Savage Sanctuary: A Dire Wolves Mission (The Devil's Dires Book 2) (12 page)

S
afe house reached
. Perimeter secured. Get your asses here.

Levi pocketed his phone before walking into the kitchen. The guys were late, something that rarely happened. Something that made him want to toss his mate back in the truck and keep moving just in case, even if she’d probably kill him for it. And that was the last thing he wanted, considering his view.

Amy was cooking again, and Levi couldn’t take his eyes off her. What was it about a woman—no,
this
woman—chopping and sautéing that was such a turn-on? A silly question when he really gave it a thought. When Amy worked in the kitchen, what she did was more than cooking. She was teasing the food, playing with it, making it do her bidding and become something more than just a mix of ingredients. It was a sensual act, a balance between taste and desire. The coming together of multiple senses in the most enticing way.

She was also dancing and humming as she cooked, shaking those hips of hers to the beat of the song playing over the speakers. Making that ass bounce in ways that should have been illegal…or at least against all properties of gravity or physics or some shit.

Fuck, he should have gone for the twelve orgasms before the food.

“Are you just going to sit there and stare?” She grinned over her shoulder, that look of happiness something he didn’t ever want to disappear.

“Yes.”

Her throaty chuckle made him grin as he settled in to enjoy his new favorite show. Her hair was still wet from her shower, the one she took while he patrolled and secured the property. He’d wanted to shower with her, but that would have led to sex, which would have led to distractions. He couldn’t afford distractions. He felt relatively safe after walking the perimeter of the little mountain cabin he’d been sent to and investigating the woods behind the place, though his muscles were tense and his body at the ready.

Body and weapons.

He eyed the shotgun leaning against the wall by the kitchen entry. He preferred knives when fighting, but a human who didn’t know what sort of creature Levi was would be more apt to fear him if he saw the gun. He’d checked it over, loaded it, and carried it with him through the house and around the property. Just in case. The fucker following them had gotten too close, and Levi wouldn’t let that happen again.

Amy was in a deep grind—even dropping down a few inches to swing her ass in a way that made his cock sit up and take notice—when the sound of a car rolling over a gravel drive reached his ears.

Their
gravel drive.

Levi was up and moving without a thought, without a word, his chair screeching as it flew backward. He grabbed the shotgun on his way out of the kitchen, pulling it to his shoulder as he stalked to the front door. He assumed the car coming was his brothers arriving as scheduled, but he couldn’t be sure yet. He needed to be ready. No fucking way was anyone or anything getting to Amy tonight.

The car pulled to a stop outside, the engine sound dying out as someone turned off the ignition. Levi slipped into the shadows beside the door, listening. Amy had turned off the radio in the kitchen, but she hadn’t followed him. They’d discussed what to do if something happened. She was to find a spot outside the action and stay put. Let him figure out the threat before she reacted. If there’d been a safe room in the place, he’d have made sure she was in it, but this cabin wasn’t one of the president’s emergency properties. Blasius Zenne had homes all around the world with safe rooms, food stockpiles, and weapons closets just in case a rival tried to come after him or one of his mates. A man in such a position of power was bound to have enemies. But they hadn’t been close enough to one of those, apparently. This place was just a cabin in the woods…with a cellar full of guns and explosives. A Dire Wolf den, if Levi had to guess. Though, which of his brothers kept the place stocked, he didn’t know.

Doors slammed, and the sound of multiple heavy footfalls on the gravel told Levi there was more than one person out there. Definitely not anyone trying to be sneaky, not that the noise changed Levi’s plan. Gun pointed at the door, hackles raised, he stood in wait. Ready to take on any threat. Ready for battle.

But when the sound of heavy boots on wood hit the porch, and the familiar scent of Dire Wolf met his nose, Levi sighed and dropped the gun.

“About time you got here,” he said as he opened the door.

“Damn country roads made the trip a lot longer than planned.” Mammon held up his fist for a bump before moving past.

“Didn’t know I needed to teach you to drive, old man.”

“You trying to egg me on, kid?”

Phego followed Mammon to the door but not through it. Not at first. The tall shifter paused and glanced around the cabin before walking inside, wary and looking for a fight. Typical, really. He didn’t trust anyone, not even his own pack. Not that Levi could blame him. Phego’s family had set him up to be murdered long before the Dires had formed a separate pack and come to this continent. That sort of thing would scar a man for life, no matter how long that life tended to be.

“What’s that amazing smell?” Mammon asked, his eyes bright as he looked around.

“She’s…making dinner.” Levi fought back a streak of possessiveness. He didn’t like another man commenting on his mate’s food…didn’t want him taking what Levi rightly saw as his. Not even a brother. Shit, he needed to get his wolf under control.

Mammon nudged Phego, grinning in a way that set Levi’s teeth on edge. “Not the food, kid. The girl.” He took a deep breath, a low rumble sounding as he exhaled. “She smells like a delight.”

Levi’s snarl was loud and sharp—a blatant warning to the two Dires. “Back off, man.”

Mammon’s easygoing smile dropped. He glared at what he had to see as a challenge, not backing down. “What the fuck’s your problem?”

Phego cocked his head, his eyes swirling silver as his wolf pushed forward. “What’d you do…get your dick all up in there and risk our relations with her pack?”

Mammon hissed a curse, ignoring Levi’s warning growl. “I thought we told you to control yourself for once.”

The need to attack was a hard one to hold back, one Levi was definitely close to giving in to if the claws tearing through his fingertips were any indication. He didn’t want to fight one of his brothers, but he had before, and he would again. For his mate.

But Amy walked into the room at that moment, looking a bit nervous but holding her head high. And glaring at Mammon as if the man had stolen her lunch.

“He’s always very controlled around me.”

Levi’s lip turned up in what had to be a smirk. His little mate was coming to his defense. He didn’t need it, had been dealing with these assholes for a millennia it seemed, but he liked it. There was an edge to her statement that appealed. He was definitely a possessive bastard; seeing Amy be possessive right back was hot as fuck.

He stared hard at Mammon, not releasing the shifter from his gaze even as he held out a hand for his mate. His
mate
. Not his toy, his dalliance, or his random hookup. She was his forever. He knew the reputation he’d earned over the years, but this wasn’t some fling. This was the woman the fates had brought to him, the person who was his perfect match. He wasn’t about to let his brothers think she was just some fling.

Amy crossed the room and grabbed his hand, letting him pull her into his side. Clinging to him and practically staking her claim. Mammon and Phego exchanged a look at that move, a fact that had Levi’s smirk growing.

“Sorry, ma’am,” Mammon said with a nod. “We didn’t mean any disrespect.”

“No apologies needed. At least not to me.” She glanced up at Levi with a smile, looking so sweet and happy. But then her brow dropped, and her eyes hardened before she shot Mammon a glare that had him taking a step back. “But if you insult my mate again, there’ll be no dinners for you. Ever. And I’m a really good cook.”

Phego’s eyes went wide as he shot a glance at Levi’s neck. Bastard had to be able to see the reddened mating mark standing out against his skin loud and proud. Levi ran his fingers through Amy’s long hair, tugging part of it over her shoulder. Making sure both men got a good look at his claiming bite on her skin as well, just to be sure they understood the mating was mutual, consensual, and permanent. He wouldn’t put it past them to claim Levi had coerced the woman somehow.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Phego asked, glancing from Levi to Amy and back again.

Levi shook his head. “You really need to ask that?”

Phego sighed and glanced at Mammon, the two of them having a mind meld sort of conversation without words. “Thaus is going to love this.”

Levi didn’t miss the sarcastic tone to his voice. “Thaus can get his panties out of that twist any time now.”

“Who’s Thaus?” Amy asked.

Shit, she was going to have to meet Thaus one day, would need to meet all his brothers. Including Luc. What felt like a shard of ice skittered along his spine. In terms of potential disasters, it would be way worse for her to meet Luc. Levi was certain Bez hadn’t grown the balls to introduce his mate to the shifter they all saw as Alpha, and Sariel had been mated to the Dire for more than a year.

“Thaus is one of my brothers. Part of my pack.” Levi ignored the raised eyebrow Phego shot him. “He’s a little…tougher than the rest of us.”

She looked over each man in turn, her face solid and stoic. Not giving anything away. Levi wished he could see the three of them as she saw them, though her mumbled
let’s hope not
gave him a little insight into how she sized up the men around her. And a peek at her bravery once more.

After a tense moment Levi hoped never to have to repeat in his lifetime, Amy took a deep breath and pasted a smile on her face. “C’mon, boys. So long as no one’s pounding down the door to kill me, I might as well feed you.”

Levi snatched her, almost clinging to her and snarling viciously. Amy froze in his arms as the other two men in the room growled long and loud, matching Levi in tone. She didn’t say anything, but Levi could feel the tension in her shoulders, the way her hands shook as she grasped his wrists. They were scaring her.

That knowledge allowed Levi to be the first to shake off the aggression and regain control of his animal side. He set her back on the floor and took a step away, feeling a bit sheepish.

“Sorry,” he said. “But the idea of someone coming to kill you is…”

He trailed off, his heart breaking at the thought. His rage billowing through him like smoke. It was Phego who voiced at least part of what he wanted to say.

“It’s abhorrent.”

“Yeah,” Mammon agreed. “What he said. And it’s not happening on our watch.”

Amy’s round eyes met Levi’s, her surprise evident. “Well, I appreciate that.”

Levi sighed, still trying to stop his heart from racing. “We’re a little protective of our own. And you, being an Omega, qualify.”

Phego shot him another weird look, one Levi ignored again. He knew the shifter would have questions and concerns, but he wasn’t ready to deal with all that yet. He had a mate to protect.

“Yeah, Omegas are family,” Mammon said with a grin. “But your unfortunate mating to this asshole cemented it. You’re ours, baby. Get used to it.”

Levi snorted a laugh as Amy sighed.

“More men. That’s just what I need in my life. More men.”

“Hey.” Phego shrugged. “We’ve got one female in our ranks. I mean, Bez and Sariel rarely leave his compound in Texas so we don’t see much of her unless we head down by them, but she counts.”

“Lovely.” Amy headed for the kitchen, her head high once more and that ass swinging. “So it’s me and this woman to help balance out the testosterone of your pack. I bet we’ll have lots to talk about when I meet her.”

Phego and Mammon blocked Levi as soon as Amy left the room.

“You didn’t tell her?” Phego asked, glaring hard.

Levi shrugged, avoiding his glare. “Didn’t have time.”

Mammon scoffed at that cheap answer, as he should have. “Gee, how much time does it take to say,
Oh, by the way, I’m a Dire Wolf. We’re supposed to be extinct so don’t tell anyone, and I live like a motherfucking gypsy traveling from place to place because I can’t stand to be stuck in one spot for long
?”

Levi wanted to argue with him, but he couldn’t. He should have told her already. Should have explained everything to her. But he could already see the pitfalls of their lives coming together. She’d fought him to stay in that tiny town, had refused to go willingly at first because of her business and her family. Meanwhile, Levi had never voluntarily stayed in the same place for more than a month, had never even considered actually owning anything more than what he could throw in his truck and haul around with him. At least, not until he met Amy.

“You are a jackass,” Phego barked, pulling Levi from his thoughts. “You had three motherfucking days in your truck. Seems like plenty of time and opportunity to me.”

Levi growled and moved as if to confront the bastard, but quick footsteps and the smell of his mate approaching had him dropping back.

“Boys.” Amy’s sharp reprimand had all three men spinning her way. “Quit arguing and come eat. Levi’s been forcing me to survive on nasty hamburgers and soggy fries for the past three days.”

“Sounds familiar.” Mammon followed her toward the kitchen, pausing just long enough to grab Levi’s forearm in a show of respect. Eyes on Levi’s, the shifter nodded once as they gripped one another. That expression, that nod, sent a shot of relief through Levi. His brothers would accept Amy, would accept their mating. Not that he’d worried they wouldn’t, but… Okay, he’d worried they wouldn’t. He wanted his pack and his mate. Hell, he wanted her pack, too. For the first time in his long life, Levi wanted a large group around him and his mate. A protective circle, if you would. Though no one would protect his mate better than him.

Phego followed Mammon, gripping Levi’s arms and nodding once. Respectful but also a little…dangerous. Already, he was willing to throw down for his new sister, that much was obvious by the glare in his eyes. And Levi appreciated it. His brothers were there to help, and they would guard an Omega with their lives. But an Omega mated to one of their own? There were no limits to what they would do to keep her safe. No boundaries.