Magic Side: Wolf Bound Complete Series: Books 1-4, page 106
The Moon leapt up from a recliner that hadn’t been there before. “What happened?”
“Help us!” Savannah shouted. “She’s dying!”
The loremaster hobbled over. “My dear Sam, no!”
“Put her down!” the Moon commanded.
I brought Sam over to the recliner. Her arm slumped over the edge, and a glistening trail of blood streaked down her fingertips, dripping onto the stones below. The blood flow from her neck had slowed, and she wasn’t breathing.
The Moon knelt and traced her hands over Sam’s body, then shook her head. “It’s too late. She’s too far gone.”
21
Jaxson
The Moon’s words rocked me to my core.
“Do something,” I growled, as despair claimed me. “You’re a goddess. You must be able to heal her.”
Savy collapsed to her knees beside our friend, her face twisted in emotions that tore at my very soul. “Please. Save her.”
I dropped down beside Savy and pulled her to me. “Please.”
An agonized expression cut across the Moon’s face, and she pressed her fingers to her temples. For a moment, she was silent, and I held my breath. At last, she spoke. “Okay, okay. I’m not supposed to meddle with death, but I sent you on this journey, and technically, by law, nobody is allowed to die on this island. I’ll help her.”
I could practically feel Sam’s soul leaving this world. “Do it.”
“I’ll need your help. We need to call her back from death’s domain. Place your hands on her, like this.” The Moon pressed her palm over the gashes in Sam’s chest.
Savy used the back of her wrist to wipe the tears from her eyes, then placed her hands lightly over the gouges on Sam’s neck. Her pain and shame and horror filled the room, and I wanted so desperately just to hold her, but we had to save our friend first.
The loremaster and I placed our hands on Sam.
The Moon closed her eyes. “Now, in your minds, call her back to us, and I’ll do what I can.”
I howled in my mind as I would call to my wolves, and the Moon began to speak in a strange tongue. But my howl wouldn’t stay silent. It broke from my lungs, and my voice echoed off the roof of the sanctuary.
Savannah added her howl to mine, and the loremaster, too, until Delos became a temple to that single sound.
The Moon's magic flowed into Sam, and a soft glow emanated from her palms. Slowly, Sam’s breathing returned, and her heartbeat began again.
My howl caught in my throat.
Beneath my hands, the ragged flesh pulled closed, and Sam’s eyes fluttered open.
“Where am I?” she croaked as the Moon stood and stepped back. “I had the strangest dream…”
A sob tore from Savy’s throat, and she folded herself over her friend, pulling her into an awkward embrace. “Oh, my God, Sam. I’m so sorry.”
Sam peered up at me with a distressed expression. “Um, you can let me go now.”
I swallowed a laugh, and the tension in my body eased. Sam wasn’t touchy-feely, and I could sense her unease with all the attention.
Savy staggered to her feet, her eyes glistening. “Will you ever forgive me? I…it wasn’t me.”
Sam sat up and rubbed her blood-soaked chest. “I know.”
“He took control…my wolf, she went wild. I couldn’t hold her back! I saw my claws…”
Sam reached out and took Savannah’s hand. “That wasn’t you. It was the Dark Wolf God.”
“The Dark God?” The Moon Goddess interjected, worry lacing her words. “You actually saw him? In what form?”
“Seven-foot-tall stunner of a man beast, with a penchant for murder. Does that ring a bell?” Sam asked, turning around.
Moon covered her mouth and looked away. “Then he’s free of all his bonds.”
Dread coiled in my gut. “What does that mean?”
“When I cast the spell on him ages ago, he was bound as a wolf, fully conscious but stuck in a dream,” Moon said softly, her gaze distant as if she were recalling the memory. “If his form is corporeal, then that spell has broken, and he’s grown powerful.”
“The bastard was radiating magic.” Savy said distantly.
I could sense the guilt and shame eating her up. I wanted to pull her close and take it all away, but from personal experience, I knew that was impossible. Savy would have to slay her own demons, and I’d be there to hold her up if she needed me.
Still, I moved to her side and took her hand, certain that she needed me now. It trembled in my palm, and I tightened my grip slightly.
The goddess’s eyes flicked among the three of us. “The moonstones! Did you recharge all of the orbs? That will still lock him in the Dreamlands, even if he’s able to roam free there.”
“Just two,” Savannah whispered.
“But you still have the third?”
Silence stretched out, and the Moon put her hands on her hips. “What happened?”
“I threw the third one at him so we could escape,” Sam muttered.
The Moon’s eyes went wide. “That will have hurt him gravely. He and his minions abhor the touch of my magic—that’s why the orbs powering my spell are still standing. But unfortunately, while you may have caused him lasting agony, you’ve only slowed him.”
Sam scowled. “Well, I hope it hurt a fucking lot.”
The goddess sighed and pinched her brow, and began pacing back and forth.
I cleared my throat. “What can be done at this point?”
She paused and met my gaze, and her blue eyes flashed with concern and defeat. “You hope that the two moonstones are enough to keep him in his realm.”
“And if not?” Savy asked.
“Then he will tear your city to the ground.”
Fuck.
The Moon clasped her hands behind her back and began to pace again. “You may still stand a chance. Because you recharged two pylons, he’ll be at a fraction of his strength. He may not even be able to fully enter your world. But whatever form his magic takes, it will be terrible enough.”
My mind raced. “You say he’ll attack our city. Are you certain? Will he use a portal, somewhere we can ambush him?”
“He won’t need a portal. He’ll tear a rift between your world and the Dreamlands. It could appear anywhere, but the choice will be deliberate. It will appear wherever he will be strongest—and he draws his power from the presence of wolves.”
“Dockside,” I whispered. “We have the largest concentration of werewolves in the Great Lakes.”
“Is there still a way for us to stop him?” Savy asked.
For a moment, sadness crossed the Moon’s face, and then she reached into her pocket and withdrew a moonstone, this one duller than the others. Cupping it in her palms, magic flared, cascading around the goddess like a solar burst.
It only lasted seconds, and when she opened her palm, the moonstone was glowing—but the Moon herself seemed far, far dimmer that when she’d first appeared to us, and her signature had weakened dramatically.
This was costing her much.
“You’ll have to return to his realm in the Dreamlands and recharge the final orb. That is the only way to ensure that he stays there.” She glided over to Savy, her movements graceful and fluid, and handed her the stone. “But it will be dangerous. He will guard it jealously now that he knows what we are up to, and I am certain he will wait for you there, in his full power.”
“So we’re screwed,” Sam said, coughing slightly.
“Use it if the opportunity is right. Otherwise, it might buy you precious time if you use it on him like you did before. I’m sorry I cannot give you more.”
“Thank you, Moon,” Savy said. “We’re in your debt.”
The goddess sucked in a deep breath. “Perhaps. Or perhaps it is I who am in your debt. If the Dark God returns…he’ll come after me after he wipes out you and the rest of humanity.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” the loremaster said, thumping her cane into the stone. Her eyes flicked to Savy before settling on me with a knowing look. “It’s time we return and lick our wounds before the battle.”
The Moon stepped back. “Farewell. You still have my talisman. Keep it. If you need to return to or from the Dark God’s realm, it will bring you back to the spot you left.”
We made our farewells and headed for the front of the temple, but at the last minute, Savannah took my hand and turned back.
The Moon raised her eyebrows. “Yes? Was there something else?”
Savannah swallowed. “This was my fault. I attacked her. The Dark God took possession of my wolf. I tried to stop him, but if it wasn’t for Jaxson, I would have lost control…”
She was unable to finish the thought.
Sorrow and pity crossed the Moon’s face. “It’s not your fault, my child. He is the god of wolves. It is his power to control and command them.”
Savannah shook her head. “I don’t accept that. How do I stop it from happening again?”
The Moon studied her for a while before she finally reached out and touched Savy’s shoulder. “This is no normal wound.”
She adjusted her shoulder uncomfortably. “It was a gift from Victor Dragan, the sorcerer who brought back the Dark God. He cut me with a Soul Knife.”
“He did more than cut you, Savannah. He severed a part of your wolf’s soul. That missing shard is the Dark God’s way in, like a gap in your armor. Through it, he can take possession of your wolf, and through her, he will take control of you.”
The blood drained from her face. “What can I do?”
“You must find a way to heal the wound.”
“You brought Sam back from the dead. Can you heal Savannah’s wolf?” I asked.
The Moon shook her head. “If I could, I would. But this is a sinister magic over which I have no control. You will have to find another way to fight his power.”
Savannah bowed her head. “Thank you.”
We turned to leave, but the Moon spoke up. “You three faced the Dark Wolf God and survived. Not many in history can say that. You’ve made it this far. You will find a way.”
Savannah nodded, and we walked off. Once we passed beyond the pillars, the temple faded, and when I turned around, only ruins remained.
Savy’s face burned with anger, and she glared out over the island.
I gently brushed her hair behind her ear. “It will be okay.”
She shook her head and met my eyes. “He used me to hurt her, Jax. Never again. I don’t care what I have to do—if I have to lock myself away, so be it. Never, ever, again.”
Her words resonated with so much pain that they cut like a knife. The Dark God might have nearly killed Sam, but he’d tried to destroy my mate’s soul.
Anger and despair threated to overwhelm me, but I pushed them down. That wasn’t what she needed right now.
I wrapped my arms around her and didn’t let go.
But she didn’t soften in my embrace. She remained hard, a blade in a sheath, ready to strike. “I’m going to stop him, Jax. I’m going to find a way.”
22
Savannah
I drew in a shaky breath, staring out the floor-to-ceiling windows of Jaxson’s apartment. Dark clouds rolled in over the lake outside, while a deluge of emotions warred inside me: dread, shock, revulsion at myself for what I’d done.
I set the glowing moonstone and talisman on the counter. Despite the magic coursing off the moonstone, I still felt drained and…broken.
I squeezed my eyes shut, but the image of blood pooling beneath Sam as her lifeless form lay on the ancient stones of the temple rose in my mind. Red seeped into the weathered cracks of the temple floor.
The same red that had covered my hands.
He’d taken control of my wolf.
I’d fought as hard as I could to stop the shift, but he’d made me attack her all the same.
But the thing that twisted my stomach and planted fear in my gut was that a small part of me had actually savored his power as it coursed through my body. I’d felt invincible. Unstoppable. No longer afraid.
It had felt…amazing. And I wanted more.
What did that say about me?
Sam had brushed it off. Forgiven me. Told me it was all right a dozen times. But how could I move past knowing that I’d almost killed the closest thing I had to a best friend?
I had killed her. If not for the Moon, Sam would be dead.
Wolfie? Are you there? We really need to talk.
But there was no response. There hadn’t been since the Dark God had taken control.
I was desperate to hear her voice and terrified that she blamed herself. He had come through her. One second, she’d been there, and the next, she was gone, and it was only him.
Now it seemed there was no one.
If you just need time, I understand.
Thunder cracked outside, and rain began pelting the glass. Dread coiled in my belly, and I felt myself sinking. Drowning under the weight of my shame, fear, and the duty I had to the pack. And beneath it all, a terror that something was truly wrong with my wolf.
What could I possibly do? How could Sam—or even Jaxson—look at me the same way? I was becoming a monster. A puppet. And I had to stop it, whatever the cost. I had to stop him.
Jaxson strode across the kitchen, snapping me out of my storming thoughts. He drew two lowball glasses from the cupboard, and reaching for a bottle of Maker’s Mark, he set the glasses down hard and filled them an inch. He hadn’t said a word since we’d returned, and he watched me now with an intensity that set me ablaze. His mood was dark, violent, and hungry.
Streaks of light illuminated the lake, followed by a deafening rumble. It was like the heavens were mirroring the anguish inside me.
Jaxson moved around the marble island, eating up the distance between us. My pulse quickened. My God, he was a vision. The hard lines of his jaw were set, and his green eyes blazed. Dried sweat and blood painted his neck and thick forearms. A gorgeous, terrifying beast. Heat sparked low in my belly.
I wanted to melt into him. To let him take away some of my anguish, make me forget the demons that haunted my nightmares.
He took a step toward me, and his fingers brushed mine as he handed me a glass. Electricity surged up my arm, and I sucked in a shallow breath. How did this man bring me to my knees with a single touch? With a look.
He said nothing, but his eyes took me in, peeling the hardened layers I’d formed over the past decade to protect myself. Mistrust. Anger. Defiance. They were ways I’d learned to cope with the shit life had thrown at me. But somehow, in this moment, this man stripped them away, one by one, baring my soul. Naked. Exposed. Undone.
My chin trembled, and the impulse to flee rang through me. I hated feeling vulnerable and exposed, weak. But Jaxson held me in place with his gaze, and soon, the inexplicable urge to let go for just one moment beckoned. To get lost in this man and forget everything, just for tonight.
“You have to release that guilt, darling,” he said, his voice rough but tender.
My throat tightened, and I fought the tears that threatened to spill. “It’s not that easy…”
Knowing flashed through his eyes, and his jaw tensed. Anger and aggression pulsed off him, but they weren’t directed at me.
“Let me take some of your burden.” He stepped toward me and brushed his rough fingers over my cheek. I leaned into his touch, wanting to unload my pain and hurt.
“I don’t know how,” I whispered.
And that was the honest-to-God truth. I’d never opened myself up to anyone before, and I wasn’t sure I knew how to do it. Maybe I was too broken and fucked up. Hot tears flooded my eyes, and I looked away.
But Jaxson took my chin and tilted my face up to his. Though his features were harsh, his eyes were soft, his touch tender. “You need to lean on me. You need to let me stand by your side and help you fight your battles.”
A tear broke free and spilled down my cheek. Jaxson rubbed it away with his thumb, and his gaze dropped to my lips. “You’ve been fighting on your own for too long. You did what you had to in order to survive, but you have to stop carrying everything on your shoulders. You’ve got the pack. You’ve got me.”
The words lodged in my throat. My heart felt like it was splitting open, and I wanted so badly to let Jaxson in, but I was afraid.
He held my face like he was reading the pain carved into it. Like he could take it away. “Do you trust me?”
Yes. Despite all the uncertainty and warring emotions, I knew that beneath his hard, domineering exterior, Jaxson was kind. He fought for the ones he cared about. But would that be enough to keep him from wrecking my heart?
My chest rose and fell with short breaths. “I trust you, Jaxson.”
At my words, he leaned down and kissed me gently. Desire burned through my veins, and my center ached with need. His lips were warm, and as his tongue parted mine, dipping into my mouth, a whimper escaped me. His fingers tangled in my hair, and he broke off the kiss, looking down at me with something almost like compassion. “What do you need, Savy?”
Forgiveness for what I’d done. Strength to face what was coming. Hope that there would be a way through all of this, that there would be a future.
My eyes slowly traced over the man in front of me. He was all of those things, and so much more.
“I need you,” I said, the truth breathlessly spilling from my lips. “Everything that you are. Everything we can be, together.”
His own breath stopped as if somehow, breathing would break the spell. And I understood in that moment how much he’d wanted that answer. Needed it himself.
I rose up on my toes and lightly kissed his lips. And when our mouths parted, I whispered, “I need my mate.”
Heat flashed through his eyes, and as if the beast had been unleashed, he took my mouth in his, devouring me.
The kiss was possessive, an unspoken promise to cherish me, protect me, and ease my pain.
I let myself go, let it all go, the fear and guilt and danger hanging over our heads. I gave into the moment, forgetting everything but him.
His arm curled around my waist, and he lifted me. Still kissing him, I squeezed my legs around him while he carried me up the stairs.
