“I hope you’re right because I’m starting to enjoy your company, and I would hate to see you not survive this.” The demon grabs hold of my chin, and after a couple seconds of hesitation, I allow him to push the mouthguard over my teeth. “And for what it’s worth,” he adds, “I’m sorry it has to be like this.”
That’s all he says before he places his palm on my chest, directly over my heart. I watch how his face contorts, and his eyes flare an even more vibrant violet.
At first, I think it’s just the heat from his palm, but the burning hot sensation builds and builds. The heat spreads, and I swear I can feel my blood start to bubble and boil. And then it hits me. It feels like someone has dumped a bucket of lava and hot coals over my body. I scream in pain around the mouthguard. I wish I could spit the damn thing out because it feels like it’s suffocating me; my lungs struggle to expand and fill with air when I breathe.
The pain started on my skin—the whole surface of it feels like it’s on fire, and now the burning sensation is in my chest and growing from there. My muscles feel like they’re being pulled apart, and my bones feel like they’ve all been shattered.
I rear up, fighting against the chains so fast that Jax takes a hasty step back. When I look down at my body with blurry vision, I expect it to be covered in flames, but nothing is there. If someone were to walk into the room right now, they would not see anything physically wrong with me. There’s no wound or blood.
I collapse back against the table as another searing round of pain enters my body. This time my back arches, and my arms and legs start to kick and thrash.
“Make it stop!” I scream at Jax. “Oh my God, please make it stop!”
“I can’t,” I hear him respond.
My eyes will no longer focus, and I can only hope it means the sweet relief of passing out will soon follow.
37
Ryker
Addison’s back is turned to us when we enter the barn. She has on a knitted cardigan than falls off one of her boney shoulders. Over the past month, since she told Pruitt she was sick, her health has taken a dramatic turn, and I can’t help but worry that now with Pru gone, she will give in to her illness. But I won’t allow that to happen because we will get Pru back, and when we do, she’s going to need her aunt in her life.
“Noah said you guys were on your way here,” Addison says softly, without turning around to face us.
“We hope we aren’t interrupting, we just wanted to ask you a couple questions.” Remi pushes past me and walks toward the woman. I watch as Remi pulls her into a tight hug, and they both sink into each other.
I think back to when Noah and I talked and how he accused me of being selfish. He was right—I am selfish. I keep forgetting I’m not the only one who lost Pru this time. Remington lost her best friend, and Addison lost the girl she has raised as her own daughter.
I cross the space and lean against a nearby table where the whole surface is covered with sketches and colored pencils. I notice a large sketchbook with Pruitt’s name elegantly scribbled across it. I look at Addison first and find her still wrapped in Remi’s arms, then I reach for the notebook and trace Pru’s name with my finger. It took me a while to get used to the name Pruitt, but now I don’t know if I could ever go back to calling her Grey.
I fell in love with the name Pruitt, just like I fell in love with the woman.
I quietly flip open the sketchpad, and my breath catches in my throat when I see what she’d sketched out last. I knew she was an amazing artist, but I didn’t realize she was a very talented designer as well. The gown she had drawn looks to be made of lace with a long veil to match.
“It’s a wedding dress,” Addison says, drawing my attention back to her. “I decided earlier this year I wanted to try adding wedding dresses to the boutiques and Pru—she was so excited, and she volunteered to help.”
“They’re beautiful,” Remi whispers after she takes the notebook from me and begins spinning through the designs. “I wish we would wear wedding dresses during the mating ceremony.”
“Pru used to talk about her wedding all the time when she was growing up. She watched all those television shows about the brides picking their dresses. She would steal my white bedsheets to create make-shift dresses, and then she’d do a fashion show for me.” Addison smiles at the memory. “I guess a wedding was never in her cards…”
“She did seem a little bummed when I told her wolf shifters don’t have weddings,” Remi agrees. “Oh, wow, this one is beautiful.”
“She worked so hard on that one. I honestly believe she was designing it for herself.” Addison chuckles. “She’d shown me the other designs, but never that one. I think she was keeping it a secret so I wouldn’t put it in the store. I don’t think she wanted to share it.”
“I don’t blame her, it’s amazing.”
“She was very talented.” Addison frowns before correcting herself. “She is very talented.”
“I’m going to get her back,” I promise her. “But we need your help, Addison. We need to know more about Nicolai.”
“I don’t know that much about him…” Addison shakes her head. “I only know what Genevieve told me.”
“Anything will help, Addie,” Remi says, keeping her voice soft. “Our biggest problem is we have no idea where to start looking. Where is Nicolai from?”
“I know he was born in
