Page 68 of Midnight Hunt

“Suck it up,” I said with another eye roll, but I let him lean on me even more.

By the time we cleared the site and stashed the bodies deep in the woods, evenIwas struggling to stand. The adrenaline from the fire and fight was finally wearing off, and when Kolton returned with the truck an hour later, I couldn’t wait to pass out in the backseat.

And that’s exactly what I did, but not before draping a blanket over Griff and helping him inside. He had plans of his own, though, ones that didn’t involve us sitting on opposite sides. Without a word, he leaned over and wrapped me in the blanket as well. When I was snug against him, he laid us down on the seat with me pressed tightly to his chest.

At the sound of his steadily beating heart, any resistance I had fled. My body melted against his and his against mine.

Safe. We were finallysafe. That’s all that mattered right now.

Within seconds, we were both fast asleep.

22

VIOLET

“Nora’s going to kill me when she finds out I let you be here for this,” Kolton muttered, his gaze glued to the video monitor as the captive hunter slowly regained consciousness.

“No, she won’t. She knows how stubborn I am,” I replied. When Kolton softly snorted in agreement, I bumped his shoulder with mine. “Hey, I have a right to be here. This dude wants to kidnap me, and I want to know why. At least I didn’t insist on leading the interrogation.”

“Only because you know you couldn’t make him talk,” Griff said from my other side. I almost shoulder-bumped him too, then decided against it. Not because he was still healing, but because I’d woken up an hour ago still wrapped tightly in his arms and had never wanted to leave.

But we were safe now. The danger had passed for the time being, which meant that I needed to face reality again. The longer I didn’t, the harder this would be.

And so I simply replied, “You’re right. I would end up killing him the moment he could speak again.”

“Me too,” Griff said, glancing away from the monitor to look at me. It took all of my willpower not to meet his gaze, to share a moment of understanding with him, a moment he clearly wished to share with me.

Feeling like crap for intentionally avoiding him, I dug my nails into my palms, hard enough to break the skin.

It’s for the best, it’s for the best, I silently chanted, until he finally looked away.

Breathing a bit easier, I refocused on the video that showed us what was happening inside the cavernous underground room. Kolton had decided to interrogate the male at the bunker our father had acquired decades ago. The space was sometimes used to contain feral werewolves, allowing them a safe environment to calm down before they hurt anyone—or themselves.

Kolton himself had been held here not too long ago, and the shadows of that terrible time still clung to the place. So did the memory of my own time here a few months ago. I’dchosento come here, though. Chosen to bear the pain of my heat alone by going somewhere no one would think to find me.

I could still hear the haunting echoes of my agonized screams. I’d writhed on the floor for hours until I’d finally passed out from exhaustion.

Knowing I’d probably have to endure that again in a few more months, dread shivered up my spine.

Griff looked at me again as if he knew where my thoughts had strayed, and my tension returned. I never should have told him about my time at the bunker. I doubted I would be able to slip away like last time now that he knew.

I silently cursed myself for my stupidity. Not just about that, but about the countless other stupid things I’d done this past week. The last twenty-four hours had been the worst, though.

Dideveryonein my family know that Griff was my go-to for comfort? If they didn’t, they would soon enough. Even though I’d showered in the bunker’s communal bathroom and was now fully-clothed, I still smelled like sex. LikeGriff.

Less than a day after being dumped, I’d fallen into bed with another male.

Not sure what that said about me, but it definitely wasn’t anything good.

A groan from inside the locked room saved me from further reflection, and all three of us drew closer to the video screen. Only Jagger was inside to interrogate the one-armed hunter, a decision we’d come to unanimously. Midnight Pack’s second in command had a way of drawing words out of people without uttering a single one himself. His eerie silence alone was torture enough sometimes, although I doubted the hunter would be so easily cowed.

Jagger had planted himself in a metal chair across from the hunter, deathly quiet and equally as still. Groaning again, the hunter lifted his head just enough to notice that his arm was missing. He bit out a curse and struggled against his bonds for a moment, then spotted Jagger and stiffened. Even as his eyes widened in fear, he managed to rasp, “Don’t bother. I won’t talk.”

Jagger didn’t say a word. The male cleared his throat and rotated his neck, clearly still in pain from the way Sable had treated him like a chew toy. Several minutes ticked by. The hunter coughed on occasion, his throat no doubt bone dry. Half an hour came and went, and he started to squirm under Jagger’s silent stare.

“Fifty bucks says he breaks in an hour,” Griff said under his breath, even though the walls were too thick for the hunter to hear him.

“One hundred says he breaks in the next ten minutes,” Kolton wagered back.

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