Chapter 128: Feral

Uriel's POV

"Don't leave me, Uriel. Please don't leave me,"

My body jerked, my eyes snapping open.

Ryder's eyes were shut close, beads of sweat dripping down his face despite the air conditioning that blew cold air into the small service apartment Ryder stayed at.

He said he didn't want to inconvenience his aunt Karina and Desire at their place.

"Ry?" I called out softly, tapping his hand. He jerked up, breathing heavily like a dog.

A cute one.

"Are you okay?" He turned to me, his face creasing with concern.

Nodding, I sat up properly. "I am. What about you?"

He sighed, pushing his back until it touched the bed. "I was acting weird, wasn't I?"

"Yeah. Kind of,"

"It's been happening for days," his eyes settled on mine, locking onto my gaze. "Ever since you left,"

My heart sank, my eyes growing soft.

"Aw baby," I cooed, lowering my body until it touched his chest. My heart drummed soundly in my ear. "I'm not leaving you again, Ry."

"So that's what I said huh?" He joked, his chest rumbling with a light laughter.

"I'm serious though." I raised my face to meet his. "Thank you too for coming clean to me about your relationship with my father,"

He brushed his hand down my hair, looking up to the ceiling. "It must've been crazy finding out I was a Connell, yeah? Like how was I a Connell and not a Mc'Connell?"

"Brahh. That was some really fucked up twist," I chuckled lightly, tracing circles on his arm absentmindedly.

"Ordinarily, I should've answered our generational surname, Clarke, and not Connell, my father's name but I just didn't want his name dying like that."

"Benjamin Mc'Connell and Connell Clarke. I'm pretty sure the similarity in the name brought them closer," a small smile broke out of my lips.

"Oh, I didn't tell you that? Well, that's how they became best of friends," Ryder scoffed lightly, shaking his head. "Benjamin is a good man, I can't even lie."

"I don't know about that," my smile faltered, my mood dipping.

"Oh right. Sorry babe. He's not a good man at all. We should put him in jail. What do you think?" Ryder played along to my beat, making me grin widely.

"God, I'm happy you're not my sibling. I was losing my shit everyday when that thought crosses my mind," I admitted, looking into his eyes.

"I still wanted to fuck my step sister though. I mean, look at that ass!" Ryder joked, earning a smack on his chest. "Ow!"

"Pervert,"

I tried getting up his body but failed as he wrapped his arms around me tightly.

"Come on, let's stay on the bed all day long," he whined like a child. "Let me enjoy my woman,"

"We still have a lot of time this summer before school resumes though. Come on, we need to head back to the city for that press release thingy tomorrow," I reminded him.

Benjamin contacted him the previous night, telling him that he had scheduled a press release and that he was going to brief him. At first Ryder refused to do such but after I had pleaded with him, explaining how it could affect his career as well, he agreed to do it.

"I'm only doing this because I don't want people to see you and call you the girlfriend to an illegitimate son," Ryder sat up, dragging himself out of the bed lazily.

"Thank you babe," chuckling, I said

_

The next day crawled in fast,throwing us right into our most dreaded moment.

"Babe?"

Ryder snapped his face in my face, jolting me back to reality..

"Hmm?" My eyes averted to his, blinking rapidly.

"You've been staring at your blank screen. What's the matter?" Ryder asked, placing his hand on my thigh.

I swallowed hard, pushing down the truth to the farthest part of my stomach.

He mustn't know about the threat messages I was getting. I told myself.

So I flashed him an awkward smile, "I just saw Emma days back and I'm worried about her mental health, that's it,"

"Oh," he said calmly, his tone telling me he wasn't convinced with my reply. "Well, we're here at the arena,"

Oh shit.

My head moved up, eyes piercing through the tinted glass, out to the sea of reporters who stood outside, looking like predators waiting for their prey.

Chills ran down my spine.

"I see why you were skeptical about doing this," I said softly then shook my body, as if to get the bad vibe. I held his face in my palm, staring directly into his eyes, "look, you got this okay? Just remember what you have to say, don't entertain any question you don't like, keep everything short and simple."

Ryder nodded, puckering his lips out. "Come on, bring it in,"

Chuckling, I stretched my lips until it touched his. What started as small, deepened as he shoved his tongue into my mouth, desperately exploring each and every corner, slowly igniting suppressed emotions.

The sexual tension between us grew thicker and thicker, but there were more pressing issues than that.

At least, we could get our lives back on track after addressing those shitty misconception they had about my man.

"Okay, okay," I breathed softly. "We can pick this up when you're done addressing those hungry masses."

Ryder sat up straight, arranging his suit. "Open the door,"

Benjamin had lent us his security for this mission because of how aggressive the media reporters were.

I had seen these things on TV, so I knew too.

Immediately Ryder stepped out, camera lights flashed on his face. His hand clenched beside him. He didn't move, waiting for me. I fixed my big dark shades on, joining him. We intertwined our fingers together, getting through the crowd with the aid of our security personnel who formed a barricade, shielding us.

"God, they're feral," I said to Ryder.

"Tell me about it."

We finally made it inside the hall. I stood aside, behind the stage but close enough to see him while he spoke. Whenever he turned to me, I threw him an encouraging smile.

"Good day everyone..." Ryder started, his tone calm and collected.

I brought out my phone, raising it up to take few shots of him too because he looked so fucking sexy in that suit, when my phone rang.

It was a strange number. Different from the last one too.

Swallowing hard, I clicked on the green button. I never should've.

But the deed had already been done, so I just placed it in my ear.

The line was quiet, no voice, nothing. Then it went dead and then pictures.

I quickly clicked on the picture with so much urgency, regretting it immediately.

My eyes snapped to Ryder. As if he sensed my panic, he turned to me in time, his eyes laced with deep concern for me.

The phone vibrated in my hand. My breath hitched, fear gripping me tight.

Shakily, my eyes dropped to my phone again. It was a text, written in cap.

~ COME TO THE BACK OF THE BUILDING IF YOU DONT WANT ANYTHING HAPPENING TO YOUR PRECIOUS BOY.

~ YOUR TIME IS TICKING, URIEL.

My mouth went dry.

The person knew my name.

My eyes dragged to Ryder, then slowly drifted into the crowd. It was a large crowd, I couldn't possibly spot this person.

What if the person wants to harm Ryder?

God no, I can't let that happen.

I unlocked my screen, tapping as I turned away without sparing Ryder any glance.

Me: What do you want? Meet me there.