Page 87 of Midnight Hunt

“He’ll probably still fumigate it. More than once.”

As he continued to laugh, I leaned forward and snuggled against him, resting my head on his shoulder. He cupped the back of my head with his big hand and held me close, releasing a contented sigh. We stayed like that for a long while, resting in each other’s arms while his knot slowly softened.

Only to go another round the second my heat flared up again, this time without our clothes on.

When I was finally spent and satiated hours later, Griff had knotted me dozens of times. He definitely seemed proud of his newly improved appendage, and I’d made certain to tell him what a good boy he was. It wasn’t until I was safely wrapped in his arms and drifting off to sleep that I realized how quiet Sable had been the entire time.

Speaking through our connection, I told her so, adding,I thought you’d be howling for joy.

I don’t need to, she answered me, then said words I would never forget for as long as I lived.I’m at peace, because your eyes are finally open and you can see what’s been in front of you all along. Your soulmate.

28

GRIFF

I almost couldn’t stand how deliriously happy I was.

Vi wasmine, truly mine.

Every inch of her smelled like me, and I took great satisfaction in knowing that any male who approached her would scent my unmistakable claim.

She was taken. Byme.

After an entire night of making love, Vi’s heat had faded enough that it was safe for me to drive again. I’d texted Kolton that we would be back later today, but it was still too soon for me to be around other males, especially now that my alpha gene had awakened. Most packs didn’t have more than one alpha male, but Kolton knew I wasn’t a threat to his position. Not in a million years would I challenge him and put his family in danger—a family that was now mine in every way possible.

As I drove toward town on cloud nine, Vi’s stomach growled again. I grinned, raising our joined hands to kiss her knuckles. “Don’t worry, babe. You’ll have all the food you want in a few minutes. I bet you’re starving after all the knotting and orgasms I gave you.”

Instead of rolling her eyes at my comment, she said, “I could seriously eat a whole cow right now. Knotting definitely burns more calories.”

I barked a laugh. “Well, we can fuel up at Joe’s Burgers, then spend the rest of the day burning more calories. The others aren’t expecting us back until dinner.”

She bit her lip but couldn’t quite hide a smile, letting me know that she was as excited about the idea as I was.

Don’t forget to give me a turn. I want to test out the new peen on my beloved, Whiskey reminded me, and I choked on another laugh.

Vi threw me a quizzical look. I opened my mouth to tell her what Whiskey had said, but her eyes suddenly rounded in horror. “Griff! Watch out!”

I turned my head just as something plowed into the truck’s side. The world exploded in a shower of glass and shrieking metal, and pain lit up my body. Before I could see what had hit us, my airbag deployed, punching me in the face. I lost sight of everything around me, but I could feel the truck careen off the road and into a ditch. We went airborne, flipping over and over, glass raining around us.

As suddenly as it all began, we ground to a jarring halt. Only, nothing felt right. My seatbelt was cutting into my shoulder, and all the blood was rushing to my head. With my ears ringing from the violent crash, it dawned on me that we’d landed upside down.

“Vi,” I groaned and reached for her, then realized I was still holding her hand in a death grip. I squeezed her fingers, but she didn’t squeeze mine back. “Vi, speak to me.Violet.”

I turned my stiff neck to check on her and caught movement just beyond her broken window. Military style boots stopped in front of her door, and a split second later, the door was ripped from its hinges.

A growl burst from me. Whiskey immediately came to my aid, and my claws shot out, allowing me to quickly slash through my seatbelt. The second I fell onto the truck’s ceiling, I scrambled to protect Vi.

But before I could reach her, something hard struck my temple.

I tried with all of my might to stay conscious, but when another blow viciously pounded into my skull . . .

Everything went dark.

29

VIOLET

Fire and ice burned in my veins.

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