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He reached out along the tether and couldn’t feel Simone at all. She might not know how to shut down the link, but her dire wolf sure as hell did. The last thing he’d felt before the tie between them went dead was his mate calling to her other self, and her she-wolf answering. He could still feel the faintest tendrils of Simone’s existence, but her dire wolf was most definitely in control—if you could call murderous violence control.
The link led them to a dilapidated motel out on a desolate stretch of highway. There were two older models SUVs parked in front of one room and another parked up by what Mischa was sure passed for an office. Parking in an alley between two deserted buildings across the street from the motel, Mischa and Valentin exited the SUV and then, after checking to ensure no one was milling around, they sprinted across the street. They threw the door into the office wide, startling a desk clerk who didn’t look old enough to buy a beer, much less man a desk in a motel that only saw the shady side of life.
“What room?” growled Mischa, pretty sure it would be the one where the junky SUVs were parked out front.
“Ni… nine. I can give you a key,” stammered the desk clerk, as he reached behind him to a group of cubbyholes on the wall. Each had a key with a large, plastic tag emblazoned with a room number.
“Not necessary,” said Mischa. “You need to leave for a while, and we were never here. Understand?”
“Not a problem. I was going to quit this job anyway. I’ll send my boss an email at what should be the end of my shift. That’s not until midnight. Is that long enough because if not I can do it in the morning. The office is closed between midnight and six.”
“Midnight will be fine,” said Mischa, peeling off several hundred-dollar bills.
He looked up at the terrified kid. He was no part of what had happened here and what was about to happen.
“Screw it,” he said, handing the kid the entire roll. “That should pay your bills until you find a new job.”
The kid stared at the money. “No, sir. That will get me out of this place for good and pay my way back home.”
The kid grabbed his phone and his jacket and scurried out of the office. They waited until they saw the kid drive away. No need to leave a witness to what was about to happen.
“Now what?” asked Valentin.
“Now we go save my mate and make sure we send the Russians a message.”
Every protective instinct in his body and soul wanted to shift, bound down the walkway to Room 9, and crash through the door to save Simone, but rational thought told him if she was dead, he would no longer be able to feel her. And what little feeling making it through the link said she was alive and in control.
Mischa and Valentin crept down the walkway to Room 9. Positioning themselves to either side of the door, they kicked it in, in a coordinated effort, springing into the room as a single fighting unit.
The sight that greeted him would haunt his dreams for a long time. To call it a bloodbath would be to insult the scene with mediocrity. It wasn’t just the blood and gore that captured his attention; it was the beautiful, blonde-furred dire wolf standing in the midst of it, shaking something in her teeth. Mischa was sure he didn’t want to know what it was.
Realizing it was no longer alone, the dire wolf dropped the object and growled, but then gave a cheerful yip as she saw it was Mischa. She sank gracefully onto her haunches, panting happily as she wagged her tail back and forth through the blood and body parts. She yipped again as she placed one paw on the chest of the single man who appeared to still be alive.
“Save me,” he whimpered, his eyes filled with fear and terror.
Mischa walked forward, sighing softly as he ran his hand along Simone’s silky fur. “Tell the crew we’re going to have to torch this place. We’re going to need to eradicate anything identifiable or that the cops could link back to us.”
“Yes, Alpha,” said Valentin, turning his back.
Mischa looked up on the shelf over the hanging bar for additional pillows and blankets. Luckily, a thin blanket was neatly folded. He reached for it and brought it down. It was scratchy, but it was the best he could do at the moment.
“I need you to shift, Simone. Tell your wolf to relinquish control and give her my thanks.”
He watched as the mist of ice, thunder, lightning, and color swirled all around her until Simone, in her human form, arose out of the vortex. Wrapping the blanket around her, he swept her up into his arms and carried her out to the vehicle, settling her on the passenger side.
“Wait here. Keep the doors locked and don’t even think about moving,” he ordered calmly.
“You’re angry with me.”
He smiled, leaned down and kissed her. “No, little wolf. I am trying to maintain control, so I don’t fall on you and fuck you right here in the front seat. I have never been prouder of anyone in my life. You should have been terrified…”
“I was,” she admitted.
“Which is only natural, but you used that fear to galvanize action. You’ve never shifted before, and yet you were able to call forth your she-wolf and let her do what she knew needed to be done. Make no mistake and never doubt for a moment that what was done in that room needed doing and needed doing in precisely the way it was done. Those men took you and would have raped and killed you to try and send a message to me. Instead, it was you and your dire wolf that sent the message. You were brave and strong, and any children I sire on you will be a credit to our bloodline and our kind. I just need to take care of that last guy.”
“I could have done that. I thought you’d want to question him.”
“Not so much question him as use him to ensure the message I want to send gets delivered. You’ve done quite enough for one afternoon.”
