Page 39 of Midnight Hunt

GRIFF

“Let’s go,” she said, hurrying past me as I stood from the lobby chair.

“Vi, what—?”

She was out the door before I could finish the sentence, and I scrambled to catch up with her.

“Vi, wait.”

“Taxi!” she belted out, holding up her hand like a seasoned New Yorker. When no one stopped for her, she began to book it down the sidewalk.

“Vi,” I called again, trailing after her. “Vi, what happened?”

“Not now,” she said, in a way that instantly filled me with worry.

I quickly ate up the distance between us and grabbed her arm. “Vi, stop.”

“No!” she shouted, wrenching her arm free. “I said not now. Help me hail a cab or keep quiet.”

The words would have stung, if it weren’t for the pain I heard in her voice.

My protective instincts immediately went haywire, and I ground out, “I’m going to kill him.”

“No, you’re not,” she snapped, whirling to face me. When I saw the tears brimming in her eyes, I stopped breathing. She whirled around again and took off down the sidewalk, saying loud enough for me to hear, “This ismyfault, not his. My ownstupidfault.”

I opened my mouth to question her further, then wisely sealed it shut. She was on the verge of breaking down—or exploding. Whichever came first. And it was clear she didn’t want that to happen in the middle of a city. The crowds had thinned, most humans now in their homes for the night, but Vi didn’t cry in public. If I pressed her, she would only lash out in anger to keep the tears at bay.

As she continued down the sidewalk at a fast clip, her overnight bag tightly clenched in her fist, I trailed in her wake and kept an eye on our surroundings. I hadn’t seen any Russian-looking dudes loitering around Reid’s apartment building, but I remained vigilant all the same.

In Vi’s current state, she probably wasn’t paying much attention to anything. The need to hug her was a fierce ache that grew with each step she took, but I knew she wouldn’t welcome my touch right now.

Something terrible had happened between her and Reid, and my mind raced with countless possible scenarios.

Bet she finally dumped the bleedin’ blighter, Whiskey drawled in a British accent.After all, you finally grew a pair and asked her not to move in with him.

Not now, Whiskey, I shortly replied.And can you stop with the accents for once?

You know that it’s my way of embracing the earthly plane’s many cultures. No need to get snippy with me just because your girl didn’t come running to you in a puddle of tears.

She’s not my—I started but didn’t finish. It was pointless arguing with him anyway. Even though I’d never claimed Vi, he’d considered her mine ever since I’d taken her virginity. To him, we were mates. It didn’t matter that Vi only saw me as her friend or even that she dated other males. She would come to her senses, he always said, encouraging me to properly pursue her until she had no choice but to accept me.

I knew better, though. Vi couldn’t becoercedinto anything. Not since the betrothal her parents had set up for her had gone so horribly wrong.

Ever since then, the more someone pushed her, the more she retreated. If she knewhalfthe thoughts I had about her, she’d run away so fast that I’d never be able to catch her again.

No, it was better this way. Better to be her friend, to be there when she needed me, to keep my true feelings buried so we didn’t lose what we had.

Better for who?Whiskey butted into my thoughts again.You’re both horny and in desperate need of sex. It’s been almost a year since you’ve tasted her supple flesh and plunged your dick inside her tight pussy. I don’t know how you can even stand upright at this point.

I tried to ignore his colorful words, but images flooded my mind before I could stop them. No, not images.Memories. Memories of me and Vi tangled together in heated passion. One memory in particular grabbed my attention—the last time we’d been intimate during Nora’s pack initiation a year ago.

We’d just spent an entire night in wolf form romping through the forest. The whole time, Whiskey and Sable had heavily flirted with each other, and their sexual tension had slowly become ours. When it came time to shift back into our human forms, the tension had been too great to ignore. Right there in the middle of the grassy field, surrounded by our pack, I’d given in to my lust and kissed her.

It was the only time I’d ever done so without waiting for her approval.

Thankfully, she’d eagerly responded to the kiss instead of pushing me away. Beyond excited by her acceptance, the kisses had quickly turned into touching. My hands had feverishly roved over her bare skin, and she’d touched me back, lighting a fire inside so hot that I’d laid her down on the grass and covered her body with mine.

The second our skin had pressed together, I’d lost all control and began to rub against her. The friction sent pleasure cascading through me, and I’d planned to keep going until she orgasmed, which in turn would make me orgasm.

---