Vow of Venom (Hunter and Prey #2)

Chapter 1 Hunter

HUNTER

Ipush out of the back room, temples throbbing from Jax’s useless lecture. Break it off with Aurora. Focus on the Vipers. The same bullshit warnings I’ve heard a dozen times now. The man is becoming a broken record, and my patience is wearing dangerously thin.

The masquerade ball swirls in full swing, a kaleidoscope of jewel-toned gowns and elaborate masks. I scan the crowd, searching for Aurora’s dark hair. Nothing. My chest tightens. I’ve left her alone with no way to contact me.

I prowl through the crowd, checking each corner of the ballroom. Where the fuck is she?

That’s when I spot Ari near the bar, slumped in a chair. His normally perfect posture is gone, his mask hanging awkwardly from one hand, face ashen.

“What happened?” I grip his shoulder hard.

His eyes struggle to focus. “Drugged me... something in my drink.”

The words hit like a bullet. “Where’s Aurora?”

“They took her.” Ari’s hand trembles uncontrollably as he grabs my wrist. “Three men. Professionals. I told her to run when I realized, but I couldn’t even fucking stand.” His voice cracks. “I couldn’t stop them.”

Ice fills my veins, followed by molten rage. “When?”

“Ten minutes ago. Through the east service exit.” He swallows hard. “Not just Aurora. Olivia, too.”

Something violent awakens in my blood. Someone has put their hands on what is mine.

“Did you recognize them?”

“No. Black suits, earpieces. They seemed like military.”

I pull out my phone, thumb an emergency code to Penn and Blaine.

“When you can stand, get to the security room,” I order Ari.

Ari points weakly toward the eastern alcove. “There. That’s where I last saw them.”

I nod and move toward it. The alcove is tucked away from the main ballroom, partially concealed by a heavy velvet curtain. I scan the area, searching for any sign of them, any clue.

That’s when I see it, glinting under the ambient light. I drop to one knee, fingers closing around the delicate diamond necklace I’d given Aurora. The tracking necklace. The fucking tracking necklace that was supposed to protect her.

“Goddamn it!” I slam my fist against the wall, earning startled glances from nearby guests. The diamonds cut into my palm as I squeeze, pain barely registering through my rage.

Jax. That manipulative bastard. His urgent “meeting” about nothing—just bullshit. All while his men were taking Aurora.

Taking what’s mine.

I scan the crowded room, searching for Jax’s towering figure. He’s nowhere. The pounding music and laughter feel like a mockery now.

“Penn!” I bark into my comm. “Location on Jax. Now.”

“Negative. He’s gone dark. His security detail cleared out through the underground garage five minutes ago.”

I turn to Ari, who’s now attempting to stand. “Get security footage. I want every camera, every angle. And I need his current location.”

“On it,” Penn says.

Ari approaches me. “We need to be careful, Hunter. These men were military-grade level professionals. They knew exactly what they were doing.”

I pocket the necklace, my mind already planning the violence that will follow.

Jax orchestrated all of this. He waited until tonight, when everyone would be distracted and identities concealed behind masks.

When I was blind to the real threat and kept my eyes on him.

My phone vibrates with successive messages as I stride toward the security room. Penn appears at my side, materializing from the crowd like a ghost, his eyes sharp despite the champagne I know he’s been drinking all night.

“Grayson’s accessing traffic cams. Blaze is getting together a team.” His voice is clipped, efficient. The Playboy persona is gone, replaced by cool determination. “What do you need?”

“Everything. Now.” The security room door opens before we reach it. Blaze stands in the doorway, his broad frame blocking the entrance until he recognizes us.

“Fifteen men,” Blaze reports as we enter. “Two vehicles. They disabled the exterior cameras but missed one on the neighboring building.” His scarred knuckles tap the screen, pointing to grainy footage of black SUVs pulling away. “I have a team of twelve ready to move.”

Grayson hunches over another monitor, fingers flying across the keyboard. He doesn’t look up when we enter. “I’ve got the vehicles heading north on Madison, then east on 63rd. Working on tracking them.”

Ari enters behind us, his color returning, but his eyes still unfocused from whatever they drugged him with. “I’ve called our contacts in traffic control. They’re redirecting the cameras.”

No hesitation. No questions. Just immediate, coordinated action.

“This is Jax,” I say, my voice deadly calm despite the rage boiling inside me. “He did this.”

A heavy silence falls. Going against Jax means going against the Vipers themselves.

“Fuck Jax,” Penn says. “Where do we start?”

“You understand what this means,” I warn them. “If you help me, you’re marking yourselves as targets.”

Blaze snorts. “As if we’d be anywhere else.”

Grayson finally looks up from his screen. “We’ve followed you since boarding school. That’s not changing today.”

Ari straightens his tie. “Our friendship existed before Jax approached us and made it something entirely different. It can exist after him.”

These men—my brothers in everything but blood—stand ready to risk everything. For me.

“Then let’s go get Aurora and her sister back,” I say.

I check my watch. Fifteen minutes since Aurora was taken. Every second feels like a knife twisting deeper.

“I want options. Now.” My voice cuts through the room as Grayson pulls up a satellite view of the city on the main screen.

“Traffic cameras tracked them to this warehouse district,” he says, zooming in on an industrial area. “But they’re smart and keep avoiding major intersections.”

“Fuck!” I slam my fist against the console desk, making the screens jump. “They’re avoiding main streets deliberately. They know our surveillance capabilities.”

Grayson types frantically. “I’ve got partial plates from one camera. Running them now, but they’re probably stolen.”

My mind races through possibilities, each worse than the last. Aurora could be anywhere. The worst part is when my mind races with all the things Jax might do to Aurora and Olivia.

“We’ve lost them in the industrial district,” Blaze reports, pointing at four different warehouse complexes highlighted on the map. “Could be any of these locations. Or none of them.”

“Split up?” Penn suggests, pulling a gun from his holster.

“No.” I force my breathing to slow, channeling the rage into focus. “That’s what Jax wants. Divide us, make us vulnerable.” I stare at the blinking dots on the screen. “He’s playing chess while we’re scrambling to catch up.”

“Hunter.” Ari’s voice is steadier now. “Jax owns properties under shell companies. We need to cross-reference—”

“He wouldn’t use anything traceable back to him,” I cut him off. “He’s too smart for that.”

My phone vibrates. Unknown number. I answer immediately, putting it on speaker.

“Hunter Reed.” Jax’s voice fills the room. “Seems you’ve lost something precious.”

Every muscle in my body tenses. “If you touch her—”

“Oh, I haven’t decided what to do with them yet.” His chuckle sends ice through my veins. “But I’m thinking it’s time you understand the price of defiance.”

In the background, I hear what I’ve been dreading—A muffled scream. Whether it’s Aurora’s or not remains to be seen.

“I’m going to kill you,” I say, my voice deadly calm. “Slowly.”

“Perhaps. But first, you’ll need to find me. And time is... limited.”

The call disconnects.

“Trace?” I snap at Grayson.

“Signal bouncing between towers. He’s in the city, but that’s all I can tell you.”

I grip the edge of the desk, knuckles white. “We need to be smarter than him. Think.”

I pace the security room like a caged animal. The monitors blur before my eyes, useless without a clear direction.

“We’re wasting time!” I slam my palm against the wall. “Every second we stand here is another second Jax has them.”

Grayson looks up from his screen, his expression calm in a way that makes me want to put my fist through his face. “Hunter, take a breather.”

“A breather?” My voice drops dangerously. “He has Aurora.”

“And we won’t find them by you losing your shit.” Grayson stands, placing himself directly in my path. “We won’t find them easily, Jax is too clever. But we will find them.”

I run my hands through my hair, the urge to destroy something overwhelming. This feeling—this helplessness—it’s foreign and toxic in my blood. I don’t lose control. I don’t lose, period.

“He’s right,” Penn says. “Jax wants you unhinged. That’s why he called.”

Grayson places a steady hand on my shoulder. “Ten minutes. Clear your head. Think strategically. We need Hunter Reed, the calculating bastard, not Hunter Reed, the enraged boyfriend.

I take a deep breath, forcing the chaos in my mind to settle. He’s right. Fuck, I hate that he’s right.

“Ten minutes,” I agree, my voice steadier. “Then we move, with or without a location.”

I step away from the group, forcing myself to breathe. Aurora needs me to think clearly. I close my eyes, compartmentalizing the rage, the fear. I need to function like the machine I’ve always been.

When I open my eyes again, my mind is clearer, colder. I will find Aurora. I will kill anyone who stands in my way. But I’ll do it with intelligence, not blind fury.

“Alright,” I say, turning back to my men. “Let’s be smarter than Jax.”