Dire Desires_A Novel of the Eternal Wolf Clan Read online

  Praise for the Novels of the Eternal Wolf Clan

  Dire Wants

  “Those sexy and imposing Dire wolves are back in the second intense chapter of Tyler’s Eternal Wolf Clan series. . . . Even better than the first book, Dire Wants sees Tyler develop her alternate reality. . . . Tyler does gritty, passion-filled romance to perfection!”

  —RT Book Reviews (4 stars)

  “If you are a lover of witches and creatures of the paranormal, Dire Wants is just for you.”

  —Romance Reviews Today

  “I direly wanted Dire Wants to go on forever. It is emotionally riveting. The paranormal world that Stephanie Tyler creates in this novel is spellbinding. Reading Dire Wants is not going to be enough for me. . . . I cannot wait to see which of the lovely brothers the next book will feature.”

  —Romance Junkies

  Dire Needs

  “Fast-paced, dark, and wickedly edgy, Dire Needs is a paranormal shot in the arm for the genre. No one writes a bad-boy hero like Tyler.”

  —New York Times bestselling author Larissa Ione

  “A unique, fresh spin on shape-shifter romance . . . a raw, sexy world where werewolves make and break all the rules.”

  —New York Times bestselling author Maya Banks

  “Kept me on the edge of my seat. With . . . breathtaking danger, sizzling romance, and unexpected twists, these Dire wolves are going to rock the paranormal world.”

  —New York Times bestselling author Alexandra Ivy

  “Riveting! Dire Needs hooked me from the very first page.”

  —bestselling author Shiloh Walker

  “Dire Needs creates an interesting new world, with lots of history and mythology. Great plot twists and turns, hot and steamy sex in the woods, and a bit of sweet thrown into the mix.”

  —Sizzling Hot Book Reviews

  “An exciting new paranormal series.”

  —Romance Reader at Heart

  “The chemistry between Rifter and Gwen sizzles.”

  —Manga Maniac Cafe

  “The first chapter was one of the best I’ve read in a while. . . . The instant the book begins, you know you are in for a great ride.”

  —That’s What I’m Talking About

  “A fresh and sexy take on werewolves . . . a very imaginative story . . . a great read with smoking-hot scenes.”

  —Nocturne Romance Reads

  Praise for Other Novels by Stephanie Tyler

  “Unforgettable.”

  —New York Times bestselling author Cherry Adair

  “Red-hot romance. White-knuckle suspense.”

  —New York Times bestselling author Lara Adrian

  “Sexy and witty.”

  —Fresh Fiction

  “Stephanie Tyler is a master.”

  —Romance Junkies

  Also by Stephanie Tyler

  The Eternal Wolf Clan Series

  Dire Warning

  (A Penguin Special)

  Dire Needs

  Dire Wants

  The Section 8 Series

  Surrender

  A Shadow Force Novella

  Lonely Is the Night

  (A Penguin Special)

  DIRE DESIRES

  A NOVEL OF THE ETERNAL WOLF CLAN

  STEPHANIE TYLER

  SIGNET ECLIPSE

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street,

  New York, New York 10014, USA

  USA | Canada | UK | Ireland | Australia | New Zealand | India | South Africa | China

  Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  For more information about the Penguin Group visit penguin.com.

  First published by Signet Eclipse, an imprint of New American Library,

  a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  Copyright © Stephanie Tyler LLC, 2013

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  SIGNET ECLIPSE and logo are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  ISBN 978-1-101-61457-0

  PUBLISHER’S NOTE

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

  Contents

  Praise

  Also by Stephanie Tyler

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Epigraph

  Glossary

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Epilogue

  Excerpt from SURRENDER

  For Sharon Muha, who is more help than she knows

  . . . you know love when you see it,

  you can feel its lunar strength, its brutal pull.

  —“Facts About The Moon” by Dorianne Laux

  Glossary

  abilities: The now-immortal Dire wolves were all born with abilities, except for Rifter, who was cursed with his at birth. These abilities were looked at with fear by the Dire population at large. In fact, the Elders were once Dire wolves who were sacrificed to Hati, the creator of the Dires, because they had abilities. The abilities range from dreamwalking to communicating with the dead, and can often be seen as both a gift and a curse to the wolves trying to balance them out.

  Adept: An immortal, master witch.

  Brother Wolf: A Dire wolf is a dual-natured beast who lives with his Brother Wolf inside of him. These Brother Wolves are also depicted in a life-sized glyph on the Dires’ backs, the glyph coming out fully after a Dire’s first shift at age twenty-one. The Dires and their inner wolves have an even balance of power and a deep respect for one another. They both run the show, bowing to each other’s needs and wants when necessary. This differentiates them from Weres, who, when shifted into wolf form, cannot communicate or control their wolf sides.

  Catskills, NY: Place where the Dire wolves currently call h
ome. Also home to the supernatural world of witches, vampires and other shifters who are not friendly and remain hidden; it coexists alongside the human world.

  deadheads: Old Dire wolf word for vampires. Current meaning: fans who follow the Grateful Dead.

  Dire wolves: (*Also see Brother Wolf) Dire wolves are alpha, immortal wolves who live in tandem with their Brother Wolf and take on human form to survive in the world. Dire wolves are differentiated from Weres because they cannot be killed by any means, thanks to a curse of immortality cast upon them by the Elders. When first in existence, the Dire wolves lived a long time, with an approximate one-hundred-year life span, but they were not immortal. The majority of the Dire wolf population—which was quite large, since it preceded the Were population—was killed during the Extinction, and the curse on the remaining Dire wolves with abilities was cast at that time.

  However, with their gifts, immortality is exhausting for the Dires—it forces them to remain in hiding and move quite often because their human sides will not age, unlike Weres, who, although immortal in theory, can be killed and will age, albeit slowly, in their human forms.

  The Dires were trained in the warrior ways. They are powerful fighters, far more powerful and violent than Weres. However, both Dires and Weres can shift at will and both are pulled by the full moon, although the Dire wolves will never fall prey to moon craze, which often happens to young Weres during their earliest shifts and can last from the age of sixteen until they are twenty-one.

  Dire ghost army: These are the Dire wolves killed during the Extinction. They are raised by Seb, the master witch, through a black magic spell and are intent on harming the living Dire wolves. They then plan on spreading their destruction outward to Weres and humans.

  the Elders: The Elders are a mythical group of otherworldly spirit wolves responsible for the creation of both the Dires and the Weres, and also responsible for meting out justice to both populations when necessary. One example of this was the Extinction. There were originally four Elders: Hildr, Eydis, Leifr and Meili. Hildr asked to be released from her duties (aka killed) when outvoted on an important matter concerning the Dires and their abilities rather than go against what she believed in.

  the Extinction: In Norway, the Dire wolf packs committed a massacre of humans (who will later form the weretrappers) in direct opposition to orders from the Elders. The Elders killed all Dire wolves except for five Dires who were out on their Running—Harm, Rifter, Vice, Jinx and Rogue. Later the Dires discovered that another pack of non-immortal Dires in Greenland had also been saved by the Elders. Stray and Killian are immortal, since they have abilities, but the rest of their Greenland pack isn’t.

  fated: In the time of the Dires, their word for love was fated, so when a Dire talks about being fated, he’s really talking about love.

  Greenland pack: A pack of non-immortal Dires kept alive by the Elders after the Extinction so that wolves in that pack could give birth to brothers who would have abilities and thus fulfill an old prophecy.

  hunters: A human antidote to the weretrappers, they’re a group of humans who are on the side of good and therefore trying to weed out the bad supernaturals from the good, rather than use them or kill them at will, as the trappers do. In the supernatural world, they’re seen as just as dangerous.

  mating: Weres can mate with humans or Weres and sometimes with other shifter species like lion shifters. For the Dires, it’s a very different story, as the old ways dictate that Dires can mate only with other Dires and it must be ceremonial. First and foremost, a mating can never happen during first-time sex. It’s too dangerous to try to mate with a new wolf because shifting for the first several times is too hard and new wolves are uncontrollable. Mating happens by consent on both sides during the third time a male and female Dire lay together—that is the Dire custom because they don’t encourage sex without mating. Sex for the last remaining Dires is painful, because it goes against their mating protocol. During the mating, the non-shifted male is chained and the female will shift uncontrollably at the end. Thus mating equals danger for the male—will he be able to handle his proposed female wolf? After a mating, the Dires must come before the Elders to have the mating blessed. Mating makes Dires stronger.

  the old country: The Dire wolves were created by Hati during Viking times and lived primarily in Norway, with a large pack also in Greenland.

  the Running: An adult Dire has a great responsibility to his pack. Even before his shift, he trains as a warrior, as Dire culture is a warrior one. Also, because the shift for a Dire requires great strength, their lives are devoted to gaining the necessary strength before they turn twenty-one. After their shift, there is an importance placed on sensuality and play. The Running happens after their first several shifts, while they are allowed to run and play apart from the packs for six months in order to see if they are truly independent and able to blend well with humans now that their wolves have emerged.

  Skinwalker: There are many myths about how skinwalkers are created. The Dire wolves know that they can become skinwalkers if they commit matricide and/or patricide. Since this killing is an unnatural act, they become unnatural beings, although they remain, first and foremost, Dire wolves. A skinwalker can shift into other beings, taking on various personas for short periods of time. Some can see the future, and others are thought to be able to curse those who speak out against them. Some are seen as witch doctors, and typically, they are cast out and live alone.

  Weres: (See Dire wolves for more differences between Weres and Dires.) Were who are newly shifted can experience moon craze, in which they become uncontrollable and therefore dangerous to themselves, their packs and the human race. Many young wolves are put down because of this. The Dire wolves will often take in moon-crazed Weres they believe have the potential to become great warriors.

  werepacks: Werepacks are scattered across the United States and the rest of the world. The main pack is located in New York City, with other large packs being in Texas, California and Wisconsin. The outlaw pack that forms from the New York pack is now taking in rogue wolves from other packs to join their cause. They believed that if their king Linus sold out the Dires to the weretrappers, the Weres would be left alone. They are angry wolves, not very organized, and more intent on killing than following the old ways, which makes them quite dangerous. They like killing humans and have taken to selling their own kind to the weretrappers in exchange for protection. Some of them will work as bodyguards for both the witches and weretrappers.

  weretrappers: A paramilitary group of humans intent on destroying Dires and Weres, as well as using Weres for their own nefarious purposes. Their purpose had evolved over the years. At first, they were formed during Viking times; they were a tight-knit group intent on keeping humans safe from wolves. During the current century, they began to realize the power they could have if they were able to harness the power of the Weres. They capture Weres and experiment with ways to keep them under their control. They also create a pact with the witches, realizing they will need more supernatural help in order to gain domination over humans. Their goal is ultimate power and world domination, and they’ve begun to experiment with the dark arts (aka black magic).

  witches: Witches live in covens and stay among their own kind. Widely regarded with suspicion and hatred by the rest of the supernatural world, many have started allying themselves with the weretrappers for security, which will allow their race to survive.

  Prologue

  Two days earlier

  When she dragged in with the old blanket draped over her naked shoulders, she knew she still wore the wildness in her eyes like the chill of a winter night.

  She hated daytime the most. The other patients did as well, avoided the sun, hated to be pulled into the fresh air as if they were horses to be exercised in captivity. She wanted the air and exercise, no doubt, but unfettered.

  She wanted the moon. The small pad of paper she’d s
tolen during her last therapy appointment would be in its hiding spot, showing the beginnings of many crude drawings of the orb.

  In her mind’s eye, it was perfect, beautiful.

  She wouldn’t talk about it in the sessions with the man with the glasses. For five years, others had tried and failed. He would fail as well, because Gillian had stopped listening, stopped knowing what she once was.

  A daughter. Once loved, until something went wrong. She began to talk about wolves, to run in the woods alone. Naked.

  That was, apparently, unacceptable. Signaled illness.

  Since she continued to escape, that meant the illness was getting worse, not better. She felt it too. But she always came back voluntarily because there was no other place for her. And still, something inside her compelled her to look for others whenever the moon grew heavy—and lately, when it didn’t. The past two months had been a roller coaster of emotions. This time, she knew the wildness was too much for her—it threatened to overwhelm her, suck her into its madness, never, ever to let go. Maybe one day she’d allow herself to go all the way in, see that it was for the best.

  But today she returned. Last night she’d run and then she’d lain under the stars and she’d dreamed. The dreams were of another time and place—distant, beautiful—and she felt stately and wise despite the way the men looked at her when she strode in.

  They shoved her to the ground unceremoniously. Checked her for weapons.

  I am a weapon, the rustling in her ears told her. But the men who held her down didn’t know that, and she knew better than to tell them.

  After she felt the initial prick of the needle, she waited for the familiar poison to work itself through her body. Her muscles relaxed. The rustling in her ears stopped.

  But in her dreams, she ran.

  Chapter 1

  Vice swore he heard something slam to the ground in the woods outside the Dire house right after four in the morning. He’d been out running the woods and had just showered and prepared a snack fit for a king, but his curious Brother Wolf wouldn’t not let him check it out. And since he was the only one either not on his honeymoon or in a coma, he went. Left the house naked and shifted the second his foot touched grass.