Page 89 of Midnight Hunt

“Easier for who?” I demanded with a disgusted lip curl. “Easier for you and your pack of rejects to justify your deplorable actions? Do you actually think femaleswantto be claimed and mated by complete strangers? To essentially be used asbroodmaresin order to grow your derelict pack? You violently snatched them away from their homes. You’re treating them likeproperty.”

He didn’t say a word during my impassioned speech, his face unreadable. But when I paused to take a breath, he suddenly moved toward me. Sable growled again, and we strained against the straps once more. Atticus stopped beside me to watch my fruitless struggle, then leaned over me and planted his hands on either side of my head.

I ceased struggling to give him my best death glare and snarled, “Don’t. Touch. Me.”

A grin slowly curled his mouth, and he leaned closer to purr in my ear, “I see now why my second wants you so badly, even with another male’s scent all over you, polluting the deliciousness of your heat. Your fierce spirit is intoxicating, but I’m looking forward to breaking it. Once it’s molded to my will, you’ll do whatever I tell you to do. And if you don’t, you’ll find out just howderelictthe males in my pack can be.”

With that, he pulled away, but not before stroking a finger down my cheek. I turned my head to bite him, but he snatched his hand out of reach with a quiet chuckle.

“Ivan, see to it that Miss Rivers receives another dose of silver. The longer she refuses to submit, the longer her suffering will be.”

With that, he turned and left the room, leaving me with Hitman—aka, Ivan. As the black-haired male pulled something from his pocket and approached me, I started to shake.

“No, don’t. Please, don’t,” I said, staring in horror at the syringe. The needle wickedly flashed as he removed the top and stopped by my side. I opened my mouth, but before I could say more, he grabbed my bicep and plunged the needle full of liquid silver into my flesh.

The pain was instant, streaking through my veins like lava. Unable to escape it, all I could do was release a bloodcurdling scream. Even when Ivan left and I was alone again, I continued to scream, lost in a sea of pain and misery.

30

GRIFF

“Griff.Griff!”

As darkness lost its grip on me, the first thing I did was lash out. My fist solidly connected with flesh, and I was rewarded with a pained grunt.

“What the hell, Griff? Wake up!”

I threw another punch, but an arm blocked me this time. As my blurry vision began to clear, a familiar face materialized before me. In a flash, I tackled him to the ground and shouted, “Where is she?”

“Get off me, man. I don’t know!” my brother shouted back.

Yanking Mason up by his shirt collar, I brought his face so close to mine that we were nose-to-nose. “Tell me what you did with her, or you’re a dead man,” I said, my deathly soft tone promising violence.

Something flashed in his eyes, something that looked a lot like fear, but he replied, “Jeez, Griff, snap out of it. Do you seriously think I would take Vi from you?”

“You’ve tried before.”

“That was seven years ago, and I wasdesperate. What happened yesterday had nothing to do with that. She was in heat, confused about you, and needed a ride. I swear nothing else happened.”

“Then where is she?” I roared, shaking him until his teeth rattled. All I remembered was someone reaching for her before everything went black. I must not have been unconscious for long, because I was still in the ditch with the flipped-over truck and the police hadn’t arrived yet. But it was a busy enough intersection that they’d probably be here soon, which meant that I needed to wrap this up fast.

It was hard to think straight, though. Vi was gone. Someone hadtakenher from me. And the only one here to question and take out my anger on was my brother.

“Answer me!” I barked, shaking him a second time.

Whiskey’s desperation intertwined with mine, and Mason’s eyes widened as he no doubt saw my irises flash bright yellow.

“I swear I had nothing to do with it, Griff,” he said, raising his hands placatingly. “By the time I got here, they were already gone. When I found you still in the truck with blood everywhere, I thought they’d killed you. I thought they’d killed my baby brother, and I never . . . I never made things right between us. I’ve been such a dick to you all these years and made your life hell, and . . . and I’msorry, okay? I’m just . . . I’m sorry.”

Stunned that he’d apologized to me, something he’d never done before, I simply stared at him. Without a word, I let go of him and stumbled to my feet.

“We need to go. The cops are here,” I said, hearing the wail of sirens in the distance. As he picked himself up, I added, “I need a ride back to the estate.”

“Sure thing,” he replied, his voice devoid of its usual snark.

“Why are you even here?” I questioned as we made our way out of the ditch. A few humans had stopped to check out the accident, but I didn’t pause to reassure them. I no doubt looked half dead with blood coating my face, neck, and hair. Whoever had knocked me out probably intended to cave in my skull, but I had an exceptionally hard head.

“I never left, actually,” Mason admitted, and I shot him a sharp look. “Hey, I almost got you kicked out of the Alpha Meeting and unknowingly triggered your PTSD. I didn’t enjoy being beat up by my little brother, but I understand why you did it. You and Vi have been through a lot together, and I felt bad for making your trauma worse.”

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