Free Dire Desires: A Novel of the Eternal Wolf Clan by Stephanie Tyler Page B

least romantic place for a first kiss.
    She grinned at that thought and it faded when she saw his expression had gone serious again. “Whatever happens, Jinx, just don’t send me back.”
    “I won’t.”
    She pushed her plate away. “My parents won’t give up easily.”
    “What do they do when you run away?”
    “I always come back within a couple of days.” She left her clothes folded, a sign like DO NOT DISTURB AND I’LL COME BACK PEACEFULLY . “For all I know, the hospital doesn’t even tell them I leave and come back.”
    But this time was different. They would know this man took her and while he didn’t appear to be scared of anything, he’d never been up against her family.
    Then again, neither had she and as the dust settled and the enormity of what she’d done began to hit her, she realized she would be on the receiving end of their ruthlessness for the first time.
    Gillian Margaret Blackwell
. She could still hear her mother middle-naming her after all these years and she winced.
    “What’s wrong?”
    “Nothing. Just . . . memories.”
    “None of them good, by the looks of it.”
    No, there hadn’t been good ones for a long time. Maybe, with Jinx, there would be.
    •   •   •
    Liam stared at his hands. He’d woken up four times already in the past two hours, convinced he could see the blood on them still. He knew it couldn’t be so—they’d been washed several times already, but the smell . . . the howls . . . rang in his ears.
    The spoils of war.
    “Ten more surrendered tonight,” Cyd had told him just before he came in here to get some quiet. The rooms they used were at the end of the Dire tunnel, where it was safest for them and yet gave them enough independence to begin functioning as a pack of their own.
    In time, Liam would move back to Manhattan with the twins and the majority of his pack.
    Max was being held in the room next to Harm and she had everything she could want, except freedom.
    Liam felt the yoke around his neck as surely as she did.
    It was hard to stay away from her. Cyd offered to find him other comforts but Liam refused.
    Didn’t want to ever fall in love again but he didn’t want meaningless shit either.
    Cyd took the comfort instead. As an alpha, all his desires were strengthening exponentially. After their kills, they’d never be the same.
    As it’s meant to be.
    He heard the two weregirls’ cries of pleasure throughout the night. Cyd obviously satisfied them completely and then some, as they’d had come out to breakfast smiling.
    Cain was quieter about his needs, as he needed to be as the omega, but he fed his appetites as well. And when they gathered again, the strength of that trio would cement them all a great place in Were history.
    Would it be enough? His father had done it for twenty-one years, since Liam’s birth, with not a single companion, no true mate. He said it was much easier without the entanglement and for the first time, Liam understood what he’d meant.
    His father could’ve stopped him from mating with Max, but instead let him make his own mistakes. Linus saw nothing wrong, saw mistakes as something to learn from.
    Liam saw a hell of a lot wrong with it.
    So what, you’ll keep the boy and protect him from everything?
    The pup was innocent and a hybrid. It would deserve none of the scrutiny and rejection it would get. But could Liam show the whelp love? Because without that . . .
    “Liam? The California alpha’s on the line for you,” Cain said. “He wants to congratulate you on a job well done.”
    A job well done most likely meant Liam had his support. The thrill of that helped to erase some of the heaviness in his heart at what good pack law really meant.

Chapter 10
    J inx’s wolf did not like closed spaces, but he offered Gillian the option of the elevator. She seemed to accept his claustrophobia in stride and walked up with him.
    “I don’t much like small spaces either,” she told him as they started up