Savage Silence: A Dire Wolves Mission (The Devil's Dires Book 4) (2 page)

T
he prick
of pine needles under her paws thrilled Ariel to no end. She’d been cooped up at work for too long, had been spending every waking moment at the clinic organizing, seeing patients, and trying to prove her worth. Not that she needed to—the members of her new pack had accepted her without question. Still, the drive to be useful, to be an asset, was strong. So she’d worked tirelessly until her Alpha had stormed into the clinic and demanded she come for a run.

And thank the stars and the sun that he had. This was what she needed to clear her head and allow her soul to relax. The wind in her fur, the freedom of the woods around her, and the presence of a pack at her side. This was as close to feeling at home as she’d experienced in years.

Alpha Lathan raced in front of her, his head down and tail high. He was playing a game with Ariel, letting her get close, and then pushing himself harder to escape her teeth. It was a game he often played with the pups in the pack to help them train for endurance runs. Something she had told him she needed as well. Too many months being tortured had left her weak and frail in her own mind if not in her body. But no longer. She was out to heal, to forget the past and move forward, and that meant keeping up her strength. Her Alpha worked her hard, and she was grateful to him for it.

The group of wolves crested the top of a hill and came to a slow stop. A valley of trees spanned out before them, leading to the ocean miles away. Their Alpha shifted human on that hilltop, his long, black hair cascading down his muscular back. Naked and strong, the man stood staring toward the far-off horizon, looking at once powerful and so small in relation to the vastness of the forest around them. An impressive man by all rights. He’d offered himself to Ariel as a pleasure mate when she’d first arrived, but it hadn’t taken long for him to realize she was far too broken for such a thing. Too broken and too afraid to be touched. So he’d taken her under his wing instead, pushed her when she needed to be pushed and supported her through her healing. She cared for him, but much in the way a child cared for a favorite teacher or coach. Nothing more. She didn’t even think it was possible for her to feel
more
about a man again.

“Shift, Ariel. I want to talk to you about Glaxious,” Alpha Lathan said, his calm, deep voice washing over her like a warm breeze.

The group of wolves edged away to give her room. But while the other men and women moved closer to one another, seeking out that almost constant connection they thrived off of, Ariel held back. Not separate, just…in her own space. No one pushed her, no one attempted to force their touch on her. They all knew she couldn’t handle the attention. They’d all seen her fall apart at least once when someone surprised her with something as simple as a hand on her arm or a bump in the side from a fellow wolf. They knew her limits. They’d seen the scars.

The same ones that appeared as she shifted human and took a few cautious steps toward the man waiting for her.

“The rainy season will come soon, and the mudslides will be intense,” Lathan said, turning to eye his pack, giving Ariel a come-hither nod. “You ready for broken humans, Doc?”

“I’m always ready to do my job.”

“We’ll see.” He swung his arm wide, an invitation of sorts. One she’d come to understand and know how to accept. She answered his invite by inching closer, almost close enough to feel the heat from his body. Centimeters from his touch. “Look there. See that cliff?”

Ariel did see it, and she knew something wasn’t right about it even from as far away as she stood. There was a sense of unbalance to the outcropping, a darkening of the shadows that shouldn’t be there. “What’s wrong with it?”

“The land beneath has eroded from the forestry work. Fifty years later, and the mountainside still hasn’t recovered.”

The dread that knotted in her stomach took Ariel by surprise, as did the sudden knowledge of where this conversation was going. “It’ll fall this season.”

“Yes,” her Alpha said. “And probably soon. We should make sure the campers and the humans in town all know to stay clear of the mountains to the north.”

She bit her lip in an unconscious gesture, plans and strategies falling into place in her mind. “We’ll need more supplies at the clinic. If humans get caught in the middle of a large-scale slide, it could be catastrophic for them. I’ll need helpers as well.”

“You’ll have what you need.”

“Thank you, Alpha.” She let her mind wander, calculating worst-case scenarios and disaster preparedness models. She’d need access to the blood bank. Shifters could regenerate and take a direct infusion if need be, but humans were a different story. Without access to that bank, she might as well not open her clinic’s doors. Something she refused even to think about.

She’d been a doctor for over sixty years. Having grown up in a pack with no medic had forced her hand in a way, but after six decades of caring for shifters and humans alike, she was beyond comfortable in her role. The analytic side of her job, the process of elimination and the overall organization required, was a perfect fit for her. She’d saved many lives since she’d earned her MD. Many…including her own a time or two.

“Where did you go?” Lathan asked, waving a hand in front of her face.

“Sorry. Just thinking through the plan for the clinic.”

His dark eyes bored into hers, his expression one of kindness and understanding. “You want to go to the clinic for inventory, don’t you?”

She tried not to let it show, but yes. Yes, she did. A run in the woods was a nice way to unwind, but the draw of plotting and planning and making sure she was prepared for the worst held far more appeal. And her Alpha knew it.

Lathan laughed, practically shooing her off the mountain. “Go, Doc. Go do what you love. The woods will be here when you’re through.”

“I thought you wanted to talk about the Glaxious pack.”

His smile fell, his eyes going stormy. The neighboring pack had been causing trouble lately, meeting with Lathan more and more. He’d told her not to worry, but that was an impossible task. How could she not? According to her packmates, the Glaxious hadn’t bothered with them for decades. Not until she joined.

“Another time,” he said, his voice dark and rough. Measured. There was bad news coming, she could feel it. Could practically see it just like on that far-off cliff to the north. The shadows were deepening, and she’d need to be prepared for when things got dark.

“Then I guess I’ll head back to the clinic to start getting the word out.”

Lathan nodded, watching her with an attentiveness she could feel. If only…if only she hadn’t been taken. Held hostage. Tortured. If only life could have been a little more kind.

“Be careful,” he said as she turned to shift back to her wolf form. “Stay to the marked trails, and check in with Davis whenever you can.”

Ariel’s heart almost hurt. She was so thankful she’d run into this pack, so blessed to have found a safe place after so much fear. Lathan worked hard to accept her needs, to help her find herself, and to give her time to grow. She’d forever be grateful to him for that, but there would never be more. She would never feel his body against hers or enjoy those quiet moments between pleasure mates. And that was entirely her fault.

“Thank you,” she whispered, wishing there was some way she could express how much he and his pack—their pack—meant to her. But she didn’t have the words, not that Lathan seemed to need them.

“Thank you, Ariel. Now go before I change my mind and make you run back to camp the long way.”

She shifted without thought, twisting into a running wolf in a single breath. She was back over the hilltop in four strides, far enough from the pack to no longer feel their presence in twenty. If she kept up that pace, she’d be at her clinic in half an hour, which suited her just fine. There was much to be done. Inventory, order supplies, contact the local blood bank—her night would be busy with tedious administrative tasks, but she liked it that way. Liked being the only doctor around for miles and miles. Liked the endless hours and the happy exhaustion that finally forced her to her bed every night. The pace kept her mind off the darker memories, kept her focused on healing instead of sinking into the quagmire of her past. Kept her wanting to move forward.

Staying busy kept her sane.

T
he phone would be
Thaus’ undoing.

“So what, you’re on babysitting duty for two Alphas?” Phego, his Dire brother, huffed what sounded like a sarcastic laugh.

The jackass.

“It’s not babysitting.” Thaus could no longer remember why he’d stopped running to place this call. He’d been so much calmer in his wolf form, without the added noise of Phego being…well, Phego.

“Sounds like babysitting to me. Is that really a Dire Wolf type of job? Bartering between two pompous asses over antiquated rules? Why didn’t Dante send out the Feral Breed to handle this?”

Thaus knew exactly why. “The shewolf’s an Omega.”

Phego was silent for a long, tense moment before he finally breathed out a quiet, “Shit.”

“Exactly,” Thaus said, his voice growing louder and filling with the undertone of his growl as he continued. “Some Alpha has it in his head that he can claim her as a mate simply because a two-hundred-year-old piece of paper says he gets to call dibs.”

“Not happening.” Phego’s declaration was just as loud, just as rumbly. Just as strong as Thaus’ had been. No one fucked with a Dire Wolf, and an Omega
was
a Dire Wolf to their team. “Dante does realize you won’t really be negotiating shit, right?”

Thaus almost smiled at that. “He’s not ignorant of my skills. He knew what he was getting when he chose to call me.”

“Then mount up, brother. I’m heading to Los Angeles to check in on the Hollywood Feral Breed crew.”

That was almost believable, but Thaus knew the man too well. “You mean, hang out on the beach.”

“That, too. But seriously. I’ll be close enough to help if you need me.”

“Affirmative. Enjoy the sun.” Thaus ended the call with a swipe and tucked the phone back into his bag. He’d run all night, racing past trees and over rock croppings most of the way. He still had a few hours to go, though he couldn’t just run past this point without taking a moment to appreciate it. The view practically stole his breath—miles of trees, mountainous foothills, and way far to the north and west, the sliver of blue signifying the ocean he’d been slowly running away from. And down there, deep in the trees and even farther from that faraway ocean, sat the packlands of the Glaxious and Kwauhl. Neighbors in the forests, though how amicable, Thaus had yet to determine. But from his vantage point, everything appeared peaceful and still. He liked that. Liked the idea of being able to enjoy the silence in a group of people. So long as they left that shewolf the fuck alone.

Time to hike down there.

Donning the clothes he’d packed, he spent a few minutes getting his head ready for the ridiculousness he was sure to encounter. He would be walking onto the complaining pack’s land first. He’d need to be prepared for attitude and antiquated ideals. He’d need to be prepared for anything.

What he walked into, though, was not easily prepared for.

The packlands were definitely quiet and still, though not because of any sense of peace. The pack was struggling to survive. As he walked into their camp, the lingering scents of a robust, thriving pack whispered to him. Like old pictures faded over time, the spirits and energy of members long gone left an imprint. Left the forest scarred by their presence and their loss. This had once been a strong, solid pack.

But something had changed.

Thaus could only sense eight or nine shifters on the grounds. That was too small, especially when he considered the only female scent came from a human. One with the energy imprint of someone scared and alone; someone clinging to something she thought was a life raft, but was really sinking her.

But there was more. Hidden energies and silenced voices. Somewhere close. Thaus felt surrounded, assumed he was being watched. This group was much more dangerous than a small, failing pack. This was also not a true pack; it was a band of shifters up to something very, very wrong.

“Who the fuck are you, and why are you on my land?” A man full of arrogance and anger—probably the Alpha—stalked over as Thaus walked past two hovel-like structures. Another man stepped out of the shadows of one of the dilapidated buildings, watching. Waiting to see who won the battle so he could scavenge the carcass of the fallen, no doubt. Or so he could snatch the power away from the one holding it. Thaus didn’t need to know that shifter to know that look. Definitely not a pack.

Time to get to work so he could get the fuck out of here. “I’m Cleaner Sathaus. President Blasius Zenne sent me here regarding a contract dispute.”

The man watching from the sidelines barked a laugh. “He sent a Cleaner for a contract dispute? Aren’t you guys supposed to be the big, bad soldiers of the NALB? You too weak to be anything more than a paper pusher, son?”

Thaus wasn’t stupid enough to bite at that, though he secretly hoped he’d get the chance to show the jackass exactly how weak he wasn’t. “We serve at the pleasure of our president.”

The assumed Alpha sneered. “Yes, well, so long as you can read, I guess you’ll do. Come on, then. I’ll show you the contract.”

But Thaus didn’t follow orders from the likes of men like him. “And you are?”

Thaus already knew who he was, knew the guy’s place in this straggly little group from the second he opened his arrogant mouth. Still, he asked for confirmation. Thaus wasn’t about to give the guy the respect immediately marking him as an Alpha would impart. He’d rather piss the fucker off and keep him off-balance.

The Alpha turned slowly, his face red and his eyes angry. Score one for Team Dire.

“I am Alpha Chilton of the Glaxious Pack,” the man said, obviously seething. “We have been a member of the NALB for almost three centuries and are well known throughout the leadership.”

Thaus raised an eyebrow at that comment. Dire Wolves only had two levels of leadership—pack Alpha Luc and Blasius Zenne, the president they all chose to follow. And that non-pack connection with President Zenne was easy to end should the need become apparent. But this guy had no clue who or what he really was, so Thaus kept his mouth shut. Though he stared the Alpha down until the man finally broke.

Some things simply had to be done.

“Well,” Chilton said, shaking off the challenge Thaus had won. “If you have no other stupid questions, we’ll get this started.”

Thaus followed the angry imp across the muddy ground, biting back a grin. He’d gotten under the guy’s skin. Sometimes it was fun putting these so-called Alphas in their place. It’d really be fun when he told Chilton the Glaxious pack couldn’t simply call claim on the Omega shewolf. If she didn’t want to join the pack—and he could totally see why no woman ever would—she wasn’t joining it. Period. Dante wouldn’t have assigned the job to Thaus if he’d wanted some sort of compromise. No one sent a warrior to deal with paperwork unless they were ready to see the entire building where the paper was stored burned to the ground.

“Eight members, or nine?” Thaus asked, unable to figure out why he couldn’t lock in on a number.

Chilton shot him a side-eye sort of look. “Eight.”

“Small pack.”

“My men are strong fighters. We’re very blessed.”

Thaus didn’t see eight men living in the woods with a leader like Chilton as blessed. He also knew there were a lot more than eight shifters roaming nearby. Shifters he doubted Chilton had the power or strength to control. “And the human woman?”

“She asked to join us, so I allowed it.” Chilton chuckled. “Everyone needs to burn off a little steam now and again.”

Chilton’s laugh, the sarcastic way he said those words, the obvious disrespect for a human life… If Thaus hadn’t been on an assigned mission, he would have knocked the fucker to the ground. What a disgusting piece of shit. Thaus had no great love for the human race, but he still didn’t want to see them treated as some sort of slave for the needs of multiple shifters. There was absolutely no way this guy was getting a paw on
his
Omega.

His? Thaus almost stumbled at that thought. Shit. Not
his
. The Omega wasn’t his to claim. Not in any way. She was a Dire by history and blood—no more, no less.

Alpha Chilton led him into a dank, rotting wood structure at the edge of the clearing. The building—if one could call it that—reeked of mold and rot, but the other man didn’t seem to notice. Thaus, on the other hand, had to fight back his inner wolf to walk even a foot inside. Something about this place unsettled the beast, not an easy thing to do.

Chilton headed straight for a large book left open on a table at the back of the room. “This is the contract, signed by the then-Alpha of the Kwauhl.”

“And what happened to that Alpha?”

Chilton grinned in a way that would have sent a chill down lesser men’s spines. “He met an unfortunate end during a battle for power.”

Thaus doubted that, but it wasn’t his place to find fault with an Alpha overturning.

“Different Alpha, different rules.” Still, Thaus glanced over the document in question, eyeing the slashy signatures along the bottom.

“Same pack, same rule,” Chilton replied, a slight growl to his voice. “I have a contract, and I expect it to be fulfilled.”

Thaus ran a finger along the page, checking over the language and the details. Tapping on the date listed at the very top. “Why now?”

“Pardon?”

“You’ve had two centuries,” Thaus said, backing away from a contract that probably would have passed in human courts. “Why are you attempting to enact this now?”

“They have a shewolf I want.”

That wasn’t the admission Thaus was looking for. “Why’s that?”

“Why does any man chase a particular tail?” Chilton said with a lazy shrug of a shoulder. “Besides, it doesn’t matter. Right there in black and white it says, by giving them territory rights in the mountains, I can claim a Kwauhl shewolf for a non-fated mating. I’ve chosen. The shewolf is mine.”

Thaus had one quick thought that the guy had yet to use the shewolf’s name before the rage from Chilton’s words swept over him. He wanted to punch the Alpha in the face, burn the contract, and get the fuck out of there so he could protect the shewolf. Sadly, he’d need to be a little more subtle than that. Already, he could sense the men of the pack moving closer, circling like the hungry animals he knew them to be. They were making a shifter net around the house, probably thinking they could trap him should he not do what Chilton wanted. An interesting tactic, but not one that he hadn’t lived through before.

Still, he had yet to get a good read on the number of shifters not present on packlands, and fighting his way out of this shithole wasn’t in Thaus’ plans. Neither was doing anything that could endanger the Omega more. He needed to focus on business.

“I need to discuss this with the other Alpha.”

Chilton stared, as if he’d expected more of a statement. Or simply expected Thaus to give in and hand over a woman like some sort of piece of property. Probably the second option.

“Fine. But I want a brokered meeting with Alpha Lathan,” Chilton said. “I want this settled as quickly as possible.”

Thaus could have grinned. A brokered meeting was the perfect front to make Chilton think the NALB was considering his request. Chilton would get his time to argue, and Thaus would rip the fucking contract to shreds anyway. Easy.

“Fine. Let me call the pack.”