The Ahklut shared their images of their cowardice and shame at how they’d been conned by the shaman’s lies again. How they’d wanted to go south with the others today, but followed him when he went after Nu’untivut.
Arvik, look. Rayne’s words in his mind sounded just like her voice.
Sometime during his songs, the magic had quit pounding on his shield. Now the storm had mostly faded, leaving a blanket of fresh snow and ice on everything. The Ahklut had huddled closer together and closer to him. Some had shifted to human and were clinging to each other in pairs and trios.
Rayne pointed to the sky.
A giant gray and purple thunderbird from his childhood nightmares grappled with a squirming, clawing, biting Ahklut orca. The bird’s paler chest bled from several wounds. The orca had dozens of slashes, and a bloody dark hole where an eye should be.
The thunderbird screeched. Arvik shivered, despite knowing he was safe. He leaned into the comforting songs sent by his Ahklut tribe. They were safe together.
Rayne made an exasperated sound. “Be right back.” She disengaged from their embrace to stride toward the center of the tribe.
“Give me that!” Rayne pushed a huddled woman sideways and wrestled a Colt revolver from her hands.
Inyiqti flinched and hunched away, then cried out in obvious pain from the knife still stuck in her shoulder.
Rayne flipped open the revolver’s load gate and tilted the gun to empty the bullets into her hand. She shoved them into separate pockets, then looked down at Inyiqti. “If I pull out the knife, will you behave?” The tone was stern, but not unkind.
Inyiqti looked up with wary suspicion, but nodded.
Healing magic blanketed Inyiqti as Rayne slowly extracted the knife. Tears streamed down Inyiqti’s face.
Rayne stood and held up the knife. “These are keyed to me. If anyone finds the other one, don’t touch it, or you’ll get burned. Come get me.” She used her pants to wipe the blood off the blade, then slid it into her wrist sheath.
A deafening cacophony of high-pitched screeching overhead drew Arvik’s attention. His eyes widened in astonishment.
Four desert dragons wearing what appeared to be puffy down vests flew just below the battling thunderbird and orca. A net stretched taut between the dragons.
The thunderbird opened his talons. The orca clawed at the air as he fell. His heavy body sank the center of the net. The dragons flew an efficient pattern to secure the top of the net.
The orca in the net shifted into the man. He rolled over fast. Magic flared. The net charred and broke.
The shaman fell, more magic flaring. A shimmering distortion appeared in the sky below him. He plummeted through it and vanished.
Arvik vowed to himself and his tribe to track Nu’untivut to the ends—
Unexpectedly, Rayne raised her fists in the air. “We win!”
She turned to smile at Arvik, then at the rest of the confused Ahklut. “I guessed you all might be blind to fairy rings, so I asked my genius magister sister to call some colleagues for backup.” She pointed up toward the empty sky. The dragons were winging south with the net, while the thunderbird descended toward the north. “His evil ass just got sent on a thrill ride to a fairy demesne where Kotoyeesinay keeps prisoners.”
Elder Tiri made her way closer, but stopped a respectful distance from Rayne. “We hear your song, Loup Blanc Apporte Hilaluktoq. You are now one of us.”
“That’s kind of you, but underneath all this finery”—she opened her jacket to examine a small dent in her armor—“I’m not just a loup blanc, a white wolf bringing something, I’m an Ice Age dire wolf. Are you sure you want one in your pack?” She poked her finger through the bullet hole in her jacket. “We tend to be trouble.”
Old Uklaq barked a laugh. “We hear your song. You’ll fit right in.”
Tiri tilted her head toward Arvik. “May your union with the shaman Maq’arviqeriq be blessed.”
Arvik blinked in surprise. “You know who I am?”
Tiri smiled. “Now we do. Not at first. Not until you healed people in need.” She tilted her head toward the other elders. “The oldest of us remember what healing magic felt like. We remembered our place as elders and showed the others how to hear past the surface ice and listen.” She made a dismissive sound. “The warriors ignored us. Nu’untivut listened to no one.”
“He listened to me.” Inyiqti climbed awkwardly to her feet. “None of you did.” Her tone mixed accusation and deep hurt.
Arvik tried to see the source of her pain, but the oracle had the strongest song block of any Ahklut he’d ever met. He caught and held her gaze, and opened his heart. “I will listen.”
Rayne moved back next to his side to take his hand. She turned to Inyiqti. “I will listen.” Her expression softened. “When you’re ready.”
Arvik couldn’t think of very many people who would extend such compassion to the person who’d shot her twenty minutes ago.
Soft tones emitted from Rayne’s necklace. She touched it and flared magic. “You’re on speaker with the Akhlut. Go.”
“If you’re done executing your own extracurricular war plan,” growled an irascible Brooker, “get your ass back to Fort LeBlanc. Bring Sheriff Tanner and your sister, so her mate doesn’t shred me. Bring Díaz, too, if you didn’t have to kill him. We’ve got about a hundred Ahklut prisoners, another four hundred who are asking for refuge, and even more who are calling themselves Ulu and wanting us to let them take the others to their tribal lands near Vancouver. The Fort LeBlanc elders have questions for you all.”
Rayne laughed. “On our way, Shifter Tribunal Special Liaison Yada-Yada-Yada Brooker. We’ll have some more refugees and a few more prisoners for you.”
She deactivated and dropped the pendant, then moved closer to him. “I’ve got questions for you, too, Mr. Gargoyle, so don’t you dare vanish again, or I really will find Lerro to hunt you down.”
He reeled her gently into his arms. He knew he was to blame for the notes of loneliness and doubt that hid between her teasing words. “I am yours.” His inner animals sent songs of their own to her. He sent a little healing spell her way, to erase the impact bruise underneath her armor.
She shivered against him. “Your magic always revs my engines. Unless you want me to jump you right here, let’s get your people settled and find a place for us.”
The sight of Arvik’s cabin… Well, okay, the illusion that hid Arvik’s cabin set Rayne’s heart singing. He’d asked for time to “make things ready.” She’d given it to him by running as a wolf for a couple of hours, exploring the territory. From the scent trails, Little Brother’s pack hadn’t been in the area for weeks. Unsurprising, since natural wolves needed big territories to keep themselves fed, and Arvik’s porch made a poor winter den.
She’d used the time to reflect on the events of the last few days and to ponder what was to come. The Fort LeBlanc elders’ big surprise battle plan had been the secret alliance with the Ulu, and their bold plan to convince the Ahklut to join them instead of attack the town. She shivered at the thought of the terrible risks Arvik had taken, but she had to admit he was the only one who could have pulled it off. He was a special man. She wanted to come up with a way to convince Arvik to take her to visit the Pacific Northwest and his people. She’d like to meet them.
The rocks-and-downed-trees illusion faded to reveal Arvik standing in the cabin’s doorway. She bounded down the snowy hill and leaped onto the porch. Shifting to human, she headed straight for his open arms.
Vivid images orchestrated with an emotional undercurrent—what the Ulu and Ahklut called a song—caressed her senses as much as the feel of him against her. The taste of his lips on hers.
Laughing, he pivoted her into the cabin’s big room and shut the door. “You’re all wet.”
“Sorry. I chased a rabbit and ended up in a drift. It’s only December, but the valleys up here are already full.” She should have shaken the snow off before shifting.
Scents of food, of flowers, of wood all faded as the smell of him overwhelmed her. Nuzzling her nose under his shirt collar, she drew in his furry saltwater scent. “I’m rethinking our plan.”
He raised her chin for a long, sensuous kiss. She had totally lucked out in finding a man who loved kissing and had five hundred years of experience doing it.
“Yes?” His short beard tickled as he kissed his way toward her ear.
Her nipples became aching points, demanding attention. She clutched his hips and pulled him close to revel in the hard bar of his arousal. “I’ve wanted you for so long. I don’t want to wait until your people are settled, or the asshole shaman and warriors get judged, or the Shifter Tribunal decommissions me from the army. I don’t even want to wait for your venison stew. Whether or not the mate magic happens, I love you. I want whatever time with you I can get.”
He kissed her again, sending images of them together drenched in love. “I’m already yours. My grandmother says making love will form the bond. Are you sure you want to be mated to a hellfrog prototype?”
The controversial origin story had set off a firestorm among the Ahklut refugees, like it had once done with the Ulu.
Rayne smiled. “Hell, yes.” She slid her hands under his loose shirt and traced the broad shoulder muscles with her palms. “Are you sure you want a dire wolf for a mate?”
“Top of my list.” His wandering fingers explored her stiff nipple.
She arched into him. “Then let’s go for the gold.”
He walked her backward to the overstuffed chair near the window. She pulled off her T-shirt and tossed it, then helped him push his shirt off his shoulders.
The scent of his arousal mixed with hers, sending a shudder of desire through her. His beautiful brown skin, lighter than hers, and wide male nipples made her want to lick him all over. She sent him an image of that as she pushed off her sweatpants and kicked them aside.
He pulled a small packet out of his pocket and handed it to her, then high-stepped out of his jeans.
She laughed. “I love a man who’s prepared.” She sat on the arm of the chair and tore the packet open. “Bring me that glorious manhood so I can put this on you.”
She wanted to take her time, exploring the shape and taste of him, find out what made him pulse, but neither of them could last if she did. Her trembling hands made it a challenge just to slip the condom onto his stiff shaft.
He stroked her hair and hummed softly. A picture blossomed in her mind of his sensual plans for her.
“Oh, yeah, all that, right now.” Everything ached for him, even her magic. Golden mating-bond threads colored her vision as he helped her slide into the chair.
Words failed her the moment his mouth latched onto first one nipple, then the other. Thoughts disintegrated altogether by the time he got to her core and set her blood on fire.
Arvik went straight for her pleasure and was rewarded with the first of what he hoped would be a lifetime of her orgasms. He stayed with her spasming hips, using his tongue to draw a staccato series of short moans from her.
The burst of her magic may as well have been her hands caressing and stroking him. He gritted his teeth to keep control.
She pulled at his shoulders. “Inside.” Her image left no doubt what she wanted. She pulled the thick throw pillows to support her back.
He expected the storm of sensation when he entered her, but not the sheer relief. Their mutual groans made a powerful song as he reached her depths. Time stopped as the moment etched his memory. Sweat made her skin shine like polished mahogany. Shifter magic seeping into her pores and his. Her legs around his hips the only thing holding him on the planet. His heart full to overflowing.
I love you, too. She sent him an imperative image. Move!
He started a slow rhythm, but soon lost it to the chaos of driving need. Supporting her with one arm for a moment, he grabbed her hand to put between them, encouraging her to stroke herself to another peak.
Tingling from the soles of his feet to the back of his neck spread to all of him. His magic reached for the golden threads of hers and wove together to create an unbreakable bond. He howled his body’s pleasure as he slammed his hips hard against hers, jerking with release.
Through their new bond, her spasming bliss flooded him anew, making him gasp like a long-distance runner. He lifted her hips back onto the wide chair, then buried his face into the crook of her neck.
The bond sent tendrils of magic through him, filling gaps he hadn’t even realized were there. Sometimes, shifter-mate magic resulted in a mingling of gifts. To keep Rayne, he’d take whatever the shifter’s goddess gave him.
“Wow,” she murmured. “That’s gonna be hard to top.” Her long, contented sigh tickled his ear. Amusement pulsed through their bond. “But I sure as hell want to try.”
He lifted his head and gave her a lascivious leer. “Wanna come upstairs and see my condom collection?”
Hours later, he lay on his back with his divinely sexy mate sprawled on top of him, her head on his shoulder.
Whatever else the shifter bond had done, it had given him the ability to smell her true scent underneath the magic that modified and masked it. His own scent had permanently altered, too, into one similar to hers.
Desire still simmered in his blood, but they had days to work that out between them before life outside the cabin demanded their attention. Such as luring Aldenrud away from Fort LeBlanc to face the Shifter Tribunal before the auction-house owners got to him first. And tracking down the auction-house victims and their buyers.
He rubbed the muscles of her back, with long strokes along the muscles under her shoulder blades. “Why don’t you want Brooker to know you have the auctioneer’s tablet with the sales records?”
She took a long breath and let it out slowly, then rolled off of him and sat up. “Short answer? I think they have a clue about what happened to my father. He was an agent for the Shifter Tribunal, investigating the auction house. I suspect someone in the Tribunal burned him, and he’s a prisoner or a slave somewhere. The family tracking spell says he’s dead, but my heart says otherwise.”
He sat up to face her. “You don’t trust Brooker? Or Myelle?”
She shook her head. “They’re about the only two I do trust. But not their staff, or the politicians, or whatever other departments they have to deal with. The shifter-purity mess proved that. I have the unshakable feeling that I’ll only get one chance to find my father alive.” She sighed. “My father is no prize, but he’s my father and Skyla’s, and I know he’d go to the ends of the earth and beyond to rescue either of us.”
He took her hand in his to kiss the back of it. “I can’t think of a better honeymoon.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Oh, so we’re newlyweds, are we?”
He laughed. “We’re better than that. We’re true mates.” He pulled her into his lap. “We’re sneaky, crafty spies, and the only way the person who has your father will know we were there is because your father is suddenly missing.”
She palmed his face, her eyes bright with tears. “I love you.” The corner of her mouth raised in a crooked smile. “And if you tell me ‘I know,’ I’ll shoot you.”
His two inner animals took over and kissed her, stopping his stupid human self from saying exactly that.
Thank you for reading Dire Wolf Wanted. I hope you loved Arvik and Rayne, and how they worked through their past to build a future together.
If this is the first book you've read in the Ice Age Shifters series, you can catch up by reading SHIFTER MATE MAGIC, set in 1993 and featuring a big bear of a man and a woman who's had bad experiences with shifters, and SHIFT OF DESTINY, set in present day, and featuring a prehistoric lion shifter and a woman convinced there's no such thing as magic, or sexy shifters. HEART OF A DIRE WOLF, book 3, introduces the first dire wolf sister, her growly Siberian tiger mate, and the wondrous and mysterious sanctuary town of Fort LeBlanc.
Read SHIFTER MATE MAGIC
; Read SHIFT OF DESTINY
Read HEART OF A DIRE WOLF
If you love paranormal romance, check out In Graves Below, in the delightfully quirky worlds of Magic, New Mexico.
If space opera is your cup of tea, Earl Gray, hot, you could try Overload Flux, the first book in my Central Galactic Concordance series.
SIGN UP FOR MY NEWSLETTER so you don't miss out on future books: bit.ly/CVN-news
Follow my Facebook page, Carol Van Natta Author, for exclusive insider news and sneak peeks of future books, both paranormal romance and space opera romance.
And right now, you can read the first chapter of SHIFTER MATE MAGIC next...
Free Excerpt from Shifter Mate Magic (Ice Age Shifters Book 1)
Southern Wyoming ~ 1993
Jackie Breton needed to pee in the worst way.
Being five months pregnant meant stopping at every back-road truck stop and gas station, and sometimes behind bushes because her bladder was now the size of a damn walnut. Constant vibration from the motorcycle didn’t help.
The faded billboard for Otto’s Truck Stop, Take Next Right, enticed her, even though she really wanted to get through Cheyenne before it got too dark to find the highway that would take her east. Rural roads didn’t have streetlights. She’d had her fill of dusty back roads and oblivious drivers in smelly diesel pickup trucks. A sharp kick from the baby inside her belly confirmed her decision. She slowed the bike and turned and was gratified to see her destination right away.
Otto’s was bigger than she’d imagined, with dozens of long-haul semis, recreational vehicles, and pickup trucks in the sprawling parking lot. The crowd gave her pause, but not enough to turn away. She found a place to park near the front of the main building. The window decorations carried the western wildlife theme into the realm of kitschy, but she liked it.
Dire Wolf Wanted Page 18