Free Savage Surrender: A Dire Wolves Mission (The Devil's Dires Book 1) by Ellis Leigh

away even as she sensed how much more wolf than man he was at that moment. “We do whatever he says. We follow him from here on out.”
    The man grunted, still watching her. She felt more than saw his wolf surge, those eyes going from washed-out aquamarine to bright silver and back. The color spinning in a way that pinged something in her memory. Something she’d learned about but never seen.
    She faltered, unable to hold his gaze a second longer. The moment had gotten too intense, the pull to him too hard to resist. She had to break the spell.
    “Now what?” she whispered when she was finally able to look up from the floor. He glanced from Sariel to Angelita, eyes hard and face giving nothing away, before motioning them over to the far side of the houseboat.
    “Up and out, ladies.”
    Not what she was expecting, but she didn’t refuse. The three slipped out the window, dropping into the swamp below. Sariel hated the feeling of the water surrounding her. Hated even more knowing there were things beneath the surface that could be more predator than she was. Though she doubted they were more predator than her mate.
    Sariel swam and waded her way through the dark water and mucky riverbed, trudging on until they reached a spot of land dry enough to gain their footing. She stumbled up the grassy land first, holding on to Angelita’s hand and pulling her along.
    “I never want to go swimming again,” Sariel said with a shiver. Her mate stalked out of the swamp, staring at her as if she were something to eat…to devour. And by the gods, she wanted that man to devour her. Droplets of water, mud, and muck clinging to every curve of his body, running down the length of it. Accentuating every hard muscle. She bit her lip and shivered, pulling at her sodden clothes. “What now?”
    Her mate took a moment to investigate their location, looking all around them and even up to the sky. Sariel mimicked him, though she doubted she saw the things he did. Still, it was a joy to be standing outside underneath the night sky again. The moon hung heavy, on its way to its pinnacle. Full moons always made her twitchy, made her inner animal itch to be released. Tonight was no different. Hell, the moon affected humans every month. It certainly affected shifters just as much.
    “They’re coming back.” Her mate looked out across the water they’d crossed, his eyes sharp and his chest still as he held his breath. He glared into the distance, a steely determination on his face. “We need to run.”
    “As wolf or human?”
    He turned to her, his eyes blue once more. “Wolf.”
    Sariel pulled her tank top over her head, glad to be rid of the sticky, wet fabric. The night air felt amazing against her skin, for once the humidity a benefit instead of an irritation. Her mate watched her, his eyes following her hands as she dropped them to the waistband of her shorts. She hooked her thumbs beneath the elastic and slid them over her hips. The weight of the water pulled them down her legs, and they fell to the grass with a muffled splat. Sariel kicked them off, standing on the balls of her feet, and stretched.
    “God, I’ve missed my wolf.” She wanted to dance in the night, celebrate being released from her cage, but she knew there was no time. Still, she stood brazen and bold, completely naked in front of her mate, and let the slight breeze blowing through the trees caress her body as it hadn’t in months. Her mate watched her, stared at her, ate her up with his eyes. His gaze slid over every curve of her body, head to toe, almost as if he was memorizing her. Every inch of her felt that stare, responding as if to touch. Nipples hard, goose bumps rising, Sariel held still and let her mate see her as she waited to let her wolf free.
    “I can’t.” The little voice may as well have been a bucket of ice water thrown over Sariel. She and her mate turned in an odd sort of unison, both staring at an extremely uncomfortable-looking