Savage Surrender: A Dire Wolves Mission (The Devil's Dires Book 1) (7 page)

A Dire Wolf.

Assumed extinct, Dire Wolves had been the gladiators of the shifter world. Their size and strength were legendary, their fierceness in battle told in stories over campfires and with a sense of respect, of reverence and fear. But Dires were extinct—no one had seen one for over two hundred years. Until tonight, of course. The size of him, the heaviness of his muscles, the breadth of his shoulders, and the unique ermine spots along his back and haunches revealed her mate for what he truly was. A beast of battle; a weapon in the war on the worst of the things that went bump in the night. Untamed, unbeatable, and uncontrollable.

Oh hell, what had the fates been thinking?

H
er mate ran
hard and fast across the swamplands. Sariel followed, struggling to keep pace but refusing to slow him down. Angelita clung to his thick neck with her eyes squeezed shut. Sariel wished she could comfort the girl, could tell her things would be okay, but as the sound of men’s voices reached their ears, even she doubted.

They yelled and hollered, splashing through the water behind her. Sariel ran harder, desperate to put distance between her and her captors. Her mate growled with every stride, his paws eating up the earth under their feet.

And then the howling began. Deep and dark, it was not a sound a shifter would make. The call of a werewolf on the hunt. She whimpered on the second howl, stumbled on the third. Once she regained her footing, her mate edged closer, brushing his shoulder against hers with every step. Supporting her with his touch. Sariel took what comfort she could from his presence and ran harder.

Sariel and her mate raced through the woods along the riverbank, paws flying across the swampy earth. She followed his lead, stretching her body to keep up as best she could over the difficult terrain. The sounds of the animals chasing them were enough to make her want to run faster, though, so she did. She was determined to escape. To live.

About an hour into their run, deep in a wilderness that made Sariel’s hackles rise, Angelita pulled the man to a stop.

“I think I’m ready now,” she said.

Sariel’s mate shifted to his human form, dropping to one knee in front of the girl so he could look her in the eye. “We must hurry, Omega. Shift.”

Angelita closed her eyes and curled her hands into fists. For several minutes, she struggled, trying to pull her inner wolf forward. Sariel waited and watched, her heart breaking for the girl. Shifting forms, while natural, still took time to learn. It took strength and mental skill to access the magic of their kind. Angelita wasn’t ready yet.

The Dire glanced at Sariel before placing a hand on Angelita’s arm, stopping her. “Omega, we need to keep moving.”

“I can do this.”

“No, I don’t think you can.”

“Yes.” Angelita’s eyes went dark, her shoulders back and her hands in fists. “I’ll show you. I just need a minute.”

The man glanced around the woods. “We don’t have a minute.”

“I can do this on my own.” Angelita’s voice rose, almost yelling at the man.

He glared at her, eyes streaked with liquid silver and glowing. “Then shift, Omega.”

“Give me a minute,” Angelita cried, her face red.

“There is no time for waiting; we must move.” He grabbed her arm at the elbow and placed his other hand on her forehead. “Shift, now.”

Sariel took a step back, growling at the energy she sensed surging from the earth. Angelita’s eyes went wide as what felt an awful lot like some kind of bastardized Alpha-order exploded into the clearing. She dropped her head back, body tense as the force around her brought her to her toes, pulling her up. Bending her body to someone else’s will. Angelita’s jaw fell open, her throat working as if to scream, but no sound came out. She was silent, stretched and taut and screaming her agony in her own mind.

Slowly, Angelita began to change, bones and muscles rearranging themselves into a lupine shape. The girl trembled, body tense, fighting every alteration. Sariel whimpered as she watched, horrified. Changing so slowly would be painful—more than just painful, it would be torture. She couldn’t take bearing witness to it any longer.

Sariel shifted human, yelling to Angelita even before she’d fully made the switch. “Relax, don’t fight it. It won’t hurt so much if you stop fighting.”

Angelita’s head fell to the side, her eyes meeting Sariel’s. Looking tired and so very frightened.

The older shifter nodded, giving the girl a small smile. “It’ll be okay; just fall into it. Let your wolf take over. She’ll protect you.”

As Angelita began to shift faster, closing her eyes and allowing her wolf to push through, Sariel walked to the side of her mate. His body tensed as she approached, his eyes locked on the shifting form of the younger girl. Sariel saw his regret in the clench of his jaw, the tic of a muscle near his eye. He hadn’t meant for Angelita’s shift to go so wrong.

Not able to stand seeing him in distress, Sariel walked right up beside him, purposely brushing her shoulder against his arm. He jerked and looked down, obviously surprised when her skin met his. Sariel waited, watching him, continuing to touch him in her subtle way. Wolves, as pack animals, relied on touch; they needed it. Touch from a packmate could calm the nerves or lessen a bout of sadness. Her mate acted as if he didn’t like to be touched, but Sariel knew differently. The need for physical contact was part of who they were, in their nature. Touch healed.

Sariel stayed where she was, leaning into his arm until he sighed and pressed back. Taking comfort and giving it, all at the same time. She smiled up at him before leaning her head against his bicep and looking back to where Angelita stood. And then they waited for the young girl to finish the longest shift Sariel had ever seen.

Once fully wolf, Angelita fell to the grassy floor of the forest. Sariel followed, shifting without moving away from her mate, brushing her fur against his leg as she waited. Angelita’s red wolf was petite but obviously strong, with a lean yet muscular physique. Sariel could tell she’d be able to handle the run once she physically recovered from that horrible shift. Recovering mentally would be a different story.

It took Angelita several seconds to be able to push to her feet, her chest still heaving and her legs wobbly. She looked exhausted. Sariel hurried to her, nuzzling and whining at the little wolf. Trying to give the girl the support she obviously needed. Her mate shifted back to his animal form as well, the wolves huddling together to comfort their youngest member.

Sariel’s mate was the first to break contact, moving a few steps away and scenting the air around them for signs of danger. There was no rot drifting with the breeze, no sound of a beast coming after them through the woods. Still, Sariel worried. Her mate must have as well because, with a huff and a quiet yip, he ran ahead, the two shewolves immediately following him through the night. Sariel stayed next to Angelita, refusing to take even one step in front of the girl. She would not allow Angelita to be left behind.

Eventually, the man led them to a dusty old Jeep with gigantic tires parked along a stretch of road so rough and buried in the trees, she doubted most people even knew it was there. Perhaps a service road or fire stop. Whatever it was, she’d never been happier to see a vehicle in her entire life. Especially one that looked made for off-roading.

Her mate shifted as they approached the Jeep, never breaking stride while he went from four feet to two. Sariel followed, cracking her neck as skin replaced fur. Angelita stayed wolf, probably too afraid of getting stuck in her human form to shift back.

Naked and dirty, Sariel and her mate hurried to the Jeep with Angelita padding along behind them. Sariel held open the passenger door for the wolf, giving Angelita enough room to jump into the backseat before hopping into the front.

As her mate turned the key that had been left in the ignition, he glanced at Sariel. She could only imagine what a sight she had to be. Naked, filthy, covered in muck and God knew what else from the swamp. Not exactly pinup material. She fidgeted in her seat, crossing her legs and bringing her hands to her knees. She’d never been uncomfortable naked before, never really thought about it, as wolf shifters tended to be naked a lot. But this was different. This was her mate, and he was seeing her not just naked, but a mess.

What she wouldn’t give for that day-long shower right then.

Finally, her mate looked away, easing some of the strain on Sariel’s nerves. “There’s a blanket and a pack of clothes in the back if you can reach them.” He slammed on the gas as he spoke, the tires kicking up dirt as they raced down the road.

Sariel reached behind her, grabbing a blanket to wrap around herself and tossing a small cylinder of fabric at him. “This is all that’s back there.”

He unwrapped the fabric, unrolling a shirt and a pair of ratty camouflage shorts that looked as if they’d come from some kind of uniform pants. He handed her the clothes, barely flicking a glance her way. She fingered the edge of the shorts fabric, suddenly nervous.

“Um, here.” She handed him the shorts, trying hard not to stare at his naked body. Trying and failing. He was so cut, so ridiculously muscled. But even that couldn’t describe him fully. The man was simply big…tall and broad, muscular and strong. A solid wall of wolf shifter.

She couldn’t help but let her eyes wander over his hands as they wrapped around the steering wheel, down his rigid arms, to the rounded muscles of his shoulders. His jaw clenched as she inspected him; as her eyes traveled from his chin to his nose, back down along his neck to his chest. Lower still, over the curves and ripples of his abs, dancing along his Adonis belt before straying to where his thick penis rested against his thigh. Big, like him. Blunt and fat. Sariel shivered but took a deep breath, fighting off the wave of arousal seeing him so free and naked caused. While she watched, his penis twitched, growing fuller with every second. Mesmerized, she stared, her mouth falling open, her breathing coming faster. Good Lord, he was just so
thick
.

They hit a rough bump in the road, causing the Jeep to jerk hard to one side. Sariel ripped her eyes away from her mate’s lap, her cheeks heating when she found him staring at her. Watching her. Knowing what she was looking at and probably how it made her feel. The mating haze was strong, the bond demanding. It didn’t matter that they were literally running for their lives or that there was another person in the back seat. She wanted him, and she knew he could sense the desire pouring off of her.

He gave her a hard look, his eyes dropping to her legs for a moment before turning his attention back to the road. Without a second glance, he reached for the shorts, brushing his rough fingers lightly across the backs of her hands, and placed the fabric across his lap.

“Put the shirt on.”

His voice felt like a reprimand, one that made Sariel’s confidence backslide. Stomach sinking and face burning hotter than before, she did as she was told and pulled on the shirt. There was a hole in the side, small and perfectly round, but at least the fabric covered her to the middle of her thighs. Long and gray and soft, smelling like her mate, the shirt was a simple point of comfort. One she clung to. Once appropriately covered, she turned her body toward the passenger door and did her best to ignore the man less than a foot away. The one she sensed was trying hard to ignore her as well as he tugged the shorts up his long legs while driving.

What seemed like hours later, they pulled up outside a small house on a lakeshore. Her mate let the Jeep slide to a stop out front and then reached into the glove box to grab what looked like a black cell phone. Before she could ask, he jumped out of the vehicle, leaving her behind. Sariel sat and watched him leave, her heart thumping and her stomach sick. She had no idea where they were and why they weren’t driving farther out of the area. And she had no clue how to even speak to a man like her mate. Shouldn’t she at least be able to find
something
to say?

When the women didn’t follow him, he slowed and turned, raising an eyebrow at Sariel as she waited in the Jeep with Angelita.

“Come.” He motioned for them to follow.

Well, perhaps the inability to string words together was a problem on both their sides. Sariel crawled down from the huge vehicle, helping Angelita to the ground before walking in his direction. He watched her approach, looking her over, his eyes trailing along her body in a way that was blatantly sexual. The fire in his gaze put her body on alert, making butterflies explode in her stomach. But then he shook his head, furrowing his brow, and Sariel’s excitement crashed back down to earth. Damn, she didn’t know where to begin with him.

Without a word, he turned and stalked toward the house. Sariel hurried to keep up with his long stride as Angelita raced past, still in wolf form. He took the three stairs in a single step, his eyes on his phone. Couldn’t he at least pay them some attention before doing…whatever it was he was doing?

“What now?” she asked as she stepped on the porch.

Her mate used a keypad to unlock the front door and led them inside, already listening to the ringing of his phone call. “We hole up and call for backup.”

“We’re not running?”

“If we run, they’ll chase. I’d rather fight them on my terms than theirs.”

Sariel glanced at Angelita, who sat on the floor watching them. Damn, she wanted to trust him, trust the man who’d come to help them, but she also wanted to get far away from this place.

“How can you be sure they’ll follow us here?”

He snorted, not looking at her. “Because you two are here. They’ll come.”

Sariel was about to respond when Bez held up his hand, shushing her with one finger.

“The target has been acquired. I’m going to need backup.” His body went still as he listened, his voice growing rougher when he spoke again. “Negative. There isn’t time.” He glanced at a clock and sighed. “Understood.”

Sariel followed him through the house as he hung up and repocketed his phone. “So we’re bait? We’re just going to sit here and wait for them to come and take us again?”

His cool eyes met hers, hard and direct, not a single sign of affection or mate bond present. “They’ll come, and they’ll try to recapture or kill the two of you. But they won’t succeed. My orders are clear—save the Omega at all costs.”

“But you’ve already broken your orders,” Sariel whispered, a knot forming in her stomach. “Save the Omega…singular. You brought me along when you should have left me and just taken Angelita. She’s your mission.”

His jaw clenched, a tic forming along the edge. “Strategical decision.”

Sariel crossed her arms over her chest and lifted her chin, unable to hide the shake in her voice. “And what about me?”