Savage Silence: A Dire Wolves Mission (The Devil's Dires Book 4) (3 page)

“
N
o
.”

Lathan looked irritated enough to snarl at her. “Ariel, we have to be reasonable.”

“I’m not doing it.” She slammed the drawer closed and clutched her clipboard. Inventory. She needed to finish her inventory of the medical supply room, not listen to him try to justify the possibility of
this
. How could he even ask such a thing of her?

“It’s just a meeting,” he said, almost growling his frustrations.

But Ariel was not about to be swayed. “Then I don’t need to be there.”

“It’s about your future.”

“My future is here, in this pack, with my patients and my friends. Not mated to some Alpha with a ratty old contract who thinks I’m something he can claim as his own.”

“Ariel.” Lathan reached for her, a simple move that most people would have accepted as normal. Not Ariel. She stumbled back to avoid his touch, nearly crashing into the cabinets behind her. She hadn’t flinched that hard in months, not around him, but this… This was different. This was life-or-death for her.

Lathan retreated, giving her the space he must have known she needed to calm a bit before he tried again. Not that she cared to listen to more of his nonsense. “I want you in the meeting. We’ve called in the NALB to broker these discussions since the Glaxious Alpha refuses to back down. They’re here to assist on your behalf.”

Bullshit.
“Assist with what? Auctioning me off?”

“Never.” Lathan’s growl was a testament to the belief he held in the ruling party of shifters in North America, but that meant little to Ariel. She knew exactly how much went on without the NALB’s knowledge, had been exposed to how dark some of the shadows in the shifter communities were, and she refused to be pushed back into them.

“He only wants me because I’m an Omega.” Ariel shook her head, the weight of disappointment heavy on her shoulders. “If I’d never come to your pack, this wouldn’t be happening.”

“If you’d never come to our pack, you’d be dead by now.” Lathan crept closer, giving her time to refuse him if she chose to. Pushing in a gentler way. “You’re a good friend and a gift to this pack, more because of your kindness and empathy than your Omega status. We are blessed to have you with us.”

“Then don’t make me go to Glaxious.” Ariel hated how sad she sounded, how weak. She’d promised herself she’d never be a victim again, but that’s how she felt. Out of control of her own destiny. Unable to escape the coming tide of darkness. Helpless. “I do not want you to let him win this.”

“I won’t.” He stepped closer, closing the gap. Leaving barely a breath of space between them as he stared at her with more fire in his eyes than she’d ever seen there. “I promise. If it comes to that, we will find a way to get you out of here.”

And there it was. A harsh truth she would have preferred not to know. No matter how comfortable she felt with the Kwauhl, she wasn’t a pack member. She was an outlier who could go back to a life on the road if she needed to. At least in Lathan’s mind.

She edged around him, heading for the room she used to examine patients. “I don’t want to run again.”

“Sometimes running is what keeps us able to fight another day.” Lathan smiled, as if he hadn’t just ripped her world apart in a few small sentences. “I would never force you into something you didn’t want, but you need to be at the meeting. If the NALB sees that you are adamantly opposed, they’ll have to take our side.”

My side
, she thought. There was no
our
in this situation. “Fine, but don’t expect me to be nice to these jackasses.”

“I never expect what I know you can’t give,” he said, his joke falling flat. Whether he felt the tension, the pulling away Ariel had already begun, or something else, she couldn’t be sure. But his next statement was far less friendly and much more stern. “One hour at the meeting room.”

“Fine. I’ll be there.”

Ariel nearly sighed when he finally left her alone. Shaky and almost sick with fear, she finished writing up the order notes for the supplies needed, logged the vendors where everything could be purchased, and shut off the lights. She took one last look around the place she’d devoted so many hours of her life to, and then she left, probably closing the clinic doors for the final time. This wasn’t home anymore. Perhaps it never had been.

But she wasn’t completely heartbroken. Truth be told, she was far more angry than sad, which was a good thing because she had an arrogant Alpha to fight. She was ready to shift and take off through the woods for safety, but she’d show up for the meetings Lathan had called, if only because she needed to make sure her so-called pack understood why she’d soon be leaving them.

She didn’t want to run again, but she’d have to. Whether from Chilton or from the group she’d never quite fit into, leaving appeared to be her only option.

An hour later, she hurried across pack property to the public house. The building was an old cafeteria from the first days when this land had been a campground for human families. The Kwauhl pack ran an adventure and exploring business, taking humans on group tours down the nearby rapids and up some of the mountains. It was good work, easy for the wolves, and made them all a good living.

But on that day, the campground seemed dim. Shadowy. Warning her of what was coming, the something lurking close by that would try to steal her from the light she craved. Ariel quickened her step in response to the sense of dread building, ready to get this meeting and the resulting good-byes over with.

“Hey, pretty girl.” A man stepped out of the shadows near the porch, looking all sorts of wrong. The physical embodiment of trouble. Just what she didn’t need.

“We’ve been waiting for you,” he said as he stalked closer.

But Ariel wasn’t one to let an implied threat get under her skin. “Let me pass.”

“I think we should talk first. Make sure you understand all the benefits of joining the Glaxious pack.” He stepped closer, looking her up and down in a way that made her skin crawl. “You won’t be stuck with Chilton every night, sugar. We know how to share.”

“Maybe, but do you know how to bathe?” She waved her hand in front of her face while edging closer to her destination. “Because, seriously, you might want to learn.”

The man growled a rough and totally predictable epitaph, something along the lines of bitch or cunt. Ariel wasn’t sure of the exact words because she was too busy dodging his lunge for her. Quick and agile, she practically flew past him, heading for the supposed safety the public house represented. Legs pumping and heart racing, she closed the distance in barely seconds. Not far, just a few more yards, almost there—

Too late.

A hand on her shoulder sent her brain spiraling into something close to panic. Some deep, dark, instinctual place that shattered her human mind but called her wolf forward in the blink of an eye.

The male became every shifter, everyone from that place. The men who’d harassed and tortured, who’d cut and burned. The men who’d held her down and climbed on top of her. Who’d done their best to own every single inch of her, no matter how much she begged for freedom.

She wasn’t going back there.

“…
a
s it should be
. These second-class packs can’t just do anything they want. Why, the progressive presidents are destroying the very fabric of being a shifter in…”

Thaus gritted his teeth and tuned out the blathering Alpha. Why couldn’t the mission have involved ripping something apart with his claws, strategizing some way out of a deadly situation, or anything dealing with explosions? Those were his skills. Listening to some asshole prattle was not.

At least they were out of the Glaxious territory. Thaus had spent a long, dark night in the woods surrounding it in an effort to try to avoid Chilton and his crew, but it was more than them. More than the shifters housed there. Something lurked in the woods. Thaus had felt it, sensed it. He was completely outnumbered there, far beyond the eight pack members Chilton claimed to have. He wasn’t going back without extra men.

The sense of being watched, being hunted, had left almost as soon as they’d crossed the invisible border, and Thaus was finding it much easier to focus on Chilton. Not that he wanted to.

Hopefully, this walking, talking pile of wasted flesh would shut up soon.

“And another thing…”

Probably not.

“When I was a pup, my Alpha would have…”

Being in an enclosed space with the four men from Glaxious ramped Thaus’ inner wolf up into a near frenzy. The need to dominate, to lead, to not have wolves at his back was hard to shake off, especially after a night spent wary and watchful. The rest of the men all sat silent and stoic, and Chilton, while not at all silent, looked pleased as punch. Calm, even. He was either putting on one hell of a show or completely out of touch with his wolf.

Thaus chose the first option.

The only thing that stopped Chilton’s monologue was the appearance of other shifters as they arrived at the Kwauhl packlands. The offending Alpha looked over the men with obvious interest, an almost covetous expression on his face. Something was very off about the Alpha shifter.

A man with long, braided black hair approached as the Glaxious team and Thaus exited the car. Thaus’ wolf immediately sat up and took notice of the new energy in their midst. There was something calmly demanding about the shifter, something powerful but quiet. Now, he was a true Alpha. Chilton’s presence grew dim around such a wolf.

“You must be Sathaus.”

Thaus didn’t blink at the use of his full name, though it was rare for anyone except Luc to use it.

“Alpha Lathan,” Chilton spat before the man could reach them, confirming Thaus’ assumption. The weaker man knew his place, and he hated it. “You do not greet me as a guest?”

“You’ve been here before, Alpha Chilton. I was more concerned with the new visitor.” The man looked Thaus up and down, an almost devious expression on his face. “Though you seem like the type of wolf who’d rather watch than interact. That, I can understand.”

The two Alphas grabbed forearms, exchanging the traditional shifter greeting. There was a marked difference between the two in Thaus’ mind. Chilton was thin and wiry, but not in the same way as Lathan. The Kwauhl Alpha looked fit, as if he worked in his wolf form often and could outrun any other creature out there. Any except maybe Thaus himself, who was taller and bulkier but faster than most people would have expected. Lathan also seemed comfortable in his skin, even walking around barefoot as some shifters did to keep themselves grounded to nature.

Thaus liked Lathan immediately.

Meanwhile, Chilton was Still. Fucking. Talking. “You can’t go up against a binding document, no matter what newfangled ideas about shewolf rights you may have.”

Thaus bit back his growl. It didn’t matter what Chilton thought was about to happen; he wasn’t walking out of this meeting with the shewolf or even the promise of a possibility of getting his hands on her. If Thaus couldn’t convince Chilton that this Omega had the NALB backing to do as she pleased, he’d have two choices. Call in President Blasius for the final verbal smackdown—or fight. He preferred option two, even if he still didn’t know the odds against him.

As the Alphas argued back and forth, most of it coming from Chilton, an unexpected scent wafted by. Something decidedly human caught on a breeze and working its way across the mountain. Something unexpected.

“What is this place?” Thaus asked, interrupting Chilton with more than a little bit of satisfaction at having done so. The man needed to learn his place, and it wasn’t lording over Thaus in any way.

Lathan cocked his head, a small smile on his face. “This is Camp Kwauhl. It’s a place where human families can come and rent a cabin in the woods to escape the noise and traffic of the city.”

“Ridiculous nonsense,” Chilton hissed. But Lathan just waved an arm, a motion that encompassed the mountains almost surrounding them.

“These foothills have been our home for centuries, long before the rush of humans moved west. And for a while, these hills were too remote for the majority of them to access. But roads and forestry opened paths that brought more people, which, in turn, led to more trouble for us. We were constantly running humans off our packlands. Finally, the Alpha at the time said we should invite them in and devise a way to make money from them. Camp Kwauhl was born.” Latham’s smile grew, a sense of pride emanating from him. “We’ve been here over a century now, leading humans on adventures they can’t get anywhere else on the West Coast. Our wolf instincts keep them safer than if they were out here alone, and we get to make money doing something we enjoy. It’s a win-win.”

Huh. Thaus didn’t think he could have been more impressed by Lathan. Especially when he glanced over to see Chilton scowling. He took an immense—albeit immature—joy in seeing that man pissed off. Well done, Lathan.

They moved their party into a large, simple wood building, with Thaus taking more notice of the structures and residents of the camp. Odd choice, running something for humans. The idea made his mind itch, made his wolf growl in an anxious sort of way. Or maybe it wasn’t the humans he could sense farther into the hills.

“Where is the Omega?” Chilton asked as the door closed behind the last man, sounding far more demanding than he had a right to.

“Ariel is working at the clinic,” Lathan said, not very successful at holding back his irritation. “She’ll be here soon.”

An Omega with an angel name…

Thaus nearly stumbled as his mind locked in on the idea of what could be coming. Ariel…angel of nature. An Omega with an angel name. After centuries upon centuries of being a pack solely of men, three of his Dire brothers had found mates in quick succession. Sariel, Armaita, and Charmeine…all angel names. And though he didn’t believe in coincidence or that he’d ever find a mate of his own, the fact that this Omega—this woman he’d been sent to protect—carried an angel name was certainly… Something. It was something he wasn’t prepared to give much thought to, though. Not yet.

Luckily, the arrogant Alpha wasn’t one to give a man a chance to let his mind wander. Chilton must not have been happy with Lathan’s response. He positively sneered at the other Alpha.

“How disrespectful.”

Lathan suddenly looked ready to fight. “She’s a physician and has patients who need her care.”

“Her original Alpha should have never let her leave the pack for that education, and you shouldn’t have coddled her into thinking such a thing was a good idea.”

Thaus perked up. So she wasn’t from this pack? That could leave things in a precarious state. Without a strong sense of pack and a good bond, Lathan could choose to stop fighting for her just to get Chilton off his back. He didn’t seem like that sort of leader, but it was a possibility. Thaus already knew his brothers would claim her as pack if they needed to, though how he’d do that without outing himself as a Dire Wolf, he wasn’t sure.

Dire Wolves were long thought extinct by his shifter cousins. Bigger, stronger, and faster than a regular wolf, Dires lived far longer and fought far harder than others. His pack had proven that time and time again, as Thaus would if necessary. But the fact that seven Dire Wolves remained walking the earth was to be kept a secret. Something hard to do if he had to shift to wolf form in front of anyone who might know the old legends. Chilton wouldn’t, but Lathan…he might remember the tales. Thaus’ kind came with a larger skull than normal wolves and spots along their haunches—ermine spots. That sort of thing was hard to hide.

Lathan didn’t back down from Chilton, though. Not yet, at least. “We don’t confine our women here, which is one of the reasons she has no interest in a mating to one of your men.”

“We have an agreement that your pack would give a shewolf to mine at my pleasure. Today is my pleasure.”

Thaus wanted them to stop making so much noise, but he was caught in a web of something. A sense of energy moving closer. A sense of fate closing in. Something was coming. Something important.

“That contract is over two hundred years old, and she doesn’t want to go,” Lathan said, growling slightly. Completely in touch with his wolf and ready to shift if necessary.

But Chilton still wasn’t backing down. “The agreement says nothing about wants.”

There.
The hair on the back of Thaus’ neck stood up, and his eyes locked on the back door. Something was coming in fast. Something big and dangerous that made his wolf want to investigate. Something none of them was prepared for, least of all Thaus.

As the two Alphas continued their bickering, the door opened and a woman walked in. A beautiful, dark-haired woman with skin obviously warmed by the summer sun and eyes as deep and dark as any night sky. The crowd of shifters parted for her, moving in two waves as she stalked across the room. Intriguing, stunning, sensuous…

And pissed the fuck off.

“Alpha Chilton,” she spat, her eyes practically glittering in her fury. “If one of your men tries to touch me again, I’ll do more than claw his face off. Now, let’s get down to the meeting. I’m not accepting a mating… With anyone.”

She stood with her chin up, her hands on her hips, and her face set in a solid glare as she looked at each man in turn. But when she got to him, when those almost black eyes met his, Thaus didn’t just see her. He felt her. Like a kick to the gut, she invaded every one of his senses and sent his mind spinning. One shewolf, one look, one connection he couldn’t deny. An angel to balance the demon he’d always been.

Things just got a whole hell of a lot more complicated.