Page 108 of Devour

Why in the fuck would she go there?

“I have her phone too.” I nod to my other pocket. “Her code is 5464.” I had set that on her phone when she moved in—KING. I’ve never once checked her phone before, other than when I installed the tracker I have for her location, but I wanted her to always think of me when she used her phone.

I close my eyes, swallowing hard to hold back the urge of going another round with the fucking wall.

“Axl,” Priest catches my attention. “You’re going to need to see this. There’s a video.”

I jerk my hands from the nurse and take the phone from Priest. Her gorgeous face is on the screen. I make sure the volume is up, and then I press play.

She’s crying. Then I hear her sweet voice.

“I’m sorry, Axl.” My heart is racing as I brace myself for what she’s going to say. “The nightmares won’t stop. I can’t sleep and I can’t—” She swallows hard and closes her eyes to draw a breath. “I can’t do this anymore. I’m sorry, Axl. I love you. I should have told you that before now. But this . . . it’s too much. Please don’t—” She lets out a small sob. “Please don’t blame yourself.”

Then it ends.

“NO!” I shout, forcing myself not to throw her phone since I’m not done with that video. “This can’t be real.”

“Axl,” Priest gives me a look of sympathy, like I’m too separated from reality to accept what is right in front of me.

Fuck him. Fuck everyone. I know my girl. I walk away and start the video again. Then I watch it five more times, looking for anything to explain why she would record this.

There it is. There’s something in her eyes. She’s crying and scared, but I know she’s trying to tell me something without saying it. “Someone made her record this.” I hold the phone up to Priest. “Right there, she looks past the camera, like she’s looking at someone.”

Priest takes the phone and watches it. His jaw tightens. He watches it again. “I see it.”

The double doors open, and a man in scrubs steps out, pulling his gloves off. I’m across the hallway before he takes a second step.

“Is she alive?”

He frowns and takes his cap off, wringing it in his hands. I’m about to snap his goddamn neck if he hasn’t fucking saved my girl. Then Priest is going to have to put a bullet in my head if he wants to stop me from raining fire on everyone, because a world without Saylor is my fucking hell. And I’ll make it everyone else’s too.

CHAPTER 45

AXL

Every second the doctor takes to speak is another bone I want to break in his body.

“She’s stable for now.” He holds his hand up before I can push past him. “She’s not awake. We pumped her stomach, and we’ve got her on fluids and oxygen. Her vitals are improving, but her body took a hit. We’re running bloodwork now to identify exactly what she was given and how much damage we’re dealing with.”

My knees start to buckle, and Priest grabs my shoulder. “When is she going to wake up?”

“I can’t give you a timeline. It depends on what she ingested and how long it was in her system before you got to her.” He pauses and looks at me. “She might have neurological deficits. We’re going to run some tests.”

My entire body is shaking, ready to explode. “I need to fucking see her.”

“Give us another twenty minutes to get her settled and finish the bloodwork, and then I’ll come get you.”

He disappears behind the doors quickly, not giving me a chance to object. I stand there staring at the spot where he was.

Whoever did this is already dead. And if they took any part of what makes her the woman I love, I’ll still watch the world burn just to make sure I fucking kill everyone associated with them. I’ll love her no matter what, but I’m selfish and I want every fucking piece of my heathen. I want her to have everything she wants in this world, just the way she is. She deserves triple that.

Priest is on his phone, speaking low. “Crew, we need you and Kase at Axl’s suite right now. Someone drugged Saylor and tried to kill her. We need you to go over the entire room and tap into the hall cameras. Axl’s cameras were tampered with. Don’t let anyone in that fucking room.”

He hangs up and looks at me. “They’ll take care of that. You can focus here.”

I nod. I can’t sit down. I can’t stand still. I’m pacing the hallway, and my wrapped hands are throbbing. My girl is through those doors trying to come back to me, and I’m fucking useless.

The twenty minutes feels like twenty years. Priest stays beside me, doing something on his phone. He doesn’t talk, and I don’t need him to. I’d have sent him to go help Crew and Kase, but I know he wouldn’t have gone. And depending on what goes down here, I’m going to need him to slow me down. Because if something happens to her, I’ll kill everyone in this building. I don’t care that it’s not their fault. Everyone’s going to fucking pay.