Magic Side: Wolf Bound Complete Series: Books 1-4, page 24
I glared at the two as I speed-walked to the bathroom in the back.
When I came out of the ladies’ room, Sam scooped up several plastic bags from the checkout counter full of pop, chips, and candy. “Eat up, Savy. You’re going to need to keep up with us.” She tossed me a bag of potato chips and a Coke, which I nearly fumbled as I followed her out of the store.
“Right, because sugar and salt are what your body needs before a run,” I replied. This was a pretty sketchy way to carb-load, and it raised a lot of questions. Could werewolves eat carbs? Jaxson had eaten normally at Eclipse, but wolves in the wild ate mostly protein…God, I hoped Jaxson didn’t wolf out and eat deer and rabbits. Live.
That train of thinking was derailed as I crossed the lot, replaced by the hot-and-sexy express.
I couldn’t help it, but my eyes were drawn to Jaxson like a moth to flame. He had some maps spread out on the hood of one of the Jeeps and was going over details with the five new members of our team. Their eyes were locked on him just as firmly as mine were. Jaxson had a presence that absolutely commanded attention.
I took a deep breath. His ass commanded my attention. Jaxson’s blue jeans and plaid shirt had my mind playing out all kinds of fantasies. Seeing him standing there, I suddenly felt slightly less embarrassed about what had happened in the woods. How was a girl supposed to control herself around a pair of buns like those?
He shot me a look as I approached. After a moment of butterflies, I remembered that these shifters would be reading my scents the moment I was near.
I blushed and tried to remind myself of how terrifying he’d been the night before in his wolf form, his fangs dripping with another man’s blood.
That did the job.
Jaxson gestured to the five gathered shifters. “Savannah, this is Tony and several of our Wisconsin operatives.”
I nodded. “Hi. Nice to meet you guys.”
Only Tony acknowledged my presence. The others glared. If it hadn’t been clear before, I was certain they knew I was a LaSalle—I could practically smell their revulsion. It didn’t bother me. I was used to being the odd one out. As long as they played nice and didn’t try to kill me, we’d be cool.
Jaxson glanced in my direction, and I was certain he could read my mind, or at least everyone else’s.
“Savannah is the reason we know anything about these fucking rogue wolves.” Jaxson’s voice vibrated with power, and the Wisconsin shifters looked down and focused intently on the map.
I found myself inexplicably looking at my shoes.
Overall, it was one hell of an improvement from my encounter with Billy. He’d looked like he’d been ready to gut me. Thank God that asshole had stayed home.
Jaxson jabbed his finger on the map. “This is the area around the Jasper Point lighthouse, and this is the cabin Savannah saw in her vision. As soon as we pull along the road here, we’ll break into three teams and converge from the north, west, and south. They know we’re coming, so we’ll go in eyes wide and ready to kill. Keep in mind that we’re not up against normal wolves. They’ve got some kind of enchantments or enhancements, so chances are they’ll be faster and stronger than us. And they may have demons under their control. That means you’ll have to be smarter.”
Jaxson divided the group into hunters and shooters, and then we loaded back up in the vehicles and continued north.
Ten minutes later, we turned onto a dirt road that wound through a forest. We continued for another ten minutes before the cars ahead stopped along the shoulder.
Go time.
I stepped out and stretched my aching leg muscles. My stomach growled, and immediately, nine pairs of eyes locked on me. Holy werewolf hearing.
Jaxson reached into the car and handed me a protein bar, which I took reluctantly and scarfed down. At least it was better than the junk Sam had bought.
Then he unzipped a black bag in the bed and pulled out a bulletproof vest for me.
Yeah. Shit was getting serious.
I slipped my arms through, and Jaxson deftly adjusted the straps. His fingers brushed against my side, and I could smell the deep musk of his body. “Okay fit?”
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak without my voice shaking. Tightness constricted my chest, but not from the vest.
Jaxson, Tony, and one of the other shifters slipped into vests of their own.
“You can heal, right?” I whispered, “your scratches went away in the alley…”
He smiled, warm and confident. “Yes, but it helps to have fewer holes in you.”
When his eyes flickered gold, an unreasonable sense of comfort and security washed over me. At least Jaxson was going to be by my side.
He distributed guns to the shifters in vests, but most of his crew were going to go in as wolves and fight tooth and claw.
The jitters started to invade my belly, but they didn’t stick around long before they were replaced by shock as Sam stripped off her clothes.
“Whoa. A little heads-up?” I laughed awkwardly.
Right. She was wolfborn, so stripping made sense. I guess she didn’t want to shred her fancy Rock Revival jeans every time she shifted.
Sam shot me a gleeful grin and shook her buns as a couple of the Wisconsin guys shucked off their pants. I quickly averted my eyes…well, reasonably quickly.
Shifter guys had nice butts, so sue me.
Two of the clothed shifters transformed in a swirl of light and magic, and their signatures filled the air. That seemed a lot simpler.
I gave an involuntary shudder at the sounds of bones popping and flesh stretching as Sam and the other wolfborns transformed. The beds of my nails itched, and I dug them into my palms. I knew which I’d rather be, if I had to choose.
The bushes rustled, and I turned to see six large, fully transformed wolves disappearing into the trees. Tony and the other shifter raced north on foot with inhuman speed.
We were suddenly alone, and I was relieved that Jaxson wasn’t going to shift. I wasn’t ready to meet his wolf again.
“Ready?” he asked, concern flickering in his face.
“Hell, yes,” I said, with a lot more confidence than I felt. I slipped the Glock into the back of my jeans and gave him a wink. “Remember, just stay out of my way.”
His jaw went rigid, and he narrowed his eyes. “Let’s go.”
We took off into the forest at a jog, but with my boots and Jaxson’s speed, it was more like a sprint by my old standards. I was still a little sore from earlier that day, but the practice had helped.
The low sun cast long shadows through the trees, making it a little difficult to find my footing, but adrenaline focused my mind, and I was able to wind through the trees like a pro. Okay, perhaps a semi-pro.
A wild sense of exhilaration filled my heart. I’d always loved running, but this was something more, almost like flying. I would never get bored of this. With that thought in my mind, my foot caught on a root. I lurched forward and landed hard, scuffing my hands and knees in the dirt.
“Getting a little cocky?” Jaxson stood above me, his hand extended.
My irritation flared, but I took his hand, and he pulled me up. “The pot calling the kettle black?”
I took a step forward, but Jaxson gently grabbed my arm. “Hey—hold on." His body tensed, and he tilted his head, breathing deeply.
I scanned the woods, desperately trying to catch a glimpse of whatever had alerted his wolf senses. The trees were still. Light filtered in through the canopy, illuminating the moss and lichen-covered forest floor that grew in these parts. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
Then a shadow moved.
My body strained.
“What did you see?” Jaxson whispered.
I pointed at where the shadow had been, but there was nothing there besides trees and dangling ivy.
And then I saw it: an eight-foot shadow, almost invisible in the patches of light and darkness of the forest canopy.
It moved a step, and my heart skipped four beats.
A twisted and monstrous demon, like the one that had attacked me at the fair. Its skin was a sickly, translucent dark green, and though it was humanoid in form, its legs and arms were unnaturally long and sinuous. It wore no clothes, and its muscles were just visible beneath the skin. The thing was even more horrifying in the fading remains of daylight.
I slipped the Glock out of my jeans.
Time to get even.
34
Savannah
I slowly raised my Glock and tried to steady my breathing. Don’t freak Savy, I tried to reassure myself. It’s just like shooting beer bottles.
The demon—which was distinctly not a bottle—shifted again, moving from shadow to shadow. Its cavernous eyes peered out at me from between two trunks.
I exhaled slowly and squeezed the trigger, and the Glock cracked and recoiled hard. The bullet ripped into the monster’s skull, right between the eyes, slamming its head back. But though the creature staggered, it remained upright.
My blood curdled as the demon slowly turned its head and glared at me with those dark eyes. Ooze dripped from the bullet hole. Then the monster’s mouth unhinged and spread in a silent, ghastly wail that vibrated my body and raised goosebumps on my skin.
I reeled, suddenly nauseated, and bile rose in my throat. What was it doing?
Jaxson shook his head and started firing as the creature lumbered forward. Despite the bullets digging into its chest, the monster didn’t slow.
My breathing turned ragged as my heart raced.
“Go back to hell!” I shouted, pulling the trigger three times. The demon’s head snapped right as a bullet sank into the side of its skull and another in its chest, squarely where its heart would have been, had it had one. At that, the monster stumbled. Jaxson kept shooting, and finally, under our combined weight of fire, the demon jerked and collapsed onto the forest floor. Black smoke poured out of a dozen or so bullet wounds, and its body slowly dissolved into a pool of dark blood.
Jaxson pivoted, gun raised, scanning the forest. “You weren’t kidding when you said you could shoot.”
“Those things don’t go down easy,” I muttered, trying to calculate my ammunition in reserve. The magazines he’d given me held fifteen rounds each.
A burst of gunfire echoed from the north, but for a moment, the forest around us was still.
And then, deep among the trees, shadows moved. With keening shrieks that made my intestines churn, two more demons burst out of the underbrush and charged.
I raised my pistol and started firing wildly at the one coming from my left. Three bullets found their mark, but more lodged in the trees as it wove between them. The thing kept running, moving on two legs, then on all fours.
I tried to steady my breath and pick my shots. My magazine had to be nearly empty.
Bursts of gunfire erupted from Jaxson on my right and then a crash sounded through the trees. I glanced over quickly as the demon before him stumbled to its knees, then leapt up again.
“Run! I’ll cover,” Jaxson ordered, putting two more bullets in the demon on the right.
I hesitated.
“Go!” he growled. His eyes turned a vivid gold, and his fangs descended.
I clicked on the safety and slipped my gun into my jeans. Then I ran.
The demon on the left was on me in an instant, but it flipped sideways as Jaxson ripped into its shoulder with claws that had sprung from his hands—just like the shifter who’d attacked me at the Taphouse.
I didn’t have time to wrestle with that image. I poured every ounce of energy I had into running. Concentrate. Just like we practiced this morning.
My feet pounded against the forest floor as I sprinted through the trees and sprang over downed logs. Within a few heartbeats, I was at a gully. A fallen tree made a bridge across, and I ran up the trunk, trying to get far enough to jump to the other side. My boot slipped, but I pushed off with my other foot and launched into the air.
I’d aimed for the far side, but the boots turbo-charged my leap, and I flew into the lower boughs of a tree. Branches lacerated my arms and face, but I clung on for dear life.
The sound of crashing brush from below told me the demon was nearly on me, and out of instinct and sheer panic, I climbed. Fortunately, there were several low branches that I could use to hoist myself up. Growls, snarls, and other inhuman sounds came from below, but I just kept climbing. No fricking way was I going to look down.
But then I did.
Black, cavernous eyes stared up at me from the foot of the tree. I lost my footing and slipped. Reaching out, I managed to partially land on the branch below, expelling the air from my lungs. I gasped and struggled to keep my grip as I watched my gun cartwheel down.
With the sound of tearing bark, the tree shook as the monster started climbing.
This isn’t happening.
Desperation set in, and I swung my body back and forth, gaining enough momentum to latch one of my legs over the branch. Maybe the demon would be too heavy to climb very high.
Howls echoed through the forest nearby, but not near enough.
I heaved myself up and looked down, and I was suddenly face to face with the creature. It scrambled upward impossibly fast, and I screamed with all my soul.
The demon’s eyes rounded, revealing tinges of red. Blood. Horror streaked through me, and my heart felt like it was going to explode.
A spindly hand reached up for me, inches from my shoulder.
Then a snarl boomed from the base of the tree, and the creature shot downward, towed by something.
I craned my neck to make out the forest floor below. Jaxson had ripped the monstrosity out of the tree and was slashing at its throat with claws on his hands.
I pulled myself onto the branch, and straddling it like a gymnast, I inched my way to the trunk. The terrifying noises from below suddenly quieted, and I dared a peek.
The creature lay motionless—a tattered pile of blood and sinew that began melting into a smoking pool of blood—and Jaxson was gone.
A screech rang out from nearby. A hundred feet, maybe more. I pivoted to look, but my boot slipped, and I had to cling to the trunk to stop myself from falling.
I should have bought boots for climbing if I was going to spend my days cowering in the treetops. The monsters could climb faster than me, so I was just a sitting duck up here. I needed to get down and find my gun before I broke my neck.
I slung myself downward through the branches as quickly as I could. Noises nearby indicated that whatever was coming was getting closer and heading my way.
Go, go, go.
I reached the lowest branch and dropped to the ground, landing in a crouch.
Where was my damn gun?
Where was Jaxson?
I waited, searching the trees, and listened. Silence, and the thudding of my heart.
Leaves rustled to my left. I panicked and broke into a run, leaving the Glock lost somewhere among the brush. My boots accelerated my body forward at lightning speed. Dodging a tree, I lost control, tripping and tumbling down an embankment. I hit the bottom and came to a stop, gasping from the pain. Thankfully, I’d landed on dirt and decaying leaves, and I sat up with nothing broken.
I’d fallen into a ravine a hundred feet wide. To my left, the space narrowed between a pile of boulders, but to my right, it was clear, and a small stream trickled slightly downhill. Was that the way to the lake?
Panting and pushing down the pain in my back, I climbed to my feet. Then I froze as something moved on the embankment above me. Snarls and shrieks rang out in the distance. The wolves must have been engaged with more of those monsters. Or other wolves.
Stay calm, Savy. Get out of the ravine.
The sides of the embankment were steep. I might be able to crawl out, but if one of those demons attacked again, I’d be a sitting duck.
Okay, change of plan. I’d follow the ravine to the lake. There, I could go along the beach and get my bearings.
A sickly feeling overwhelmed my senses. Time to go.
When I turned to follow the ravine down to the shore, the bitch from Belmont stood twenty feet ahead, blocking my path, with her claws extended. Fear iced my skin.
I was trapped.
“I was hoping we’d meet again.” A sinister grin cut her face as she rushed toward me.
I darted left, the boots accelerating me forward. Hope sprung in my chest as I wheeled around her, but then her claws sank into my arm. Blinding agony shot through me, and my body jerked to a sudden stop. I careened onto my back, towing the she-wolf along with me, then kicked her in the face and scrambled backward. She growled and crawled toward me, grasping at my legs with her claws.
My back hit a boulder. I panicked and flailed about for any kind of weapon—a loose stone, a branch, anything. The she-wolf gripped my ankle, and I screamed as her claws dug into my skin.
She pulled me toward her in one swift motion. A rock ripped into my back, and the world spun as she loomed over me, fangs out.
She’s going to gut me alive, I distantly realized.
I rammed my arms upward, trying to throw her off. The sensation of ice water trickled over my skin, and a jolt of energy shot out of my palm, blasting into the woman’s shoulder. She flew several feet and let out a blood-curdling scream. But in a split second, she had clambered back toward me. “You’re going to die.”
“Eat me!” I shouted as I raised my palm and tried to release my magic again. Nothing came, and I immediately regretted my choice of words.
In a blur of motion, the she-wolf pounced on me. She pinned my legs and gripped my neck, her claws pricking my skin. With her bloody hand, she grasped my hair and slammed my head against the boulder.
My vision swam with stars. I tried to scream, but only a gurgle came out.
She pulled my head back again, but before she could crush my skull, she hesitated for a split second as a blur appeared in the corner of my darkening vision. The woman screamed, and blood splattered across my face as a massive gray wolf sank its jaws into her neck and dragged her off of me.
Jaxson.
He threw the she-wolf’s body through the air like a rag doll, and she crashed into the ravine’s embankment. Leaping onto her, he gently clamped her throat, pinning her in place, one paw on her chest. Even I could read the wolf language here: Submit.
