Page 17 of Never Submit (Bad Wolves #2)

Chapter 17

Dax

B eating the fuck out of that golden-haired prick is the highlight of my day so far, and it’s still early. I tilt my head from side to side, crack my neck and my knuckles in anticipation of the next round.

“ Explain? ” The curly-headed blonde girl screeches out the word, the jagged edges of it sending sharp pains through my ears. “Are you fucking kidding me right now, Renee?”

The blonde is trembling, leaning hard on Flora, sobbing like a baby. “He changed from a wolf to a man! And he’s naked and—why the hell is he hard ?”

She’s terrified, and the stench of it seeps into the air like a stain. I scowl at her, peeling my lip up in a snarl.

Little Red digs her palms into my chest and pushes me back. “Dax! You’re scaring her.”

I hardly expect Red to push me away, to stand between me and her friend, blocking me with her body. She’s got her hands on her hips in the most delicious way, staring me down, furious.

“Threaten her and you’ll have to go through me,” she warns. “You know I’m not joking. ”

“I like the sounds you’re making, Little Red.” I stare at her right back and my cock twitches eagerly, earning a tiny, strangled eep of surprise from the human.

Flora knows me. She rolls her eyes, avoiding my erection, torn between loyalty to me as Mathis’s beta and her new friend.

“You’re terrifying the locals,” Flora warns.

“So what?” I grunt.

Red is the only one that matters. And these assholes trailed her here, attacked her while her back was turned, would have hurt her if I hadn’t arrived in time. I let her go and I shouldn’t have.

“ Dax .” Red’s warning me again, and I lick my lips, salivating.

I’ll take her right here and now.

Then the blond prick groans and curls in on himself and shatters my concentration.

“Keep your fucking voice down.” I kick the guy in the gut and listen to him squeal. “Or I’ll rip the tongue out of your throat and eat it.”

With Red watching my every move and her mouth flapping open, I grab the guy underneath the armpits and drag him further into the alley and away from prying eyes on the street.

The stench of violence and blood makes me even harder, and my dick digs into the man's back before I shove him down.

“I thought it before, but now I’m sure of it,” Red says. “I know this guy.”

I lift my lips in a grimace. “Yeah, the prick from the mountains.”

Her gaze hardens. “He was at the temple. The one talking shit. Right before?— ”

I know that tone. I live for that tone because there’s a hint of bloodlust in it, a hint of seeking redemption in the form of violence.

“You still think I went overboard?” I ask her, looming over the guy. “He’s got so much more coming to him. And I’ll happily be the one to cut off his leg and shove it down his throat.”

“I never said you went overboard. I said you can’t shift and kick someone's ass in public like this.” She fixes her stare on the man. “Who do you think you are?”

I shift forward, catching her gaze, and she rolls her eyes at me.

“Not you, you psycho. Him.” She nudges him with the toe of her sneaker.

“He’s Andras’s delta. He followed you here. And planned to bring you back to his master.”

Something in Red changes. There’s a feral grace in her every move as she stalks closer, looming over the man and staring him dead in the face with a fierce glare. Something pushes up inside my chest, hammering at the inside of my ribs, and it takes me only a moment to realize what it is.

Pride.

The blonde woman is cuddled at Flora’s side despite the difference in their sizes, Flora slight and pregnant and the human thicker in the shoulders and bust. The human is still crying, but at least she’s not screaming anymore.

“You think you can come here and hurt the people I care about?” Red points a warning finger at the guy’s face but his left eye is too swollen to peel open to look at her.

A sob catches in his chest. “My master—” he begins.

“Your master isn’t my problem. I’d appreciate it if you’d stop making it my problem.” In the next breath, Red lodges her foot between his legs and the delta curls in on himself, his hand on his nuts.

Immediately, I’m throbbing and twitching, my dick ready to bury inside of her.

“Yes,” I hiss out. “Hit him again.”

I grab him by the shoulders and adjust him, ignoring the stench of his fear and pain, and reposition him to give her a better angle.

She sneers down at him before punching him in the chin hard enough for his head to snap back.

I’d stay there all day watching her bloody him if it means giving her a chance at retribution, if it brings a small amount of joy, pure and unadulterated, into her day. Whatever she wants. I’ll give it to her.

I’m powerless against this beautiful creature.

She stops, straightens, and smoothes back a few strands of hair that have escaped from her dark ponytail. “What are we going to do with him?”

“Well, there’s always disemboweling,” I offer.

She snaps her gaze to mine. “Not funny, Dax. If they followed me all the way here then there will be more of them coming. Andras isn’t going to stop.”

“He’s after the Moonstone,” I say, unnecessarily.

Red wraps her arms around her torso, shaking, and her scent tells me it’s from the cold and not from fear. A little bit of tension eases from my chest.

“Renee? Can you please explain to me what’s happening? Are werewolves… real ?”

A trembling female voice sounds from the left and I glance over, nostrils flaring. I recognize her now. It’s the woman from the house, where I first fucked Red. I lift my brows at her, staring.

How did I not notice it before?

I must be getting soft, weak, distracted.

“Carrigan.” Red deflates. “I’m so sorry. I’ll explain everything, I promise. Just not here. Or now.”

“Sweetheart, she’s right. The story is too big for us to tell on the street.” Flora is a much better nurturer than any of us. She smoothes a hand down Carrigan’s temple.

My friend is absolutely uncomfortable, struggling to pull herself together, her eyes flicking between us wildly.

“It might be best if you come with us,” Flora adds.

I shrug. “Or we can kill her and be done with it. She is a liability now.”

Liabilities don’t last long in this world. Especially not when they are so frail and easily broken.

“I’ve got this covered, Carrigan, it’s fine,” Red says. She forces a smile to her face but the edges are lined and terse. “Please just bear with me for a bit longer.”

“She’s not going anywhere.” I step toward the human, growling, my shoulders stiff.

The woman, Carrigan, gawks at me. “I just don’t understand why he’s naked!” She cocks her head to the side and stares at me but my dick isn’t showing any signs of deflating. Not anytime soon. “You were in my house. You tried to kill me!”

I flash her a vicious grin.

“This is very weird for everyone, I get it.” Red places her body between me and her friend, blocking the bloodied blond man from view. “I know it’s pretty fucked up.”

“He’s naked and he’s sporting a woody that would make an eggplant jealous. He changed from a wolf to a man.” Carrigan says it like she’s ordering her thoughts and coming up short in the equation. “I’m pretty sure I get it, but I’m also pretty sure that means I’m going out of my mind.”

“I promise you that I will explain everything, but not right now.” Red steps up to her friend and takes Carrigan by the biceps. “Hey. Hey! It’s going to be all right.”

“Ren, I’m sorry. She’s seen us. She knows about us. There’s no way for her to go back to her old life now. Not to mention your scent is on her, and Andras will inevitably come for her too. It’s only a matter of time.” Flora is gentle and everything I’m not.

She’s also stepping out of line.

I growl at her, expecting her to back down, but she only juts her small chin out further in a display of dominance she hasn’t earned.

“I don’t want to come with you. I won’t tell anyone,” Carrigan insists.

The anxiety in her tone grates on my fucking nerves. My dick twitches, deflating a little, and I groan. “I’m getting bored.”

“Ren is in danger, and because she cares for you, you’re in danger as well,” Flora replies. “The best thing for you to do is come with us, and we’ll explain everything on the ride. Come.” Flora nudges Carrigan toward the street end of the alley. “You’ll be safe.”

What lies. What stinking, brutal lies, made all the more terrible for the kind way they’re delivered.

Explanations aren’t going to solve anything. Humans generally don’t do well when they discover the truth about our kind. It’s a fact of life.

Red sinks in on herself, her shoulders caving forward and her hands clenched around her friend’s. She pauses only a beat before she draws the woman into her arms in a quick, fierce hug. “It’s going to be fine,” she tells the girl again. “I promise. Okay?”

Carrigan looks like she wants to argue, and the low growl continues to burn the back of my throat. “We have business to take care of,” I say. “Get her in the truck, now.”

Flora jolts into action, hustling Carrigan toward the main street where Flora’s truck is parked. Before I have a chance to follow them, Red steps into my path.

“Don’t say anything.”

“What would I say? That this is a mistake? That she is better off dead than whatever waits for her?”

“Hey, you. Mr. Eggplant.”

The woman’s got guts, I’ll give her that. Carrigan points at me with a warning finger.

“If you hurt a hair on her head, then I’ll come for you with a baseball bat and make you wish you were never born,” she tells me, her Southern twang deepening with each word. “Trust and believe I’ll hurt you .”

“No doubt, little lioness.” Okay, maybe I misjudged her.

I dip my head in her direction to placate her, the fire in her eyes amusing. But her affection for Red is real and that’s something I can respect and appreciate.

The city is stifling, and I need to go. To run. To get out of this prison of metal and glass and find someplace wild to roam. Where the forest is alive and the feeling of dirt and ice beneath my feet matches the thrumming in my blood.

Red lets out a breath, and I bend down to grab Blondie.

“Where are we going?” she asks in an undertone.

“Back to Mathis.”

She shakes her head. “And Torin,” she reminds me.

“Unfortunately.” I hoist the man up and toss him over my shoulder.

“I’m not walking all the way to uptown. We’ll take my truck,” Flora says.

I lift a brow at her. “You can, but there’s no way you’re getting me in that metal box on wheels. ”

She scoffs and says, “You’re such a baby.”

Ten minutes later, the delta is strapped and secured in the bed of the truck. I’m squeezed into the front seat with Flora eyeing me sideways, while Red and the human fill the seat behind me. The human girl looks to be on the verge of a mental breakdown.

“I’m sorry,” Red apologizes for the thousandth time. “I shouldn’t have left the building. I should have stayed there and dealt with my shit.”

“It’s not your fault,” Flora says. “I’m the one who pulled you out.”

“You’re both at fault.” I bite down on each word.

Throwing the blame around won’t solve anything. Flora knew better than to let Ren out of our sight and Ren shouldn’t have come here to these humans. She put them all in danger by doing so.

But it’s not my fucking place to say it. My place is very different.

It takes less time than I expected to make it back to the downtown building, the guard at the gate to the parking garage letting us in with only a brief once-over.

Low thumps sound from the truck’s bed.

It’s a small matter to drag Blondie into the elevator and yell at the cameras for Mathis.

I stab a finger into the button, going up.

The elevator creeps slowly upward to the main lobby, the delta squirming over my shoulder and Carrigan as far away from him as possible. She’s pale, terrified, and I can’t give a shit.

When the doors open again, the massive lobby stretches out in front us, immaculately clean and lit with grand chandeliers and minimalist decor.

I fucking hate it .

“I’ll go with Flora and Carrigan to see Torin. I’m guessing you can handle this, Dax?” Red asks as I step out with Blondie.

I grin. “Of course.”

Then the doors close and the elevator ascends. The next time they open again, Mathis is on the other side. He pulls up short.

“What a surprise.” He barely pays attention to my prisoner. “And you brought me a present?”

“Happy birthday.” I drop Blondie, and he practically bounces when he collides with the floor, his features twisted in pain. “A gift. The filthy delta from the mountains,” I explain.

Mathis bends down low to study him. “Andras must be missing you.”

Blondie rouses long enough to spit venom at Mathis.

“Let’s get him tied up in the basement. There’s a quiet place for us to have a chat with him down there, I’m assured.”

Mathis expects his will to be done, and I move to obey him, dragging the semi-conscious Blondie back into the elevator. Mathis pulls out a plastic card and scans it on a pad next to the buttons. The panel chimes and a green light flashes.

“Fancy,” I say as the carriage starts to descend.

“Torin gave it to me. Everything needs a passkey or fingerprint here. Seems a bit like overkill.”

“Seems a bit like Hell.”

The elevator opens again, but this time we step into a dark open space, all concrete and void of any color or sophistication. The cement floor slopes toward a central drain that’s the color of rust from years of spilled blood .

“The king gave us his permission to use his dungeon?” I complain under my breath.

“Yes. He will be down shortly, but you brought him in, so this one’s ours to play with first,” Mathis replies. “Flora said there were two?”

“Second body is in the dumpster behind the bar,” I tell him. “It will need to be taken care of.”

Spaces like these are not used often, but have their purposes. There are always going to be enemies. Always going to be those who want to hurt and cause pain.

Andras is not the first of his kind.

He won’t be the last asshole who oversteps his bounds and has no respect for others. Who only wants to take and take and take.

He’s coming for us, and he’s coming for the other packs in the area, without fail.

Here’s hoping Mathis knows what he’s doing.

I secure our prisoner and step back, surveying the silver chains and manacles on the chair already bolted to the floor.

It’s better that Red’s not here to witness this. No matter how strong she tries to be, there is still a soft heart beating inside her ribcage. A lust for vengeance, perhaps, but a softness she can’t shake, and damn if I don’t want her to. The softness is part of the allure, the opposite side of her.

Pain rips through my head, and I struggle against the urge to grip my skull until it passes. It always passes. Anytime I try to think about the past, the pain erupts again, and again, and again. Always until I give in to the numbness and then the pain subsides.

My past is a blur, nothing but darkness and agony whenever I try to probe too deeply. It doesn’t matter, anyway. Nothing matters before Mathis found me in the woods, scared and trapped in my wolf shape, with wounds that refused to heal until his father brought in the greatest healers the pack had to offer. They accepted me, and Mathis has been a brother to me ever since.

“You’re not going to get anything out of me,” Andras’s delta says with a sneer.

It’s his voice that brings me back to myself, to the moment, and I glare at him. “Trust me. You’ll talk.”

We have ways of making you talk .

And right now it’s not looking good for Blondie.

“We know you’re intimate with Andras.” Mathis grabs hold of the arms of the chair and gets in the other man’s face.

“Go fuck yourself,” the man replies.

My lips peel back from my fangs, a familiar heat surging through me. “Let me break his nose,” I tell Mathis. “Let me send bone shards into his brain.”

He holds out a hand to stop me. “Not yet.” The full force of his attention is on this guy, on getting him to spill. Before revenge.

But fuck, it’s hard to hold myself back. It always is. That much hasn’t changed, and I wonder if I’ve always been this way.

Pain rips through my head again, a bright second of agony, and in the silence in my head I hear a baby crying. A flashing image of blood, everywhere. Screaming and wailing.

Then it's all gone, and I shake it off, the last hints of pain disappearing.

Mathis doesn’t even notice the lapse.

“Honestly, it’s a wonder you still have all your teeth. Dax is fond of knocking them out and shoving them in places they don’t belong,” he tells the blonde in a jovial tone. He straightens, and his hands fall to his sides, his gaze clinical and detached. “Eyes, ears–”

“Asshole,” I add with mock modesty.

“I’m sure you’d like to leave here intact, without a canine in your asshole,” Mathis continues. “Tell us what we want to know and we can make that happen.”

The blond lets out a laugh. “You must think I’m a fucking idiot. I’m not getting out of here alive. Which means I don’t have to tell you shit.” He spits out a wad of blood and leans back in the chair, trying to look comfortable but failing. “Just do it already.”

“Ah, he’s chosen the hard way.” Finally, Mathis smiles. “Dax? You’re up.”

I crack my knuckles. Now it’s my time to shine.

And ecstasy fills every inch of my system when the blond starts to scream and the fun begins.