Chapter Twelve

VIOLET HAD WOKEN up alone, and the previous day’s events had started to come back, only this time, she had time, rest, and distance. She understood all of it in a different light. It had been a quick rush through the house to find him. She’d paused only a second in the shop doorway before she’d told herself it was stupid to be anxious and hurried through.

“It wasn’t an accident.”

Mikel looked up at her from the charred remains of his lifting bench. “No, it wasn’t,” he agreed. “It wasn’t just a way to remove you either. It was a message too.”

“Another explosion?” Her stomach twisted when he nodded.

It was strange to be standing where his gym used to be and looking at trees, grass, and sky. The far wall was totally gone, burnt remains of it scattered as far as she could see outside.

Mikel stood up and slid his fleece-lined plaid off his shoulders and around hers. “Let’s not rehash it until Dani and Red are here,” he suggested.

Violet pulled the warm material around herself. It was freezing out there in just her pajamas—her pointedly tiny pajamas. The memory made her laugh.

“What?” Mikel smiled before she answered.

“Just remembering buying the smallest pajamas I could find to piss you off.”

“Brat,” he grumbled. “Watch your feet.”

She’d made it three steps back toward the house when he swooped her up behind the knees and just carried her.

 

“SO, WE’RE CONFIDENT it wasn’t an accident?” Dani asked when they’d finished taking turns filling in the events of the previous day. “Ruby told me there’s some history with your family, Violet, and the atta—accident in Frankston?”

Violet glanced to Mikel beside her. His face was drawn, unreadable.

“Yeah, that was also a gas explosion,” she explained, wondering if there would ever be a time when she wasn’t slightly intimidated by Daniella. Even today the woman was wearing slacks and an inky-blue silk blouse that looked more appropriate for the runway than their living room.

“So, it wasn’t an accident then,” Daniella concluded. “More like a message.” It was eerie to have Mikel’s words from the previous night repeated back to her.

“It’s looking that way,” Violet agreed.

“Okay,” Daniella said, “let me make sure I have everything straight. The attack in Frankston wasn’t actually a wolf attack; it was a gas explosion, and we think it was schemed up by your dad and Kane to take out the leaders of both communities and put them in power?”

“Right,” Violet agreed.

“And the old lady from the bookstore gave you two the mating bond elixir, which explains why you survived the blast, and also proves beyond doubt that he”—she gestured to Mikel—“is the actual alpha.”

She nodded.

“So, what do we do about it? Go to the council?” Red asked, hanging on Dani’s hand, looking expectantly at her.

“No,” Dani and Mikel said in stereo.

“This is dangerous territory,” Daniella explained. “Kane has proven he’ll do just about anything to stay in control. We tip our hand too soon, and we’re on the chopping block. Some of us already are.”

“But can’t you talk to your dad?” Red suggested, but Dani shook her head.

“He won’t hear it. He and Kane have been friends for years. The rest of town will be the same. It’s going to be almost impossible to convince anyone of anything unless we have solid proof, and right now, we don’t.”

“I tried to go back to Frankston,” Violet spoke up. “I tested, and they told me I was on the list, but when I got to the exit, they said they couldn’t find me. Magnus, my dad, he has dirt on everyone. Somebody who knows as much as Kane knows about how he came to be the mayor? I guarantee he kept something big on him, if I could just go get it.”

Dani’s brown eyes narrowed in thought. “Are we talking a file or—?”

“Yeah, in his office.”

“Mikel can’t go, they’ll be watching him. I could, but I don’t know about breaking and entering and how on earth I’d find what we need.”

“You wouldn’t have to.” Hope bloomed in Violet’s chest. “My sister will help us for sure.” Her brain was already racing ahead, galloping across the miles between the Bluff and Frankston, slotting together pieces. “How about you take a note to Lila? I’ll explain enough to get her to help and ask her to grab the file. Then you go back in like a week and pick it up.”

“Disclosing anything to a human is a risk,” Mikel spoke up from where he’d been a statue beside her.

“So’s getting blown up,” Violet reminded him.

“And living in a pack led by an imposter,” Red added. “If he cheated to become alpha, then what other shady shit is he doing?”

Mikel clenched his jaw but didn’t say anything else.

“So how do I find Lila?” Dani asked, leaning forward over her knees, already looking intent on the plan. “I agree with Ruby, a pretender is too dangerous to stay in power, and neither of you”—she gestured to Mikel and Violet—“or us, or the entire community by proxy, are safe until he’s removed.”

That Mikel would take his place remained unsaid but heavy between them.

“Uh,” Violet started carefully. “Well, it would be easy to catch Lila at school. I know the code, and it’s not unusual for my dad’s staff to drop off a lunch or give her a ride. You can say you’re bringing her lunch, give her the letter, then do the same again when you go back for the file.”

It hurt her heart to be so close, to imagine Dani waiting for Lila in the lobby of the high school, speaking to, seeing, and having the ability to hug her—okay, it was doubtful she would—but Violet ached for the chance. She would just have to make the letter enough, and as soon as Kane was removed, she was going to Frankston. Maybe Lila would even want to move to the Bluff when she got done with school.

“Hello?” Red snapped her fingers, and Violet blinked, realizing she’d missed a chunk of the discussion.

“Sorry. Just thinking.”

Mikel’s thumb brushed her knee, and she could feel him watching her, concerned.

“So, when do you want to do this?” Red asked again.

“Tomorrow?” Dani suggested. “The sooner we get something, the better. Right now, Kane has the upper hand. He can’t try anything else too soon and risk it starting to look intentional, but I don’t like the idea of playing sitting ducks until he realizes more than just Violet is on to him.”

“I hate that you’re risking yourself—” Mikel started.

“I’ll be fine.” Dani waved away his concern. “Besides, this is my town too. This affects all of us. Kane’s dirty, and right now, he has ultimate power over everyone here. None of us are safe until this is fixed.” She paused for a moment, studying him. “Are you ready to step up when this goes down?”

Mikel swallowed audibly.

“If that’s what the people want,” he offered, conciliatory and careful.

“Wrong answer, Davis,” Dani told him coolly. “We create a crack at the top, and there’s going to be a rush to fill it. If you don’t have the balls, we might as well drop Violet off on Kane’s doorstep tonight.”

A growl rumbled from beside her, the sound thick and oppressive. When Violet turned, Mikel’s eyes were blazing gold. When she looked back to Daniella, the woman was looking down and away, eyes lidded…cowed. The growling stopped, and she straightened up, tension hanging thick in the air.

“I’m ready,” Mikel said simply. It was enough.

Daniella smiled.

 

Lila,

I love you. I miss you. I’m so sorry I couldn’t say goodbye. Please know that I’m happier than I’ve ever been, except for one thing—you. I met a guy; we eloped. I know that seems really out of character. It wasn’t planned, and I didn’t have a choice when I left Frankston.

You cannot tell anyone you heard from me. I need you to trust me even though this seems strange, please.

I desperately need Dad’s file from the safe on a man named Kane Preston. But I need you not to tell anyone and not to get caught. The lady giving you the note is my friend. She’ll meet you back at school two weeks from today to pick it up. I promise I’ll see you soon, and I will explain everything.

Don’t stop trusting me now. Be safe. If it comes down to not getting it or not getting caught, don’t do it.

Love you always,

Violet

It was the hardest thing she’d ever had to write. It was even harder to watch Dani’s little red sports car leave down the road in a cloud of dust, knowing in just hours she’d see Lila, and Violet wouldn’t. Then, waiting all day to hear how it went was even worse.

She’d been watching TV, not really hearing anything that was happening on the Netflix show she picked at random, when Mikel dropped down on the sofa beside her. He rubbed his black hands over his blacker face.

“Not finding anything, huh?” she asked.

The set of his shoulders said defeat. Violet thought it was fruitless to comb through what was left of his gym, but she also understood that he was keeping himself busy. He wasn’t taking being the alpha of the Bluff lightly; he’d been pensive ever since it was confirmed, and with everything that had happened, they hadn’t had a chance to talk about why.

He shrugged.

“You’ve got a little dirt…” She reached up and ran a finger down his cheek, then pulled it back to show him, and smiled at the sight of him, soot covered. “You’ve been looking all morning. Why don’t you get cleaned up, eat lunch with me?”

He considered it. “All right,” he agreed. “If there was anything to find it was destroyed in the blast anyway.”

“We already know what happened,” she assured him. “How are you feeling about the whole alpha thing? I know it’s been on your mind.”

He rubbed his black hands together and shrugged again. “Feels like I should have known,” he said after a moment. “All this time I believed…”

“You believed what you were told,” Violet said, reaching out to touch his shoulder, not caring that she’d have to wash her hands from the soot. “You can’t beat yourself up about that.”

“Just feels like I should have known,” he was quick to say. “Feels like an alpha should recognize that in themselves. I spent all these years trying to atone for what I thought my father did.”

Violet heard the “real alpha” he’d left unsaid.

“Mikel, perhaps the fact that you didn’t automatically assume you are all-powerful is what makes you different, what will make you a better alpha than someone like Kane. You care so much about this town, and you’ve been trying to do the right thing. Like Margie said, the mating bond wouldn’t have saved me if it wasn’t really supposed to be you.”

Their eyes met, and Violet watched him digest the truth in her words, watched that settle inside him, and for a moment, she saw the alpha he would be.

“When did you get so smart, Violet Page?”

“Pretty much everyone calls me Violet Davis now,” she told him, and a smile broke across his face.

“Violet Davis.” He pulled her closer, and she shrieked and wiggled, trying not to get pressed up against his sooty body. His breath tickled her neck, and it was a relief to hear him laughing. “I like the sound of that, Violet Davis.”

“You’re getting the sofa filthy,” she pointed out, though it didn’t really matter. The sofa could burn if it kept him smiling.

“You’re filthy,” he said when he finally wrangled her into his lap. “Looks like you’re going to have to take a shower with me. You watched the same show three times already, anyway.”

“Fine. It just sucks to know Dani’s going to see Lila, and I’m not, you know?” she added more quietly.

“I know, baby. When this is all over and Kane’s out of the picture, have you thought about what you’ll do?”

“Introduce you to my sister,” she said. “Frankston isn’t that far away; we can visit on the weekends.”

She felt the smile he gave her down to her bones.

 

HER HAIR CLUNG damply to her neck when Violet woke for the fourth time that night. She’d been restless since Dani’s text to Mikel’s phone just before dinner time, cruel in its cryptic simplicity.

Package delivered to customer. She seems okay with it. Ordered another, needs it 2 weeks from today. Will talk at shop soon.

It was smart to take precautions, Mikel had assured her. They had no idea if their phones were being watched, and Red and Dani coming and going from the house more than usual only implicated them further in whatever would unfold. It still didn’t make it an easier pill to swallow.

She groped the sheets beside her, shock spilling through when they were empty. Cold. She sat up. The light of the waning moon through their window illuminated the mattress, and there was no sign of him.

“Shit,” she hissed at herself and whipped the covers back.

The house was silent when she padded into the living room on high alert. It was empty, so was the kitchen. A quick glance out of the window confirmed his truck was still outside. It struck her then that she had a phone now, a really useful phone that could do things like act as a flashlight and better yet, call him.

Something thudded in the shop. Violet jumped. Her heart squeezed painfully, imagining that whoever had tried to kill her had come back, that they were trying to hurt him. She was quick to the door and out into the shop on bare feet, quiet as she could manage while rushing.

Her breath whooshed out of her at the sight of him, skin silver under the gibbous moon. Mikel was shirtless as he dug again through the rubble.

“You scared me to death!” she hissed at him.

“Why?” he shot back, no trace of apology in his voice.

“Because I woke up, and you were gone; then I started thinking all kinds of crazy shit. What are you doing out here?”

As the adrenaline filtered out of her blood, Violet started to get a sense of his mood, the darkness rolling off him.

“Looking.”

“You already looked. There’s no point—”

“Of course, there’s a point.” He whirled to face her, the shadow from the moonlight making his jaw look even more severe, displaying every ridge of muscle and every smooth plane on his torso. “You almost died, Violet, because I missed things. I’m not missing things again.” He swallowed hard. “Go back to bed.”

She did the opposite, walking carefully toward him and wincing at the uneven ground. “Hey.” She caught his bicep. “What happened wasn’t your fault. You—”

“Course it was my fault.” He locked eyes with her again, and something in his gaze, something rough and raw and intense, called to something in her. “I cannot lose you,” he almost growled.

Primal, she realized. He felt wild to her, untamed, powerful, bottomless, and like an alpha, her brain supplied, and somehow, she was growing wet at that, quickly hot and hungry.

“You won’t lose me,” she promised.

He took her cheek in his hand, his thumb running soft over her lower lip, as a charge built in the air between them. “I won’t.”

There was a depth to the words, a weight and a heat that made her long to hit her knees and open her mouth for him.

“I’ll die first,” Mikel said. It was a horrible promise and a heady claim. “You’re mine.” He slid his fingers around the back of her neck and tugged her against him. “This”—he bent his knees and ground his jean-covered crotch into the soft fabric of her pajama shorts—“this is mine too.”

Heat exploded inside her, and Violet whimpered. Something unknown in her biology was responding to him like this, and she was molten.

“Get on the ground.”

She was down on her knees before she’d made any conscious choice to move. Mikel was quicker after her. The tear of fabric was loud in the quiet of the night, then he was tossing away her ruined tank top. There was no time to be thankful they had no neighbors.

He took the hem of her shorts and yanked them down. She went to kiss him, surprised when he caught her around the throat and pushed her onto her back in the grass so he could get the shorts all the way off.

Her nipples were hard, skin prickled and freezing, but Violet’s insides burned, and she knew her eyes blazed the same gold as his. Mikel made fast work of his belt and his fly; then he yanked his jeans and boxers down enough for his cock to spring free. Her cunt ached at the sight of it, already hard, as it stood proudly away from his body, tip shiny in the moonlight.

“Get up for me.”

It was like moving through treacle; her body was slow, unwilling to do anything but lie there and wait for him to have her. She was halfway to her feet when he caught her.

“Like this.” He moved her onto her knees, pushed her down, and suddenly, she understood what they were doing. Breeding. The realization spread like fire through her, and she was slick, ready, aching.

“Please.” She needed him. Needed the alpha, something whispered.

That they were outside never crossed her mind. There were no houses for miles, and even if there were, Violet doubted she’d care. Something touched her cunt, pressing wetly to where she was hottest, most sensitive, and slid pleasingly up and down. Her hips jerked when she realized it was his tongue. He growled low and loud, and her body was still.

She trembled while he worked her, his tongue cool against her heated flesh. Even in the cold of the night, sweat started to damp her skin. “Please, Mikel,” floated out of her like a mantra. Teeth nipped the back of her thighs, and she jumped, keened, and spread them further. His tongue grazed her clit, and she shuddered. “Please.”

“Please, what?”

He bit her ass cheek hard enough to make her squirm and cry out, “Breed me,” without overthinking.

Her knees were knocked apart, dropping her lower to the grass, then his hips pressed behind hers, as his belly pressed against her lower back. One hand caught her under the chin, and his lips found her ear.

“Like this?” He thrust forward. His cock slid wetly against her but not inside.

“Yes,” she whined, tilting her hips up to align them, begging him silently to try again.

He growled, pushed her down onto her elbows, and pressed his lips to her mark. “You’re mine, Violet Davis. Mine to love. Mine to fuck. Mine to breed.”

There was no time to answer. When he moved forward again. his cock found her entrance, pressed, and slid home. It was like sparks, like fire, like the drums from the moon circle were pounding in her blood, screaming right, fate, destiny.

Mikel bit her mark, pounded into her, kissed her, licked the sweat from her skin, and growled his approval into the night. Violet was powerless, lost to the pressure and the pleasure, lost to the demand in her blood to be bred by the alpha. They were loud: her voice against his grunts and the wet slap of slick skin, rough and raw.

When she climaxed, it was with her cheek in the grass and his teeth bloody in her mark while he came inside her. It was catharsis. Violet got one, long breath of relief with it done. Then, the ashes in her belly turned over, and the fire started anew. With grass-burned knees and naked under the waning moon, Violet pressed up onto him and knew it would be a long night.

 

FIVE DAYS LATER, her mark had already scabbed and healed from that night, but they were still insatiable.

“Smells good.” Mikel’s arms went around her, his chin on her shoulder while she worked over the stove. “You smell good.”

“I also feel you every time I sit down,” she shot back at him, yet her body still responded to his attention.

“You hurtin’?” he asked, more seriously.

“No,” Violet assured him. “Apparently, the wolfy sex drive came with a wolfy tolerance upgrade too.”

He chuckled. His phone sounded from between them, and he stepped back to retrieve it from his pocket.

“Hello?”

Violet added the last of the ingredients to her stir fry and checked the recipe one more time before closing her phone.

“We’ll be there.” The ice in Mikel’s voice immediately caught her attention.

When she turned, he was already back beside her, reaching over her to turn off the stove. His face was grim.

“There’s an outsider being brought to the square at five,” he said, tight jawed.

Violet’s stomach hollowed out, dread settling in her bones.

“I think it’s your sister.”