Dire Wolf Mates - Chapter 115: Chapter 115

She smelled like clean rain on a crisp Autumn day. Like freshly baked bread and sweet summer jam. The Raven smelled good. Too good.
He frowned as he looked at the small creature. Impossibly dark, glossy feathers trembled as the animal loosed a pitiful cry. She was in pain, and the knowledge caused something dark to grow inside of his mind. Something or someone had hurt her, and Thor’s Demon Wolf snarled in fury.
The bird was covered in scratches and blood. His growl escaped his lips. He noted the odd way the Raven’s wing was bent and was careful not to jostle her unnecessarily. How had she flown with that?
Fuck. Worry replaced his anger at whoever had done this to the creature. He could not imagine the pain she was in.
Poor, brave, determined thing.
“Shhh. It’s okay. I got you,” he whispered, needing to console the sweet-smelling bird.
For some reason, his voice would not come out any louder. He didn’t think too deeply about that. Just held her gently, crooning stuff and nonsense, trying to settle the animal.
Not animal. Ours, his Demon Wolf murmured inside his mind’s eye.
Thor froze, then he felt it. Magic. Shifter magic. The vibration was familiar, and his eyes narrowed, zeroing in on the Raven in his hands. The black bird’s body was larger than a wild raven’s would be. She was already warm, but started growing warmer as the vibration grew stronger.
He narrowed his eyes, taking in the blue black aura swirling around her body. Oh fuck. Surprise and awe filled him when, suddenly, instead of a bird, Thor was holding a woman. Her lush body felt good in his arms, but he wasn’t about to overstep any Shifter niceties by paying attention to the side of his brain screaming at him to look his fill.
Instead, his eyes remained on her face, willing hers to open. Finally, they did, and stole his very breath from his chest. Clear and blue, her eyes flashed up at him, and Thor sucked in another sharp breath. It was like he’d forgotten to breathe.
His lungs were burning, but he couldn’t seem to get any oxygen. Her eyes were gorgeous, stunning, rooting him where he sat. They reminded him of October mornings, full of promise and beauty. But that dream was short-lived. Too soon, her pretty eyes clouded over with pain, and he mourned the loss of that brightness. He wanted to punish whoever had taken it from her.
Forcing his gaze from hers, he noted a motley of bruises across her face and body. That wing, now an arm in her human skin, was dislocated if not broken. She had dozens of scratches on what was otherwise clear, smooth, fair skin with a hint of freckles on her shoulders and the bridge of her nose.
One eye was red and swollen, she would undoubtedly have a shiner by tomorrow. Her nose was bruised, and her lip cut as if she’d been punched in the face repeatedly. The fury he felt before had amplified tenfold by the time he was done cataloging her injuries.
Someone had worked her over, and his Demon Wolf snarled with the need for vengeance. The beast was not like the others in his pack. With one paw in the other world, his ideas of vengeance and loyalty were a bit more intense. But that was what happened when you were touched by the gods themselves.
“Who hurt you?” Thor asked, his voice a guttural rumble that sounded harsh to his own ears.
The female gasped as she opened her eyes. She met his bravely, and he knew he looked like one scary motherfucker with his size, his many tattoos, and his shaved head, but she didn’t flinch.
Bold, beautiful, brave female. Worthy mate.
Shut the fuck up, he told his Demon Wolf.
The animal had crazy ideas about getting himself paired up, but Thor knew better. He was not made for a woman’s love. His life was one of service to his Pack. That was no life for a mate. How could he ever justify putting her after the needs of his Pack mates? No. He was meant to be a lifelong loner.
“Hide me. Please, hide me,” the Raven Shifter begged.
Her voice was scratchy and hoarse, as if she’d been choked, and, motherfucker, one look at her throat confirmed she had. Thor’s rage went from simmer to boil once again, and he had to work to rein in his beast.
“Who?”
“Please, please, you have to hide me. They’ll come looking!”
She gasped, panicked and in pain. Still, she leaned on him, and that puzzled Thor. A woman who’d been roughed up by some lesser males would surely push him away, but she didn’t. Instead, she used her one good arm to cling to him instead.
Good. Ours.
Thor ignored his animal. Focused on the woman, he needed to know more about her situation so he could protect her.
“Who? Who is after you?” he asked again.
Thor watched helplessly as those gorgeous eyes rolled back inside her head as she passed out in his arms. Shit. What was he supposed to do now?
“Fucking hell,” he growled, not for any other reason than because he wanted to protect her.
He didn’t understand why, but the feeling was damn near overwhelming. Thor stood, holding the woman in his arms. She moaned softly, and he moderated his pace to not jostle her any more than necessary.
The rest of the Pack was likely just getting to bed after all the excitement, but he needed them now. Pulling on his bonds, he called on Brock, the Pack Beta. By the time Thor got to the pack door, the male was there waiting with it open.
“Who is she?” Brock asked, carefully averting his gaze away from her naked body.
Good. Thor was feeling volatile as fuck, and though Brock technically outranked him, he was glad the man was already claimed and mated to a curvy little Lioness. The fact he had looked away was clearly him trying to assuage Thor’s stress.
Fuck. Don’t get attached. She is not mine.
Yes, she is, his Demon Wolf disagreed.
“Bro, you need to calm down,” Brock said, brows furrowed.
“What?”
“Stop growling before you wake the whole house.”
Damn. Was he actually growling? Thor shook his head and followed Brock to the tiny spare room they used for medical emergencies and placed the woman on the bed. No sooner had he done that than he grabbed a sheet and draped it over her naked form.
“Thor, man, who is she? We can’t just let some stranger in without asking Derrick and he’s finally asleep with the triplets and Lucy⁠—”
“Mine,” Thor barked his answer, cutting off his Beta.
Oh fuck.
His Demon Wolf growled, smiling Wolfishly in his mind’s eye. His shocked eyes met Brock’s, and he realized the man was just as surprised as he was. Now that he said it aloud, he knew it was true.
“She’s a Raven Shifter. She fell from the sky, and I caught her,” Thor explained, running a hand over his face.
“What? Mates are just falling from the sky now?” Brock asked, scratching his head.
“She is not my mate,” he argued, more for himself than Brock.
Oh yes she is, Demon Wolf argued back.
“Well, whoever she is, her arm looks broken. We need to call someone⁠—”
“Me. No one else sees her. No one else touches her. I can set it,” Thor replied, and somehow, he simply knew he could.
That was another thing about having the sight, Thor could sometimes glean information from the spirits. Right then, a healer ancestor was sending him instructions on how to feel for breaks and dislocation. Luckily, it was the latter.
Still, he knew it would hurt when he popped her shoulder back into place. Thor directed Brock on how to assist him. Though he hated the other male’s hands on her.
Grrrr.
Get the fuck over it, he told his Wolf.
Thor needed Brock’s help. Jealousy was not a good look on him, and he would have to figure out how to handle the tidal wave of emotions hitting him and knocking him off balance. Thor pushed all that from his mind. He needed her all healed up so he could decide what to do about all this.
And he did not just mean the part of him screaming at him to mark, claim, and keep the woman. He also meant the undeniably possessive alphahole side of him that wanted to find whoever did this to her and remove that shit stain from the face of the earth.
“Dude, easy,” Brock rumbled.
He realized he was still growling, even after the Beta had released her shoulders after Thor had re-set her arm. If the pain from that didn’t wake her up, she would have been hurt more than he realized.
The thought did nothing to calm his beast, who was desperate to rip out of his skin. It was that fiercely loyal side of him that made him a good Enforcer, among other things. But even with the need for vengeance burning in his veins, his Demon Wolf could not bring himself to leave her. Not until he knew she was out of harm’s way.
Her eyes fluttered open just as he put some salve on one of the dozens of scratches across her flesh. Thor paused, unmoving, while caught in her line of sight. The blue of her eyes was clearer now, and something inside him warmed at the fact he’d helped.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
Her eyes were still laced with exhaustion and pain, but there was something else, too. Maybe relief.
Too much pain. Never again.
“You don’t have to thank me,” he whispered.
Unable to help himself, he moved closer, reaching up to brush back her wild curls from her face carefully. He’d covered her with a sheet to protect her modesty. Her comfort was tantamount to everything right then.
“Thank you anyway,” she whispered, wincing with the effort.
“It’s no problem. But I need you to tell me who.”
Thor was aware of Brock lingering in the periphery of his vision. The Beta looked on, concerned as the fragile woman moaned softly, shivering as her body pushed her to heal. Finally, her gaze focused back on him, and it was laced with such sorrow, Thor’s heart damn near stopped altogether.
“Who did this to you?” he repeated, intent on her answer.
“My mate,” she answered, right before her eyes rolled up.
She had passed out again, and it was a good thing. Thor’s heart seized in his chest, unadulterated rage filled him.
Her mate? No!
She could not belong to another. She just couldn’t. What kind of man would do this to his woman? What kind of cowardly sack of shit could hurt the one person he was to protect and cherish?
Mate? No. Fuck that.
She was his, dammit. How could the Fates be so cruel?
Mine, snarled his Demon Wolf just before the animal tore out of him.