Savage Surrender: A Dire Wolves Mission (The Devil's Dires Book 1) (8 page)

He stared at her for a moment, icy eyes harsh. Unwavering, unemotional…and uninterested. “You’re not part of the plan.”

B
ez watched
his mate’s face fall, an unfamiliar sensation in his gut telling him something he’d done had caused her pain. He hated that look, the way her eyes went dead and flat, and how her spark disappeared. It made her seem almost dead inside, and though he didn’t know exactly how he’d messed up, the last thing Bez wanted was to see her dead in any way.

He searched for the words that would fix his mistake, that would take that look off her face, but he had none. And by the way her shoulders rolled forward in defeat, she knew it. Damn it, why did he have to find her
now
? After all the years alone, centuries upon centuries of living the life of a nomad with his Dire Wolf brothers, he stumbled upon his mate in the middle of a fucking mission. He couldn’t have prepared for this.

After a long, tense moment, the woman took a deep breath and lifted her chin, almost challenging him. Bez’s wolf perked up, eyeing her, waiting to see what she had planned. She gave Bez a hard look, one that made his wolf whine inside his head. One that made his blood rush south to his long-neglected cock.

“I need to take a shower,” she said, her voice firm.

Bez felt his eyebrows draw together. He wanted to ask her what he’d done wrong and how to fix it, but he stayed silent. Instead, he pointed toward the back of the house. The woman nodded once, glanced at the wolf at his side, and strode down the hall toward the bathroom. He watched her go, a sense of dread knotting his gut and telling him he’d just made a huge mistake. Not a familiar feeling for him.

The wolf at his side, the Omega named Angelita, whined as she watched her friend leave.

“She wants to bathe,” Bez said, frowning at how unnecessary the words were. “I have no idea what just happened.”

Angelita chuffed, an almost mocking sound, which seemed fitting considering the situation.

“What?” Bez asked. “Am I supposed to know what’s going on in that woman’s head?”

Angelita didn’t answer. Instead, the wolf hopped on the couch and waited, watching him, making Bez feel somehow expected to do…something. When he didn’t move, she barked. Bez growled in response, his own wolf forcing his human spirit aside. The shewolf wagged her tail and perked her ears as she waited, the picture of youthful ignorance. If she knew the kind of man he was, the things he’d done over the years, she wouldn’t want him anywhere near her. But right then, she did.

Bez approached the couch with caution, his steps slow. He wasn’t afraid of the little wolf, but she made him feel off-balance, just as his mate did. That sensation was something he didn’t like, something he was unaccustomed to experiencing. He recognized that he was treating the women as if they were dangerous, and wasn’t that just a mind fuck. A tiny teenage shewolf and his own mate, dangerous to
him
.

With more care than probably necessary considering the small build of the girl, Bez lowered himself to the couch, leaving lots of space between him and Angelita. She shuffled closer, making soft, chuffing noises. Bez growled back, his wolf uncertain if her actions were some kind of challenge or not.

When her nose hit his thigh, Bez huffed. “If you have something to say, Omega, shift back and say it.”

The wolf froze, staring at him deep and hard for a moment before she dropped her eyes. Bez could almost feel the sadness pouring off her, the desperation. His wolf surged forward, seeing her as something to guard and protect. More so than just in the context of following Blaze’s orders. He suddenly saw her as pack, which threw Bez even more off-balance. He wasn’t a protector. He was a hunter, a tracker, and an assassin. His idea of keeping the Omega safe had been to lock her in the safe room and wait until someone else could deal with her. Now he had two Omegas on his hands, and he couldn’t imagine leaving either of them alone.

Unsure what to do next, Bez said the only words he could think of. “You can’t shift back, can you?”

Angelita shook her head and whimpered.

“I’ve never tried to reverse a forced shift, but we could try. If you wanted to.” He held up his hands at her fierce growl. “No. Okay. Gotcha.”

The red wolf relaxed again, though her eyes were still wary and watchful. Untrusting. Regret wasn’t something Bez was used to bearing, but he practically bowed under the weight of it right then. Regret for not protecting her better, regret for forcing her to shift, regret for not knowing how to fix what he’d done.

He didn’t like this regret shit.

Bez lifted his hand, his movements unsteady and awkward. Compassion wasn’t his thing… He didn’t touch. He didn’t feel. He didn’t… Without allowing himself time to think his actions through, he brought his hand around to the back of Angelita’s neck. And he rubbed.

“It’s okay,” he said, staring at the way his fingers moved in her fur. Wondering when the last time he’d voluntarily touched someone other than in a formal greeting had been. “Those first shifts can be brutal. I couldn’t shift at will until I was nineteen. Before that, every shift my father forced upon me was painful and seemed to take forever, and coming back on my own was such a long and arduous process.”

The girl watched him with her wide eyes. Waiting for something he couldn’t identify. Bez’s massage faltered, his mouth going dry. Fuck, what was he supposed to say? The Omega lay there looking at him, not giving him any clue as to what she wanted. Bez hated not knowing the next step in a plan. Hated it so much, he refused to live that way. But damn, the two Omegas had thrown his world completely upside down in the course of just one evening. And the night wasn’t over yet.

Sighing, rubbing his free hand over his head, he surrendered to those deep, dark eyes staring up at him. “You’ll shift back when you’re ready. You’re still too young yet to deal with the pressure I put on you. I…shouldn’t have forced you to shift that way.”

As Bez fell silent, he found himself staring down the hall where his mate had disappeared. Angelita must have felt more comfortable with his silence than his words. She inched closer, curling up next to him with her head on his knee. Bez kept his fingers buried in her fur, the close proximity of another shifter calming the confusion in his mind. A very unexpected benefit of the whole touching thing. The comfort soothed him, lulled him into a state of emotion he’d never experienced.

“Did I mess something up?” The words almost surprised him, the weakness behind them something he hadn’t wanted to share.

Angelita sniffed, an agreeable sound if he had to guess.

Bez swallowed, listening to the sounds coming from down the hall. The water falling and meeting skin, the splash of something against tile. The noises that came from his mate as she bathed.

His
mate
…

“I don’t know how to do this.” Bez licked his lips, fighting to get the words out. “I’ve never done anything like this. Ever. She’s…”

He couldn’t say it, couldn’t tell Angelita he’d found his mate before he said the words to the woman herself. A woman whose name he didn’t yet know.

“Oh, shit.” Bez rubbed a rough hand over his shorn head. He hadn’t asked her name, and he certainly hadn’t offered his. True, he’d made sure to save her along with Angelita, purely for selfish reasons if he were being honest, but he hadn’t treated her as a mate should be treated. He hadn’t made things easier on her or offered her a single piece of himself. He hadn’t even told her
his name
.

But the danger hadn’t subsided, and he was still thinking like a soldier, not a mate. The threat of a hunting werewolf during a full moon was a real one, particularly for the women. The men from the camp would find them, dragging the beast along with them. They’d try to control it, to keep it away from the Omega and send it after his mate. A woman they saw as disposable. That thought made his blood boil and his wolf snarl viciously in his head. His mate was no more disposable than he was, and he’d prove it to anyone who dared treat her otherwise. But he’d need help to eliminate the threat.

“Fuck.” Bez threw his head back and pulled his phone from the pocket of his shorts. He’d never made this kind of call, never had to ask for help from anyone outside of his brothers. Not until now. Not until he started working outside of his orders.

His fingers flew over the screen as he dialed the number from memory. Carefully, he lifted Angelita’s muzzle off his thigh, letting it fall back to the seat of the couch as he stood up. Bez stalked across the floor as he waited for Dante to pick up, growling low and steady. This had to work. There was nothing more he could do, not on his own. He had a job to do in keeping Angelita safe from harm, but he had a personal responsibility to his mate as well. Both women were his to care for, and he couldn’t do it alone. He needed help to keep both women safe.

After what seemed like a hundred rings, Dante’s voice came through the other end. “What’s the news, Bez?”

“Change in plans.”

Dante’s pause would have been almost unnoticeable to anyone else, but Bez had worked closely with him and Blaze for a long time. That pause might as well have been a scream.

“What’s the situation?” Dante asked, his voice a bit lower.

“Three shifters heading our way, plus a werewolf on the hunt.”

“Ah, fuck.” The click of Dante’s typing sounded like automatic gunfire in the distance, his fingers obviously flying fast over the keys. “How much time?”

“Couple of hours at most.”

“Damn it, Beelzebub. You’re not giving us a lot of options.”

Bez squeezed his eyes shut. “I know, sir.”

“You have a place to hole up?”

“The lake house outside of Port Barre. There’s an arsenal and a safe room. I hate to use it, but it’ll work to keep the were away from—” Bez took a deep breath “—the Omegas.”

The silence on the other end lasted far longer than Dante’s original pause, not something anyone would miss. Bez knew the information that there were two Omegas involved would shock the shifter.

After almost twenty seconds of stunned silence, Dante growled, “What do you mean, Omegas? Please tell me you misspoke.”

Bez made another pass around the room, slowing slightly. “There were two Omegas at the camp, sir.”

Dante cursed low and guttural. “And you took them both with you?”

“Yes, sir.”

More silence. Bez’s head shot up as the shower turned off, his ears perking at the scratch of a towel against skin. His mate would be finished soon, and he still had no idea what to say to her.

Angelita hopped off the couch and walked down the hall, leaving Bez to his phone call. He listened as she trotted into the back right bedroom and jumped on the bed, the mattress creaking under even her slight weight. He’d need to move her upstairs soon, into the cold, steel box that could keep her alive in the event the were got past him, but he could allow her to sleep downstairs in a comfortable bed for now. If he kept his wolf closer to the surface, he’d hear the threat of the men and their beast coming long before they hit the property.

“Do we know which pack Omega Two belongs to?” Dante asked, drawing Bez’s attention back to the conversation.

“No, sir.”

“Does she match the descriptions of any of the missing Omegas reported?”

“No, sir.”

“Have you questioned her?”

“No, sir.”

“How do you know she’s not a threat?”

Bez paused, listening as his mate padded across the tile floor of the bathroom. The soldier in him said to give Dante all the details, to tell him he’d found his mate in the second Omega. But again, Bez didn’t want to say the words for the first time unless they were to
her
. Something in him, some deep and nearly dead place inside, told him that was the right thing to do. To tell others instead first would be disrespectful to her and to the sanctity of the mating claim. And if there was one thing a Dire Wolf understood, it was the importance of respect.

So Bez took a breath, he focused on the sound of the woman who’d just opened the bathroom door, and he withheld information from Dante for the first time since they’d started working together.

“I just do, sir.”

S
ariel stayed
under the pulsing heat of the shower for as long as she dared, letting the hot water wash away the filth that covered her body. If only there were a way to wash away the bad memories as well. For two months, she’d been kept captive in that hell of a houseboat, half of the time alone and terrified. Hell, if she were completely honest, she’d spent every damned second terrified. And though she wanted to believe that part of her life was over, she doubted. Those men were still out there, coming for her and Angelita. The only thing standing in the way being her mate.

Her mate…
ugh.

The shower may have left her feeling refreshed, but it did little to soothe her splintered ego. Her mate was not good with words, that much was blatantly obvious. When he said she wasn’t part of the plan, Sariel thought her heart would break. The gut-wrenching fear of him regretting bringing her with him had consumed her. But as the water swirling down the drain went from black to gray to clear, so did those thoughts and insecurities. No matter how little they knew each other, they were now tied in a way most shifters dreamed about. She needed to pull up her big-girl panties, nonexistent as they were at the moment, and face down the beast so she could find out where she stood.

She was going to have to actually speak to her mate about more than just how to stay alive.

“It’s just talking,” Sariel whispered into the spray, letting the water drown her words. Stomach rolling at the thought of how badly this could go, she reluctantly turned off the taps. A chill set in fast, her body overheated from the shower, but she didn’t move. Instead, she stood with her hands braced on the tile wall, not ready to leave the safety of the steamy bathroom.

Finally, Sariel huffed and dragged open the glass door. She couldn’t hide forever. She dried off quickly and threw on the T-shirt she’d acquired in the Jeep, unable not to notice the little round hole sitting almost exactly at the top of her hip. A perfect circle, darkened around the edges. So very odd if only in its simplicity. She stuck her finger through the hole and wiggled it, contemplating why the man would keep a shirt with a hole in it. Sentimental reasons? He didn’t seem much like the sentimental sort, but it was always a possibility. Some kind of memory tied to it? Good or bad, that might be a reason to keep it. Or was he simply someone who refused to give up on things, who saw the flaws as minor?

Sariel sighed. She was putting way too much thought into a simple T-shirt with a hole in it. She needed to quit stalling. After one more moment staring at the damned hole, she tossed her head back and looked at herself in the steamy mirror.

“Time to put your game face on.” She took two deep breaths and squared her shoulders, readying herself to confront the man the fates deemed hers. She needed to know where she stood with him and if he even had any interest in being mated. Some men didn’t. It was rare to be outright rejected, but the possibility existed. She’d just have to ask him…be blunt and direct. And she would. As soon as she could breathe properly while thinking about him rejecting her.

Ready to escape the steamy bathroom but still afraid to talk to her mate, Sariel opened the door and followed Angelita’s scent to the bedroom on the right. She found the red wolf on one of the twin-size beds, curled into a furry ball. The girl slept soundly with no sign of tears on the fur of her muzzle. Finally. Sariel wished she could join her on the other fluffy bed, snuggle under real blankets and curl up around an actual pillow, but she needed to settle things first. Before she lost her nerve.

Sariel closed her eyes and sent a wish up to the fates before heading down the hallway toward the living room. Every step seemed to take less time than the last as her blood rushed in a roar through her ears. She wanted the hall to never end, yet it seemed to disappear right in front of her eyes.

She turned the corner to find the man who had been owning her thoughts since she first saw him, sitting by the fireplace. His big body leaned forward in his chair as he stared at the exact spot where she’d appeared. As if waiting for her, knowing she was coming for him. His eyes were dark, his face hard, causing her to falter in her step. He was not a man to be messed with on a good day, and if his expression was any indication, this was not a good day.

His eyes dropped to the hem of the T-shirt she wore. His shirt. Her fingers followed his gaze, worrying the edges of the fabric. Suddenly walking around without anything underneath the dark cotton seemed like a mistake. Wearing no underwear or pants left her feeling vulnerable and exposed. At risk. And yet something in his expression made her body tingle, made the arousal his nearness incited flare up bright and powerful.

Heart racing, breaths coming faster, skin flushed hot, she stood and waited to see which way this would go. Accepted or refused, mated or rejected. Claimed or scared away. And she was scared, at least a little bit. The danger in his body language made her both anxious and turned on in equal measure, teasing and tormenting her in cruel and lovely ways. Not something she’d ever experienced before.

Her fingers ran along the soft fabric as she wished the shirt were both shorter and longer at the same time. He tracked the movement like a hunter eyeing its prey. Like a starving man being teased with a juicy steak. She wondered what it would be like to be his steak.

His eyes slid along the planes of her body, over her breasts and neck, his head angling a bit to one side as he watched her. Investigated her. Learned every curve and dip.

“You have freckles,” he whispered, his voice rough but soft.

“Oh…” Sariel froze, her plans for demanding he talk to her blown up by the simple fact that he
had
talked to her, especially about the freckles that covered most of her body. “I…yeah. Always have.”

He sat silent for a moment, his eyes dropping to her hips as she took two small steps closer. God, she could practically feel him touching her with that predatory gaze. So dark…so intense. A physical force in just a look.

“I’m Bez.” He slid his teeth over his bottom lip, his canines long and sharp. Deadly weapons against soft, pink flesh. Dangerous and sexy all at once. Just like everything else about him.

Sariel shivered and took another step. “Bez?”

He froze her with a glance, his eyes swirling from ice to silver as he clenched his jaw. “It’s short…for Beelzebub. The name my pack assigned me.”

Sariel nodded as she inched closer, her footsteps light and slow. “But people call you Bez.”

“Mostly.”

She stopped when her knees brushed his, her entire body burning hot at his nearness. “May I call you Bez?”

He tipped his head back and let his knees fall open as he watched her. Examined her. Absorbed her. “If that pleases you.”

She inched between his legs, growing more confident with every word he uttered. Every lengthy look. His fingers brushed against her thigh, his skin warm and rough as it whispered against hers. She shivered and moved closer. His eyes dropped to her hip, a frown pulling at his mouth. He reached out, using one finger to trace around the edge of the hole at her hip, his brow furrowed.

“I…” Bez said, shaking his head. “I wish I had better.”

Sariel smiled, placing her hand over his, stilling his finger as she pressed his hand flat against her hip. “It’s fine. I don’t need much.”

“What you need and what you deserve are two different things, Freckles.”

She liked that statement, liked the way the warmth in his voice caressed her. She liked that a lot. She slowly dropped her weight onto his thigh, demanding more contact, teasing the beast. And he was a beast; a strong and fierce wolf shifter fully in tune with his inner animal. More soldier than man, more wolf than anything, he was one tightly wound ball of instinct and aggression.

She wanted to unravel him.

“I like the way Bez feels on my lips,” she whispered. He blinked but otherwise didn’t respond. He also didn’t try to pull her any closer or touch her in any way. Not making a move, but not pushing her away either. A challenge of sorts, one she was more than ready for. “My name’s Sariel.”

Bez nodded once, his eyes staying on hers. “We didn’t know about you.”

She sighed, a pang in her heart reminding her of the home she’d been stolen from. “My pack is small and stuck in their ways. They’re not part of the NALB, and I doubt they would’ve reported anything even if they were.”

Sariel grew quiet, worrying her lip as she perched on his leg. She began to feel quite silly for sitting on him, but his presence brought her peace. His touch soothed her wolf in a way she needed desperately after so long locked up in that hell of a houseboat. Still, when it became obvious Bez wasn’t going to speak on his own, she took a deep breath.

“Can we…talk?” she whispered, her voice almost weak.

Bez grunted and looked away, his jaw clenched and the muscles in his neck stiff. Sariel’s heart sank. That certainly seemed to answer her question on how he felt about being mated. She moved to stand up, but Bez’s hand tightened on her hip, holding her in place.

“Don’t,” he said. “Don’t stop…touching.”

Sariel peered into his eyes. The cold blue gave nothing away. “You want me to touch you?”

Bez paused then nodded. “I just… I don’t normally do this.”

“What? Touching?” Sariel gave him a soft smile when he nodded. “You can, you know. Touch me. I don’t mind.”

He growled and turned away again, but then his fingertips brushed her thigh. A tiny brush of his flesh that meant more than a full hug would have. Sariel waited, barely breathing, as she watched his hand creep along her leg, fingers twitching along the way.

“I don’t know how to do this,” he whispered, keeping his eyes on his fingers.

“Yes, you do.” Sariel brought her hand to his chest, laying her palm over his pounding heart. “I think you know how to touch just fine.”

“Not that.” He raised his eyes to hers, his expression practically stabbing her in the heart. “This.”

Sariel waited for more, but it never came. Still, she felt his need for her touch, felt how much he wanted her to stay close. There was a deep craving within him for physical contact, though he seemed too scared or stunted to express it. But she saw. She knew. She understood him in a way that took her by surprise.

“Do you mean being mated?” she asked. “Because I don’t know how to do that either, though I’m not opposed to the idea.”

Bez’s eyes went wide. Sariel wondered if that was the first time he’d been so obviously caught off guard.

She leaned forward once more, keeping her voice soft as she asked, “Do you want to be mated?”

Bez nodded, all slow and intentional. Sariel bit her lip and took a deep breath, bold under his touch.

“Do you want to be mated to me?”

He growled, low and deep. A dark sound that made her lick her lips and shift closer on his leg. Sexy…he was just so damn sexy.

“Freckles.” Bez pushed her hair over her shoulder, his fingers gentle and slow. “I’ve been alone a long time. I don’t know how to do all the talking stuff.”

“You seem to be doing fine.”

He shook his head and looked away, though his hand crept up along her waist to cup her hip, pulling her closer. Breathing hard, Sariel leaned in, dropping her head until she brushed her nose against his.

“Maybe we don’t need to talk.” She eyed his mouth, wanting to kiss him, needing to feel his lips on hers. His eyes stayed open, watching her. His body tense and hard. Sariel leaned closer, pressing her breasts against his chest, breathing in his breath when he spoke. “Maybe we can just…feel.”

Bez’s growl turned rougher, deeper, vibrating against her skin in a way that was both warning and enticement.

“My kind,” he said, his voice barely more than a whisper. “We’re not…gentle.”

That voice, so low and sultry as he cautioned her against him. It made her blood positively boil inside of her. Made her crave him—his touch, his taste, his smell. She wanted him. Hell, she burned for him.

“I don’t need gentle.” Sariel nodded her consent, a slow and sensual move that made her nose run along his. He brought a hand to her face, cupped her cheek, and ran his thumb over her bottom lip. Soft…maddeningly soft.

“Beautiful,” he whispered just as his lips brushed hers. Sariel closed her eyes and let herself experience this first kiss, let herself truly feel him. The way his lips pursed into hers, how his fingers tightened almost unconsciously on her hip, the brush of his knuckles as he dropped his hand from her face to grip the back of her neck. The way he held her. Owning her. Possessing her with a single kiss.

She moaned and opened her mouth, desperate to taste him. Needing him inside of her in some way. Bez answered her invitation, sliding his tongue into her mouth, groaning his satisfaction. Sariel lived in that kiss, let his tongue dominate hers. She gave without taking until he withdrew. And then she bit his bottom lip…hard.

With a growl, Bez pulled her closer, directing her legs on either side of his. Sariel slid her hips forward, straddling him, wishing to everything that the fabric between them could magically disappear. Wanting his flesh on hers, to feel every inch of him.

Rocking her hips, sliding along the length of where he was obviously hard for her, she kissed and nipped at his lips. He did the same, his touch demanding. His kiss near painful. His growls turned deeper, the sound vibrating through his body and into hers. She liked it, liked the way his rough hands and strong lips made her feel: safe, cared for, protected. Desired.

He gripped her hips harder, pressing her down on his lap. He was so hard. So thick and hot even through the shorts he wore. Sariel wrapped her arms around his neck and rolled her hips over the length of him, but a roar from outside stopped her midstroke. She gasped and jerked back, clinging to Bez as her heart nearly exploded. He jumped to his feet, hooking an arm around her waist and bringing her with him, lifting her with ease. He snarled as he turned toward the noise, twisting his body to keep Sariel behind him, his growl fierce and vicious.

“It’s a gator,” she said, rubbing his muscled arm even as her own heart thundered in her chest. “The sound scared me, but it’s nothing. They make noises like that all the time.”