Page 64 of Red Hunt

I could hear the urgency in her voice, mirrored inside of me. Her nails buried deep in my back, pressing me to her when our rhythm changed.

Faster and even faster.

I could feel the squeeze—so good. Then Milli shuddered, and her contractions caused jolts to shoot up my spine. I couldn’t hold back any longer. I plunged inside her once…twice…a third time and followed her screams over the verge and into the vortex.

Afterward, I held her until it grew light, and nothing had ever felt more perfect than having a naked and completely spent Milli Patterson in my arms.

39

MAX

I came back from my morning run happier and more energized than ever. I didn’t even take time to lock the door, just barged down the stairs toward the bedroom. I’d missed her, and for the last mile, I’d fantasized about taking that shower we cut short yesterday, together. I opened the door to the bedroom, but it was empty, as was the en suite. I ran back up, but she was neither in the kitchen nor outside on the deck. Where the hell was she? “Milli?”

I went downstairs again, and when I reached the basement, the door to the war room was slightly ajar. Why would she go in there? I pushed it open farther and stepped in.

There she was…only she was obviously not okay. “Milli? What’s wrong?” I crossed the room.

Seeing her crumpled on the floor, hugging her legs, slowly rocking, was killing me. But what really turned the blood in my veins to ice was her non-reaction and then the look in her eyes. Unseeing. Gone. Wherever she went, she wasn’t here. “Milli?”

I crouched down before her, every spidery sense inside me on high alert, alarm bells going off in my brain. What’d happened? “Milli?”

I should’ve known better, should’ve known not to touch her, but I couldn’t resist, and when I touched her arm, it was as if I’d zapped her or something. She shot up, pure terror in her eyes, and before I could even react, she leaped to Goofy’s desk and grabbed a knife. Why was there even a knife down here? But before I could think of any reason, she slashed through the air as if she really wanted to kill me.

“Milli?” I shouted, then retreated behind a desk.Calm down, jerk.Shouting at her wouldn’t help the situation, or her. But I was desperate. I needed to snap her out of it. Whatever it was. Some kind of mental thing? Maybe the people from around here would know. I grabbed my phone and dialed Peter. All the while I kept my distance from her, my hand in the air and my eyes trained on her.

Meanwhile, she looked at me with hatred, the knife still raised, but at least, she wasn’t launching an attack.

“Hey, medicine man, what’s up?” Peter’s voice sounded so normal when nothing in this situation really was. Surreal was more like it.

“You need to come up to my place, right the fuck now. I’ve got a bit of a situation…and bring your doctor and tell him to bring some sedatives, as well.”

Whatever he heard in my voice must’ve convinced him this was urgent. Probably the panic I tried so hard to keep at bay. He ended the call with a “Roger that,” something I’d give anything to hear in another context.

Now to find a way to talk Milli down.

I hadn’t let her out of my sight while talking to Peter.

While she’d looked agitated when I’d come in, and downright hostile when she threatened me with that knife, now she looked…wounded and so much younger, the hand holding the knife hanging limply by her side. I could disarm her. Easily. But was I willing to use violence? To potentially wound her? Was it worth damaging her further? Because that could happen.

Nope, not going to take that chance.

She was having some kind of psychological episode. Did she suffer from some mental disorder, or was she having a flashback? I looked around the room. Something in here must’ve triggered her, but what? I looked around. Our computers were all locked, so that couldn’t have been it. Something about being in the basement? She’d suffered physical abuse as a child. I’d seen her x-rays, but had she maybe been locked in a basement at some time?

“Milli. This is Max. You’re at my house. Nothing bad will happen to you here.”

She looked at me as if I was the worst traitor.

She even snarled.

What the fuck?

“Stay back. You’re one of them. Do not come a single step closer or I’ll slice you up like the pig you are.” Her voice dripped with hatred and conviction.

Wow. I took a step back and raised my hands. Where the fuck did that come from, and what did she mean? This sure as hell wasn’t the same person I’d gotten to know these last few days, the one I’d made love to this morning. Not the same person at all.

It took forever and a minute before I finally heard someone barging in through the front door. Luckily, I hadn’t locked it, because I sure as hell couldn’t leave Milli down here alone. “Downstairs…basement,” I shouted.

Rapid footsteps pounded down the stairs, and I felt nothing but relief when Peter, followed by Blake and Alan, entered the room.

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