Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

Griffin Lawson

I n the end, nineteen members, including the East Coast visitors, signed up to participate in our Primal Pursuit, and I bet it was the most traffic this road had seen in ages. Because once you crossed the river in Westslope, the houses became fewer and farther in between, and then it was just dirt roads and secluded cabins.

We had Madigan, Abel, and their three friends in the truck in front of us, and I recognized Jameson's truck behind us.

We drove higher up in the mountains, and I side-eyed Tracy.

I'd thought it would be more difficult to put a gag on the Daddy in me, especially since I identified so strongly with him, but for every moment I spent with that boy, the more confident I became. We fed off each other's moods and reactions naturally, and we knew what tonight was all about. He had his game face on, and he was prepared to the point where I was impressed by his forethought. He'd ultimately opted for cargo pants instead, because of the side pockets, and he'd stashed away everything he might need. First aid, a flashlight, trail mix, an emergency whistle, a Sawyer Mini water filter, and a multitool.

"Just in case something goes wrong," he'd said with a shrug.

I shouldn't have been surprised. He loved the outdoors, and it showed. He'd grown up fishing and hunting small game with his grandfather.

I was gonna fall for him damn quick, wasn't I?

I'd never met anyone like him, that was for sure. I'd had partners with whom I'd shared an interest or two, or kink, or work. Never all three together. He was a fucking unicorn.

Earlier today, I'd told him I wanted to take him out on a proper date, and he'd suggested dinner at my cabin. He wanted to see it. He wanted us to cook together, listen to music, and he wanted to hear about my plans for my property.

I couldn't think of a better date.

It was honestly humbling too. He showed such great interest in me, and I reckoned I wasn't used to that.

Just being near him now was breathing life back into me.

"Okay, I can't keep quiet anymore," Tracy said.

I lifted my brows, unaware he'd been troubled by something. "About what?"

"Your work trips." He shifted in his seat to face me better. Too bad it was dark out. I couldn't see his features clearly enough. "You mentioned when we had lunch that you travel a lot—every other month or something like that. I remember you did that before too, and you were gone for so long."

I reached over and grabbed his hand. "I also said those trips won't be as long anymore, didn't I?"

He nodded. "A week or two. But still. I'm gonna miss you and maybe die."

I didn't like the way he said that. I furrowed my brow. "First of all, I don't have anything planned until before Christmas. I have four days of meetings in LA. Then I'll be back. Second—" I squeezed his hand "—Adam needs another chef at Coho. And once he's found someone, I'll be the first to convince you to take time off every now and then to come with me."

He seemed to perk up at that. "Really?"

Could I allow myself a sigh of relief yet?

"Really." I threaded our fingers together. "I also happen to be my own boss, so I can plan my trips when they suit your schedule better."

He let out a breath and leaned closer so he could hug my arm. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound so dramatic, but now that I have you, I guess I'm a little scared it's all gonna go away. I don't wanna lose you."

Fuck, my damn heart.

I kissed the top of his head and followed Madigan up another dirt road. Maybe it was much too soon to talk about these things, but screw it.

"You're not going to lose me, baby. Hell, I was just thinking about how being with you makes me feel alive again. This week has been some of the best days in my life."

He squeezed my arm and pressed his face against it. "Same for me."

I smiled to myself and swallowed a wave of emotions. Hope was a powerful drug, and fuck me if I wasn't high on it. It was all his doing.

"We'll find a way to make it work," I murmured. "The goal is always for us to be together."

"Best goal ever ."

I grinned. His happiness was infectious, and I had half a mind to pull over to the side and kiss him stupid.

I'd do it later.

Tracy released a breath and kept hugging my arm. "I guess it's okay to be a little insecure in a new relationship."

It sure as fuck was. Lord knew I was too.

"We'll navigate those insecurities together as well," I answered.

He nodded and rested his cheek on my shoulder. "You better say something cruel, Sir. I wanna put on jammies and cuddle."

Oh. Well, then. Even though that sounded incredibly appealing, we had fantasies to bring to life tonight.

"All right." I cleared my throat. "Chocolate sprinkles are nasty."

He gasped and instantly glared up at me.

I did my best to contain my laughter.

"Oh, and my eggs are better than yours," I finished.

"What the fuck!"

As we approached Ryan's property, I could see torches lit up, forming a circle around an area of just gravel in the middle of the forest. We drove through the gate and parked along the side, and Tracy was all but buzzing with anticipation.

I told him to go join his friends.

It was almost nine PM, and when the last car of our caravan parked, everyone was accounted for.

To get to Ryan's cabin, one would have to continue on a smaller road, but we wouldn't go near it unless we had to. Signs of civilization could bring comfort to a brat, and we didn't want that. Not tonight.

The Tops met up with Madigan on the other side of the lot, and we divided ourselves into two groups, based on the number of members who wanted to add interrogation to the takedown. So, I had Madigan, Ryan, Jameson, and Colt in my group. The second Dom in the East Coast triad, Lucas, had volunteered to oversee the event on a tablet. The primal play was apparently Colt and Kit's thing.

"Cell phones and smartwatches in this box!" Waylon called out.

Both groups of Tops had access to a tablet to share. In short, the primal prey could scatter all they wanted, but if we wanted to see where they were, we had to stay together.

"Everyone, gather around!" Madigan yelled.

I glanced over to Tracy, finding him whispering with Abel and Kit.

Cute.

Ryan handed out trackers for us to attach to our prey, and Tracy dutifully jogged over to me. Madigan explained that, for as long as the blue light flashed on the tracker, it was active. If the light died, the brat was out of range and should circle back closer to this area right here.

I dropped the tracker in Tracy's back pocket.

"Interrogation prey, please come forward!" Ryan ordered. "You will each receive a note that you will, under no circumstances, show to your Predator or any other Top. All notes except one will be blank. If you wanna show your brat buddies the note, that's up to you. Just keep in mind, if you show someone your note, they will have more information to surrender during the interrogation."

I smirked to myself and folded my arms over my chest.

Tracy, Abel, Angel, Justin, and Kit stepped forward to collect their notes.

"I am not that much of a masochist," I heard Cal chuckle. He was one of the bottoms in the non-interrogation group, and he earned a hum of approval from the other brats.

I was half surprised Cal had signed up to be prey tonight. He was one of those switches who tended to play on the dominant side of the spectrum.

I shifted my attention back to the interrogation brats, eager to see if their expressions gave anything away as they read their notes.

"By now, one of you is a criminal," Madigan said. "One of you is guilty of stealing a metaphorical key, and it's our job as Interrogators to find it. The guilty brat knows the location. Do what you want with the notes."

Kit and Justin studied their notes a little longer than Tracy, Abel, and Angel did.

Ryan spoke up next. "You all have five minutes to strategize how you wanna play this, and then we'll run through the safety procedures once more before we start!"

I met Tracy's gaze, and he smirked devilishly, much to my sadistic joy. Fuck me, this was going to be fun. My boy wasn't going to hold back.

He and his brat buddies huddled together farther away, while I walked over to Madigan and Ryan. Colt and Jameson joined us too.

"Chances are they'll spread out," Madigan said first.

Ryan nodded. "I suggest we pick 'em off one by one. We're in no rush."

Solid idea.

"Do we have rope?" Colt asked. "We'll need to tie 'em somewhere when we go hunt down the next one. With someone stayin' behind."

"Aye, I prepared a scene about half a klick that way." Ryan pointed straight into the woods. "It's along the fence line, and it's got a firepit—we can't miss it. There's a dog cage, plenty of rope, and trees we can restrain them to. Some fun toys too, obviously."

Obviously. It wasn't a proper interrogation without tools.

"Let's talk advantages," Madigan proposed. "Angel knows the area, I assume."

"Definitely." Ryan nodded.

"And Abel's been here quite a bit too," Madigan said. "What're Kit's advantages?"

Colt scratched his jaw, thinking about it. "Probably his speed. He's faster than I am these days, and he's scrappy as fuck. Once we catch him, we better tie him up properly. Otherwise, he'll find a way to escape."

Kit sounded fun.

"Angel's much the same," Ryan said. "What about Tracy?"

Yeah, good question. "I haven't played with him on this level yet, so we'll find out. But he's definitely prepared. He grew up in the outdoors. He's creative and quick on his feet. Very high threshold for pain too."

"That about sums it up for Justin too," Jameson confirmed. "And he's stubborn as hell."

In other words, we had our work cut out for us.

It wasn't a high-risk event without drilling safety measures into the skull of every participant, and same with the restrictions. Nobody was allowed near Ryan's cabin; if someone ran close enough to see it, they had to move away immediately.

They could split up, they could stick together, they could try to hide, as long as they didn't dispose of their trackers, which would give us a twenty-five-yard radius to locate them. But again, we didn't know which tracker belonged to whom.

Safewords were repeated once more, including the private safewords of two prey, in case they accidentally blurted out the wrong ones. Lastly, the prey were given the option to bring some minor supplies, stuff Tracy was already carrying in his pockets. Kit, Cal, and two others were prepared similarly, but they opted to add whistles and flashlights. No using the whistle unless it was an emergency.

Multitools were all right, but no knives that could unfold automatically or with assisted opening.

We didn't need to add more risks.

Ryan's military background was clear as day in the basket of Olight and 5.11 tactical gear. I wasn't a stranger to those tools either, though that stemmed from my upbringing on a boat and in the woods.

"Do you get sponsored by Ralph's?" I joked. It was the top-choice store for anyone interested in fishing, hiking, and hunting in Camassia.

"I wish," Ryan laughed. "My man's a fucking snob too, so he's gotta have the best of the best. Oh, and he falls for cheap sales tricks. Last week, he bought kindling . I was all, have you looked out the goddamn window, boy? Kindling is free."

Angel giggled.

I grinned. Sounded like Novi. She knew her way around the outdoors, but she liked the unnecessary luxuries you could buy for your daypack.

"That's nothin'," Jameson huffed. "Justin and Alex came home with a four-hundred-dollar cooler before the summer."

"It's superior!" Justin argued.

"You've used it once ," Jameson pointed out.

I chuckled and rubbed the back of my neck. To be fair, my first boat had cost me less than my cooler.

"This is nice and all, but are we gonna get started anytime soon?" Abel drawled.

"Oh right, I forgot you were still here," Ryan replied. He scratched his forehead and shrugged. "All right, go."

I smirked. Nothing like fucking with the brats, even if that included an anticlimactic start. In fact, they didn't move. They looked at one another, confused.

Ryan switched to Sadist real quick. "Do I have to tell you again? Fucking go!"

That did it. The prey expressed their bemusement at Ryan's behavior and scrambled a little, but then Tracy and Kit nodded toward the thick of the forest, and they were off. Both groups.

"No kiss goodbye or anything," I heard Tracy mutter. "He really is a Sadist."

I grinned.

I'll kiss you everywhere soon.

They picked up the pace and started running before they disappeared, and now we waited a few minutes.

"That was fun." Madigan smiled.

Ryan handed out the tablets, one to the non-interrogators and one for our group.

I took the opportunity to shed my windbreaker. My hoodie and undershirt were enough—or would be, once I got the blood pumping. The others were dressed similarly, jeans or utility pants, hoodies, gloves for some, beanies for Dave and Ryan.

I rolled my shoulders and cracked my knuckles, finally feeling the anticipation build up within me. It usually took me a while, because before an event, I was so focused on preparations and observing my partner. This time more than ever. My focus had been on him all day.

"Please don't let my husband torture our boy too much," Lucas requested. "They've been goading each other nonstop since we woke up."

I smirked, and Madigan and Ryan chuckled.

"Because of your display of faith in me, I'mma torture him extra, darlin'," Colt promised.

Lucas sighed and rolled his eyes.

Seeing Jameson with our tablet, I stepped over to him and eyed the screen.

"They're not scattering," he noted.

Not a whole lot anyway. They were still running farther into the woods, with both groups sticking together for now. I wished we could see more of the terrain on the screen, but as it was, the night-mode map only revealed streams, elevation, and the fact that it was a forested area. We kind of already knew that last part.

The prey appeared on the screen as little red dots.

Colt came over too, and he smirked when he studied the screen. "It's startin' to look a lot like they want a fight." He glanced over at Madigan. "They're not scatterin'."

"We should still pick them off one by one," I said. "But a few of us will have to ward off the sideline brats."

"Agreed," Ryan answered, closing the distance too. "Have they split up into two groups, at least?"

"They're doin' that now," Jameson said.

He was right. They were splitting up.

"Have we waited long enough?" Madigan asked. He pointed to the tablet. "Because we're gonna need to locate the right group."

And we didn't wanna do that when they had put too much distance between the two groups. Yeah, of course. Technically, they could've mixed the groups completely, with some of "our" prey running off with the other group's prey, but given that they didn't wanna be exposed to that kink tonight, it seemed unlikely.

"Who knows the actual location of this symbolic key we're gonna find?" Colt asked.

"Greg," Ryan responded. "Once we have 'em tied up and questioned, he'll come out and check 'em for lies."

Good strategy.

"Okay, let's go." Jameson handed over the tablet to Ryan. "Dave! We'll go for the eastern perimeter—y'all go west. If we run into the wrong squad, we'll each grab one brat and push them closer to the center."

So we could follow the dots on the screen—good plan.

"We'll discuss scare tactics and implements along the way, I assume?" I questioned.

"The more, the better, as I always say," Madigan agreed. "My pockets and my brain are chock-full."

Get ready, sweetheart.