Page 34 of Midnight Hunt

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 forhours, 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.

11

VIOLET

Over the next few days, we put all our effort into finding Desirae.

Practically all two hundred members of Midnight Pack were on the lookout for her and the two males who’d set the silver trap, convinced they were the ones who took her. We hadn’t found evidence of a struggle or even their scents, but chances were, she’d been kidnapped by them.

As we waited for a ransom note or call detailing their demands, a call came in that was entirely unexpected.

“This can’t be a coincidence,” I told my brother the second he ended the call. “Anotherhybridmissing? That’s three attempts in one week, which means they have to be connected.”

“I agree,” Kolton said, running a hand through his hair until a dark strand fell onto his forehead. “But that means your theory about this being a challenge is incorrect. The newest disappearance has nothing to do with our pack, and the only reason why the missing female’s alpha contacted me is because he heard about how I tracked Nora down when she went missing—which he mistakenly thought I could do withallhybrids, not just my soulmate.”

“Okay, so this isn’t about your alpha position,” I mused, wearing a path in his office rug as I paced. “Maybe this has nothing to do with Midnight Pack and everything to do with hybrids. But what do theywantwith them?”

I stopped pacing as a thought came to me, one that immediately filled me with dread.

“What if witches are behind this? What if they’re trying to exorcise hybrid wolves again?”

Feeling sick to my stomach, I crossed my arms with a shiver.

“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Kolton quietly said. “Everyone involved in that situation was taken care of, and we haven’t seen a single witch in months.”

I nodded, only feeling a little better. There were still two hybrids missing, though, and I’d almost been the third. Whatever the abductors were doing with them, it couldn’t be good.

We received another call hours later, this time from a pack in Canada. Same story. A hybrid pack member had gone missing, and they were hoping that Kolton had information.

When we received a third call in less than twenty-fours, this time from a pack in Minnesota, we all came to the same conclusion.

They were targetingfemalehybrids specifically.

Four were missing now—that we knew about anyway. Kolton and I started making calls, and by the end of the week, nearly a dozen disappearances had been reported.

Female hybrids were missing everywhere. A few had escaped and shared stories similar to mine, but their would-be-captors had been different.

Whatever was happening was bigger than we’d thought. Our pack had only been one target, but it seemed like they planned on targetingeverypack that had female hybrids.

On Saturday morning, Kolton announced his intention to hold an emergency Alpha Meeting. The goal was to unite in our efforts to track down the missing pack members, but there was risk in holding such a meeting. Community rules stated that all packs worldwide were to be invited, and if one of those packs was behind the disappearances, we’d be broadcasting our plans to them.

“It’s worth the risk,” Jagger commented after Kolton told us. “The missing females could be anywhere, and we need access to other pack territories if we’re going to find them.”

“Yeah, but the other packs weren’t exactly willing to help us the last time we held an Alpha Meeting,” I reminded them.

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