Page 1 of Midnight Hunt (Wolves of Midnight #4)
GRIFF
7 Years Ago
She came in hot, just like I knew she would.
My bedroom door banged open so violently that it smacked against the wall, no doubt leaving a dent in the plaster.
“Griffin Hayes O’Neal!”
She’s fixin’ to tan your hide, boy , drawled a voice in my mind, one that had adopted a heavy southern accent.
I didn’t respond to my wolf familiar, continuing to rinse the shampoo from my hair as the irate female stormed across my room. Not even bothering to knock, she barged into the bathroom where I was taking a shower.
“What the hell did you do?” she barked, undeterred by my naked state.
Cracking an eye open, I peered through the fogged glass at the angry sixteen-year-old brunette. Her fists were clenched at her sides, and her normally dark amber irises were glowing a bright purple from the colored contacts she always wore. She was pissed, all right.
“Vi . . .”
“Don’t Vi me, Griffin. Jeremiah won’t even speak to me, let alone come near me.”
“You’re really cute when you’re angry. Your mouth does this adorable little—”
“GRIFF!”
Sighing, I finished rinsing off my hair and switched off the shower. “He started it.”
“I don’t care. You didn’t have to publicly humiliate him.”
Yeah, you should have just killed that no good son of a —
“I was defending your honor,” I spoke before Whiskey could finish the sentence. As I stepped from the shower, a towel flew at my head. I nimbly caught it but took my time wrapping it around my waist. The girl’s blazing eyes didn’t stray once from my face.
“And what could Jeremiah have possibly done that would make you beat him up until he wet himself in front of his friends?” Vi demanded.
Recalling the memory, I couldn’t quite hide a smirk.
“This isn’t funny , Griff.”
“Ah c’mon, Vi. That jerk deserves a whole lot worse for what he said.”
Heat practically shot from her eyes. “What. Did. He. Say?”
Pursing my lips, I snagged a hand towel from the counter to dry my hair. “I overheard him at the bar bragging to his friends about his plans to defile you tonight after your date. The details were explicit.”
I watched in the mirror as her mouth slowly fell open. Blinking rapidly, she cleared her throat and muttered, “Oh. Well, that was kind of dickish.”
“It was disgusting. He’s lucky I didn’t rip his tongue out.” I dropped the hand towel and roughly jerked a comb through my blond hair, styling it so the bleached tips stood up in spikes. “Just because he’s a member of Midnight Pack doesn’t mean he’s honorable. I thought you’d learned that lesson after the last two scumbags you hooked up with cheated on you.”
Her eyes flashed hotly once more, and she popped her hands onto her hips indignantly. “I didn’t ‘hook up’ with them. I didn’t even let them get to second base, not that my love life is any of your business.”
“It’s my job to make sure you don’t date creeps.”
“Why, because we had sex? It was one time , Griff, and only because I was in heat.”
A sudden ache pierced me, her words like a dagger through my heart. Ignoring the feeling as best I could, I turned to her and drawled, “Well, it was more than one time. I recall you begging for my cock at least a dozen times before your heat started to fade.”
Her gaze finally dropped below my chin, taking in my lean muscular frame and the dark tattoos winding up both arms. Water still dotted my golden skin, and her eyes followed their downward path to my waist. When they dipped lower, I thought about letting the towel slip and revealing the goods. Before I could, she looked away.
“That was six months ago, Griff. I was in a vulnerable state, and a lot has happened since then. Kolton appointed you as his third, and you live across the hall from me now. I don’t think we should complicate that with sex.”
I kept my tone casual, but tension lined my body as I dared to ask, “What about when you go into heat again? What will you do then?”
Her shoulders fell. “I . . . I don’t know.”
“It’s okay, Vi,” I reassured when her expression turned troubled. “You don’t have to decide anything right now. Just know that if you need help again, I’ll be there for you. It doesn’t have to affect our friendship.”
Worrying her lip, she whispered, “Promise?”
“Cross my heart. We’re family. That will never change.”
She nodded but still wouldn’t look at me.
“How about this,” I continued. “Let’s make a promise to always be there for each other, no matter what.”
She finally looked up at me, her eyes suspiciously wet. “Even if I date dickish guys?”
I smiled at her despite the persistent ache in my chest. “Even if you date dozens of dickish guys. Which I’ll beat to a pulp if they dare disrespect you.”
She rolled her eyes, her anger from earlier gone. “Fine. I promise.”
When she stuck out her hand, it was my turn to roll my eyes. “You know me better than that, Violet Jane. Come here.”
She immediately rushed forward to accept my embrace. Just like that, my tension evaporated. Over the years, we’d hugged each other more times than I could count, but hugging her felt different now. Maybe not to her, but it sure as hell did for me.
We’d been intimate, our bodies exploring each other in every way possible. When I touched her now, every inch of me became hyper-aware of her. And when she touched me, my body yearned for more.
But she’d made it perfectly clear how she felt about me. Even if she allowed me to help with her heat again, we were only friends.
Still, I didn’t let that stop me from tightening my arms around her. She might never see me as anything more than her brother’s best friend, but I would always be there for her.
No matter what.