Page 11 of Midnight Hunt (Wolves of Midnight #4)

10

VIOLET

I watched the black town car disappear out of sight down the private drive, then reentered the house with a dejected sigh.

Reid knew everything now. I’d explained it all, sharing with him every detail I could think of. He deserved the truth about what had happened between me and Griff this morning, and I’d made sure to be totally honest.

Yes, I still had feelings for Griff, but we had a complicated past. We’d been sexual partners for years , and I couldn’t just make my body forget that. Ever since my first heat at the age of fifteen, I’d gone to Griff for help. Twice a year for the past seven years, we would become locked together in heated passion until my raging pheromones faded. Outside of those times, though, we rarely had sex. Only when we really needed each other did we give in to our passions.

I’d explained all this to Reid because the physical intimacy Griff and I had shared didn’t mean we’d ever been a mated couple. He’d never claimed me, and I’d never asked him to. We were just friends . Well, friends with benefits, but that was over now.

My body had just temporarily forgotten.

Reid had seemed to understand. He hadn’t even been mad . More like resigned, as if he’d already known.

But when I’d insisted that Griff was my past and he was my future, Reid had left me with four words. Four little words that had shaken me to my core and made me question everything. Seeing my confliction, he hadn’t stuck around much longer, and I was now alone to face the consequences of my choices.

Not quite ready to speak to Griff—or anyone else, for that matter—I shut myself in Kolton’s office and got lost in work. Even when dinnertime rolled around, I didn’t stop. Nora brought in a plate and gently hugged me before wordlessly leaving again. Other than that, no one disturbed me.

It was nearing bedtime when the office phone rang. Answering on autopilot, I replied, “Rivers’ residence. Vi speaking.”

“Vi? Oh, thank goodness you answered,” Mrs. Bailey’s frantic voice filled the speaker. “It’s Desirae. I told her not to leave the house, but the need to shift was too strong. She took off into the woods a few minutes ago, and I’m so scared she’s going to get hurt or worse. Please. You have to help me get her back.”

“Kolton!” I shouted, jumping up from my chair.

Seconds later, my brother, Griff, and Jagger burst into the office, my shout clearly putting them on high alert. Ignoring the fluttery feeling I got when Griff looked me over as if to check for injuries, I quickly relayed Mrs. Bailey’s message.

“Tell her we’re on the way,” Kolton said and strode from the office. Still holding the phone, I shot after him, elbowing past Griff and Jagger in the process.

“I’m going too,” I told him, adding some dominance to my voice.

“Vi—”

“I can help. I want to help,” I interrupted before he could shut me down.

“You were just injured—”

“It won’t happen again. I’ll be extra vigilant. I need this.”

At that, he paused with his hand on the front doorknob.

Knowing he still wasn’t convinced, I allowed myself to admit, “I need to feel like I’m still a part of Midnight Pack.”

He turned to face me then, his expression softening. “You’ll always be a part of Midnight Pack, Vi.”

“Will I?”

Seeing my doubt, he exchanged looks with Jagger and Griff, then quietly sighed. “Fine. You can come, but you’re to follow me at all times. That includes Sable.”

“I promise,” I breathed, rushing forward to hug him.

As I quickly assured Mrs. Bailey we were on the way, Nora joined us in the foyer. Kolton paused to draw her close and press a sound kiss to her lips, and I immediately thought of this morning’s football game when I’d been wrapped around Griff like a koala bear. Heat had stirred in my belly when I’d caught him staring at my lips, the look in his eyes anything but platonic. And for one second, I’d allowed myself to return the look—and remember what it felt like to kiss him. Feeling that same heat stir in my belly now, I hurriedly looked away.

They were just residual feelings from the past. Once I took that next step with Reid and we became intimate, I was certain the feelings would fade away.

I would get over them.

I would get over him .

For the sake of my future with Reid, I had to.

“Stay safe. All of you,” Nora said, dispelling my troubled thoughts. I could tell she wanted to come too, but her priority these days was protecting her two precious children. She was an amazing mother, and God help anyone who tried to come between her and her babies.

With a final kiss goodbye, Kolton turned from his mate and led the way out the door. I eagerly followed, not about to let him change his mind. It wasn’t that I got a thrill from danger. I would just rather face it than let the ones I loved deal with it alone. Not knowing if they were hurt or worse was unbearable, so I’d much rather be a part of the action than get left behind.

“Did you make any headway on those fingerprints we pulled from the trap?” Kolton asked me as we left the porch and headed for the garage.

“Darin ran them through the database but hasn’t found any matches yet,” I replied, referring to our pack member that worked in the NYPD. “He’ll have to contact the FBI to access Interpol’s system, but do we really want their attention drawn to two werewolves?”

Kolton deliberated for a moment before saying, “We can hold off on that for now. No need to alert other countries to our search just yet. Did one of the males really look Russian to you?”

I shrugged. “In a cliche sort of way. He kind of has an accent, but I’ve only heard him say two words.”

“I’d be surprised if Alpha Petrov was behind this. Even after I revealed my hybrid nature during the Alpha Meeting last year, she assured me of her intentions to remain an ally.”

“But there are several Russian packs, and not all of them align with Midnight Pack,” Jagger reminded us, following closely on my heels. “Any one of them could have sent those males to kidnap Vi and Desirae. We all know that countless packs around the globe covet Midnight Pack’s wealth and power. The abductors could have come from anywhere.”

I waited for Griff to chime in, but he was surprisingly quiet.

As we all piled into the truck and took off, I finally said, “Well, I for one hope we catch them in the act tonight. Then we can put this stupid mess to rest and go back to living our boring adult lives.”

“Hear, hear,” Jagger muttered with a snort.

The snort was what clued me in to his thoughts, which had most definitely jumped to this morning’s fiasco. Yeah, maybe boring wasn’t the right word. There was always some form of drama we had to sort through. Griff and I just happened to currently be at the top of the pile.

Refusing to acknowledge the snort, I focused on keeping my mind on the task before us. Desirae could be walking into a trap—literally—and we needed to find her before that happened. When we arrived at Mrs. Bailey’s, we got right down to removing our clothes. The sooner we started the search, the better, and our best chance at finding Desirae was in wolf form.

I’d just tossed my clothes into the truck bed, about to follow after Kolton and Jagger, when Griff said, “Vi, hold up.”

Kolton glanced over his shoulder and gave us both a stern look. “One minute.”

As he and Jagger took off for the backyard, I watched them go, wishing I could follow. Dreading what Griff was about to say.

“Can we do this later?” I suggested, suddenly chickening out. “We really don’t have time to—”

“We need to do this now,” he quietly interrupted, and my stomach bottomed out.

“Fine. What happened between us shouldn’t have happened, okay? End of story.”

“I agree, but I can sense how guilty you still feel. You aren’t to blame for what happened, Vi. It was all me. I’m sorry I fell asleep with you last night.”

I stayed quiet for a moment, then blurted, “What about on the field?”

“What about it?”

“Seriously? You’re going to make me say it? Fine. You wanted to kiss me.”

Silence. Then, “I did.”

At his confession, that same heat flushed through my insides.

“But I didn’t,” he went on, “because you’re taken, and I know that.”

A tremor shook my hands. “Do you?”

“I do. I just got caught up in the moment. It won’t happen again, Vi. I’m sorry.”

I shook my head, unwilling to let him take all the blame. “Griff—”

“Did you tell Reid?”

Sighing, I admitted, “Yes. I told him everything.”

“And? What did he say?”

I ground my teeth together, then forced myself to say words that tasted like acid on my tongue. “He said that I needed distance from you. When I asked him how I could do that, he told me to move in with him.”

Not waiting for his reaction, I took off after Kolton and Jagger. When it came time to shift, Sable barely showed any excitement. She was subdued, keeping her feelings hidden from me as she continued to process the words Reid had left me with.

“Move in with me.”

A simple request, and yet it was the hardest decision I’d ever had to make.

Whiskey was equally subdued, and when he and Sable were fully in control, all they did was gently nuzzle each other. It was as if they were comforting one another, as if they knew this might be the last time they were together for a long while.

I almost called Sable out on her melancholy behavior but stopped myself short. They had a right to grieve. If I said yes to Reid, this chapter of my life would close. I would be leaving, possibly for good. My world would no longer revolve around the three boys I’d grown up with but around Reid. I would have to say goodbye to my pack and say hello to his. My responsibilities would no longer be to my family but to him.

The weight of that change hit me like a ton of bricks, and Sable quietly whined as she felt my pain.

Whiskey licked her muzzle, then took off after Kolton and Jagger’s wolves. Sable followed suit, but her heart wasn’t in the hunt this time. Still, she stayed vigilant, making sure to watch every step she took. We scoured the woods for hours , following every scent trail we could find.

When the sky started to lighten, announcing the start of a new day, Shadow finally turned and headed back the way we’d come. Exhausted, we arrived at Mrs. Bailey’s just as the sun came up.

With heavy hearts, we shifted back into our human forms and prepared to deliver the bad news.

Desirae was missing.