She held it up, inspected her work, and nodded once before pressing it into my hands.
I stared down at it like she’d handed me a voodoo doll—and knowing Violet, one day she might.
“What is this?” I asked.
Keep it tonight. Give it back tomorrow, she signed.
I closed my fingers around the jar, feeling its weight settle in my palm.
“Okay,” I said. “I’ve got it.”
And judging by the way Violet finally sagged as exhaustion crashed over her now that everything was finished, she truly believed her glorified seasoning salt would keep her safe.
For her sake, I hoped she was right.
Chapter 12
Violet
After making the protection jar and cutting the ties between Logan and I, I genuinely felt better, and I’d hoped that once I laid down with Skye, I could sleep. But, while Skye snored, his belly pressed into my side, I watched as the dark of night was replaced by a golden dawn.
My eyes burned as I stared at the ceiling, I couldn’t remember the last time I actually slept, excluding the times I passed out in random places.
Skye shifted, one hand settling instinctively over his stomach. His breathing evened back out, deep and steady.
Good.
Careful not to wake him, I slid out of bed and tiptoed down the hallway. Ifsomeonedidn’t take my phone, I could have googled everything I needed to know from the comfort of my nest, but, according to Vinny, I was a second class citizen who couldn’t be trusted with electronics or autonomy.
The second I got my phone back, I was going to fight with him again, this time just for fun. Plus, when we argued he paid more attention to me, and I liked that.
My first step was the coat rack by the door. I wasn’t leaving, but Vinny kept the key to his office in a brown canvas jacket I’d never seen him wear. I suppose if someone were to break in, they wouldn’t think to search that.
After grabbing the key, I headed toward the west wing of the house, the one no one ever really entered, and I let myself into the office.
The walls were beige, and the furniture a dark mahogany, the only sort of color came from the maroon and gold rug in the center of the floor. The irony that I, of all people, ended up knocked up by someone who feared fun was not lost on me.
I shut the door softly before tiptoeing over to his desk, sure everyone was asleep, but the small action helped me feel safer. Sinking into the brown leather chair, I opened his laptop and wiggled my finger back and forth on the touch pad. The computer awoke, but left me on a login screen, one I didn’t have a password for.
Fuck.
For a moment, I froze. Vinny was a man who didn’t seem to care about much, at least not in the bone deep way everyone else in the pack did. He was veryangry, and it was hard to picture anything in his life being valuable enough to make a password.
So I tried the basics.
Password1!
Nothing.
1234567890
Didn’t work.
000000
No dice, and a little warning popped up to tell me I had one more chance, and if I failed, the computer would be locked for fifteen minutes.
My shoulders stiffened, fingers still resting on the keys, I exhaled slowly and rested my fingers on the keys. Okay. If Vinnydidcare about something enoughto make it a password, it wouldn’t be clever. It wouldn’t be cute. It would be simple
