Page 36 of Fire Bound

“I already gave it to someone, but they broke it.” My bottom lip wobbles. “A perfectly good man wanted me and loved me, but I couldn’t love him back because I was still in love with the person whodestroyedme. How pathetic is that?”

Pru’s eyebrows pinch in confusion, her lips pulling down. “Who—” she begins to ask but the rest dies when her eyes suddenly widen and her hand drops from my hair. “I thought it was just an innocent crush,” Pruitt starts. “I didn’t think it was more than that.” She doesn’t say his name, but we both know who we’re talking about.

I laugh sadly to myself. It was never supposed to be more than a crush. It was no secret that, since the beginning, Jax and I had a flirty relationship. Tormenting and trying my damnedest to make the demon blush was my favorite hobby. It was innocent. Something fun to pass the time with. Until it wasn’t.

“I didn’t know it was more or that I even wanted more until the very second he told me I couldn’t have more. That nothing was ever going to happen between us,” I sniff. “I never wanted to be this person that cried over a boy. It’s pathetic.I’m pathetic, letting some dumb man hurt me like this, butfuck, Pru, it really hurts. It’s been over a year since it happened, but it still hurts.”

“A year ago,” she repeats as a thought dawns on her. “This all happened before I had to leave and Jax went with me.”

I nod my head in a jerky movement. “I’ve never needed you more, but there was no way to communicate with you. Gage started hanging around and I selfishly clung to him as a lifeline.”I’m a horrible person.“I wanted to tell you when you came home, but then the battle happened…”

“And then Gage died,” Pru finishes for me.

“Gage died.” Repeating those words feels like swallowing razor blades. “The man I want, I can’t have and the man who wanted me is dead.” Telling her about my feelings for Jax is about all I can offer her today. I’m not ready to disclose what led to Gage’s death. That’s a shame I’m not ready to share with someone else. I reach out and take her hand in mine. “You did nothing wrong, but I treated you like you did. It was really hard being around you when my life is falling apart. I felt bitter and angry at something you had no control over. Like I said, you deserve to be happy. You’ve literally broken curses and overcome certain death to get where you are. I can’t apologize enough for my absolutehorrificbehavior.”

Pruitt and Ryker’s love for each other is so epic, it’s part of a thousand-year-old prophecy. The white wolf prophecy, to be exact. Long story short, a thousand years ago a witch was upset when her son wanted to mate with someone that was a different species. The witch, a total weirdo who wanted to keep the bloodlines pure, cast a curse. For hundreds of years, species couldn’t mate outside of their own species. Didn’t matter if they truly loved each other, they could never be mated. All the right stars had to align for the curse to be broken, but by Pru mating with Ryker, the curse was broken. Now, no matter what species they are, if the love is strong and true, the mating aura will appear, and they can be mated. Like I said… it’s an epic love.

“You don’t have to apologize for hurting, Remi.”

“I do,” I insist. “Because I’ve been a monster bitch.”

That’s putting it mildly.

Pruitt wraps her arms around me and this time I return the hug. “I’ve just really missed my best friend.”

“I’ve missed you too.”

“I need you to get your shit together though,” Pruitt remarks suddenly after a moment of silence. I guess we’ve moved on to the tough love portion of the segment. “It’s okay to be sad and to be angry, but I need you to pull it together. We’re still in the dark with Sterling and his plans. I can’t be worrying about youandhim. There simply is not enough time in the day to do both.”

Last night was a wake-up call that I really needed.

“I’m working on it.”

I’m tired of playing the passive part in all of this. Whether she meant it or not, Mom was right. I’m a small player in this deadly game, but that’s changing.

After we pull away from each other, her face turns serious. “Do you want me to kill Jax for you?” Pru asks. “I’m so mad at him right now for hurting you.”

“Oh, don’t you worry your little pregnant head, I’m carrying around enough anger for the both of us.” Angry at Jax for breaking my heart, angry at myself that despite what Jax did I still did horrible things to keep him alive, and angry at Sterling for being a big fat dick. The anger in my veins has been burning in disorganized chaos. I’ve let it cloud my judgment and consume me, but not anymore. I’m going to harness that emotion and let it fuel me. “Come on, we need to get you back to your party.”

“You’re probably right.” Her hand smooths across the growing bump. Maybe it’s because I’m growing accustomed to seeing sadness in my own eyes that I recognize the fleeting look of it in hers.

“What’s wrong?”

“I know I don’t remember my mom and dad, but I still want the baby to know about them,” she starts, a sad smile on her lips. “I only have a small handful of pictures of them. I guess, I wish I had more information about my side of the family that I could tell the baby about. I just won’t have anything to offer my child if one day they come asking questions.”

“All that matters is that it knows that it is loved, Pru,” I assure her. “It’s got an entire baseball team of aunts and uncles that will be fighting to be its favorite. Which is going to behilariousto sit back and watch because we already know I’m going to be the favorite.”

We start walking back toward the house. For the first time in months, we stand side by side.

“Can you find out if the baby is a boy or a girl so I can stop calling them anit?” I plead.

“No.” Pruitt laughs. “We want it to be a surprise.”

“Shit, don’t you think we’ve had enough surprises?” I grimace. “I’m one surprise party or jump scare away from checking myself into a psych ward. Do you think Winslow can get me a deal at the one she was at?”

Climbing into Pruitt’s lifted Jeep, I find the passenger seat already occupied with a box of donuts. I smile happily at the sight of them before moving them so I can sit down. While we were in hiding for ten months, we bonded over junk food. Every day I would use my hellfire to travel all over the continent to get different kinds of donuts from all over the place. It was a happy spot in an otherwise very dark time.

“Ooh,” I praise, lifting the lid of the pink box. “Come to daddy.”

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