Savage Silence: A Dire Wolves Mission (The Devil's Dires Book 4) (7 page)

Damn him.

As they cleaned up, Ariel’s mind wandered back to the meeting house. To the Thaus who’d stood silent and still, watching her. He was a vastly different shifter than the man before her.

“You don’t talk much around other people, do you?”

“Hmm?” He glanced up from the sink where he was washing the pots and pans.

“I just mean, you’re talking with me.”

“You’re my mate.” Simple, precise, accurate…exactly what she expected.

Still, she blushed. “Right. But back at camp, you were all silent and intimidating.”

“I was intimidating?”

“Yes. Total intimidator.”

“Huh.” He turned off the faucet and moved toward the windows, staring out into the dark night. “I don’t need to fill space with sound, especially in crowds. I prefer to watch.”

“So you’re a voyeur.”

The words were out of her mouth before Ariel actually thought them. Before she realized how sexually charged they could be.

Thaus growled low and deep, turning slowly, a heat in his eyes that made her tremble. “When this snail’s journey is over and we reach our destination, you’ll find out exactly how much I like to watch. Promise.”

By the stars…
“I have no idea how long it would take for me to…”

“Doesn’t matter.” He crept closer, telegraphing each move before he made it, giving her time to run. But she didn’t. Wouldn’t. She wanted something. Wanted it with a burning need she couldn’t get under control. She just didn’t know what
it
was yet.

When Thaus finally stopped right in front of her, he held out his hand. A simple, open palm displayed to her. No demands, just an offer she could choose to refuse or accept. Ariel stood and stared at his hand for what had to be minutes, noticing every line and wrinkle. Memorizing the shape.

“Your pace, Ariel.”

She nodded, still staring at that hand. Slowly, she raised her own, hovering over his for a long moment before letting her fingertips trail along the warm skin of his palm. His growl deepened, but he didn’t move. Didn’t attempt to push things further. He let her lead him. Ariel stroked the length of him again, still with just the tips of her fingers. The heat of that touch burned, and the need that fire caused intensified. A simple touch of his hand, and she was lost. Shaking. Needful. But still not ready.

Eventually, she pulled away, smiling up at him. Knowing how hard standing still like that had to be on a mated male with instincts to claim. “Thank you for…being a snail with me.”

He held her gaze, completely focused on nothing but her. Giving her no room for doubt as he whispered, “Anything for you.”

T
haus prowled
the land around the cabin for hours after their late lunch, giving Ariel her space and trying to work off the tension in his body. He didn’t go too far, though, always keeping close enough to see or hear what was going on. He couldn’t stand the thought of leaving Ariel by herself, but he already recognized how much she wasn’t ready for him. For anyone.

His entire world had flipped upside down from the moment he saw her; he could only imagine how she felt. The tremble in his mate’s voice every time she spoke about their mating, the fear in her eyes—they drove him mad with rage. How dare someone hurt that shewolf? As much as he would have liked to have met her sooner, deep down he was glad she wasn’t at the battle at Merriweather. He’d been brutal there, and in the resulting searches after the fact, completely owned by his animal instincts. All those women, those Omegas…all the babies those bastards had forced on them. His Ariel could have been one of them, was at one time. She could have seen him at his most violent. The thought was enough to make him sick.

Darkness had long since fallen when he came up over the rocky hill to the area directly in front of the cabin. He wanted to go inside, to see how Ariel was doing, and spend time simply in her presence, but the coming danger kept him moving. One more loop, and he’d give up. One more trek to make sure there were no new footprints or scents. One more—

“Anything?”

Thaus spun, snarling, his claws out and his hackles raised. But that soft voice eventually broke through his protectiveness. He knew that voice. Had been longing to hear it since he’d left his mate inside the cabin to come out on this perimeter run.

Ariel stood on the porch, looking into the darkness, bathed in the golden glow spreading out from the single light on in what had to be the living room. An angel in the flesh. A worried one.

“Thaus?”

His shift hurt more than he cared to admit, more than he was ready for, but he rushed it anyway. For her. Always for her.

“Sorry. I was…lost for a second.” He stretched his fingers, waiting to approach until his claws retracted and he could stand up straight. Fuck, his shoulder was getting worse every day. “Nothing yet, Ariel. You should be in bed.”

Bed. Shit, there was only one. A huge, soft thing he’d dragged up this mountain years ago. He could just imagine her golden skin on the white sheets, her long, dark hair fanning over the pillow.

Fuck, he could not be hard with her staring at him like that.

Ariel shrugged, clueless to the place his thoughts had gone and to the battle between him and his errant erection, looking decidedly uncomfortable, though. “I can’t sleep. I keep thinking they’re going to come blasting through the window or creep in through the door.”

Thaus growled long and deep. “That won’t happen. They won’t get near you.”

“You can’t be sure.”

“I can. Besides, I think we have a day or two until they decide to come up the mountain.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because that’s the sort of decision a poorly trained leader would make. Once he figured out the ruse of the escaping pack, he’d wait until he had his troops ready for his next move, and then he’d attack.”

Ariel was quiet for a long moment, still searching the dark for him. Still looking too fucking beautiful for him to know what to do with.

“What would you do?” she asked, her voice soft. The sound trembling in the night air.

Thaus couldn’t stay away, not when his mate seemed so distressed. Not when she was obviously frightened. He inched closer, his steps slow and steady so as not to push her into flight mode. Stopping only once he reached the bottom porch step.

“I’d have already done it,” he said as her eyes finally found his. “And I’d have won because surprise would have been on my side.”

Ariel stared at him, her eyes wide. Even in the dark, he could see the slight flush to her cheeks. Smell the warm, summery scent coming off of her. The desire she refused to give in to. His mate had needs she wasn’t addressing, needs his wolf would have given anything to fulfill. She wanted…and Thaus didn’t know how to help her.

“Ariel?”

“I’m going to take a bath.” Ariel disappeared inside before he could blink. Running. His mate was running from him in her own way, bottling up all the desire she felt and refusing to let it out. The sting of rejection hurt, but he couldn’t let that slow him down. She would come around to him, and if not, he’d follow her like a lap dog to keep her safe. That was his purpose, his sole focus. And he’d do it well or die trying.

But there was still a job to do, missions to complete, battles to fight that had nothing to do with her. Shit, how the hell did his Dire brothers go out on missions knowing their mates were at home? Sure, Deus, the techie of the group, had fitted each house and business with ridiculous security, but that wouldn’t be enough for his Ariel. What if she woke up afraid? What if she needed him close? He couldn’t leave her holed up in some compound the way Bez left Sariel, and she didn’t have a huge family watching out for her like Levi’s Amy. Even Mammon’s Charmeine wasn’t in the same boat—she had a full pack of misfits around her with armed guards and a mob boss watching over them all. His Ariel would have to be left with her small pack, the ones who couldn’t have protected her. The ones who seemed nice enough, but didn’t have the fight in them to tear others apart if necessary.

Distracted, Thaus stomped into the cabin and locked the door behind him. A slab of wood wouldn’t keep a shifter out if they truly wanted in, but it gave him a sense of rightness to engage the lock. A sense of security. The door didn’t have to stop anything; it only needed to slow an intruder down enough for Thaus to realize someone was coming in.

Once done locking up, he moved from window to window, shutting and locking each one. Securing his den. Securing his mate.

As he stalked down the hall, though, something caught his attention. A scent on the air, a small sound he couldn’t place. He inched quietly toward the closed bathroom door, knowing Ariel was in there. Sensing something coming from her that he’d never noticed before. Intrigued by that warm, honeyed scent.

“Mmmmmm.”

He cocked his head at her moan; every ounce of his being homed in on her. Was she…? That sweet scent wafted over him again, and he nearly shook with need. His cock grew hard, swelling almost painfully in a matter of seconds. Aroused. His mate was aroused. Without him.

“Oh, Thaus…”

He nearly stumbled against the door. She’d moaned
his
name. His. That made him feel better and worse all at the same time. She didn’t want him to touch her, but she was fantasizing about him. What the fuck was he supposed to do? Ignore her moans? Leave her to satisfy her needs alone? That wasn’t his way. Would never be. If his mate needed release, he wanted to help her reach it. But she wouldn’t let him close enough to satisfy her. Couldn’t stand to have him touch her. He was completely at a loss.

Hell had come to his little cabin on the mountain, and it had come hard, hot, and wet.

“Ariel,” he called after her next moan, one shaky hand braced on the door as if he could reach through and touch her. “Are you…okay?”

Her breaths came faster, the sound of water splashing growing louder. “I’m…fine.”

“Ariel.” He released a growl from deep within himself, purposefully dropping the register to a level that another wolf would instinctually know meant mating. She might not want his touch, but she obviously wanted him. So he threw caution to the wind and gave her what she wanted. “Are you touching that soft pussy, baby? Are you thinking of me while your fingers slide over your slick skin?”

She was silent for a long moment, the only sound her heavy breaths. He waited, prickles of energy running in rivulets along his skin. That silence carried weight; it pressed on him. Made it hard to breathe. But then his mate groaned, and he knew he had her. The sound was so soft, she had to be biting it back. A damn shame, really. One he needed to put an end to.

“Don’t do that, baby. Let me hear you. I won’t come in and I won’t touch, but I can talk. I can let your wolf hear her mate.”

“Oh, Thaus.”

“That’s a good girl.” He settled against the wall, leaning toward the door so he could be as close to her as possible. “Are you touching yourself, Ariel?”

“Yes.”

Oh hell, how his cock ached for her. “Good. That’s good, baby. I want you to. I want you to drag your fingers over your pussy. I want you to rub a fingertip on that pretty little clit. Can you do that?”

Ariel went silent again, though the sound of splashing told him she was doing as he asked. He could just imagine her in that big, white tub. Hair all down over the edge, skin dewy and warm. Legs spread on the rolled edges for leverage. Fuck, he was going to come in his pants if he kept that up.

“Oh, yes,” she cried, her heart rate building and the sound of small splashes growing louder.

Thaus closed his eyes and pressed the heel of his hand against his hard cock. This was going to be painful. Super fucking painful. “That’s good, baby. Keep doing that. Run your finger over your clit and imagine it’s my tongue. I want you to tease yourself with that hand. Want you to think it’s my mouth on your flesh.”

“Oh, fuck.”

Yes. He could hear the desire in her voice, the need to finish. “You want me to fuck you, baby? Okay, then. We can do that too. Just use your other hand, baby. Bring your fingers to the opening of your sweet pussy.”

“Thaus, I’m…I’m…”

“I know, Ariel. I can hear it. I can fucking smell it, baby. I’ll get you there. I’ll make you come so hard, you won’t ever want for another’s voice or touch. Just me. Me and you and every ounce of my focus on your sweet pussy as I push you right over the edge.” He growled again, keeping the sound going, rubbing his palm over his cock in an almost unconscious move as his body reacted to her sounds. “Are you using both hands, Ariel? Are you fucking yourself with your fingers?”

“Yes,” she said, her voice almost a sigh. Closer to a moan.

“Good. That’s good, baby. I want you to keep rubbing that little clit while you slide a finger deep inside.” Her groan nearly killed him, but he wasn’t done yet. Not by a long shot. “That’s my girl. Pump it in and out a few times. Get that finger good and wet. I know your pussy’s creaming for me, baby. Tell me it is. Tell me how sloppy I make you.”

“Yes, Thaus. I’m so wet…for you.”

He’d never heard anything hotter than those words. “Good. That’s so good, Ariel. Now add another finger. My cock is big, baby. It’d stretch you for sure. Got two? Add another. I want you stuffed. I want you imagining you’re riding my big, thick cock right now. Imagine me underneath you, teasing your clit while you ride me. Because I would. I’d tease it good. You’d be dripping wet before you even mounted me because I’d spend an hour between your thighs. I can almost taste you already. Sweet and ripe, a true feast for a bastard like me. I’d lick every fucking inch of you. I’d slide my tongue inside your pussy and make you scream my name. And then, only then, when you were positively sopping and still trembling, would I pick you up and set you on my thick, hard cock. Only then would I thrust up into your swollen, soaked pussy.”

“Thaus…” Ariel panted, the sound of water splashing against the sides of the tub louder and more rhythmic. She was close. Hell, so was he, and he still had his pants on.

“Fuck, I want to feel it. Want to know how tight your pussy will squeeze me when you’re ready to come. I want to feel you milk my cock as you’re screaming my name.”

She gasped. “Thaus, I’m coming.”

His snarl was unstoppable, his claws digging into the wood of the door as he lost some of his control. “That’s it, baby. Come for me. Give me all that sweet release. I’d fuck you across the bed if you came on my cock. I’d never let up, keep teasing more from your little body. I’d fuck you until you screamed for all the right reasons.”

And she did. She screamed his name, the sound turning to a groan as the air positively filled with the scent of her arousal. Thaus couldn’t resist, thrusting his hand down his pants and grabbing his aching cock. The tip was slick with precome, the head swollen and sensitive. He wanted Ariel to be touching him, wanted to feel her walls tremble around him, but not yet. She wasn’t ready, so he’d keep things to himself. And by things, he meant his cock.

He wrapped one big hand around his length and tugged, spitting out a hushed curse as he tugged on the foreskin. Fuck, that felt good. Not enough, not without his mate, but with her scent all around him and knowing she’d just come not ten feet away from him, it was borderline adequate.

As his mate’s breathing slowed, Thaus groaned and worked his hand over his cock. Tugging and pulling and thrusting up, chasing his release just as Ariel had chased her own. When he was close, he unfastened his pants and pulled them over his hips, too anxious to take them off, too needy to give a lot of fucks about the mess he’d make.

Sliding his hand back to his cock, he stroked and rubbed and twisted and grunted with only thoughts of his Ariel on his mind. Only the feel of warm and wet and rough on his cock until he came in his own hand. Until he whispered his mate’s name as he released with her image in his head.

“Shit,” he hissed as he gave himself one final stroke, his cock too sensitive for much more yet. “You okay in there, baby?”

Ariel was quiet for a long moment. “Yeah. I’m…good.”

Thaus sighed as he rubbed his wet hand on his shirt. She sounded nervous again. Afraid, maybe. But the padding of her feet across the tiled floor had him leaning closer, pressing his side against the door, wishing she’d open it so he could see her. But he knew she wouldn’t. Sensed she wasn’t ready yet.

“Thank you,” she whispered, her voice so much closer than it had been.

He ran a finger over the wood, his heart aching and his body itching to touch her. “You’re welcome, baby. I’ll talk you through it anytime.”

She chuckled. “You’re dirty.”

“I am.”

“Someday…” She trailed off, but he knew. He understood exactly where her mind had gone.