Page 8 of The Devils of Raven's Gate

All of a sudden Libra goes from loud and confident to shy and demure. “Riot, this is my new roommate, Maureen… Blackwell.”

His blue eyes turn cold as ice. “Don’t fucking play with me, Libra.”

She swallows hard. “I’m not,” she whispers.

Fuck, he’s gorgeous. And terrifying. His jet-black hair is cropped short on the sides and long on top. He moves toward me and glares down. “If I had known then…” He points at Libra without breaking eye contact with me. “You’ve got some nerve bringing her here.”

I can feel all the heat rush to my cheeks. The fucking audacity of this asshole. What the fuck did I do to deserve that comment? I grab hold of his arm as he turns to walk away. “Well, that was fucking rude. You don’t even know me.”

Riot flexes his arm, letting me know how strong he is. He glares down at my hand as if it were a snake biting him. “Listen, slut. You don’t know me.” He squeezes my wrist with his free hand, pinching it hard between his fingers as he pries it off his arm. “You don’t know what I’m capable of.”

My stomach twists in knots as he presses his lips to my ear and whispers, “You ever touch me again, I will fucking destroy you.”

As he releases me from his grasp, another figure emerges next to Atlas and a wave of sheer terror crawls up my spine. The beautiful asshole from this morning. Valentin. Fuck. Jessamine’s warning, he’s dangerous, they all are, echoes in my head.

He looks me up and down, licking his lips as he drinks in the sight of my slinky dress and stiletto heels. But when his dark eyes finally meet mine they harden. If looks could maim and murder, I’d be a pile of rotting flesh and bones.

“Why is the freshman here with Libra?” he snarls.

What the actual fuck is wrong with these people?

Atlas snickers. “She’s Libra’s new roommate. Maureen. Blackwell.”

Valentin clenches his jaw. “I knew you were gonna be a problem.”

It’s getting harder to breathe as the three of them glare at me. They look like a pack of feral wolves. My knees wobble as I take a shaky step back. “Look, I don’t know what you think I did, but I swear I don’t want any trouble.”

Riot snakes a hand around Libra’s throat. “There will be consequences for bringing her here.”

She lowers her eyes and nods. In the few hours that I’ve spent with this girl, it’s clear she’s an alpha female. Not the kind of chick who gets pushed around. Until now.

“Hey, let her go,” I snarl. I might not like the bitch, but I’m not going to stand around and let her get choked out.

Riot releases her and charges me, backing me up against a wall. “Get the fuck out of my house or there will be consequences for you too, Firecracker.”

As I catch a faint whiff of coffee and tobacco, butterflies shoot through my stomach. I gaze deep into his electric blue eyes, and a fuzzy memory resurfaces. “Fuck… it’s you,” I squeak out.

“Get. Out.” Riot slams his hand against the wall right next to my head.

The unfounded hatred he has for me mixes with a look of lust and desire. He presses in closer, our chests touching. His body caging me while his mouth yells at me to leave.

“You were wearing a mask, but I know it’s you… You called me Firecracker that night too.”

Riot pinches a strand of my hair between his fingers. “You know what I remember from that night? Hmm? All that disgusting cum.” I fight the tears that well in my eyes as shame washes over me.

He winds my hair tight around his finger and yanks down, pulling my head. “It was all over your chest… your lips… fucking dripping down your thighs. I took pity on a drunk slut in a bathroom. That’s all that was. All it will ever be.”

Atlas and Valentin stand on either side of me now. “This is her?” Atlas asks.

“This is nobody,” Riot growls.

“Fuck you,” I snap back.

He pounds the wall again and grunts. “How fucking dare you.”

Libra curses under her breath as she tugs on my hand. “Come on, let’s go before they kill us both.”

The three of them barely let me squeeze out of the little circle of hell they’d surrounded me in, but I manage to slip through.

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