Hunt Me! (I Crave The Chase) - Page 200

“Are you coming?” he asked in a low, cultured voice curling down at the end.

“Y-yeah—” Butters nodded, head jerking. “I just—I need to get the address for you.”

“I know the address,” Silas rose up to his full height, shiny toe tapping impatiently. “I don’t have all day.” The corner of his jaw jumped. “Unless you’d no longer like me to claim your brother?”

“No! I do!” Butters jerked the door open and it slammed into Silas’s side. He made a soft sound. “Sorry. Sorry.” Butters stumbled out of the car, clumsy and massive—towering over Silas, looking small despite his bulk.

“We’ll see you soon,” Theo urged. Butters nodded jerkily, then offered us a wave, before he was bolting across the parking lot to Silas’s vehicle in front of him.

Someone opened their door and I flinched, glancing around, trying to figure out where that had come from. “What was?—”

“Don’t worry,” Theo urged. “You’ll get used to it.”

“Get used to?—”

“Come up front.” His voice was soft again. “I’ll debrief you while we drive. There’s a lot to go through.”

I did as I was told, hurrying into the passenger seat and buckling up quickly. Theo started the car—and I didn’t complain. Because I didn’t trust myself to drive right now. I felt half drunk, my limbs sluggish, my veins full of acid.

Theo pulled out of the pack grounds and headed onto the interstate, moving west toward our destination. The other hunting lodge was located nearly an hour away from Elmwood. Which meant we were cutting this close.

While we rode, Theo spoke.

He told me about the pack he was from. About the turned wolves he’d encountered there. About the way they were shunned in other packs—so most never left. Apparently it wasn’t socially acceptable. So taboo even, that turning a wolf wasn’t even something the wolf community shared with others.

“Can I—” my voice cracked. “Am I…”

“You could’ve always been Mutt’s mate,” Theo said softly. “A mate is just someone you choose. But yes. If we can get there in time there’s nothing standing in your way.”

“Oh.” My head was spinning. “Mutt said it had to be a wolf. That there was no other option.”

“I can see why he would think that,” he said softly. “I’ve never seen anything else. And if I haven’t—he sure as hell hasn’t.”

“So why do you think it’s possible?”

“Just a hunch.” Theo shrugged, glancing at me. “He…got better when he met you, you know?”

“Got better?” The trees spun by on either side of the windows, a tall spindly blur. Snow had begun to fall, torrents of powdery flakes falling to the ground. It would be just my luck if we got in another fucking wreck.

At least this time I’d heal fast..right?

There was so much to unpack—there was no way I could do it all right now.

But…

I couldn’t say I regretted the way things had gone.

There was something inside me—something small and shriveled. A part of me that had always ached for connection, to be nurtured. And it was quaking, growing, extending outward. Out through the wounds, a silvery thread. It twisted, writhed—searching, searching, searching.

Searching for Mutt.

A mate is just someone you choose.

Theo’s words rattled around inside my head.

“Before,” Theo spoke again, voice low. “It was like…Mutt was fading.” His fists squeaked as he clenched the wheel. “Every day he lost more color.” His big shoulders curled in tight, blood splattered t-shirt clinging to every muscle. “I’ve seen it before—when animals get really sick. And none of us knew what to do.”

“And then one day he just…changed.” His shoulder jerked up. “I think that was the day he met you,” Theo’s full lips twisted into a wry smile. “He asked to come here, and we were confused—but Dad humored him anyway. Because none of us wanted to see his light go out again.”