Savage Sanctuary: A Dire Wolves Mission (The Devil's Dires Book 2) by Ellis Leigh

surrounded. As in a net. Shit.
    Alpha Zuriel’s brow lowered and the expression in his eyes grew hard. “As fully as one can get without falling into the gorge on the south end, yes.”
    Being surrounded wasn’t good. Though humans couldn’t really fight at the pack’s level, they could still be a danger. Shifters weren’t easy to kill—pretty much only massive blood loss or a shot straight to the head would do it. But they could be captured, experimented on, outed to the world as something that actually existed. That was the last thing the NALB would ever want to have happen.
    Levi needed to figure out why the humans would be out on this cold mountain, stat. And why they were surrounding the pack.
    Levi had to ask the obvious question. “Could they be hikers?”
    Alpha Zuriel huffed. “Not likely.”
    “Not possible,” Abel added. “Hikers wouldn’t circle us multiple times or slowly move in.”
    “Move in?”
    Abel glanced at his father. “They’re getting closer.”
    Levi’s mind spun with strategy and attack options. If the humans were close, there had to be a reason. Government operatives who knew what was in these woods, hunters who didn’t, sick bastards assuming this group of people in the middle of the forest were humans and, therefore, easy prey—all possibilities.
    All things he was trained to deal with. “I’d like to check it out for myself.”
    Abel nodded. “I’ll take you.”
    Levi followed him through the back door and out onto a porch. The door opening to the outside was on a hinge that allowed it to be opened with a shove from either side, and the wall leading to the main hall was lined with baskets of cloaks. Levi’d seen this sort of setup before.
    “Shifting space?”
    Abel cocked a smile. “We had to add it on when a couple of our cousins mated to humans. Those women sure are shy about skin.”
    Levi chuckled. In a world where clothes didn’t shift with you, nakedness was a normal part of life. “What about you? Been lassoed by fate yet?”
    Abel’s smile fell. “No. None of my siblings or I have found our mates.”
    Oh. Levi stripped quietly, folding his clothes and placing them on a bench along the back wall. Twelve sons and no mates. Not unheard of but, still, odds were that at least one would have found their fated match. If they ever left the mountain.
    “What about your pack Omega?” Levi said as he readied to shift.
    Abel shook his head. “We’ll swing by her place on the way back.”
    “She lives on the fringes of the pack?”
    “Not exactly.” Abel shifted, curling from two legs to four in a heartbeat. Levi followed, shaking out his fur before racing the other wolf through the door and across the snow.
    The land rolled through forests and past rivers, rocks and trees breaking through the blanket of white to lend shadows and depth to the scenery. The icy ground was easier to navigate on four legs. Levi’s paws spread with every footfall, his claws breaking through the hard top layer and finding purchase with each step. He inhaled the cold air in greedy gulps. This was what he’d been missing—the cold, the snow, and the feel of winter in his lungs. Heat in the summer months was fine, but winter was meant for wolves in heavy fur coats.
    They ran all day, sniffing and searching out any signs of humans. Finding plenty. For hours, they investigated the wilderness around the pack, Abel leading Levi through woods and over hills. The shorter day worked against them, as darkness crept across the land far sooner than either of them probably wanted. There was more to search, newly found trails to follow, but night was already on its way.
    They circled along the edge of a deep gorge, skirting the drop-off and coming up over a ridge. The view was amazing, the sunset making the entire sky glow in oranges and pinks. Levi would have enjoyed the sight longer, but the unmistakable scent of human male seeping from under the snow caught his attention. The scent was heavier,