Page 47 of Midnight Hunt
“We’re being hunted,” I grimly told her.
She threw me a wide-eyed look, letting me know that she was thinking the same thing. Her abductors had come back for her, and they’d brought a few friends this time. Plus weapons no doubt loaded with silver ammunition designed to bring down werewolves.
We definitely weren’t prepared to fight them right now, and I could tell by Vi’s expression that she felt the same.
So, at the same time, we called on our wolves for aid. They immediately rose to the surface but knew we didn’t have time for a full shift. A few bone cracks later, and we were running at twice the speed, our shifted legs swiftly carrying us out of shooting range.
Still, we didn’t slow. Didn’t stop. We ran and ran, plunging deep into the forest without direction, our only thought on escaping our pursuers.
We ran for hours, until our still-healing bodies started to give out. Until we were thoroughly lost. Until we could no longer hear the males hunting us.
Even then, I continued to run, encouraging an exhausted Vi onward. Because I knew, justknewthey wouldn’t stop hunting us.
If they were willing to orchestrate a plane crash, they had no intention of going home empty-handed—wherever home was for them. What was worse, I was pretty sure they weren’t after me. I was just inconveniently in the way, and they probably wanted nothing more than to shoot me dead.
They wantedVi, and that fact gave me the energy to keep going. No way was I letting them take her. No way was I letting them eventouchher.
If they tried, they’d find out just how feral a hybrid werewolf male protecting his female could become.
15
VIOLET
I was in pretty good shape, but the energy needed to heal my internal injuries had taken its toll on me.
Still, I was tenacious, and seeing Griff run for hours without faltering kept me going. It was sometime after midnight, the rain still beating on our heads and saturating our torn clothing, when my trembling legs finally gave out. I hit the sodden ground hard, further ripping my jeans and bruising my tired body.
Griff was immediately there to help me up, bearing most of my weight as I struggled to stand. One look at my face, and he said, “That’s it. You need a few hours of rest.”
“I can keep going,” I panted, tugging free only to stumble again.
Griff caught me before I could fall. “You’re dead on your feet, Vi. Even Sable can’t keep going.”
Sable softly whined in agreement, her energy linked to mine. She was beat and definitely needed a break.
“Fine,” I got out, still trying to catch my breath. “One hour.”
“Two,” Griff countered, his jaw set like stone. “If they catch up to us, you’ll need energy to fight them.”
Knowing he was right, I didn’t argue back. If we covered our tracks well enough, we should be able to buy ourselves a couple hours of uninterrupted rest. With that in mind, I started searching for a stream or other body of water that could help hide our scent. Griff followed suit, and a few minutes later, we found a stream deep enough to mask our trail. We traveled another mile or so upriver, planting false trails as we went, then began the painstaking process of seeking shelter.
My eyelids would barely stay open by the time Griff spotted a shallow cave just large enough to fit the two of us.
“It’s a tight fit,” he said, grabbing some nearby brush to camouflage the entrance, “but it’ll keep us dry.”
Dry. I’d almost forgotten what that felt like.
Minutes into our mad dash to escape, I’d decided to drop my bag. There hadn’t been anything important inside, but I regretted the decision now, simply for the fact that Ireallywanted to change out of this filthy outfit.
We’d shifted our legs back to our human ones, and both of our jeans were in tatters from the transformation. As Griff continued to collect foliage to hide our temporary bed, I started to unbutton my jeans. Hearing me struggle to remove the wet fabric, Griff whipped his head up to look at me.
“There’s no way I can sleep with this wet clothing on,” I explained, even though it was pretty obvious what I was doing. Still, I became hyper-aware of my half-naked state as Griff watched me undress.
Pretending not to care, I finished pulling off my pants, then shimmied out of my top. My shoes hadn’t survived the lengthy shift, unfortunately. I left my dark purple underwear on but felt entirely naked when I peeked up at Griff and found him still watching me.
Swallowing hard, I waved at him and said, “Your turn.”
He slowly blinked at me as if coming out of a trance. “Huh?”
