Page 54 of Midnight Hunt
She stopped dead, and I halted in my tracks as well.
“The harm?” she quietly said, slowly turning to face me. “It harmseverything. My future. Yours. Sable’s and Whiskey’s. We’re supposed to be moving on.You’resupposed to be moving on. We can’t cross that line again. Our friendship is too important, and giving in to thesefeelingswill only jeopardize what we have.”
“But what if I don’twantto move on? What if I have everything I need right here?”
At that, she sucked in a gasp. I waited for her to say something, and it was hands down the most excruciating thing I’d ever endured.
After what felt like an eternity, she shook her head and said, “You don’t mean that. I remember how upset you were when I told Nora you helped me during my heat. And when your brother mentioned it at the Alpha Meeting last year, I had to stop you from attacking him. I know you never wanted that to happen between us, so you can stop trying to protect my feelings, Griff. I set youfree. You’re not obligated to help me in that way anymore. I’m a big girl and can take care of my own needs, including my heat. How do you think I survived this past year?”
The ache in my chest grew with each word she uttered, making it harder and harder to breathe. Wrong. She was so wrong. Abouteverything. I opened my mouth to tell her so, to set the record straight about all the terrible things she believed were true. But the last thing she said struck me the hardest, and I found myself demanding, “What do you mean ‘including my heat’? What did you do, Vi?”
She suddenly looked like a deer caught in the headlights. She started to look away, but I stepped forward and grabbed her chin, forcing her gaze back to mine.
“What. Did. You. Do?” I slowly enunciated, making sure she felt every last ounce of my dominant energy.
Her bottom lip quivered, but I didn’t let up, continuing to stare at her intensely. She fought it. Foughtme. But in the end, she broke. Her face crumpled, and she replied through trembling lips, “I went to the bunker.”
My heart stopped beating. “When?” I asked, gentling my voice.
“Th-three months ago. I didn’t know what else to do. Reid and I weren’t having sex, and I’ve only ever been with you. But I couldn’t . . . I couldn’t ask you to help me, and . . . I got through it, though. It was painful, but no other males found me and I didn’t die.”
When she released a shaky laugh as if to play off the undoubtedly hellish experience, my heart broke.
“Oh, Vi,” I hoarsely whispered. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”
She laughed again, pulling her chin out of my grip so she could wipe away a tear. “You weren’t supposed to know, Griff. We’refriends, and that’s the way it needs to stay.”
And we were back to that.Friends. Only this time, I didn’t feel like accepting it.
I opened my mouth, prepared to challenge her. To press. Topush. We’d been suffering long enough, caught in a limbo of unspoken feelings and secret pining.Mutualpining. Her words were saying one thing, but her body was saying something entirely different. This misery had to end. I needed to tell her. Needed to voice the words I should have utteredyearsago. Before another excruciating second could pass, I needed the female before me to know how I really felt.
“Vi, I—”
“We should go,” she abruptly said, cutting me off. An almost desperate look crossed her face, and she quickly turned, resuming her jog toward the house.
With a frustrated sigh, I moved to follow her.
She thinks you don’t want her, Whiskey quietly said.She thinks you’re ashamed to be with her, like Arrow was.
His words nearly brought me to my knees. I placed a hand over my chest, half expecting the hole to have reopened.
How could she think that? How could shebelievethat? After all we’d been through together, how could she not see how I felt about her?
I opened my mouth again, but shockingly, it was Whiskey who stayed my tongue this time.Not right now, lad. She’s a proud female—one that’s feeling raw and exposed at the moment. Give her time to compose herself.
I forced my mouth shut again, knowing he was right. I wouldn’t wait long, though. It was time she knew the truth, whether she was ready to hear it or not. I couldn’t let her go another day believing those lies.
It no longer mattered if she felt the same way. No longer mattered if she rejected me for good this time.
For her, I would strip myself bare. For her, I would riskeverything.
18
VIOLET
My heart wouldn’t stop racing. I hadn’t meant to tell Griff that much.
Especially about taking care of my last heat at the bunker.Alone.
