Page 74 of Never Submit

I’m all Carrigan has.

The change takes over me a little more and when I punch at the blond, my entire arm has shifted, my hand changing into a wolf paw the size of the dude’s face. He’s not even surprised, he only ducks, and the motion is like pouring gasoline over the fire inside of me.

Another howl cuts through the grimy air of the alley, gruffer and deeper than Flora’s. I barely have a second to breathe and flinch when a third massive wolf storms toward us.

His scent is familiar and I suck air into my overheated lungs.

“You guys are definitely fucked now,” I take particular grim pleasure in telling them.

Because Daxdefinitelyjust showed up and he’s even more pissed off than I am.

Dax growls, striding purposefully forward, his shoulders hunched and his glowing amber eyes and expression the stuff of nightmares.

“Oh my god, it’s back!” Carrigan is screeching, huddled behind the dumpster and using it to protect her.

I wish I could assure her that Dax isn’t a problem, notfor her. He’d never hurt her; she’d only been at the wrong place at the wrong time before.

And now.

He doesn’t wait for a signal. Dax erupts, going ape-shit on Andras’s men.

He goes for the throat, tearing into the dark-haired man before he has a chance to shift to protect himself. Two shifters in their human forms are no match for Dax as a full-fledged wolf.

I stop, rooted to the spot in awe, watching him move. He is violence in physical form. Smooth and precise, bloodthirsty and deadly. Dax tears into the man until his screams subside in a gurgle of blood.

The blond takes one look at Dax, now covered in crimson, and bolts for me.

Stupid man.

Flora is there all of a sudden, taking me in her arms and pulling me back toward the door. Andras’s man pulls up short, his arms clasping around empty air. Dax leaps and lands on his back, knocking the man to the asphalt and using his entire weight to crush him.

“Don’t look,” Flora urges. She drags me into her bony chest. “Please, Ren, don’t look. You won’t like what you see.”

Except I do like it, and I’m not going to turn away.

I’m not sure I understand it myself but there is something so delicious about watching Dax lose it, all to protect me. Something about watching Dax fight, about seeing the easy way he turns violence into a symphony, becomes a song in my blood as well.

My mouth goes dry and I lick my lips.

Only the sound of Carrigan’s sobs breaks the spell. Dax uses a paw to slam the blond’s face down into the asphaltagain and again until the yells stop. A halo of energy surrounds him, and in the next beat Dax is a man again, standing naked with his legs on either side of the prone body.

“He’s out,” Dax grunts. “Not dead yet. We can use him. For information.”

I break away from Flora with little effort and run to him, throwing myself in his arms and finding his lips with mine.

“You came for me,” I say through kisses.

“Stop fucking running away if you don’t want me to find you.” His smile is feral. “Although you know how I love to hunt you down.”

Desire stirs to life inside of me, and I might have given in to it if Carrigan weren’t there crying her eyes out.

So I force myself to kiss Dax one final time. “You know wolves aren’t supposed to be here. It’s neutral territory. Mathis told me that.”

“It might have been neutral before these cockheads tried to attack you, but I’m gonna guarantee old Steel Claw himself will excuse us for this one. As long as I bring you back safe and sound.”

He pats the top of my head hard enough to clack my teeth together.

And he’s still naked, hard, ready to go. I’m aching for him. He smells delicious, a combination of musk and blood, and my wolf is eager to taste him. Then he wraps his arm around my waist, and I swoon.

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