Dire Needs

by Stephanie Tyler

  “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.

  Chapter 41

  The 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.”

  “I’m so not taking orders from him,” Vice muttered, but Jinx stared at the blond wolf.

  “I think it’s about Rifter’s visit into the woods,” he said, and Vice muttered a long string of very choice curses. “I hope Rift’s got a good plan, because I have a feeling Seb was here.”

  They grabbed towels and clothing and headed up to find Harm, still watching out the window. He’d been left unchained except for an ankle, and he was humming under his breath as he turned around.

  “No need to thank me, brothers.”

  “We weren’t planning on it, asshole.” Vice was too relaxed from the fighting to get worked up again immediately, but if Harm didn’t cut his cocky shit, he could work something out with his Brother Wolf. “I’m guessing Rifter spoke to you before he jumped out the window.”

  “That he did. Said he’s turning himself in to Mars.”

  “And you thought it was a good idea to let him?” Jinx asked while Stray grabbed the Taser gun from the table across the room.

  “Wait a minute—I couldn’t exactly stop our king,” Harm told them.

  “You’ve been locked in your bubble—you have no idea what it’s like in the real world,” Stray told him.

  “King Rift has a plan,” Harm said, his hands up as if in surrender. “He knows how to escape through the dreamwalk. He wants to take them down from the inside once they save Gwen from her shift. He figures they’ll be distracted enough with him for the moment—it’ll leave you free to take down the mausoleum.”

  “Won’t that bring the police?” Stray asked Jinx.

  “No other way to try to stop the Dire ghost army spell. The whole place is unholy ground. Blow it, salt it… and pray. If it’s the center of Seb’s spell, it can weaken it. If nothing else, it keeps Vice happy.”

  Vice agreed with that one. “Stray, why don’t you get into the computer and alter Mars’s rap sheet to include arson? Get the police to look in his direction and lead them to the mausoleum since it’s his family’s remains kept there.”

  “And Rifter’s going to free himself once that’s done?”

  “Yep.” Harm crossed his arms. “Once Gwen’s awake, he’ll dreamwalk through you all and let you know where he’s being kept if he’s got a problem. But he wants to kill Mars and use that as an example.”

  “If Seb’s spelling the wolves, he’s the one who needs to be killed.”

  “Rifter said he’ll take care of that as well. But he needs his cooperation first.”

  “Yeah, because he’s still hoping Seb will turn around and leave the trappers behind,” Vice muttered, and no one bothered arguing with him because they knew he was right.

  Gwen had watched Rifter leave through the doorway, which promptly closed and sealed behind him as though it had never existed. For the first time, she widened her view, looked around into the windows that surrounded Rogue. Through them, she saw real live scenes of incredible torture happening in front of her. This must truly be hell, she thought, as she watched men and women mouthing help and other things she couldn’t hear through the heavy glass. But when they screamed, their mouths forming black, empty Os, she swore the sound ripped through her. Her eyes flicked back and forth between the images as if her mind couldn’t stand to focus on one for very long, but the flayed skin and the burning…

  “Focus on me,” Rogue commanded. “Don’t look or you’ll go nuts.”

  She pulled her eyes back to him and took a deep breath. “I already feel that way.”

  “I hear you.”

  “Are you ever going to tell me what that… woman’s doing sitting on your chest?” she asked finally.

  Rogue stared at her. “You see it?”

  “Yes. I wasn’t sure Rifter could and I didn’t want to upset him,” she said. Rogue’s explanation of the mare didn’t exactly comfort her.

  “Just don’t look her in the eyes,” Rogue instructed.

  “Don’t worry,” she assured him. “Do you think Rifter can find a way to stop the raising of the demons and the Dire army?”

  “Maybe. Depends on what kind of demons they’re releasing.”

  “I always thought a demon was a demon.”

  “Not even close. And not all demons want the same things,” Rogue told her. “You’re going to be learning things you never thought were possible beyond Hollywood movies. Keep your mind open. You’ll need it to survive.”

  Gwen stared at him. “Tell me the truth—I’m really stuck and hovering between the world of the living and the dead, aren’t I?”

  “We both are—both stuck,” Rogue explained. “The longer you stay, the longer you risk staying trapped for good.”

  She tried not to think too hard on that, stared at the red marks burned into Rogue’s skin by the silver chains, visible since she’d loosened them. She hated feeling helpless, could only imagine what his brothers felt.

  “This isn’t so bad—hell week was worse.”

  “What’s that?”

  “SEAL training.”

  “Wait, you were all in the military?”

  Rogue nodded. “Easiest way to get off the local radar. Every once in a while, a human knows something they shouldn’t because of a careless Were. Before the modern military, we lost ourselves in whatever battles or wars were happening around the world. We were bred warriors, so it was a natural choice for us. Later, we all went into different branches. Our blood’s normal and everything else is close enough to pass. Since we can control ourselves during the full moon, we were good candidates. We’d only get sick from all the injections.”

  “So y
ou were a Navy SEAL…”

  “Rift was too.” He smiled. “Jinx was in the Army. Medic. Vice was a Marine.”

  “That doesn’t surprise me.” She paused. “Not Stray, though.”

  “Yeah, he went in after he met us. Army Ranger.” Rogue looked at her. “You can still get out of here. You’re not concentrating hard enough.”

  “I’m worried about you.”

  “Worry about Rifter,” he told her. “Try to hear him. You’re not fully mated, but you’re connected as sure as I’m stuck in hell.”

  Gwen closed her eyes, although she kept her hand on Rogue’s forehead. She listened for her Sister Wolf and the familiar rustling. It seemed like hours passed before she heard Rifter’s voice, but she couldn’t see him.

  “I can hear him. How can I be doing this?” she asked Rogue, because she was here with him and yet somehow hearing Rifter as well.

  “You might have a power; you might not. Until your third successful shift, we won’t know, but it appears you’re absorbing Rifter’s—feeding off it. Mating—even the start of a mating—can make both Dires stronger.” Rogue’s explanation was rational—gentle—but his face was tight with tension and anger, no doubt a mirror image of hers.

  “Harm said… he said my blood can kill all of you,” she admitted. “It’s why the weretrappers went after me.”

  Rogue stared at her for a long moment, and she waited for him to tell her to leave. Instead, he told her, “You’re hovering between life and death. Healer and destroyer. This could get interesting.”

  Before she could ask how, he brought her back to the task at hand. “What’s Rifter doing?”

  She quieted and listened. Rifter was speaking the old language—fast, but she caught enough to understand.

  Spell. Wake her. Me in return.

  Who was he giving himself to? “I think he’s turning himself in… in exchange for waking me up and leaving me alone. He promised he wouldn’t. He can’t—we can’t let him.”

  “Can’t stop him. He’s doing it for you.” It was obvious to her that Rogue knew Rifter was lying the entire time.

  “But we’re not even fully mated. How can this be?”

  “In his heart, you are.”

  In hers as well. And she had a plan as much as Rifter—it broke through as clearly as the return of the rustling in her ears. And although she couldn’t hear it as clearly, she suddenly knew exactly what she needed to do. “How do I kill Mars?”

  “You’re nuts,” he muttered. “He’s got a plan, Gwen. My brothers will get him out.”

  “I can’t let that happen.”

  “Too late.”

  She hated the man next to her suddenly. Told him so.

  “Not the first woman I’ve heard that from,” he said. “Let him do what he needs to. You’ll be free.”

  “And then what? One shift out of three,” she pointed out. “And this brothers-freeing-you thing isn’t working so well for you.”

  His face hardened. “He’s got to fight the trappers.”

  “Did you ever stop to think that maybe I could be of some help? That maybe there’s a reason I’m here? Beyond that, he’s my mate. I refuse to let him suffer another second because of me,” she said fiercely.

  For the first time since she’d met him, she saw the trace of a smile on Rogue’s face, even as he shook his head. “If you kill Mars, all bets are off. The spell could be broken and you’ll be back here with me. Best case, you’re all in a shitload of trouble.”

  “There’s got to be another way.”

  “And suppose there’s not?” Rogue asked her. “Can you live with yourself?”

  “I guess I’m going to find out.”

  Chapter 42

  Rifter knew Mars and his wereguards were on their way fifteen minutes before they showed up in his backwoods. They were either that cocky or that stupid.

  Both, he decided. He waited there, naked and seemingly vulnerable, until Mars came through the trees.

  He’d caught sight of the man before—seen pictures too—but in person, it was definitely easy to mark him as semipossessed. Anyone who was under the influence of the black arts showed the same signs—pale, eyes just a little off-color, and way too sure of themselves in situations like this.

  Mars was facing a Dire wolf with Weres he knew Rifter could rip from head to toe. Granted, Rifter had a stake in all of this, and Mars must really be counting on that.

  “Well, well, the king’s surrendering,” Mars said with a smile. “You’re going to fit in nicely with our plans.”

  “You really think using wolves is going to help you rule the world?” he asked. “Because that’s fucking nuts.”

  “I don’t need to know what you think, Rifter. I just need your cooperation.”

  “What happened to your original mission of destroying us?”

  “You’re all aberrations of nature—don’t really deserve to be alive. None of you can control yourselves.”

  “And you’re going to give me that control, are you?” Rifter asked dryly.

  “Yes, although I’m sure you won’t like it.”

  “I’m sure I won’t.” He held out his wrists for the cuffs. Mars told him to turn around so he could be cuffed behind his back. The second he put his wrists together, the knife sliced into his chest, catching a lung. He doubled over in pain, and Mars laughed as he put the cuffs on.

  “You don’t think I trust you all that much, do you, wolf?” he asked. “Take him to the car,” he told the Weres, who grabbed him by the arms and started to drag him toward the waiting van.

  He gritted his teeth, closed his eyes and thought about Gwen. Doing this for her—freeing her—was the best sacrifice he could think of making. And if that made him an aberration—a sick freak of nature—then so be it.

  He could think of nothing better to be than a Dire. “Just wake her up.”

  “Oh, we’re not doing that,” Mars said. “Seb wanted to help you, but I convinced him it’s not in his best interest.”

  Rogue had been right. Rifter knew it, but how could someone who’d stood by him, fought with and for him, betray him so badly? Seb had been his only chance to help Gwen through the shift, because he couldn’t count on the Elders.

  Couldn’t count on anyone but himself and his Dire brothers. And Gwen.

  Gwen.

  Rifter shoved Brother Wolf down hard as the pain screeched through his lungs.

  If she’s gone, you still have work to do, he told his wolf.

  And then he looked up and saw the raven flying overhead before the second knife invaded his body.

  The punishment would come the second the demon who watched Seb knew he was waking Gwen for a good purpose and not an evil one.

  “If I can wake her, she’ll come here looking for Rifter and we can capture her,” Seb had reasoned to Mars after giving him the news about the king turning himself in.

  Mars had reinforced stainless steel cages made. Seb didn’t bother to tell him that he knew exactly how Rifter escaped the first time and it had nothing to do with brute force.

  Now, as he fought through the scorching pain the demon inflicted on him to stop him from casting the spell, he chanted the incantation three times to pull Gwen from her first shift successfully. It was the best he could do before the demon took hold.

  He’d pushed it too far, and he’d pay dearly now. Better that he didn’t remember anything anyway.

  The wait seemed like an eternity. Gwen channeled the panicked, nervous energy, replayed her plan in her mind.

  “My brothers will try to stop you,” Rogue warned her.

  She would be faster than the other wolves—had to be. She would wake up and then she would need to stop Rifter from giving himself to Mars.

  “You could come back here, Gwen—and then you’ll be stuck,” Rogue warned for the millionth time. “He doesn’t want that.”

  “And I don’t want him hurt either. At some point, I get a say.” She glanced at him. “If Seb comes through on his end of t
he bargain, what happens?”

  “You’ll shift to wolf and then back to human—fast—and you’ll wake up,” Rogue told her. “When you feel the pull, leave me, okay? Just go and don’t look back.”

  “What about you? Isn’t there still hope?”

  “There’s always hope, Gwen. Always hope.”

  The rest happened so fast she didn’t have time to say anything else. One minute, she was next to Rogue; the next, she was blinking under the lamp’s light next to Rifter’s bed. At first, nothing worked right—she opened her mouth to call out for help, for anyone, but nothing came out but a low growl.

  She looked down, saw she was now a wolf—vanilla coated—and immobile. Before she could panic for real, she blinked at bright spots that flashed before her eyes and pain overtook her again—she pressed through it, the rustling turning more to a wolf’s howl inside her head.

  God, it wasn’t supposed to be like this. She was supposed to have shifted hours ago, should be running through the woods, not lying like she was already dead.

  What if Rifter hadn’t made that literal deal with the devil? She could be this way indefinitely.

  They’d been right when they worried she might not be strong enough. The mind was willing, but the flesh was all too weak.

  And then, within seconds, her breath came fast, bones felt like they were twisting and turning in ways they shouldn’t and her face felt pulled into a grimace. She licked her lips and felt for the long canines that were disappearing. Her heart beat fast and she was so hot… and still, she couldn’t move, couldn’t scream, couldn’t do anything but let whatever was happening simply happen.

  Surrender, Sister Wolf told her.

  Sister Wolf was pretty damned smart.

  Finally, after what seemed like hours but she was sure had been only minutes, she stared down at her naked human body, her clothing in tatters on the bed around her.

  Had she ever really shifted? It could’ve been part of a dream, except her hand moved and plucked some vanilla-colored fur off the black sheets.

  And she could move, stand. She tested her voice by calling for Rifter once she’d pulled on the first shirt she wore. It smelled like Rifter.