AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I was safe? I realized how right he was in that moment. With my demon out of my body, I could never be possessed again. One and done, although no one knew why the demons never broke that rule. Danvers would be fine, too. Nathan and his sister—also safe. Cruise spent so much time around the possessed—they would have gotten him when they got his sisters, if they could get him at all.
But Ryker? Nothing protected him. I hadn’t exorcised her, hadn’t rid the world of her. She just left me, like Ryker once suggested she would do. Still a fully formed demon, still perfectly capable of doing as much damage as she liked, because I didn’t fight her.
My demon—who tormented me for years—possessed my oldest friend as I watched. The boy I had been in love with for years in secret.
One second, he was Ryker. He stared at the demon in horror, and in the next second, he was overtaken by her.
She threw him down on the ground, sulfur filling the air, and Maura screamed in revulsion. I could understand the sentiment. I’d seen it before, though, when she’d done it to me. I knew how it hurt when she shoved inside, how she would make him bend to her will. Ryker was gentle inside, softer than me, much more so than I had ever been—I imagined the kind of damage she could do to someone like him.
I knew she would destroy him. I lifted my arms like I could hold him, like I could banish it from him. I could—I could exorcise her, but she took him away while I was too weak to stop her. He rushed from the room faster than I could imagine he could move on his own.
Inside, he had to be screaming.
“Nathan,” I managed to say. Maybe he’d understand. I wilted, my legs going weak.
“I’ll get him.” He ran, but as much as I could count on Nathan, and as much as I knew he would do everything in his power to get Ryker back or stop him from leaving, I also didn’t believe he could help. Not while the creature possessed Ryker’s strong body.
Cruise crawled over to me.Fuck.What had I done to him? At my unasked question, he shook his head. “Nothing that won’t heal. Don’t worry about it. We’ll get him back. I won’t let them have Ryker.”
Danvers squeezed me against him. “You can believe Cruise. You’ll see now. You’re free. You’ll be able to see things more clearly. We’ll save him.”
I tried to swallow. My breath hitched. I couldn’t breathe. “Pretty sure I’m going to pass out.”
“Do it.” He kissed the top of my head. “We’ve got you.”
I openedmy eyes and rolled them back to see the IV in my arm. Again. Over the entire course of my life, I didn’t think I had as many IVs as I lately found myself needing. I sat up, stretching my stiff body. No demon waited to throw me around the room or remind me, if I forgot, how much of a piece of shit I really was. She was gone, no longer there to haunt my every thought.
For as much joy as the knowledge brought me, an equal measure of dread waited.
What is she doing to Ryker?
Next to me, still mostly sitting in a chair, Nathan snored. His head dangled downward in a way that had to be uncomfortable.Claw marks marred his face—from me or Ryker? Despite the damage, the man spent his whole life helping people like us.
I reached over and took his hand, squeezing his fingers with my own. He lifted his lids and blinked awake, staring at me as a smile brightened his face. “Addie.”
No one called me Addie.That’s a name for a girl with a future. I told him that once, so I wondered if it was why he brought it up. “What will I do without you?”
“Where am I going?” he whispered. Although we didn’t need to whisper, it seemed a moment for shared secrets.
I shook my head. “You help the possessed. Since I’m not possessed anymore, you’ll be rid of me soon, I guess.”
He leaned forward and kissed me, his mouth warm as it sent tingles over my skin. “You’re going to have a whole new time with me now. I don’t know how any of this will play out, but I know I’m not giving you up. I did let you down. I couldn’t catch Ryker. Cruise is out there looking for him now.”
I expected to hear most of it, except for Cruise being out looking for him. “Not your fault. She has a whole new, stronger body to run with now. No one is going to find him until she wants him found.”
“That’s unfortunately probably true.” He kissed me again, his lips a delicious distraction. “I am sorry.”
“For what? For giving up your whole life to help people like me? For doing it silently, so that most people don’t even know what you’re doing? For caring for the homeless? For coming back to your family home, where your sister obviously drives you crazy, to save me? For training people? For saying things in a language I don’t understand to calm my demon? To…”
He kissed me again. “Noticed all that, did you?”
I really wasn’t done. “For sending me to Cruise, which probably saved my life?”
“Addalee.” He stroked my hair away from my face, his steady eyes serious. “You just need to get stronger. We’re hydrating you and giving you vitamins. Believe it or not, there is a protocol for your recovery. Your appetite will come back soon. Tell me what you want to eat when it does. Anything in the world, Addalee. I’ll get it for you or find someone to make it for you, just tell me what you’d like.”
I grinned at him, shaking my head. “Thank you, but I’m afraid I’m going to disappoint you. I’ve never had any exotic foods. I can’t imagine asking for something that isn’t already on the cafeteria menu.”
“Cruise and I are going to spoil you.”
