Chapter 22
Vinny
My hands shook like I was trapped in an earthquake.
All I wanted–all I fucking wanted–was a glass of bourbon to take the edge off.
But the bottle slipped.
The decanter hit the floor with a sharp crack, glass shattering like ice beneath my feet. Bourbon bled across the hardwood, soaking into the edges of the rug. I didn’t move to clean it.
I just stood there like a fucking idiot, staring at the mess, as Reed’s words kept circling in my head like vultures.
Violet didn’t want to get married.
Our parents sold her off.
Logan Stellar broke her bones.
Raped her.
Forced her into pregnancies—over and over—and every one ended in a miscarriage.
All of that, and she never said a word to us.
Violet had lived through hell. Years of it. Alone. Isolated. Silent. And still, she smiled like none of it had ever touched her. She held it in so deep that I didn’t even see the cracks.
Reed said Logan marked her. Claimed her with a nonconsensual bite to the finger, one she kept hidden under that ugly ass ring, that’s why none of us knew.
And if she had told us? If I had known on the first night that she was Logan’s missing omega?
I would’ve sent her back.
Back to the Stellars and back to that monster because I wasn’t going to start a war over a girl I didn’t know.
I wouldn’t have touched her. Wouldn’t have brought her into my home. Wouldn’t have let her into my bed, or my pack, or my fucking heart.
I wouldn’t have let her steal pieces of me every time she signed something sweet, every time she looked at me like I wasn’t the monster everyone knew I was.
I would’ve protected myself. My family. My peace.
That’s what I told myself.
But deep down, I knew it was a lie.
The second I laid eyes on her, everything changed.
Even if I’d known everything—the forced pregnancies, the mark, her trauma—I still would’ve kept her. I still would’ve fought for her. Hell, I would have killed for her, just like I was ready to do now.
And instead of comforting her, and of holding her when she needed me most I pushed her away.
Worse than that I screamed at her to get out.
Not because she did something wrong, because I was scared. Not of her, but because I don’t know how to love gently. I don’t know soft words and kind embraces. I know claiming. I know obsession.
I knew how to protect what’s mine, not how to rebuild what someone else broke.
But, then I guess Violet was never broken. Well, okay she was, but not in a bad way.
Because the moment I let myself love her… I made her mine.
And now?
Now I had to clean up the mess I made before I lost another omega.
That thought alone spurred me to the bedroom. Violet looked tired, so I figured she’d go relax in her nest.
But, the sanctuary I’d built her in my closet was empty. So was my bed.
Next, I checked the pack nest. All I found was Skye and Serena curled up together. They were dead asleep, slow and steady breaths filling the room like nothing in the world was wrong.
My chest caved in.
I backed out of the room quietly and shut the door before turning around and rapidly tearing through every other room in the house.
Laundry room? Empty.
Bathrooms? Empty.
Patio? Only a yellow rat snake perched in a lawn chair, basking in the fresh moonlight.
Its forked tongue flickered as it lifted its head to stare at me.
Fuck.
I turned back inside and headed straight for the kitchen, it was the only stone left unturned. My heart nearly fell out of my ass when I rounded the corner and only saw Benji. His back was to me, but I could see his shoulders move as he worked in an already spotless kitchen.
“Benji,” I said.
He startled ever so slightly before turning to look at me over his shoulder.
“Boss?” He frowned slightly as he looked me over. “Something wrong?”
I could tell he asked that more out of courtesy than need. Even without our bond, my rumpled shirt, messy hair, and bare feet were probably enough to tell that I wasn’t okay.
“Where’s Violet?” I asked.
His brow creased and he finally turned the rest of his body to face me. Chocolate stained his white jacket and he still had a strawberry in his hand.
“After your two hour interrogation, she came into the kitchen. I asked if she was ready for bed, and she shook her head no.” He held up the berry as if that answered anything. “She said she was still hungry and I told her to go rest and I’d bring her dessert.”
His eyes searched mine for a beat.
“Is she not in her nest?” he asked.
“No,” I said, the word coming out rough. “She’s not.”
Benji’s easy posture cracked. The strawberry lowered slowly, almost forgotten as his jaw tightened. He wasn’t panicking–Benji didn’t panic–but he wasn’t exactly relaxed either.
“That’s… odd,” he murmured. “Is she taking a bath?”
Once again, I shook my head. “I checked the whole damn house. No Violet.”
Benji went deathly still before placing the berry on the counter and wiping his hands with a nearby towel.
His chin tilted up as he sniffed the air. It was then I realized I couldn’t remember the last time I smelled Violet. Her scent usually stayed with her, meaning unless she was close to me, she didn’t exist. But, I assumed their bond made him a little more sensitive.
His expression changed slightly, which made me more nervous than I cared to admit. After another moment, he drew in another breath.
Without a word, he started to walk toward the back door. I followed at his heels.
“Do you know where she is–”
“Shh.” He pressed a finger to my lips. “Her scent is very faint, but…”
Benji trailed off as he opened the door to the patio. The one I’d just been on.
The snake still rested in the chair like it owned the damn place, but Benji didn’t acknowledge the serpent.
“Violet,” he called, cupping his hands to the sides of his mouth.
“What are you doing?” I growled.
Benji elbowed me in the stomach, nearly knocking the wind from my chest and gestured for me to be quiet.
“I do not want to play hide and seek! I can see you!”
“You can?” I whispered.
That earned me a glare as his head swiveled back and forth before looking back toward the trees. No answer came, but Benji didn’t seem deterred.
Was she hiding from me?
Benji stepped barefoot into the yard as he sniffed the air once more.
“Munequita, I don’t want to chase you but–”
In the distance, twigs snapped, and that was the only answer Benji needed.
He bolted toward the treeline, and I followed after.
The lawn was slick and damp from the slight misting of rain we had earlier, but it was nothing compared to the forest floor.
Muck squelched between my toes as branches dug into my feet before snapping under my weight.
Leaves slapped my legs, thorns scraped skin, and somewhere ahead of us something small and terrified was moving far too fast for someone who should’ve been resting.
“Violet!” I shouted again. “Stop—please!”
She didn’t.
I caught flashes of her between the trees. Pastel nightgown, pale skin, dark hair loose and wild. She was like a ghost, a very fast ghost.
No, like, almost alarmingly fast. Like force her to try out for the Olympics after the baby was here fast.
“She’s going to hurt herself!” Benji called to me.
“Then catch her!” I barked.
“I’m trying!”
Another flash of white through the trees. She cut left and ducked under a low branch that nearly took my head off. Bark tore through my shirt as I plowed through it.
“Violet!” I roared. “I’m sorry!”
I hoped that would be enough, that she’d stop and glare at me from behind a tree and flip me off like she did when she didn’t know I was watching.
But she didn’t stop, if anything, she ran faster.
Sounds in the forest always seemed louder at night. The snapping of branches echoed, and my own heartbeat felt like a war drum echoing inside me, it even felt like I could hear every ragged breath Violet took.
Then, she veered left. Away from the forest and towards the old dirt road that bisected my property. I had no idea if she knew it was there, but considering her track record of getting hit by cars, I wasn’t exactly keen on the idea of her hitting that line.
Headlights cut through the trees and Violet stumbled to a stop.
Her chest heaved as she looked back at us, hair tangled, bunny held so tightly I was surprised its head didn’t pop off.
For a second, I thought we’d catch her, but the second my shadow closed in, she took off again, this time faster than before.
She all but vanished into the night.
Against my better judgement, I stopped running. Benji panted as he slowed.
“Where–” He bent over, bracing his palms to his knees as he heaved in a breath. “Where’d she go?”
“You think I’d have stopped if I knew that?” I hissed. “You have the bond, find her.”
Benji straightened slowly.
His chest was still rising hard, but his expression had shifted from exertion to focus.
“I’m trying,” he snapped back, lifting his head and drawing in a slow breath.
Seconds crawled like decades as he sniffed the air, looking side to side, and I listened for anything.
The world had gone quiet, but I’d refused to lose my omega. Something close to recognition crossed Benji’s face. He turned his head and his lips parted, but before he could speak, a scream pierced the air.
The sound stopped too abruptly, and my blood ran cold.
Benji bolted before I could even process which way to go. He shoved through a thick wall of brush and I followed. But, when we broke through it, there was nothing.
Just a small clearing not far from the byroad.
No Violet, no screaming, no obvious sign of a threat, just silence.
“Violet!” I called, stumbling forward.
The second my feet met the clammy surface of the road, I noticed something odd. Lifting my foot, I noticed an oval of furry brown fabric shoved into the dirt.
Slowly, I bent down and pulled it from the earth. At first, I couldn’t place exactly what I was looking at, then I instinctively brought it to my nose. Vanilla and brown sugar filled my nose, and the world narrowed to a pinprick.
Violet.
My fingers tightened around the scrap of fabric as my brain finally caught up to what was going on.
This wasn’t just fabric. It was an ear from Violet’s stupidly expensive bunny. The one she cared for as if it were a beloved pet.
“She wouldn’t willingly drop that,” Benji said.
“Yeah,” I mumbled as my gaze drifted up.
That’s when I noticed the deep divots on the side of the road. My eyes followed the lines until it hit a dark smear, something barely visible in the light of the moon.
Unable to stop myself, I dragged myself toward the mystery substance. My fingers dragged along the still warm surface as I brought it closer to my eyes.
Most people might have been confused, especially because there wasn’t a pool, but thanks to my line of work, I recognized it as blood almost immediately.
“Do you think someone took her?” Benji whispered.
My entire body tensed, because that was exactly what I’d been thinking. Worse than that, it wasn’t hard to guess who took my omega.