Page 29 of Never Submit (Bad Wolves #2)

Chapter 29

Noble

I ’m going to skin this guy myself.

If he keeps acting like a dickhead and going off unhinged, then the best thing to do is to put him down. He’s a danger to himself and to others.

I pump my arms for more speed, faster than a human, but in this form it’s not nearly enough to keep up with Dax as a wolf. I catch a flash of gold from way too far ahead and stop. Only long enough to shake out of my clothes and toss my shirt to the side.

“I’m going to fucking kill you for this,” I mutter, squeezing my eyes shut.

Right as we got to Andras's hideout, Dax had to lose his shit.

If I didn’t know him, I’d say he was having a moment of PTSD.

Welcoming the change as it crashes over me like an ocean wave, my wolf rises to the surface, my muscles twisting and lengthening, my bones breaking and reforming into something stronger. I lurch forward onto all fours as cinnamon-colored fur bursts through every pore. The moment the change is complete, I bolt after Dax.

The sights and smells of the forest are sharper now. My claws dig into the ground as I scramble for purchase, my fur helping to protect me from the worst of the obstacles.

I trail Dax through the trees. He’s going fast enough to make everything outside of the trail a nauseating blur. He’s headed for the camp, that much is clear. But in his present state, he’s worse than a bomb with the timer counting down and seconds to explode. He’s going to cause nothing but damage if I let him get that far.

I put on a burst of speed and hope it’s enough as my lungs protest. It has to be enough. Ren is back there, and in his present state, it’s not a stretch to think Dax might head for her. To safety. She’s always been that place for us and he is no exception.

The trek that took us hours to navigate is over in what feels like minutes. Seconds.

Dax stumbles at the last moment, scrambling to right himself, and I close the distance swiftly. Pouncing on his back and forcing him to the ground.

What the fuck is your problem?

I snap at the back of his neck, but Dax is rage incarnate. He’s chaos and movement and panic. The acrid stench of his emotional state is a horrible assault to my senses.

He rolls to the side and kicks at me, his claws digging into my sensitive underbelly.

He twists at the last seconds and my teeth close on open air. I snarl, hoping he stops, curving my spine to avoid his claws.

His eyes are dark. The pupils have overtaken everything and there is no sense left to him. He’s feral. A beast.

The terrible sounds he makes draw a crowd around us. A number of Steel Claws and Grey Valley gather closer at the commotion, a tremor rippling through them.

Shit, this is not what we need.

Several of the surrounding wolves have started snarling and pressing closer. Inching toward our scrambling like they’ll somehow erase their own restless needs by joining the fray.

The human part of me has to prevail. If I let the wolf have his say, he’ll fight for dominance and snap Dax’s neck. The peace…the tentative peace treaty has to hold.

Otherwise Torin will have my ass.

And Mathis…I can’t hurt Dax or it will tear Mathis apart.

I shift back to human form despite the absolute frantic beating of my heart. Every logical thought tells me I’m practically begging to be ripped open. I take a giant step away from Dax. He’s turning in wild circles, snapping and whining. Caged in by the ring of bodies.

But there’s nowhere to go that doesn’t involve trouble.

Fuck. What should I do?

Think, Noble, think .

“Dax, calm your ass down. You have to shift back. Shift, now .”

He narrows in on the sound of my voice and snaps his teeth. Then he lifts his head to the sky and lets out a baying howl. The sound ripples along my skin and I shiver.

“Dax, if you do nothing else, you selfish asshole, listen to me now. If you don’t change back, you’re going to ruin everything,” I add, keeping my voice low and steady despite the prickle of unease along my spine. “Do you get it?”

There’s a tug in my consciousness. The sensation grows and zaps down my spine.

I thrust out my arms. “Goddamn it, no. Ren, stop! ”

Then she’s there as though conjured, pushing through the crowd to get to us.

“Baby, stay away,” I warn her. “It’s too dangerous.”

She glances at me, then toward the wild golden wolf pacing restlessly, drool dripping from his maw. “No.”

I know what she’s trying to do. Something only Mathis has been able to do until now. She’s going to try to get Dax to change.

He’ll turn on her. It’s a given at this point. Dax will turn and hurt her and then there will be no choice. I’ll have to follow her into death.

I’m not ready to lose her, and I’m not ready to die. Panic steals my breath. It makes every heartbeat last millennia.

My eyes widen, stretching to their limits before narrowing into thin slits as Ren steps between the two of us. Standing with her back toward Dax. Protecting him . Not me.

“ Ren .” I say her name, but she just looks at me with her chin jutted out and her expression screwed up in good old-fashioned stubbornness.

“I’m not going to let you hurt each other,” she insists. “Whatever happened out there, it stops now.”

Me hurt him? He’s not the one bleeding. Why would she… Confusion and shock war inside of me. Ren is my mate.

“From where I’m standing, it seems you’re more concerned with me hurting that thing than you are about your own mate.”

I don’t want to sound like the bitter asshole here, even though I definitely feel it.

Ren stands with her arms out to the sides, crouched slightly forward in a power position.

Dax whines, pressing closer to her, rubbing his head on her leg. Lewd. Suggestive. Like he has a right to touch her that way.

I’m going to fucking kill him, even if he is in the middle of an episode.

“Ren, step away from him.” I hold out my hand, waiting for her to choose. “He lost it out there. Hearing things. He kept going on and on about some song…”

I need her to really choose between us, because her next step will prove to me that our mate bond is real. And that I deserve it.

Ren stares at my hand, then at me. “I need to make sure you’re not going to hurt each other.”

Stubborn woman. Pride wars with fear in my chest.

“Sounds a lot like you don’t trust me,” I murmur.

I want to plead with her. To beg her to step away from him and into the safety of my arms, before it’s too late. Before I do something I’ll really regret and jeopardize her in the process.

Ren sees all of it. Every fucked-up thought in my head, she feels through our mate connection. Her own sense of betrayal, of worry, of guilt rip through me like a bolt of pure electricity and I move toward her, intending to grab her.

The world around us slows down. The sensations coming through the mate bond are intense, too unpredictable for me to give much thought to why. Ren stands there as a human woman.

And as time ticks by, as everything slows and everyone with it, her body bends forward, lurching until she is on her hands and knees. Her skin ripples and the bones and muscle underneath shift. Thicken, lengthen.

Pure, bright-white fur erupts along every inch of her and her face contorts so that her jaw lengthens and fangs sprout where human teeth used to reside. I’m stunned. I can only watch as she wolfs out and suddenly there is a giant beast crouched between me and Dax, snarling.

Right at me.

Ready to rip my throat out should I make any sudden moves.

My hands automatically go out in front of me, and I stifle the urges of my own wolf. Those same urges that want me to shift and subdue her, that want to make sure this behavior of hers, in choosing another wolf over me, does not go unpunished.

But the man inside of me is too raw to do any of that and worries how Ren will react.

The change is new to her. Already her eyes have glazed and her tongue rolls out to the side of her mouth in confusion.

“You’re going to have to calm down,” I tell her in a low tone of voice.

Calm and soothing and projecting both of those things out to her. It’s like she’s slammed a wall down around her, the wolf inside her too new to even consider any suggestions. She’s running on pure animal instinct at this point and my mind flashes back to the time she changed in the apartment.

The havoc she caused then.

Even Dax is staring at her with a mixture of intrigue, lust, and apprehension. It shows a remarkable change of pace for him.

“Ren!” She snaps her head at me at the sound of my voice and bares her teeth, her eyes still confused.

What is there to say? What is there to do?

I’m torn between standing as still as a mountain or grabbing her by the scruff of the neck, as a man, and dominating her that way. I’ve got a gut feeling that changing into my own wolf form will only incite her further.

At least there’s nothing out here in the open for her to destroy this time around.

Her wolf eyes me back, testing my mettle, looking for weakness.

“You two are fucking useless, I swear,” Mathis cuts in. “Let me handle this.”

Acting like he’s somehow impervious to any kind of danger, the alpha of the Grey Valley pack strides between me and Dax until he stands right in front of Ren. Imposing at his full height.

“I can’t leave you three alone for five minutes without it devolving into bedlam,” Mathis scoffs.

I’m not sure what he says to Ren, his words murmured at such a pitch I’m unable to catch them, but I watch him. I watch him crouch down in front of her so that his very vulnerable face is eye level with those bad-boy teeth of hers.

Something…is going on. I’m not sure what it is, but the longer the two of them stare at each other, the more I know that an aspect of their relationship has changed. Shifted.

And as the world starts to speed back up around us, it trickles into my awareness.

Another layer to our mating bond and the energy between us. Something that adds to the connection, strengthens it rather than takes away from what we share.

In my next breath, Torin is at my side. His voice is low and rough in the back of his throat. “Sickening, isn’t it?”

“I don’t understand what you mean…”

I had felt the moment her mate bond clicked in with Mathis, it’s true, but something strikes me about the scene now. The alpha calming his mate, the beta still lost to his own demons, and me. A mate, the first, watching fate itself unfold.

Watching the woman I’ve come to care for choose to protect a monster.

Is that what Torin means?

Then I remember how awful he’d been to me hours ago. Remember the fight, and him throwing his wealth in my face. How he paid for my college, how he’s still paying for my parents’ nursing home when all along I thought that money came from wise investments on their part.

I turn and glare at him.

“It shouldn’t even be possible.” Torin sounds incredulous now, and his eyes have a faraway quality that tells me he’s lost in the labyrinth of his mind. As he so often is these days. “I mean, I’ve never heard of such a thing. It’s rare enough for a wolf to find a mate, but more than one?”

I don’t want to fucking talk to him.

“Go on,” I tell the others. “The show is over.”

The crowd around us disperses with nothing left to watch.

But I can’t tear my attention away from the two of them, the way Mathis comforts Ren to the point where she drops down and sits on her haunches.

This is amazing, and horrible.

A double whammy for me because this is my worst nightmare come true, and I must be too stupid not to have realized it until now. Now I really will have Dax in my face for the rest of my fucking life.

How did it not connect on our hunt? Why now?

My breath catches in my throat as Ren shifts back into her human form, naked on her ass in the dirt. Mathis takes her by the elbows and hauls her up, into the comfort of his arms. He rests his chin on her head and holds her. Catching my gaze and arching a brow in a clear demand for me to join the cuddle puddle.

Woodenly, I make my way over to the two of them and stand at Ren’s back, eventually looping my arms around her as well.

She lets out a small sigh, a sound of contentment.

“I’m sorry,” she says. “I didn’t know what to do. I…I panicked. There was so much going on at one time, and I wasn’t sure when you guys would be back?—”

It’s not clear which of us she’s talking to, until she tugs on the mate bond between us.

Mathis is there, his bond with her running parallel to ours but close enough for me to touch. He knows we’re passing sensations back and forth but he isn’t intervening. How interesting.

Especially when I’m intimately aware of Torin staring with a gaze that nearly burns a hole straight through the three of us.

If I push the awareness of my alpha aside and tune into the connection, however…there is peace. There is comfort in the way the three of us touch, as though we are another step closer toward absolute completion.

It makes no sense.

Slowly, Ren turns her back to Mathis and faces me, lifting on her toes to press a kiss to my chin. “I’m tired. Can we go to bed, Noble? Take a nap?”

I nod, not trusting myself to speak yet.

Mathis is reluctant to let go of her, of me, and as the three of us stand together I feel the connection weaving us tighter, an unbreakable web. Well, shit. At least Mathis is powerful. I can admit that much.

“I hate to see you go, but I know you’ll rest easier with him right now,” he murmurs to Ren, nuzzling the side of her face. “We’ll talk about arrangements soon. Once we’ve calmed down, not so?—”

“Raw,” I finish for him.

His gaze flicks to mine, and he nods slowly. Appraising me. “Exactly. Besides, I have to deal with Dax.”

It’s only going to get worse before it gets better, especially with Torin looming like a dark cloud at the edge of the group. Glowering at no one in particular. He’s got feelings for Ren himself. More than he’s ever willing to admit. Whatever happens from here on out…it will be interesting, if nothing else.

Ren says her goodbyes to Mathis, kissing him long and slow before she turns to Dax with a wink. Finally, she links her hand through mine and allows me to tug her toward Torin.

“Let’s go,” my alpha snaps, and we follow him.

The silence is calming on our walk back to the cabin Ren and I have shared. She’s snuggled at my side and wrapped in my shirt. She’s shivering but not from cold, not when waves of heat filter off of her.

“Did you find anything?” she whispers.

“Nothing important. Dax fucking broke apart the moment we got there,” I whisper back, into her hair. Drawing her scent into me. Jasmine and vanilla.

Ren’s exhaustion beats at me, though, and I’m torn in two directions—protecting the delicate, powerful woman at my side or protecting the alpha who is equally both of those things.

Fuck .

We pause at the door to the cabin, and Ren cocks her head. “Aren’t you coming inside with me?”

I force a grin. “I’ve got to fill Torin in on what I saw when I was out. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Torin waits until Ren goes inside and we’re alone before he allows a crack in his facade. “Fucking bloody hell, Noble,” he grunts.

I’m not ready to forgive him yet. It had been difficult the first time, to find my way back to our friendship, when duty pressed so close and it felt like he was asking the impossible of me.

Now, he’s not asking. He’s demanding. Loyalty. Obligation. Explanation.

But I have none.

“Just go, damn it,” Torin says roughly. “I know you want to go with her.”

“That sounds a bit like envy,” I observe cheekily.

He whirls on me, glaring, and normally I’d offer another joke. Not that any response will be the right one while he’s in this mood, while we’re all a little edgy and freaked-out.

“Don’t be absurd. I’ve got enough to worry about without the storm of hormones raging in this camp. I am being forced to work in a closer capacity with the one asshole I’d rather avoid.”

Do I point out the elephant in the room? Mathis and his pack aren’t the problem. It’s not the wedding, and it’s not Andras. Not at the core.

“I never thought I’d hear you sound like a spoiled baby, but you constantly surprise me,” Ren says from behind me.

I stiffen. I hadn’t even heard her open the door. But she’s there, listening. Coming forward.

Stopping just before she gets to Torin and looking like a bug standing in front of a tsunami. I’m thankful she tossed on a simple dress to cover her nakedness. Torin glares at her but says nothing.

She props her hands at her hips. “When you’re ready to stop acting this way and actually do something about how you feel, then you can talk to me. Otherwise, we’re busy. You can get what you need from Dax,” she tells Torin.

Her nose goes straight into the air, and suddenly she’s stomping back into the cabin with all the force of a Clydesdale in a parade even though she’s barefoot. She draws me after her, pulling me along, and my worry for Torin takes a backseat to the crazy mixture of sensations going on with Ren.

Once I’m inside, the door seems to slam shut by an invisible force. The wind? I’m not sure.

“Is he always so fucking infuriating?” She shakes her head, bunching the edges of my t-shirt in her hands, between her breasts. “I swear, this wouldn’t be half as stressful as it is if Torin would pull his head out of his ass.”

I shrug. “It’s just the way he is.”

“And he’s always been like this?”

“Not always,” I answer slowly.

I thought back to a time when he’d been more open with himself and others around him, before he took over the pack as alpha and sank further into the crazy mindset where he felt like he only had himself to rely on.

I shove all thoughts of the alpha aside and focus on my own needs, and the needs of my mate. Our mate.

This is so damn strange.

“You know how I feel about you, Noble,” Ren says softly.

I blink, clearing my mind and focusing on her. Everything else fades away as Ren steps up, pressing herself to my chest. My arms automatically wind around her.

She gives me a sad look. “I know how you felt when you thought I turned against you to protect Dax. But it wasn’t betrayal, and I never meant for it to cut you so deeply. I really care about you, Noble. I feel like every new thing I learn about you brings our connection to a new point and my feelings grow…brighter. Bigger. I missed you while you were gone, but I saw Dax hurting, like he was trapped, and I just—I don’t know…”

I force her gaze to meet mine. Stare deeply into those eyes of hers and see more of the wolf than I’ve ever seen before. “You’ve never said these things before.”

Her expression softens. “I’m not good at words. I’ve always been better at action.”

“And there is more to action than just sex, you insatiable nymph,” I say.

“I never pegged you for such a romantic.”

She pushes me until the backs of my knees hit the edge of the bed, and I drop.

She steps between my legs, reaching out to take my face in her hands, and the role reversal has me squirming. Not in a bad way. “I’m not sure what’s going on,” she says, biting her lip, “but it seems to me we’re in uncharted waters.”

“A romantic and a pirate,” I joke.

“I’m trying to be serious here,” she chides playfully. “I have more than one mate. It’s a fact. You are my mate and I adore you, but so is Mathis and I adore him too. We are going to have to find a way to coexist. The three of us.”

I stare at her, her skin so soft against mine. “What about?—”

She stifles a chuckle, knowing where my mind has gone. “Dax is something else. I’m not sure about him, but I know I’m drawn. The same way I was to you and to Mathis. And to Torin.”

I jerk slightly at my alpha’s name.

“You really want to talk about them now?” I run my hands along her sides until I reach the hem of the dress and slide my way underneath it. Touching her bare skin and loving the way gooseflesh erupts.

She shakes her head. “No. I want to hold you. To soothe your hurt feelings.”

“Don’t treat me like a baby,” I scold her. “Otherwise I’ll have to spank you.”

Ren wraps her arms tighter around me. “Is that a promise, Noble?”

It’s a sweet moment where it’s just the two of us and those feelings of hers. Those feelings of mine .

I pray to any fucking god or goddess who will listen that she’s never taken from me.