Dire Needs: A Novel of the Eternal Wolf Clan (33 page)

“I’m used to it.” His voice was rough, but it was the first contact he’d had in the six months since he’d been rescued from the weretrappers and brought back to the house unconscious, and Rifter knew he liked it.

Still, “I don’t want you to be used to this shit.” He took a deep breath, needed to remember why he was called here. “I need to ask you about something.”

“The Dire spirit army? I’m not the conduit,” Rogue confirmed. “But they know I can stop it.”

“Is this Seb’s spell?”

“Yes. You know how you can fix it.”

That would be the hardest thing he could do—and not only because of his history with the man. The witch was immortal and no doubt guarded by black magic. “What about the Dire spirit army—how is he doing that? Can Jinx do anything to stop it?”

“Technically, the Dires aren’t ghosts—they’ve passed already and been brought back, which is why he can see
them, so no, that’s my department. Seb’s bringing them back and keeping them in hell,” Rogue explained. “After enough time here, you’ll agree to anything.”

“What did you agree to?” Rifter demanded, but Rogue just stared up toward the heavens and said, “She’s not going to wake up without help. The Elders refuse.”

Gwen stiffened beside Rifter and Rogue. Although she’d suspected as much, hearing it with such finality made everything far more real.

She already hated the Elders for what they’d done to the Dires, but this made things worse. “The Elders are cowards.”

Rogue shifted his eyes to her. “Don’t say that too loudly—they have an awful lot of power, as you can see.”

“They’re not the ones holding you here?”

“No,” Rogue confirmed.

“They could stop it if they wanted to. And they could wake me up,” she added.

“So could I,” Rifter told her, and by the look in his eyes, she could tell he was planning something that turned her stomach.

“No, you already gave up something for me. You spent time in their prisons because of me,” she told him. “I won’t let you go through that again.

“I’d go through it a million times if it meant keeping you safe.”

“No.”

“You wanted to live, no matter what—you told me that.”

“That was before I knew all of this.” She paced the room as Rogue remained silent. “We can fight them.”

“Or we can give them a sacrifice.”

“You’ll bring about the downfall of the human race.”

“They won’t be
able to replicate me,” he said. “But they’ll spend a long time trying.”

“I deserve a say in this.”

“Me too,” Rogue said quietly. “What’s happening with the weretrappers… it’s gone far beyond what it was ever supposed to.”

“No shit—the world’s in some kind of supernatural shit storm.”

“They have no idea what they’re letting out,” Rogue said. “They think they’re gaining power when they’re really handing over any they had to the demons.”

“And Seb’s helping. Allowing it.”

“He’s bound like I am.”

Rifter stared at Rogue. “You know that for a fact?”

“I’m pretty sure. Shit, Rifter, why the hell else would he do this? It’s never made sense.”

“He did it—that’s all that matters.”

“I’m telling you—that goddamned coven put some kind of spell on him.”

Gwen knew Rifter wanted that to be true, more than anything.

“Then we can free him,” Rifter said.

Rogue shook his head. “Way too late for that. He’s fucked. You’ll be saving something that’s slowly turning unnatural.”

“Some say we’re unnatural too,” Rifter pointed out.

“He’s gone, Rift. Let it go.”

Gwen could tell it was a devastating blow to Rifter. As much as he hated Seb, she knew a part of him still held out hope that Seb would return to the pack.

“Sorry, man. If I thought there was any way…” Rogue trailed off, racked by some invisible pain. He gasped for air, cursed, and then he was still for a long moment.

She touched his forehead and his eyes opened. “You’ve got a nice touch.”

Rifter growled and Rogue laughed hoarsely. “Relax, King, I’m not honing in on your mate.”

Both men stilled suddenly, and Gwen swore she heard howling inside her head. And it wasn’t her Sister Wolf.

R
ifter heard the howls in his ears. Something was happening in the other world—the real world. Rogue felt it too.

“Outlaws,” he whispered. “You’ve got to stop all of this, Rifter. Figure out a way.”

This was one of the worst places Rifter could think of being, and yet the thought of being pulled away made him sick. But the other world—the real world—tugged at him, and he knew he had to get back to his brothers.

In fact, if he looked hard enough, he could see them, standing next to him and Gwen, looking worried at the fact that neither was responsive.

Now he turned to look at Gwen and Rogue. Gwen was touching the silver along Rogue’s wrists, trying to move it away from the tender skin so it would no longer burn him and standing far too close to the mare for comfort.

She’d already asked if there was any way to cut the silver bonds off.

Both Rogue and Rifter were worried because the silver didn’t burn her at all. “Maybe the half-human thing—or a mutation,” Rogue had whispered, and Rifter hoped that’s
all it was. He hadn’t mentioned to Rogue about Gwen’s blood and what it could do to them. Figured that was the least of their worries right now.

“I’ve got to go,” he said.

“I’ll stay here, with Rogue,” she told him. “It’s not like I can wake up yet anyway.”

That was true, but he could lead her out of this place. And if she stayed… “I won’t be able to come back here to get you out if you don’t wake and shift. The only reason I made it this far was because we were together.”

Even Rogue protested, telling her to go to a quiet place and concentrate on herself. “You can’t stay here.”

But Gwen was having none of it. “I’m not leaving a Dire in hell all alone. I can’t do anything else but be here for him, so let me do that. I’m tired of being helpless. I won’t be, not anymore. I’ll be all right—I’m tougher than I look.”

“Well, to be with Rifter, that I believe.” Rogue looked at him and Rifter sighed.

The fact that Gwen would do that for his brother… what more could he say? “I will make this work. I won’t leave either of you here for much longer.”

Rogue nodded. “I believe you. I’ll take care of her as best I can, see if I can help her get the hell out of the shift. Tell the others.”

Rifter nodded, reluctantly released Gwen’s hand once Rogue took her other one to keep her close.

The fact that she could stay like that, with Rogue… whether that meant she was too close to being a spirit already was something Rifter refused to think about. He walked through hell alone, leaving her in a place she might never return from.

Over my dead body.
And it just might come to that if he could get the Elders involved.

But first things first. He roused himself and brushed a
hand over her cheek before he went upstairs into the room where Harm was held.

Vice scented them first, but Jinx was up at the glass door overlooking the deck before him. “Fucking motherfucker,” he muttered as he stared out into the woods, the multiple sets of wolf eyes impossible to miss.

“It’s the second wave of outlaws,” Vice observed.

“This could be in retaliation for Liam,” Jinx said.

“Or meant to distract us so we can’t blow the mausoleum. Either way, it’s all part of the same weretrapper bullshit, and we’re surrounded. But I refuse to be trapped in this house for the rest of my goddamned life.”

“If we fight,
we
can be spotted by the cops,” Jinx reminded him.

“I don’t see any other choice,” Vice said.

“We need Harm to fight,” Stray said as he stared down the outlaws from the glass door leading to the deck. “It’ll make things quicker.”

“No,” Jinx said firmly.

“Can’t leave him chained forever,” Stray argued.

“He’ll stay that way until Rogue is freed,” Jinx said.

“Now’s not the time for this discussion,” Vice reminded them. “The longer this takes, the more police presence will show in this yard.”

“Should we try to wake Rifter?” Stray asked.

“I think he’s got his hands full,” Vice said. “Leave him. The twins and Liam are ready for this.”

Jinx and Stray nodded, and the twins and Liam looked pleased that the Dires thought to include them. Although none of them wanted this fight, they were anxious to prove themselves an asset.

“If you see Walker or Tals, leave them for me,” Liam growled.

*  *  *

Rifter stripped and shifted out the third-floor window right onto two Weres who were hell-bent on killing Cyd.

To be fair, the kid more than held his own. When the two enemies were ripped to shreds, Rifter and Cyd moved in the opposite direction toward what appeared to be a sea of wolves, when the singing wafted over them like a warm breeze. The outlaws simply froze in place, but not the Dires. And one other wolf, whom Rifter had had his eye on from the beginning.

“Fucking Harm,” Vice muttered. “Always has to show off.”

“Good song, though,” Stray said. It was an eighties favorite—headbanging metal—and Stray was shaking his head to the beat until Vice hit him.

Liam and Cyd and Cain were frozen too. No way around that.

“Finish this,” Rifter told them. “I’ve got to check on something.”

The wolf ran into the woods, too agile to be a Were. It was smaller than a Were as well, closer to a coyote. Something a shape-shifter would accomplish—or a witch.

He had run with Seb like this all the time—except they were running side by side, not chasing each other. This time, Rifter knew he wouldn’t catch him, so he stopped, shifted. Called out, “Seb, I need to turn myself in to Mars.”

The small wolf stopped. Turned warily and waited to see if Rifter would stay in place. When a few minutes passed, the figure blurred and Seb appeared. Fully fucking dressed. That was the one cool thing witches could do when they shifted.

They’d been friends for centuries, looking out for each other through the witch and werewolf trials. Rifter had always admired Seb for refusing to hide what he was.

Now he wanted to ask Seb
why
, but they were so far beyond that. The man who’d
been his best friend, who’d stood with him through mission after mission, during their SEAL days as well as before and after, was no longer on his side. No matter the reason—the damage was done.

“I need to turn myself in to Mars,” he repeated. “I’m assuming you can facilitate that.”

Seb didn’t say anything immediately, and Rifter swore he saw something flicker across his face—sadness, maybe—and then his features hardened again. “What’s the payoff?”

“I need you to save Gwen,” he said bluntly. “She’s stuck in her first shift.”

“Just because I get her through the first doesn’t mean she’ll live,” Seb said.

“I realize that—don’t repeat the lore of my kind back to me.” Rifter’s words were mostly a growl. “Tell Mars my terms. No tricks.”

He turned his back on Seb, walked restlessly through the woods. If the witch had wanted to try something, he didn’t need to wait for that. And Seb, for all his faults, had never been a coward.

“She’s yours, isn’t she?” Seb asked.

Rifter turned to see that Seb had silently followed him. “Save her, Seb. If you ever gave a shit about me, do this.”

Rifter stared at the man with the short dark hair and amber eyes. He looked thinner. Pale too, but that’s what happened when you hung out with demons. “Seb, you can still come back to our side, and we’ll protect you.”

“You don’t mean that—you’d have my head.”

Rifter nodded. “On a stick.”

“My coven comes first,” Seb told him.

“I would’ve helped you if you’d come to me first,” Rifter tried again.

“You would’ve killed me,” Seb said. “Maybe I would’ve been better off.”

He hated that Seb could say that and mean it. His friend had always had melancholy, but he’d found a place with the wolves he’d been comfortable with.

Whether Seb would betray him again remained to be seen. Fool him once, shame on Seb. Fool him twice… the shame on Rifter would be nothing compared with losing Gwen. “Just make the deal with Mars. I’ll wait here.”

“I hope, for your sake, this isn’t a trap.” With that, Seb disappeared into the trees while Rifter waited alone.

T
he remaining outlaw Weres were cut down easily as Harm continued singing. Although Vice wanted to mow the man down as well, he couldn’t begrudge him the easy save.

But that was the problem—Harm always wanted the easy way out. Sometimes it wasn’t the best way.

Still, they didn’t waste time, killed the Weres easily as they remained frozen in place because of Harm’s singing. His ability to soothe with his music—or conversely, rile the place up—was part of the reason he’d been chosen as king so long ago. A great leader needed an equal charisma that was almost hypnotizing. And while Harm couldn’t do that with his speaking voice, when he sang, he could employ this ability at will and on a whim.

“Where’d Rifter go?” Jinx asked.

Vice shrugged. “Said he saw something—probably just patrolling the perimeters.”

Jinx didn’t look convinced and Vice wasn’t either. But then Harm stopped singing and Liam and the twins unfroze and stared out at the sea of Were bodies.

“What the fuck?” Liam looked around and saw Harm up at the window. “His singing does that?”

“When he wants to,” Vice said. “You have no immunity—no
amount of training will help. So be thankful he’s on our side.” For now.

The twins and Liam loaded the van with the Were bodies. Rifter instructed them to dump them into the river. The dual-natured body broke down quickly—they’d be dust within hours, but they couldn’t afford to leave them on the property.

“Twenty-five in all,” Liam said. “I knew all of them, damn it.”

Vice clapped him on the shoulder. “Better to know the measure of a man’s worth before you need to count on him.”

Liam nodded and got into the van with the twins.

“Hey,” Harm called from the window. “Get your asses up here.”