked way with him. If my fellow Black Hart gets hold of him, then at least I can guarantee Remy will suffer before he dies.
Remy finally turns toward me. “No problem at all,” he says, tone clipped. As soon as Remy leaves, I face Zaiah.
“Aren’t you going to take a sip of your drink I got you?”
Zaiah places the glass against his lips and tips the glass back. Before the cool liquid reaches his mouth, he narrows his eyes. I give him a wolfish grin. My sweet fire is smart, I’ll give him that. I pluck the glass from his fingers and make a show of twisting the cup around until his lip prints are facing me. Lining them up, I place my lips on the smudge he left on the glass, pretending it’s him I’m tasting. I tip my head back and take a healthy swallow.
“Not drugged,” I say and hand him back his glass.
He takes a hesitant sip before his eyes widen with shock. “Blue Sugar?”
I nod. “Your favorite.”
“Fuck,” he says with awe.
Zaiah might be starting to grasp the extent of my obsession.
Just then, my multi-slate dings with an incoming message. I pull up my Black Hart group chat and smirk.
Ares: Everything’s ready for you.
