“You need to shift right after our third time together. And it’s not an easy shift—you’re still having trouble, and the third shift is always the toughest on a new Dire. The mating shift is hard enough on its own even for an experienced Dire. It’s not usually combined like this.”
“It’s going to have to be,” she said firmly. “If we’re fated…”
“In the old language of the Dires, fated is our word for your human word love,” he said, and her heart began to beat faster. “That’s why you can’t mate on the first try. It would be a goddamned disaster. There’s no such thing as a soul mate—it’s about lust and love and attraction—all the things that happen between humans. Wolves just happen to make better choices.”
“And so by the third time together, you know?”
“Yes. It’s always worked for us in the past. If the mating takes, you shift right after.”
“And you?”
“I’m chained so I can’t shift and hurt you—that’s tradition.”
“But can’t I hurt you?”
“Yes. “You have a choice not to be mated to me. Or to anyone,” he said. “You could wait. Shift. See—”
“There is no one else for me. You know that.”
His nostrils flared as her scent did. “You could leave. Find that out.”
“Where else would I go?” she asked, incredulous that he would bring this up now.
“You could live in the world alone,” he said. “Stray did.”
“And was that easy? Was he happy?”
“No to both.”
“And it’s not like there’s a cure for what I have.”
He actually looked offended. “You’d want a cure?”
“I don’t want to die.”
He blanched. “That’s not what I meant—I want you to live. But I don’t understand why you’d want to renounce your wolf. It’s an honor.”
“You all want to die, but you don’t want to be… human?”
“Never.”
“How are you going to deal with me, then? Because part of me still is.”
“How well will you deal with the world of wolves?” he shot back.
“I’ve felt the violence. Meted it out. You’re fighting for your family. So am I,” she told him. “I’m not here because I’ve been lonely, although I have been for a very long time.”
She’d refused to admit that to herself before this. Pride or denial, she wasn’t sure which, but now that she’d found someone who understood her, she wasn’t letting go.
“You are magic to my logic,” she told him. It was as simple as that. In many ways, they were opposites, but they completed each other.
“I love you, Gwen. Make no mistake about that.”
She loved him too. He’d taken her into his world, walked her through it, and it was marvelous here. A dual nature was freeing. Whether her body would handle the demands well was a whole other story. But even if she didn’t have immortality, neither would walk away.
Chapter 46
The third mating would bind them as mates forever, force her shift… and possibly kill her. But Gwen felt stronger than she ever had. She could do this. She would.
“I don’t think we should put off the inevitable,” she told him now.
He stared at her like she was nuts, said bluntly, “You’ve had too much wine.”
“I’ve had just enough,” she countered. “You need me—as your mate—to fight. Maybe my ability will be what you need to keep the Dire army away or to wake Rogue up.”
Or maybe I won’t make it through at all.
The unspoken words hung heavily between them, but she knew there was no time to waste. “We’re here because of me. Because of my possible human frailties. Instead of babysitting, you could be back at the main house, helping your brothers.”
“I’m right where I need to be. Where I want to be,” he clarified, and his scent flared around her. Arousal filled the air like a mysterious dark spice, chocolate and cinnamon and other earthy flavors combined. She could almost taste it on her tongue.
She stood and started to strip her clothing; he gave a low warning growl she didn’t heed. She stood naked before him, running her hands over her already hardening nipples, letting one slide down her belly and linger between her legs.
He can’t deny you—that’s part of the third mating. Ask—and he has to follow, Sister Wolf whispered.
Something mysterious and wonderful was taking her over—and yet she was still somehow in total control. “Come on, Rifter. Now.”
He swallowed hard. By this point, he was a partial slave to his mate—until the mating was fulfilled, he would need to do her bidding. She could see he was trying to deny her request but couldn’t. Slowly, he stood, his biceps bulging, his jaw taut, his cock pressing his jeans to the point of bursting.
She was wet, hot, between her legs already. She trembled a little at what she was about to do to him. But every nerve in her body ached for him, her muscles taut with a need so great, she wasn’t sure it could ever be filled. But she damn well wanted Rifter to try.
She went to the first bedroom, with the chains, and noticed another set of restraints on the floor by the far side of the bed.
“Are these more wolf restraints?” she asked, fingering the leather straps.
“No, those are Vice’s personal ones,” he said, and she nodded, fingered the fine black grain and pictured them around Rifter’s wrists.
She pointed to the bed. “Down, boy.”
“I haven’t been a boy in a very long time,” he told her in a voice that was dangerous.
She didn’t heed the warning because she could be as much so, if not more. And her body reveled in it now, as if she’d been waiting her whole life to come into her own. “Take your clothes off, Rifter… and tell me how to tie you down.”
He cursed roughly as he tore his shirt and jeans off. “Those will be purely decorative,” he told her. “It’s that ring that’ll keep me from shifting and hurting you.”
She turned and saw the collar on the floor—leather lined with pure silver. “This goes around your neck?”
“And the chains go around the bed.” He pointed to the headboard, which was iron and bolted to the floor. “You need to lock the door and give me the key so you can’t leave this room when you shift.”
She paused, her resolve waning for a few seconds, until he said, “Do it, Gwen. Don’t back down now.”
She picked up the collar and waited for him to sit on the bed. She would do that last, putting it aside and snapping the leather cuffs on his wrists and ankles and chaining him to the bed. He was spread for her—massive and gorgeous—his eyes starting to turn.
“Hurry,” he told her hoarsely. Hating to hurt him but knowing it was necessary, she picked up the collar and he lifted his head, allowing her to easily snap it in place.
He hissed when it went on and made contact with his skin. His eyes went back to human coloring, and he paled slightly.
“How will you be able to—”
“It’s a mating collar—it’s not meant to disable me,” he told her. “We took it after the Extinction. We’ve never used it. This is the first mating since then.”
Indeed, the smell of burning had ceased, and he was still rock hard and ready for her. But he wasn’t looking at her. She climbed onto him, put her hands on his chest.
“Let me inside, Rifter,” she murmured. “Still holding back from me.”
“For good reason, little one.”
“Not so little.” She smiled and brought his hand between her legs to the wet heat, and his body jerked with pleasure.
“Don’t tease, little one,” he warned, but Gwen was hearing none of it. “Let me tease you—bring your pretty pussy up here.”
She complied with his order, straddling his face, her hands gripping the headboard as he tongued her hot flesh, sucking and laving until she was coming with a cry that echoed through the four walls. Her throat was sore, her breath harsh, as a second orgasm grab
bed her almost immediately.
Humans suspected the moon was responsible for many things that scientists tried to debunk.
They were wrong. The full moon spelled humans the way it pulled wolves, although not as strongly. But the more frailties the humans had, the closer to insanity, the stronger the pull.
Those were human favorites of the wolves. They walked the line, could see and sense the supernatural. Rifter almost felt sorry for them. Like the Dires, the insane were caught between worlds.
Humans were so fragile, he thought as he stroked Gwen’s hair, then cupped one of her breasts in his hands, the metal chains clinking as a reminder of what had yet to happen. He traced a nipple with his finger, the dark pink nipple rising taut to meet his fingers.
Gwen smiled. Delicate, wrapped in strength. She was rebounding from the first of her many orgasms, stretching in deep satisfaction. His cock was aching for release—the thought of plunging in between her legs and claiming her was the only thing on his mind. His seed in her, his scent in her forever…
Would he break her? As that thought crossed his mind, Gwen reached between his legs and stroked him.
He hissed a harsh breath between clenched teeth at the unexpected caress.
She had no idea what kind of beast she’d awakened. The primal desires of the Dires tended to be uncontrollable. He lost control during sex, as much as he would during any inhibition. The collar wouldn’t help much with that.
If the mating were successful, the postorgasm pain that would normally rock his body would be gone.
“Gwen…”
She wouldn’t stop, was making her way down his legs as he remained as helpless as a newborn with the chains on his neck and ankles. Now he attempted to keep his hips from bucking wildly, the last vestige of pretending he had any control over the situation.
In actuality, he’d left himself too open to her advances. And when her tongue flicked the head of his cock, he found himself reverting to the old language, his wild urges rising to the surface.
It only seemed to encourage her.
She’s part Dire, he told himself.
Part human, Brother Wolf said, but he told the wolf to shut up as she swallowed his cock. He came then. She wouldn’t know he could come many more times with equal force within an hour’s time span. That he needed to.
“Mount me,” he commanded as she stared at his still rock-hard dick. “Now.”
She stroked between her own legs as she straddled him. She took the head of his cock inside of her and she shuddered, her golden skin glowing. He’d love to use his hands on her, grasped the chains that held him fast.
When he was fully inside of her, she threw back her head and cried out with a deep satisfaction. And then she began to ride him as he watched the beautiful curves of her body, the graceful way she undulated.
He smelled her wolf. This was bringing out the wild in her; it was equally dangerous for him. If she shifted while he was bound, as he hoped… she could do him some serious harm. It was always a tricky time, but that’s why a mating didn’t happen with a brand new wolf.
It was worth the risk.
Gwen lost count of how many times she took him. Hours passed as he remained buried inside of her, helpless against the chains. And she still hadn’t had enough—no matter how many times she came, her body refused to be satiated.
“You want more?” Rifter asked, his voice hoarse from the chain pressing his throat. He was still hard. She didn’t know how, but she wanted—needed—to have so much more.
“Please,” she whispered.
“You do please me. Please yourself.”
She began to rock back and forth, grabbed the chain around his neck as she did. He whimpered and she pulled back. It was the first true sound of pain he’d made the entire time, and she touched his cheek, willing his eyes to open.
“Should I take the collar off?” she asked.
“No—fuck no,” he managed, his face contorted in agony. “This is supposed to happen. Worth it. Mating is… complete on my end.”
“And on mine?”
“Check your Sister Wolf—turn around and look,” he encouraged.
She turned her back to the mirror and looked over her shoulder.
Sister Wolf’s eyes shone back at her. “You did good,” she whispered.
Back at you, the clear voice said calmly. Hard part’s not done yet.
“I didn’t shift,” she whispered, more to herself than to Rifter. “I thought that needed to happen.”
“It does,” he told her.
She couldn’t believe what she’d just done with him. To him. As he lay chained to the bed. She studied the perfection of his body. The scars he bore only served to add to it, instead of taking away from the beauty.
His chest bore deep scratches—and she’d made them. And it excited her.
“Keep marking me, mate. More.”
His eyes were pure wolf. Strength radiated from him even though he was a slave to her with the silver collar.
The trust he had in her… had anyone ever held her in such high regard? “You were worth the wait, worth all the fear and pain and sadness. I’d do it all again if it meant ending up here.”
“I waited forever for you, baby. I’m never letting you go,” he told her, and the possession in his tone heated her like fire.
“I’m never letting you go.”
“Take me again.”
She did. Lost control—every sense—the room spun, and it was like a dream. But this time, the reality was something she didn’t want to shy away from. Whispered, “I love you, Rifter,” in his ear.
And then everything began to change inside of her.
As a physician, she should know that logically, scientifically, none of this could be real.
The wolf living inside of her disagreed heartily. But as she stared at herself naked in the mirror, she still couldn’t see it.
Let it happen.
She rubbed her arms, turned around and stared at her back.
The switch was an exquisite type of pain, as if, by finally allowing her body to do what it needed to, it rewarded her.
She was scared, but a voice whispered to her. At first, it was no more than a rustle in her ear, and then she heard words—some in the old language.
Sister Wolf. Live as one.
It felt oddly normal and completely strange all at the same time. One minute, she could speak. The next, she could only growl or mewl. She supposed she could howl too, but she held off in favor of backing away from Rifter.
Sister Wolf didn’t want to, though. Thank goodness Rifter was fast, unchained himself, took the collar off and shifted. His wolf was bigger than hers and oh so ready to play. But even as she tried to move toward him, Sister Wolf’s legs buckled under her. The last thing she heard was Rifter’s Brother Wolf howling in her ears.
Chapter 47
Gwen never switched completely to wolf form, no doubt thanks to her half-human side. Which meant the mating hadn’t fully occurred.
Seventy-two hours later, Rifter still sat with her while she slept. He ate a little at Vice’s urging.
She was dying, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Outside, the human world was being threatened, promising a battle of the immortals. It was only a taste of what was to come.
No sun again—for days, it was nothing but thunder and lightning across the eastern seaboard, a front that had weathermen frustrated and concerned.
Inside the mansion, Rifter paced as Gwen remained so damned still.
He’d been trying to get inside her mind since she’d passed out. But it was as terribly quiet as Rogue’s, and that terrified him more than anything.
It was less than two weeks until the blue moon. The outlaws hadn’t been back, but Cyd and Cain had been reconning, confirmed the trappers were up to something big. It had to center around the spirit army.
And Rifter needed to leave Gwen in order to come up with a plan. She would want that, he knew. But the though
t of taking his hand from hers…
“Where are you, Gwen?” he asked out loud, probably for the millionth time. The thought of her wandering alone… the thought that she wasn’t wandering at all.
“Rift.” Jinx’s voice. He turned to see his brother in the doorway. “It’s bad. Seb’s spell is stronger now. The mausoleum isn’t necessary any longer.”
Seb really had made a deal with the devil. Rifter wasn’t sure his heart could break any more than it already had with Gwen, but it did.
“I’ll try to go back in to Rogue. See if he can use me as a conduit. Or if that doesn’t work, I’m going into Seb’s dreams.” They both knew where that would lead him, but for once, Jinx didn’t argue. The fate of the humans their kind had hurt once had started all of this—it was Rifter’s fate to end it.
He was about to turn back to Gwen when the flash hit. The brothers stared at each other as the unmistakable signs of the summoning from the Elders flared between them.
Rifter took it as a sign that he’d agreed to do the right thing for all concerned and prepared to face hell as he knew it.
When they’d been summoned, Rifter left Gwen in Liam’s care without explanation. There was very little time. When the Elders pulled for the shift from human to wolf, their free will was left in the dust.
As their Brother Wolves padded cautiously into the woods past their property, Rifter felt a growing gnaw of trepidation.
None of them were rushing to the meeting place. Rifter took the lead, and when they reached the spot, he sat with the rest of them in a V formation behind him. They all stared up at the moon.
It took ten minutes of tense waiting before the flash came and the three Elders—Eydis, Leifr and Meili—stood before them in human form.
“Quite a mess,” Eydis told them. “I hope you’re not expecting us to get you out of this.”
Behind him, Vice growled. Eydis shot a flash of light from her hand to singe his fur—and the skin underneath—and he whimpered a little. But hell, he probably enjoyed it more than anything.
“Don’t push me, wolf. I can make things so unpleasant, even you couldn’t stand it.”
Her gaze fell on Rifter. “We’re allowing a single wish. It won’t solve all your problems. If you don’t choose wisely, you might even make things worse for yourselves.”
Dire Needs Page 30
