The Ritual

CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

RYAT

I OPEN MY heavy eyes and smell the sterilized room before I even see the white walls and realize I’m in a hospital bed. I go to lift my right arm, and it doesn’t budge. “Not again …” My eyes fall to look at it, half expecting it to be handcuffed to the railing, but instead, there’s a brunette cuddled up to my side, sleeping on it.

Blake! Thank God. Leaning down, I kiss her forehead, letting my lips linger to feel the touch of her skin on my lips.

Her eyes flutter open, and it takes her a second to focus on me. “Ryat?” She gasps. “You’re awake.” She goes to get up, but I hold her in place.

“No, Blake …”

“But Dr. Gavin—”

“No. please.” I pull her into me. “Stay here.” I take in the smell of her hair, that familiar strawberry smell making me smile. “Stay here with me. For just a bit longer.”

“Okay, Ryat.” She looks up at me and gently kisses my cheek.

“God, I missed you,” I say, and her eyes fill with tears.

“Don’t ever do that again,” she growls. “Just so you know, I’m going to kick your ass when you get to go home.”

I laugh and kiss her forehead. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.”

The moment she answers, I see the bruise on her eye. “He hit you?”

“I’m fine …” She pulls away.

“Blake.” I growl. “Tell me what he did to you.” I’m going to make him confess his sins of LeAnne to the Lords at confessional but not what he did to her. I don’t want everyone knowing what my wife went through.

Sighing, she runs her hand through her hair. “He told me to run.”

I frown, remembering something about a game. “Why would he …?”

“He wanted to act out my fantasy,” she whispers nervously. “Told me to run from him. He wanted to catch me and rape me.”

My teeth clench, my muscles stiffening, making my already sore body worse.

“I was able to keep him off at first. Then he caught me, and Tyson was there …”

“We needed Matt to believe that Tyson was there for you,” I inform her. Matt was going to be suspicious no matter how it went down, but we knew he wouldn’t pass up on having the extra help to use her. “He had to play a part.”

She snorts. “He played it well. Tyson had me thinking he was in on the attack at Blackout. He even threw me onto the coffee table …”

“He had to get close to you,” I say even though I hate the fact that he touched her. Not pissed that he was rough with her, but that he put his hands on her in any way. Or the fact that Matt honestly thought he and Tyson were going to rape my wife. “We knew he’d have you restrained somehow. It was either rope, zip ties, or handcuffs.”

She frowns, her brows pulling together. “That’s why the key was in my pocket?” I nod. “Tyson put it there while I was lying on the coffee table.”

The moment that Tyson saw she was cuffed, he had to get close to her. “I’m sorry, Blake.”

“I’m fine.” She grabs my hand. Giving me a soft smile, she adds, “Matt never touched me.”

She’s lying. The mark on her face proves that he did get his hands on her before I could get there. “You saved me. Again.”

Cupping her soft cheek, I run my thumb over her warm skin. I don’t know what I’d do if I never got to see her again. “I love you, Blake.”

“I love you too.” She leans forward, gently pressing her lips to mine.

When she pulls away, I look around the room, but it’s still just the two of us. “Where is Matt? Please tell me he didn’t get away again.”

“No. Tyson has him in the basement at Blackout. He told me to tell you that when you’re ready, he’ll hand deliver him to the cathedral.”

I start to push myself up. “We can do it tonight.”

She places her hands on my chest and pushes me back down. “No.”

“Blake …”

“I need you back to yourself. And Ryat, that’s not going to happen until you heal.”

“Blake,” I growl. Not her too.

“We need you.”

“We don’t have time …” I pause. “We?”

A smile covers her face, and she nods. “We, Ryat.” Reaching over, she picks up a black and white picture and holds it out to show me. “We’re having twins. And we’re going to need you …”

“Twins?” I ask to make sure I heard her right.

She nods, a gorgeous smile on her perfect face. I’ve never seen her eyes so bright. “Two babies.”

I reach over, grabbing her face, and pull her into me. This time, I kiss her deeply, passionately. I ended up going after her, but she was the one who brought me back. This woman is incredible. And I’m the luckiest man to call her mine.