Page 16 of Midnight Hunt

I’m not getting any because you won’tletme.

Also not true. I’ll gladly let you hump—

La, la, la, not listening. You have seriously got to accept that I’m with Reid now.

Ha. You haven’t even thought about him once today.

I started to protest, but nothing came out. I’d thought about him. Imusthave thought about him.

Right?

As I rehashed my thoughts for the morning, Shadow came to a sudden halt. The rest of us skidded to a stop behind him, barely avoiding a collision. When he lowered his head and sniffed at the ground, we did the same. Immediately, Sable scented what had caught his attention.

Blood.

Alotof it.

5

VIOLET

To say that Sable was excited would be an understatement.

The blood immediately triggered her hunting instincts, and thoughts of jumping Whiskey’s bones were pushed to the back of her mind.

It’s not Burgundy’s blood, she assured me, eagerly dancing in place.Moose!

When Shadow took off again, she bounded after him with a yip. Judging by the way he closely followed the blood trail, I assumed Desirae’s wolf must have injured the big animal. It would take several regular wolves to bring down a moose, but hybrids were the largest-known werewolves in existence. Even if she hadn’t shifted into her true form, Burgundy should be able to bag the moose all on her own.

A few miles later, Shadow started to slow. Sable could still smell the moose’s blood, but the droplets had grown sparser. Burgundy must have attacked the moose and let it run off to slowly bleed out. Smart strategy. Easier to kill it that way without sustaining injury.

A sudden warning growl cut through the trees up ahead, alerting us to Burgundy’s position. Even though we were her pack now, she was no doubt feeling possessive of her kill, especially since she’d been packless for so long.

Shadow stopped, silently communicating with us to do the same. He could easily take the moose from Desirae’s wolf, but her position in the pack hierarchy had already been decided. Asserting dominance right now wasn’t necessary.

The crack of bone announced Shadow’s transformation into human form, and we followed his example, all four of us rising onto two legs moments later.

“We didn’t come here to take away your kill, Desirae,” Kolton called out, motioning for us to be ready in case she defended her prey by charging us. “But we need to speak with you and make sure you’re okay.”

When another growl rumbled through the trees, Kolton set his jaw and strode forward. The growl turned feral, but he didn’t waver in his steps. I moved to follow him, and Griff ended up in front of me somehow. Realizing what he was doing, I rolled my eyes. Desirae was anomega. Even if she charged, she wouldn’t get the best of me.

Jagger brought up the rear as we picked our way through the trees and entered a small clearing. At the sight of us, Burgundy snarled and snapped her jaws. I peered around Griff to see a massive dead moose on the ground and an equally massive wolf standing guard over it.

The wolf’s coat was a deep red, so deep that it looked black in the absence of light. But a thin ray of sunshine had leaked into the clearing and was highlighting the red in her fur. Her eyes were a bright shade of blue, a sure sign that the celestial being residing inside the big furry body was angelic.

When she trained those glowing eyes on me and bared her bloodied fangs, Griff moved in front of me again. Annoyed, I stepped forward and nudged him aside. He allowed me to stand beside him but lifted an arm to keep me from going any further.

As Burgundy continued to growl at us, Kolton’s voice boomed through the clearing, “Stand down, wolf. Give control back to Desirae.”

His tone rang with alpha authority, and even I felt the need to submit. Burgundy immediately shrank back and lowered her head, allowing the shift to take over. A minute later, a young woman with medium brown skin and a cute pixie-cut slowly rose from where the wolf had been.

“I’m so sorry,” she rasped, her voice slightly rusty from being locked away inside a wolf’s body all night. “Burgundy is still learning to share. She wouldn’t have attacked any of you, I promise.”

“It’s okay, Desirae,” my brother calmly reassured her. “We know you both are still adjusting to pack life. Mrs. Bailey was just concerned when you didn’t return by dawn like you usually do. I’m assuming the moose has something to do with it?”

She bobbed her head, her doe-brown eyes brightening as she surveyed her kill. “Yes. We were heading back when Burgundy scented the moose. It was too great of a prize to pass up.”

Knowing that she’d grown up fending for herself and hadn’t just killed the moose for sport, Kolton nodded his understanding. “We’ll help you carry it back to Mrs. Bailey’s. We should head back, though, before she needlessly worries anyone else.”

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