Adam cut in, “You’re better off staying with me and Hunter.”
Oh, hell no, Devon wasn’t risking them either. “I’m going home.”
Harper’s face scrunched up. “Surely that’s the last place you’d want to be right now.”
Devon frowned. “Why? It’s my home.”
Harper’s eyes flicked to Tanner. “You didn’t tell her?”
He poked the inside of his cheek with his tongue. “Forgot to mention it.”
“Mention what?” Uneasy, Devon straightened in her seat. “What don’t I know?”
Everyone looked at Raini, who bit her lower lip and said, “God, I hate being the bearer of bad news.” She tucked a blonde strand of hair behind her ear. “Harper said you’d be staying with her for a few days, so I went to your place to pack you a bag and … well, someone had ransacked the apartment.”
Devon blinked. “Ransacked it?”
“Well, not all of it,” said Raini. “The destruction was confined to the living room. I’m talking an unreasonable amount of destruction. Ribbons of the shredded curtains were scattered all over the room. The TV was smashed to shit. I don’t know what the intruder used to go to work on your sofa, but it was in three pieces, and the stuffing from the upholstery was everywhere. All your pictures were pulled down from the walls. The coffee table … it almost looked like someone had karate-chopped it. I don’t know what they took with them when they left, though. I’m so sorry, Dev.”
Stomach hardening, Devon swallowed. Devastation, anger, and shock pumped through her blood, fighting for supremacy. Someone had not only broken into her home, they’d wrecked her living room and probably stolen some of her things. It was just stuff; she knew that. Stuff could be replaced. And it wasn’t as if the furniture had been worth shit. But, dammit, they’d been hers.
“I called Jolene, and she sent Ciaran to me,” Raini went on. “He snapped some pictures with his cell and then teleported us both out of there. Show her, Ciaran.”
Digging his phone out of his pocket, the male imp crossed to Devon. “They’re not pretty.”
As she skimmed through the collection of photos he’d taken of her apartment, Devon ground her teeth. “Motherfucker.”
“The damage seemed personal to me,” said Ciaran. “Vindictive. It’s like someone had a brief explosion of anger and then managed to get ahold of themselves.”
“I’ll have someone clean the place, Devon,” said Jolene. “In the meantime, you can’t stay there.”
“The safest place you can be is with me,” Harper insisted.
Devon lifted her chin. “I won’t take my shit to your door. Think of Asher. Do you really want this touching your son? Because it could, and I’d never forgive myself if anything happened to my little dude. Come on, Knox, surely you’re with me on how bad of an idea this is.”
Knox shrugged. “I have extreme preternatural security measures in place. No one can penetrate my estate.”
“Stay with me and your mom, beautiful,” said Russell. “We want you with us.”
Again, Devon shook her head. She wouldn’t endanger them that way. Couldn’t.
“You could stay in the apartment that’s just become empty on the floor above mine,” said Tanner. “The tenant had a crazy, Freddie-Mercury-style party last night and got himself kicked out of the building. You could stay here with me tonight while the apartment is put to rights, and then you could move there some time tomorrow. That way, you won’t feel like you’re putting anyone at risk.”
Aside from the part where he wanted her to stay here for the night, it was a good solution, but … “You’re asking me to let someone chase me out of my home.”
“No, I’m asking you to be smart.” Tanner crossed to where she sat and stared down at her, determined to make her see reason. “You know it’s a good idea, kitten.” And if she tried leaving, well, he’d just bring her back. She’d barely got out of the kidnapping alive—he wasn’t going to allow her to risk herself yet again.
Devon narrowed her eyes at him, and then her voice flowed into his head. You’d take advantage of our time alone to coax me into your bed.
Tanner didn’t deny it—it would have been a lie. That he’d make no bones of seducing her while she was worn out made him an asshole, yeah, but he’d always been selfish and ruthless when it came to Devon. He had no limits where she was concerned.
You shouldn’t be alone when you’re not at one-hundred percent, he pointed out to her telepathically, knowing it would prick at