Dire Wants

by Stephanie Tyler

  “And if she can’t convince or force Seb to give up his powers?”

  Jinx stared up at the moon. “She doesn’t have a choice.”

  “Well, actually, she does. That’s not her plan anymore. Instead, your twin wants you to work with her to defeat the ghost army. Says there’s no way she can beat Seb, so to forget about him and work with you.”

  “First of all, that’s bullshit. She can’t work with the dead unless she goes dark herself. Rogue was born to talk to spirits—he’s the natural choice and that’s the whole goddamned reason we were looking for the witch in the first place. And how’s it supposed to work again, when she can’t be in the same room with me without screaming?” Jinx demanded.

  “Don’t shoot the messenger, hear?” Vice took a long drag on the special hand-rolled cigarette, the blue smoke forming an incongruous halo around his head. As if he knew, Vice grinned sardonically. “I’ll be there to help. Stray too.”

  “I’ll call you.” No confirmation. He couldn’t risk opening Vice up to purgatory. The Dires needed him and the others primed and ready to fight.

  And just like Jinx wanted him to, Vice walked away. Jinx felt the hurt rolling off the wolf in waves and he wished he could do something to settle him down. But letting Vice go was for the best—for Vice, anyway, and that was all that mattered to Jinx at the moment.

  *

  When the twin Weres and Vice left her behind with the tall man named Jez, Kate quickly learned he wasn’t a man at all, not with those canines. They were sharper than a wolf’s, his eyes were different and he didn’t have the same scent.

  “Vampire,” he said shortly, extending a hand to her.

  “Witch. Correction—fucked-up witch.” She shook his hand and looked toward the crowd.

  “You can cry about it or get on with creating the spell. You’ve got to convince everyone in this town that this was a fear-based reaction to an earthquake, not just the ones outside in this particular crowd.”

  “I don’t have the book.” Stray had convinced her it was better to leave it in the Dire mansion, and she’d agreed.

  “You don’t need the damned book, witch. It’s inside of you.”

  She closed her eyes and heard Stray’s voice. I’m alive, Kate. Do your job.

  She turned to the crowd and watched Killian and Stray continue to work their magic. Stray had closed his mind to her, and while she deserved it, that didn’t make it hurt any less.

  And then she began to chant words she didn’t know, but they flowed out of her as easily as her native tongue. She began to sway, felt the vampire there to steady her and she continued until her mind told her it was done.

  She opened her eyes and blinked. Dusk had come and gone and she had no idea how long she’d been casting the spell. It appeared to be working, but she refused to give voice to that hope and tempt the fates.

  “What do I do now?” she asked of Jez.

  “First you’ll go back with the Dires and Stray. Later you’ll go to the cemetery with Jinx,” Jez told her.

  “I can’t be around him.”

  “You can. You will.” Jez checked his phone and held it out to her. “It’s slowing down.”

  She watched a news video that showed reports were coming in from all over New York that the mobs were caused in reaction to strange earthquakes. There were reports of people hurt, but no more mention of fights or rioting.

  She turned back to Kill and Stray. “Their powers are that far-reaching?”

  Jez wasn’t smiling when he said, “Your power, not theirs. Lucky you’re on their side.”

  Chapter 39

  When the dust settled and the humans appeared to be back under control, Liam ordered the Weres to scatter, lest they be called by the police or the local media to describe their experiences during the faux earthquakes.

  Cain watched over his king with Cyd by his side as they regrouped in the woods for a few minutes.

  “We’ve got to blend better. Become nearly invisible,” Liam lectured the group before he let them go. “We’ve got to go back to the old ways, because the outlaw ways will get us all killed.”

  No one argued. Liam didn’t have all of them—not yet—but Cain knew it was only a matter of time before his king got control again.

  But now …

  Liam furrowed his brow. “I smell it too,” Cyd agreed as Cain also caught the scent of death.

  “Let’s find it before the police or the trappers,” the young king said. The three Weres moved through the woods as one, unshifting and scenting until they came to the steep slope of the ravine that led to the river.

  This time of year, it was nearly still, partly frozen. Icy limbs cracked around them, snow crushed under their heavy boots as they threaded down the slippery hill, the wolves in them helping them hold their footing easily enough.

  The bodies were halfheartedly hidden, like it had been done quickly or the trappers had wanted these Weres to be found.

  They were still in human form. Young—sixteen if they were a day. Cyd cursed and kicked the nearest tree. Liam moved forward with Cain as he bent to check the bodies.

  “They haven’t been dead long. And two of them hadn’t even shifted,” Cain said. As the omega, he felt the emotions strongly. Maybe that was why Cain spent as much time with Vice as he could, because Vice and emotional swings went hand in hand.

  “These are the Weres from Kansas. Their pack leader called me yesterday, said they insisted on coming to meet me. They wanted to fight for my cause—heard I was looking for new blood. They had their alpha’s blessing and I promised I’d teach them,” Liam explained, his voice guarded. “This can’t keep happening.”

  “You do need new blood, Li. They were answering the call. They knew the dangers.” Cain picked up a body and walked him to the truck. Liam did the same. Once all three bodies were loaded into the back, Cyd called Rifter to report what happened.

  “He wants us to stay put,” Cyd confirmed. “He’s not one hundred percent convinced it’s trappers.”

  “Shit,” Liam muttered. And when Rifter pulled up, alone, about fifteen minutes later, he called, “Liam, you’re with me.”

  “Now I get an escort?” Liam muttered.

  “Damn straight,” Rifter said from inside the truck.

  “I’m not going into hiding,” he argued with the Dire.

  “You’re going to do what’s best for the pack,” Rifter told him. Cain supposed that having a Dire come as an escort meant things were going from bad to worse. And then Rifter focused his attention on Cyd and Cain. “You two, track, but that’s all. I want to know if it’s wolf, witch or demon.”

  After Rifter and Liam pulled away, the twins went to where they’d found the bodies.

  “There’s no scent here but theirs,” he said. Cyd had a nose like no one’s business—if he couldn’t scent anything, that meant there was nothing to scent. “We’d be able to scent trappers.”

  “There were no marks on them. Could be demons,” Cain pointed out. “We could call Jinx.”

  “Let’s find them first and then call him. Let’s do this unshifted—it’s definitely a safer move.”

  Cain walked deeper into the woods, his wolf wanting out. It was still hard for him to push down the shift, no matter how much control he had these days. The scars that stretched the length of his back pulled now, as they did when he shifted, so that it would always be extra painful.

  Those marks had been placed there purposely by his old pack. Cyd bore the same scars. The twins had taken beatings for being moon crazed, which had only made the affliction worse. If it hadn’t been for Jinx’s intervention, they would’ve been put down at sixteen.

  Most thought that omegas were the weak ones, and in a traditional wolf pack, that was certainly true. But for the Weres, an omega was the best-kept secret of any pack.

  His omega was far from weak—in a fight with Cyd, the men would come out equal, despite Cyd’s emerging alpha status.

  Cain’s claim to fame as an omega w
as similar to what Killian’s influence was to humans—and Harm’s too, when he sang. In his presence, calm spread over whoever he was with, which certainly helped where Cyd’s moon craze was concerned. It just hadn’t helped until his own was under control, although his was never as bad as his twin’s was.

  He was as close with Cyd as Jinx was with Rogue. He could only imagine what Jinx was going through.

  “This way.” Cyd tracked just as well in human form, and Cain trusted his lead. It certainly helped their relationship that he was content to take the backseat because of Cyd’s alpha status,.

  But halfway through the woods, they picked up trapper scent, right before they spotted a human body. Angus. And he’d been badly mauled.

  “A wolf did this.” Cyd confirmed what Cain knew as he got closer, threading his way down the ravine while Cyd stood watch. The scent was strong even though the man was covered with dirt and leaves.

  He felt a weak pulse on the man’s neck. “He’s alive,” Cain whispered, more to himself than Cyd.

  “He doesn’t look like he will be for much longer. And he knows too much,” Cyd pointed out.

  Angus was a beautiful man, ravaged by the recent stress and the mauling. Cain laid his hand on him and let the heat run through him in order to heal the broken man enough for Angus to wake up and tell him what the hell was going on.

  His eyes opened and Cain demanded, “Who did this to you?”

  “Don’t remember.”

  He was lying—why was an entirely different story.

  “Need to hide. Can’t go back to … my hotel,” Angus managed.

  “How’s this my problem?”

  “I … met with Shimmin,” Angus said. “Working … with him. Pretending to …”

  Cain didn’t bother to tell him he was delirious—and an idiot. The man hung with Shimmin—and whether or not Angus was really pretending or actually was on Shimmin’s payroll, Angus knew what Cain was.

  Proving it would be a different story and Angus wouldn’t get that chance. He put his hands out and moved them toward Angus’s throat, ignoring the man’s struggle.

  Chapter 40

  “What were you thinking?” Stray demanded of her, and Kate fought to keep her composure.

  She didn’t answer him immediately. Instead, she checked on Killian, who looked pale from the exertion. His abilities obviously took a toll on him, and because of her, he’d need longer to recharge. Or at least that’s what Stray told Kate on the ride back as his brother slept in the very back of the truck and Vice pretended he wasn’t in the middle of a very big fight.

  “If Kill hadn’t been there,” Stray started.

  “But he was.”

  “You distracted him—and me. Dammit, Kate—”

  “Rogue told me—”

  “He’s wrong, Kate. Dammit, I don’t know what he was thinking, but there’s no way you can do much against this ghost army. It makes no sense at all.”

  “You don’t believe in me. Have you been blowing smoke up my ass just to make me work harder? You keep telling me how strong and powerful I am.”

  “I guess you proved me wrong,” he yelled and then he softened. “You’ve been at this only a little while. Seb’s had centuries.”

  “I’m not strong enough to help you. Seb knows all of Lila’s weaknesses, obviously. And I’m a big one.”

  “Kate, come on.”

  She turned away from him. She was ashamed and angry—at herself and him.

  Thankfully, they pulled into the garage. Vice got out and helped Killian to do the same, leaving her and Stray alone in their misery.

  She slammed out of the truck as well, but Stray was right behind her. He took her by the elbow. Even though her body yearned for his touch, she forced herself to pull away, to fight back against the one person who’d saved her life several times over the past few days. “You resent being tied to me.”

  “We got past that.”

  “You don’t have to. I almost got you killed, and you’ll never trust me again.”

  “That’s not what this is about at all,” he told her. “You call me for protection. You call me when you need me. Only then. What about when I need you?”

  “You don’t,” she burst out. “You need me for helping your brother, but you don’t need a damn thing from me for you.”

  He blinked, a predator’s gaze as he considered her words.

  “Maybe you’re the one who doesn’t give a shit about me,” she finished, hating to hear the raw emotion in her voice, hating that she cared so much.

  When he didn’t say anything further, she knew she needed to leave before he saw her cry. There was a lot she could handle, but her tears … she would not give him those. She’d given too much already. “Please, I just want to be alone now. I don’t need you nosing at me every five seconds.”

  “Maybe you picked the wrong familiar,” he said, his voice oddly quiet.

  “I didn’t pick you—”

  She stopped, but not quickly enough.

  “I get it, Kate. You don’t have to spell it out.”

  “Stray—”

  She quickly realized his name had never seemed so apropos as now.

  He simply stared at her. “Stop. Quit while you’re ahead.”

  *

  It was a turning point—one that turned Stray’s stomach as well. All the closeness they’d had over the past days seemed to crumble.

  He thought about how close he’d come to being in the trappers’ clutches—both of them—and how Killian had been the only thing preventing that.

  He’d hated his brother all these years and all the man had done was save his life. And he’d done it again.

  “I don’t need you nosing at me every five seconds.”

  “Maybe you picked the wrong familiar.”

  “I didn’t pick you—”

  The look on her face told him she knew she’d gone too far. What he couldn’t decipher was if she cared. But he did. You didn’t back down from a blood oath promise and the worst part was, he still didn’t want to.

  You’re a beast … and that’s just how she sees you.

  He’d never minded being a wolf—but the fact that he could possibly bring so much trouble to the packs nearly killed him.

  He walked out without another word.

  His brothers were shocked at the amount of power he and Killian wielded together. Maybe they weren’t scared of him but they had to be afraid of what kind of destruction he could cause.

  He wondered if they were thinking about caging him, putting him in silver chains the way they had Harm at first.

  And then he decided that if they were, he didn’t want to know.

  He was a fucking witch’s pet. Reduced to an animal.

  You’re nothing but a beast.

  In Kate’s eyes, that’s all he would ever be, and even though there was no escape, his Brother Wolf ran until Stray couldn’t see or hear himself thinking anymore, until he was all wolf.

  It rarely happened that the two weren’t working together in tandem. During these times, Brother Wolf had to be especially vigilant to keep Stray safe.

  Brother Wolf had taken over many times for Stray, especially on his first several shifts when he was still dying from the polar bear attack. He’d been too weak to deal with anything. As Kill watched over him, Brother Wolf shifted over and over until Stray came back out.

  Stray didn’t plan on coming back out ever. And Brother Wolf would watch out for him until the end of time.

  Chapter 41

  Cain couldn’t take the fed to the mansion, but with Cyd’s help, he got Angus to the apartment they rented near town for cover, in the building next to where Jinx was staying.

  Cyd left them there to report back to the Dires, and Cain called Jinx, who arrived at his doorstep in record time, with the vampire in tow.

  “What the hell is going on here? You don’t owe him shit—we discussed this,” Jinx told him.

  Jez was circling the unconscious man. “Human?”
>
  “Not to be touched,” Cain said.

  Jez frowned and retracted his fangs. “You take all the fun away.”

  “I know.” Cain shrugged.

  “Hear you wolves are in trouble. Too much pack shit. Stay solitary; you’re better off.”

  “A little late for it, but I’ll pass that advice on to Rifter,” Jinx told him.

  Jez smiled. “I like Rifter, but Vice …”

  “Yeah, yeah, he brings the party. I know,” Jinx muttered before turning his attention back to Cain. “I don’t know if we can let the fed live.”

  “I know that.”

  Jinx paused for a long moment and Cain swore his fucking heart stopped beating for a split second. “See what he knows. If he’s useful, he can live.”

  He left, taking Jez and Cyd with him.

  “Stupid, stupid human,” Cain muttered, his touch much gentler than his words. “What were you thinking?”

  *

  Angus couldn’t form the words, was pretty sure he was dying.

  Just as before, the young wolf was touching him, hands over his throat and chest. Angus felt the heat radiate through his body, overriding the pain and somehow intensifying it at the same time. He groaned, despite his best efforts to be stoic, but hell, he’d been literally thrown to the wolves.

  “Why are you doing this?” he asked, and it took nearly all his strength.

  “I made a promise to help the innocent.”

  “I’m not.”

  “I know. You’re lying to me about who did this. Why?”

  “Have to. Your safety.”

  Cain looked like he was going to say something angry—his mouth twisted and Angus braced himself, but all the wolf said was “Stay still.”

  “Trying.” And he was, until Cain put his hands on Angus’s chest and it burned worse than any beating could’ve. The wolf was killing him, it seemed. How would Angus know the difference at this point?

  “Stop moaning and it’ll be done faster. Fucking humans,” the wolf muttered, but Angus couldn’t say anything back. At first the pain seemed to eat at his mind until he couldn’t form a coherent thought, never mind speech. And then, when the pain receded slightly, he was too fascinated by the fact that Cain was glowing again, the way he’d been the night Angus had rescued him. Holy hell, he guessed this was calling in the favor chip big-time.