Dire Needs: A Novel of the Eternal Wolf Clan (27 page)

“You are mine.”

“Because you say it?”

“Because you know it,” he said fiercely, his voice ringing through her like an electric zing right before he split the kitchen table in two with a single hand and a roar, and walked outside.

Anger vibrated through him as he slammed outside, but it quickly turned to something else, an emotion he’d never thought he’d feel. One Rifter still wasn’t sure he wanted to feel, although the choice seemed to not be his.

Would the Elders finally find them worthy of mates? And why now?

Because Gwen is dying.

Could they be that goddamned cruel? Of course they could. Even from his first meeting with them…

The young Dire sat on his haunches, staring at the moon. He bit back a howl, he and his Brother Wolf still trying to reconcile themselves as one.

The initial encounter with the Elders was something not every Dire experienced. In fact, many dreaded the thought of being called in front of their mystical creators.

He was no exception, wished he wasn’t quaking with fear as he tried to remain still. Since then, things hadn’t changed much.

The Dires met with the Elders only in shifted form—the shift occurring uncontrollably in their presence. It was
humiliating as shit to have that kind of submission happen involuntarily, and even their Brother Wolves didn’t like it.

And it came out of nowhere. A light flashed and the trio morphed in from a portal.

They took human form—all had wolves’ eyes and ethereal beauty that you couldn’t look at too closely. Looking at them was a bit like looking directly into the sun.

In the past months, Rifter had gotten down on his knees in the middle of the woods and begged the Elders to come down and help Rogue.

He’d gotten shit in response.

The Elders didn’t like his attitude. They never had, and they berated him for trusting a witch. Like he wasn’t doing that a million times a day on his own.

He’d been born into the most lethal pack the Dires had ever known—both feared and revered and eventually exterminated because of their inability to control the excesses they’d grown to crave. Wolves always had primal callings, and those were to be allowed, even cultivated. But their humanlike wants, like money and power, were things that the wolves shouldn’t have been concerning themselves with.

But Rifter had been trained in those old ways, and that did not simply fall away. The desire to hunt, to rule, had been born and bred in him, would rise up with a fierce need that was nearly impossible to tamp down most of the time.

He would not be responsible for leading the men to a new Extinction. That wouldn’t be an honorable death, no matter how badly they’d welcome it.

But now, with a mate, the thought of dying or even having to leave her behind made him want to rail at the moon—and the Elders.

Made him want to lock her in a room and not let her
out until they could keep her safe. Which would never be possible.

His mate was beautiful and strong. Smart. She made him laugh.

In the short time they’d been together, she’d made him care. She mattered to him in a way he hadn’t been able to let anyone matter. Not since his brothers, but that had been a different kind of bond.

This was beyond fate—he felt like the luckiest man in the world.

He didn’t want to lose her. He’d already lost so much, and he railed at the unfairness, mainly to her. Because all she wanted to do was live.

He’d thought about begging the Elders to spare Gwen, to take him instead of her, but they didn’t bargain that way. Instead, he spoke into the silence that haunted him. “I’ll be a king—a real king. Whether you spare her or not, I’ve decided to take the title.”

The epiphany rocked him, the total truth in his words undeniable and long overdue. And they did nothing to lessen the pain he felt at knowing Gwen could leave him. He reeled.

A week of happiness, if that. A week spent possibly watching her wither and die, knowing there was nothing he could do to stop it.

The howl tore at his throat, strummed the air with a ferocious echo, and for the first time, he understood what it was like to truly mate. It was as if his heart was ripped from his body whole and held in someone’s hand. He hadn’t realized how incomplete he really was.

How utterly terrified he was at the thought of losing her.

Mated to a Dire who might not survive her shift, all he could do was remain still under the moon’s pull.

*  *  *

As Gwen watched, Rifter stood alone in the rain, then went to his knees and howled, a mournful sound that rang through her, skittered up her spine.

Her belly tightened—fear and sadness—he was already mourning her.

He’d be devastated if she died during her shift. The whole time she’d been thinking about it as her body, her life… nothing about the fact that, according to Dire law, she and Rifter were halfway to mating.

It wasn’t just about her any longer. And that was something she’d always wanted but never thought she’d be able to have.

She was throwing it away whether she meant to or not.

It was in that moment she knew she would need to survive. For herself, for Rifter—for their mating. Everything welled up in her—the sadness, the fear, the pain—and she let it go for the first time in maybe forever.

She would live because she and Rifter were meant to be together. To throw that away, when she’d fought so long to live, to find love, would be the most foolish thing she could ever do.

No matter the consequences, she was his. Had been from the second she’d met him, and not because of any strange mating ritual of old. Besides, they hadn’t fully mated yet. And even if it didn’t prove true, she’d never believe he wasn’t meant for her.

There was no reason to deny it any longer.

Before anyone could stop her, she was outside, walking toward him in the rain. His back was straight and strong, and he stared up at the moon like it could give him the answers.

From the way he howled, even though he remained in human form, she guessed he wasn’t getting any.

“Rifter,” she called softly, much too low for him to
hear, but he did, because he lifted his head and turned it a bit. Of course he heard… he was a wolf.

Like you,
her Sister Wolf said, quite clearly.

“Please, I need you to turn around and come back inside. I didn’t mean to scare you…”

He rose from his knees and faced her, but there were several feet still separating them. She thought it best to leave it that way while she explained. “I haven’t been part of a real family for a long time. I’ve been alone. And the thought of hurting more people who accept me, who I could love… I can’t have that on my soul. People around me die—you already know that. You couldn’t die, not before I came to light. And now you can, because of me.”

“You’ll need to shift,” he said hoarsely. “I hate that you have to go through that pain.”

“I know. I will. I want to—for you. For us.”

At those words, Rifter walked to her, but even though he stayed close he didn’t touch her. “If you stay with me and shift, you’re not safe. After surviving all of that, you still won’t be. If you leave, you’re not safe.”

“So I’m pretty much screwed, and not in the good way, right?” He finally broke a little smile at her words. “Thank God you finally liked a joke.”

“It’s a very serious situation, Gwen. You must know this.”

“I do.” But the surge of power running through her made her feel… indestructible. “I thought the house was spelled.”

“Wolves need to run. We need space to do so—we need the outdoors.”

“I can fight,” she reminded him. “You can train me as well, the way you are Liam. I can be a warrior, like you.”

“I don’t want you to need to be.”

“But I need to be.”

“
They will never stop looking for you,” he continued. “For all of us, but you, you’re special.”

“To them—or to you? Because you’re all I care about.”

He stiffened at her words, obviously not too used to kind ones. “I’ve been waiting for a long time… I thought I’d wait forever. I’m worried I might still have to.”

She hugged him, waiting for him to relent. When he did, his mouth sought hers in a brutally demanding kiss.

Exactly what they both needed. She reveled in the taste, the feel of him. The danger… and the comfort of knowing that finally—finally—she belonged somewhere.

And she belonged to someone. Now she just needed to prove to Rifter that he belonged to her as well.

Rifter kissed her neck, licked the water and Gwen’s scent and fought the urge to bite her, to mark her, because she wasn’t ready for that yet. But soon…

As if she read his mind, she murmured, “You can get me through this. I can get myself through. I promise, Rifter—I’ll come back to you.”

He wanted to believe her, had no choice but to do so. He embraced her more tightly and felt a newfound strength radiating from her, and he buried his face in her neck. She was all cherries and tart—sweet like sugar. “We’ll do it together.”

He carried her then, picked her up while she held tight to him, her face buried in his chest as if not wanting to break the skin-to-skin connection. The light rain pattered on their bodies, soaking them through to the skin, but Rifter didn’t walk faster. This walk was part of his commitment to her as much as their time in bed had been—the cycle had begun and there would be no turning back for either of them. Not now, not ever, and he needed his brothers—everyone—to know it.

And then, just as suddenly as the rain began, it stopped like someone had turned off a showerhead. He looked up to watch the clouds dissipate quickly, revealing a day that had already nearly waned into night—but a clear night.

The bad energy was gone, replaced by a calm, clear evening.

He stopped and howled, and it was no longer mournful despite the hardships that lay ahead.

He’d found his mate. And he never intended to let her go.

V
ice and Jinx watched the interplay on the lawn, more for Rifter’s and Gwen’s safety than anything. Vice didn’t mind being a voyeur, but this scene made his heart hurt.

At some point, Jinx turned his back. Privacy… and because he was grinding his teeth together. But Vice couldn’t. And as Rifter walked toward the house, the sun broke through the clouds, the rain ceased and it was daylight again.

Jinx stared out the side window at the patch of sunlight playing across the floor. “Whatever the spell was, it didn’t take.”

“Do you think… Rifter stopped it?” Vice asked.

That gave Jinx pause, and Vice continued, “You heard Rifter say she was his. That the mating process had already started. Mating always made Dires stronger. What if it intensified whatever magic Rifter’s got going on with his abilities? We don’t know what that shaman did to him.”

“If even that’s true, it doesn’t mean Seb won’t keep trying,” Jinx pointed out.

“We’ll try harder.” He thought about how shitty he’d been to Rifter when he’d told Vice that Gwen was dying and vulnerable.

Vice would be the only one to come right out to Rifter and tell it like it was. He couldn’t help himself. The lack of finesse was his curse and his gift, what drew people to him instead of repelling them.

It was Vice’s destiny, but none of them had quite figured out what to do with it, including him.

Jinx was staring at him.

“What?” he asked irritably.

“You really think the spell was broken because of whatever’s happening between Rifter and Gwen?”

“I think love can do anything when it’s strong enough.”

“And you know what that’s like?” Jinx asked, with a hint of sarcasm.

“I do.”

It was the first time Vice had ever admitted to something like that. He looked at Jinx, who tried not to appear stunned and didn’t succeed.

“Not a word,” Vice warned, and Jinx nodded but still asked, “How do you handle it?”

“Obviously, not well.” Vice’s hands shook a little, and he stuffed them into his pockets, hoping Jinx wouldn’t ask who.

He didn’t, instead asked, “The mate thing… do you think, one day, for us?”

“For me, never. I can’t be tied to one person without cheating. For you, I hope so, brother. Goddamn, I hope so.”

Even as Seb chanted in the spell circle, the candles around him flickered and the disturbance raced through his body like a fever. He paused and realized the rain had ended—the raising of the Dire army would not be completed tonight.

There was a far more powerful energy overpowering it, and Seb could imagine what it was. But when his familiar flew in the window, he knew he’d been right.

The damned raven had been following him since he was six years old. Had been there when he was running with the wolves. Looked at him sadly now even as it remained loyal.

“You’re free to go anytime,” he told it, the way he had every day since he’d been shackled by invisible chains that led to hell.

But the raven stuck around. Didn’t understand that loyalty never got anyone anywhere but hurt.

Mars barged in moments later, although Seb had lectured him many times about not walking in during the casting of a spell, and the raven, who hated Mars more than Seb did, made a graceful exit. “Why did the weather change? I thought you could control this.”

“The spell doesn’t work if something the Dires do overpowers it. Good versus evil—it’s all about the balance,” Seb explained.

“I don’t need this hocus-pocus shit.”

“Then you shouldn’t have brought witches to help you.” His jaw ached from clenching so he wouldn’t say more. He was dying here, and not all that slowly.

Mars touched a hand to his cheek, and Seb remained still even though he wanted to recoil from the touch. When it drifted to his neck and down his chest, he tried not to panic.

“I can try the spell again,” he said, hoping to distract Mars. One of these days, that would no longer work.

“If this doesn’t happen soon, baby, I’ve got to ask the witches to attach your curse to any weretrappers and Weres killed by the Dires,” Mars whispered, an excitement in his eyes at the blending of sex and death.