Savage Sacrifice: A Dire Wolves Mission (The Devil's Dires Book 5) Read online

“I have to go.” Thaus coughed, which made Phego turn. “I’ll walk you back to your place so you can grab your stuff to make the move.”

  Phego knew that was a lie to get him alone, and by the look on Ariel’s face, so did she. But she was a good mate and a smart woman—she kept her mouth shut and let Thaus think he was getting away with something.

  Phego followed Thaus out the door and down the porch steps. Neither spoke until they’d circled to the far side of Phego’s house, gotten far enough away that Ariel might not hear what he had to say. Might not, but Phego knew she’d be listening.

  “I don’t know this Michaela,” Thaus said, looking more torn than Phego had ever seen him. “I’m trying to be the supportive mate the women keep telling me I need to be, but—”

  “But the idea of a stranger around your very pregnant mate while you’re not here to keep an eye on things makes you want to blow up the road leading to our woods so they can’t reach her.”

  Thaus stared, his face dark, his eyes swirling. “Exactly.”

  Cool. They were on the same page, then. “I’ve got your back. She won’t be left alone with Ariel.”

  “I know it’s a lot—”

  “I owe you.” And he did. Phego owed Thaus his life. This, in comparison to what the shifter had done for him? It was nothing.

  Thaus ran a hand over his head, looking back the way they’d come. “Normally, I’d tell you that debt was paid. But this time—”

  “That debt will never be paid, and there’s no need to explain. Ariel is the most important thing in your world. Pregnant Ariel ratchets that up to about a level fifteen.”

  Thaus growled. “Twenty.”

  “Fine. Twenty. I get it.” Phego waited until he had the Dire’s full attention before placing his hand over his heart and looking him right in the eye. “You saved my life when you didn’t have to. You didn’t even know me, and you certainly didn’t know the situation you walked into, but you saved me anyway. I will never be able to repay you. Taking care of your mate and unborn child is barely a start.”

  “If anything happens to them—”

  “It won’t. On my honor. I’d lay down my life for them.”

  Thaus nodded, still looking grim. “I’ll kill Luc if I miss the birth.”

  “So don’t. Get your shit done and haul ass back here.”

  “That’s the plan.” He grabbed Phego’s forearm, pulling him in close. “Keep them safe.”

  “On my word.”

  Thaus trudged over to his Harley, the one he kept parked in Phego’s carport as the path to his own cabin was too rough for the bike. He was about to climb on when Ariel yelled his name and came running through the trees. Thaus snapped around and moved, closing the distance between them in three easy steps before pulling her off her feet and into his arms.

  “I needed one more good-bye,” she said, clinging to him.

  “I was going to ride back up to the cabin, baby,” Thaus said. “Besides, no good-byes. Not ever. This is just a see you in a few.”

  She pulled back, giving him a watery smile. “See you in a few, then.”

  Thaus growled and held her tighter, pressing his lips to her forehead. “Stay with Phego.”

  “I will.”

  Phego stepped beside her as Thaus set her on her feet, worried about the strain of saying good-bye to her mate and how it would affect the baby. Thaus and Ariel hadn’t been separated for more than a couple of hours since they’d mated, hadn’t been apart for anywhere near as long as they were about to be in all that time. This was new, and Phego was ready for any reaction from his strong but hormonal ward.

  When Thaus moved to climb onto his bike that time, nothing stopped him. He gave a hearty wave before starting the engine and turning for the road, riding like hell as if going slow wouldn’t be enough to pull him away. The Dire needed speed to go, needed strength. Even without a mate, Phego understood that.

  Ariel stood at Phego’s side, both of them watching the taillights disappear down the treelined trail that led to the main road. Her fighting not to cry, him in tune with every breath and twitch just in case. She shook with the power of her emotions, but she held herself together. Phego knew that wouldn’t last—that she’d break at some point—but the fact that she was able to hold herself together at all was pretty impressive. Such a strong wolf shifter.

  When Thaus was gone, when the lights were no longer visible, and even the roar of the engine had faded with the distance, Ariel sighed. “Guess I’ll go call Michaela.”

  Phego grunted, still hating the idea of strangers in his woods. “I should pack a bag.”

  “I’ll make us a nice dinner. Might as well start this roommate thing off right.” Her smile was watery but there, her shoulders back and strong. Yeah, she’d break soon. Not yet, though. And probably not in front of him.

  Phego pretended not to notice the way her shoulders shook, or how red her eyes were getting. Instead, he nodded and headed inside as she picked her way along the path to her own cabin. She needed time to process, but he couldn’t afford to give her much. Three minutes…that was all the time he felt comfortable leaving her alone, which meant he needed to hurry. Before she was out of sight, he was loading his own mission bag for the weeks ahead. Explosives, handguns, rifles, ammunition, listening devices…the usual.

  Ariel could trust Michaela to the moon and back, but Phego knew better. He didn’t trust anyone beyond his own Dire brothers, and even that had taken centuries to earn. Without Thaus at his side, he never would have stuck around the pack long enough to fit in. But Thaus and Luc had saved him when he’d been betrayed by the ones who should have had his back, so they’d earned his loyalty. A tough feat to be sure.

  Ariel was smart and savvy when it came to the people she surrounded herself with. She’d experienced firsthand the evils lurking within strangers, but she hadn’t ever had her pack turn on her. Hadn’t had her own parents try to murder her. Hadn’t been sold out by her only blood sibling.

  No, for as much darkness as Ariel had seen, she was still clinging to the light. That made her special. Phego had long since given up such things. He lived in the darkness, luxuriated in it. He never thought the best of people, and he certainly wouldn’t start with this midwife.

  Michaela could come into his woods, but she wouldn’t be welcomed by him. In fact, as Phego grabbed some clothes and tossed them on top of his portable armory, he did what any good Dire Wolf would do in his situation. He shot a text to Deus.

  Possible enemy invited inside. Ready the eyes and ears on the ground. Be prepared to move on target.

  It took less than ten seconds to get a reply.

  Force level?

  Phego didn’t even have to think about that one.

  Kill at first sign of threat.

  He shouldered his bag and headed out the door. It was mission time.

  2

  Michaela wasn’t sure at what point in her life her Alpha had decided she didn't have the right to make her own decisions, but it certainly seemed as if that had become an issue.

  “I'm going.” She raised her chin and crossed her arms over her chest, daring him to argue. Which he did.

  “Not without protection.” Her Alpha glared, responding to her frown with one of his own, along with a widening of his stance. Some sort of dominance move, for sure. But Michaela could play that same game.

  She mimicked his body language, placing her hands on her hips for good measure. “I don't need a bodyguard.”

  “No bodyguard, no trip.”

  Michaela growled, unable to hold it back. “But they’re expecting me. This is my friend, my Omega sister. She wouldn’t have called me away from my pack if it wasn’t vital. She needs my help, and I refuse to turn my back on her.”

  Her Alpha shook his head, not looking the least bit sorry. “The danger to the Omegas is not over. The threat against you is not gone. You can go to help your friend, but you have to take one of my enforcers with you.”

  Michaela stared him d
own, hoping he'd break, knowing by the firm stare on his face that he never would. His mind was made up. Her only hope was for some sort of compromise. One inkling of control.

  “Which one?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at the man who held her pack’s fate in his hands. He may have been the boss, but she’d been around this block a few times. Bodyguards, shadows, enforcers—half her life had been spent being watched over. The least he could do was give her the opportunity to pick her poison.

  Her Alpha’s eyes flickered, the first flash of doubt the man had shown in the weeks she'd been fighting for his permission to take the trip. “Colt.”

  Oh, hell.

  “No. Not Colt. He’s too…rough. He’ll scare my patient.” She didn't say that he’d also probably pick a fight with her patient’s mate. Colt wasn’t exactly easy on other males, and Michaela refused to be a source of stress for the new couple. Especially seeing as she hadn’t met the male yet.

  When Michaela had received the call that the friend she hadn’t heard from in close to a year had found her fated mate, she’d been slightly jealous. Any shewolf would be, really. And when the woman she thought of as a sister had said she was pregnant—that she needed someone to help with the delivery, that she couldn't trust anyone other than Michaela—that jealousy had turned to something much more like relief. At least Michaela knew her place in her pack. She trusted them with everything, had fought beside them when the need arose. She’d never doubted her pack would take care of her.

  That didn't mean her Alpha didn’t piss her off something fierce now and again. Like when he assigned her Colt of all people as a babysitter. He knew exactly how hard Colt could be on others, knew how uncomfortable he made her. This was a test to see if she was truly committed to going. One she needed to pass.

  “Look. I’ll take a bodyguard if it’ll make you feel better, but not Colt. Anyone but him. Assign someone else, and I'll agree to your demands without another word.”

  Her Alpha stared hard, his mind obviously made up, his determination unbreakable as she gave away the chink in her own armor. “He's the only one I trust. I want you safe, Michaela. I want you to return to us in one piece.” He reached for her, his hand warm and solid as it gripped her forearm. “I want to know, to be sure, that if something goes wrong, you have the best protection possible. That’s Colt, and you know it.”

  “He’s not that great.” But he was. He was tough, determined, and almost as strong as her Alpha. She should have seen this assignment coming.

  “You are going to be far away from your pack, child,” her Alpha said, reminding her of the speech he gave when she left for college. He’d let her go alone then, though he’d sent guards to check on her. This time, she wouldn’t be so lucky it seemed. “We won’t be able to get you help if something happens. You take Colt, or you don't go.”

  Definitely not as lucky as when she went to school. Michaela knew when she’d been beaten, which meant she’d have to follow his rules because she wasn’t missing this opportunity. While she respected her pack, trusted them with her life, the love and loyalty she felt for her Omega sister was even greater. They’d gone through medical school together, had leaned on one another in the human environment of the hospital during their residencies, had pulled each other through the hard nights of studying, and had together handled the stress of trying not to be found out for what they really were. They’d become true family. She’d do anything for her Omega sister. Including deal with the beast known as Colt.

  “Fine.” The word felt foul as it passed her lips, but there was nothing she could do. Her Alpha had bested her, had refused to give her a single concession. She’d lost the battle, but she’d win the war. She was leaving.

  Keeping her head high even as she seethed with the fact that she’d partially failed, she spun on her heel and headed for the door. “Tell Colt to be ready at dawn. I want to be on the road first thing in the morning.”

  The trip north should have taken less than a day had the two wolves been allowed to book a plane ticket like a human couple would. But they weren’t human, and therefore, they didn’t travel like them. Michaela’s Alpha had become obsessively concerned about records and paper trails over the years. A fact she understood even though it made her life more difficult. In the digital age they found themselves in, it was getting harder and harder to hide beneath the radar of human attention. So she and Colt bought train tickets under assumed names, making for a much longer trip. And one infinitely more frustrating.

  The pair traveled as a married couple, their paperwork showing they were Mr. and Mrs. Chris and Natalie Hoffman—average, human names that made them forgettable. It was hard for Michaela to get into that married woman role she had to play, though. Colt made her nervous, and there was no way she could hide that. She tended to jump when Colt touched her arm, moved away when he shifted closer. He was too big, too dark, too intensely masculine. He overwhelmed her in ways she simply couldn’t handle.

  That didn't mean Colt was anything other than appropriate, though. Even when they shared a room, Colt slept on the floor, giving her a modicum of privacy and as much space as he could. Never pushing her in any way. Still, Michaela felt uneasy with him around. Felt uncomfortable, as if he was watching her too closely. As if he was monitoring her, waiting for her to mess up. She looked forward to the moment when they could get to their destination, when she could find some breathing room from the shifter.

  As she lay in bed on the third and final night of their trip, ignoring the soft snore of her roommate coming from the couch across the room, she thought back over the memories of her friend Ariel, of their past together. Of how the woman had disappeared for a while, and how much Michaela had missed her. There was much catching up to do. One more day. Just one more day and they’d be reunited after far too long apart.

  The non-couple couple arrived at their destination bedraggled, exhausted, and downright sick of each other.

  “We need a car.” Michaela looked around the train station hoping to find a sign for rentals. Nearly breathless as she took in the formidable mountain range in the distance. “Maybe we can rent a 4x4 or something.”

  Colt apparently had other ideas. “We shift and run.”

  He walked off, heading toward the tree line at the far end of the parking lot. As if her opinion didn't matter. As if he got to set the rules, the overbearing jackass.

  “Hang on.” She rushed after him, dragging her suitcase behind her. “We have too much stuff.”

  He stopped in his tracks, turning in a slow arc to face her. She realized her mistake the second his eyebrows went up. He glanced at her heavy suitcase, the one with her medical bag sitting on top of it, along with her purse wrapped around the handle. And then he adjusted the backpack he carried. His only bag.

  “I told you to pack light.”

  Michaela glared. “And I told you I needed my medical supplies.”

  He smirked, his eyes skating past her medical bag to the large suitcase filled with clothes and shoes and…things a woman needed. “Then you leave your other bag, and we run.”

  “Not happening.” Michaela turned and headed for the station, hoping to find some sort of car rental place or car service to take them to the remote location she'd been given. Colt didn't follow her at first, but she knew he would. Their Alpha would have given him clear orders not to leave her alone. So she walked, confident in her plan.

  When he did catch up, stalking behind her and basically chasing her into the station, he did so with a growl. She wasn’t scared, though.

  “Maybe we can get an Uber.” She pulled out her cell phone and tapped the app to see what was available.

  Colt huffed. “No Uber would take us that far. We should just run.”

  “I'm not running, I'm not leaving behind my bag, and I'm not letting you dictate how this trip will go.”

  Colt glared down at her, creeping closer. Looking ready to kill. “Get outside and shift.”

  Michaela smiled, truly grinned at the chal
lenge thrown in her face. Then she turned on her heel and flounced all the way to the front desk.

  “Excuse me,” she said to the gentleman behind the glass, giving him her best smile. “Is there a place around here to rent a car? My husband and I need to get to the west side of Shepherd’s Ridge.” She kicked her smile up a notch, giving him a flirty head cock for good measure. “We’re visiting family.”

  The man stared, looking a little charmed by her. Jackpot. “There's a rental place three blocks into town,” he said. “Or if you can wait about twenty minutes, I'm heading up that way. I'd be happy to drop you off with your friends.”

  Michaela grinned and leaned on her heavy bag, shooting a wink at her traveling companion. “Oh, honey. Isn't that great? He’ll take us right to where we need to go.”

  She’d probably pay for that later, but the glare on his face and the irritation in his eyes were well worth anything he might feel like dishing out.

  Reggie, the kind, old ticket seller from the station, was a chatty little man—a widower, apparently. As he drove Michaela and Colt up through the hills, he talked endlessly about his late wife, his kids who lived far away, and the grandkids he rarely got to see. Michaela felt sorry for him. Colt, on the other hand, looked ready to cut the human’s throat.

  “We there yet?” Colt asked, hanging on to the handle above his window as Reggie made a harsh turn.

  “Just about,” Reggie said. “Who’d you say you were coming to visit, anyway?”

  Michaela smiled again, directing every bit of charm she had into a single look. “Oh, just one of my cousins. She moved up here with her new husband. I haven't seen her in forever.”

  A bit of truth buried in her lie. A fact she regretted and planned to rectify on this visit.

  Reggie scratched at his whiskered chin. “I hadn't realized a young couple had moved out this way.”

  “They keep to themselves.”

  Reggie seemed to take that statement at face value. He kept heading deeper into the forest, following the snaky road that turned back and arched over hills as though he drove it every day. He probably did, which was why, when they reached the top of the hill where Michaela knew they needed to be, she directed him a little farther down the road.