Magic Side: Wolf Bound Complete Series: Books 1-4, page 25
The woman locked me with her maniac eyes. “He’s coming for you.”
Then she jerked her head under Jaxson’s teeth, tearing out her own throat. Bright red blood seeped into the mossy ground.
I screamed as the nightmare unfolded. Panic whirling in my mind, I scrambled back against the opposite side of the ravine, anything to get away from what I’d just seen and heard.
What did she even mean? Who was coming for me? The faceless man?
Oh, my God.
Jaxson’s body rippled, and he growled deep and low. He approached and lowered his face to mine. His honey eyes blazed, and a deep ache grew inside me. Pain stretched across my breast, and I could barely breathe.
What was happening to me?
A howl sounded through the forest, and the wolf’s ears perked. He turned and took off up the side of the ravine.
I let my heart recover and then pulled myself to my feet. My muscles were tired and strained, but I managed to climb the steep sides of the embankment, yanking myself up one root at a time.
A few minutes later, Jaxson appeared, bare chested but wearing pants. My breath hitched. He was like Ares, god of war, with his blood-splattered muscles tensed and his shoulders heaving. Protectiveness and concern darkened his face. When he stepped toward me, my chest tightened and my skin burned as he scanned my body for injuries. “Are you all right?” he asked.
Physically? Or mentally? Because I was feeling messed up, either way.
“Fine,” I whispered, grasping for lies. “Why would she kill herself?”
Jaxson was quiet, which I took to mean either he didn’t know or shit was dire. I was betting on the latter.
“How many demons were there?” I asked.
His eyes still had a honey tint to them. “Four. All dead.”
I concentrated on breathing in and out. My mind was still having a hard time wrapping itself around what I’d just witnessed.
Another howl sounded through the trees, and Jaxson froze. “Follow me. We need to go.”
He took off into the trees in a blur. Hell, what now?
35
Savannah
I broke into a run after him, grimacing at my sore muscles and scratched arms. It was a short distance to the cabin, but when I arrived, I didn’t see Jaxson or the others.
The hairs on my neck prickled, and my heart thundered.
The structure was a simple, single-roomed building with a couple of grimy windows and a cracked front door.
Where was everyone?
As if in answer to my question, a pack of blood-covered wolves filtered out of the forest. Light swirled around two of them, and they shifted back into human form, fully clothed. Sam and a few others were still missing. Perhaps they were still catching up.
“What happened?” Jaxson growled, stepping into view from the trees.
“I don’t know,” one of the Wisconsin shifter’s said. “She was with us, and then the next minute, she was gone.”
“Fuck!” Jaxson scrubbed a hand through his hair. His body rippled with tension and anger.
Another wolf stepped out of the forest and rose on its hind legs. It bones popped and cracked, and its hair receded, until there was just a naked woman standing there, claws still out. Regina.
She fixed Jaxson with a penetrating gaze. “Sam was scouting ahead and was jumped. We heard her howl and she didn’t respond. We tracked them—two males—to the beach and saw a boat heading north. They’ve got her.”
I’d never witnessed a shift back into human form before, but the shock of it was instantly pushed from my mind by Regina’s words. They’ve got her?
“Wait a sec. Do you mean Sam?” I asked.
Regina looked at me, anger and blame in her eyes. “The bastards took her.”
The weight of that hit me, and the world spun.
Jaxson took the cabin stairs two at a time and ripped the door off its hinges. A few of the others followed, and I heard his curses from inside.
I rubbed my temples, and my heart sank. This was my fault. Sam had been taken because of me. She was the only one who’d shown me any kindness, even if she was still upset at me for wolfsbaning her. If anything happened to her, I’d never forgive myself.
I had to find her.
The others disappeared into the forest, so I stepped inside the cabin.
“—bring him to the hospital.” Jaxson was crouched next to a low coffee table. Tony and two shifters were huddled around, blocking my view, so I maneuvered past them and froze. I’d seen snippets of this room in my scrying vision, but I wasn’t prepared for the horror of the scene.
Syringes and empty blood bags were strewn across the floor. Two limp arms dangled from the table, each bearing tubes secured with tape. The missing man. I’d seen him in my vision as well. Tony removed the IV needles from the man’s arms and lifted the body over his shoulder.
I covered my mouth as Tony carried the limp victim past me. The man was in his thirties and had purple-brown bruises where the needles had been inserted. His skin was gaunt, and his cheekbones protruded from his face. He was unconscious. Dead, maybe.
The two other shifters followed them out, and the three of them took off into the woods.
My mouth went dry as I surveyed the room. Was this what would have happened to me?
I inadvertently glanced at Jaxson. His eyes were fierce, filled with rage and concern. Was he thinking the same thing?
My gaze returned to the pile of bloody tubes. I swallowed, but my throat was sandpaper. “So they were harvesting his blood…that must have been what I saw the woman give to the faceless man, but why? What the hell were they doing here?”
“The faceless man must be a blood sorcerer,” said Jaxson. “They use blood to work dark magic. But why he would drain someone dry, I don’t know. Maybe he’s part vampire. Maybe he’s using it to summon those demons.” Jaxson’s body quaked with rage, and he crumpled a piece of paper in his hands and tossed it into the corner of the room.
I tried to keep the potato chips I’d eaten earlier down as I pulled my phone out of my back pocket and snapped photos of the room, focusing on the dark red ring of magic symbols in the middle of the floor. It had been drawn in blood. A few chips came up, but I forced them down again.
“This was the ring I saw in my vision,” I told Jaxson. “I should ask Casey what it is, now that I’ve got good photos instead of blurry smudges.”
“Do it. But if he gets back to you with any answers, don’t tell anyone where you got the information,” Jaxson muttered, his voice so low it was at the edge of my hearing.
I surveyed the wreckage. “They were expecting us. Why leave all this here for us to find? They must have been confident we wouldn’t survive the demons.”
“It was a message.” He shot me a look that chilled my blood, then headed for the door. “Let’s go.”
I finished sending Casey the images, along with the question, What the F are we looking at?
It was definitely a day for breaking out the F-word.
Rather than follow Jaxson out, I lingered for a second, then plucked the crumpled piece of paper from its resting place in the corner. Unfolding it, I found a message written in broad strokes: Have the Laurents really stooped so low they’d work with a LaSalle?
Dread weighed down on me as a new thought tore into my mind. According to Jaxson, the rogue wolves had never abducted another werewolf. Had they taken Sam to punish the pack for working with me?
I shoved the note in my pocket and hurried outside. We were so in over our heads, it was ridiculous.
Regina was speaking to Jaxson. “We’ve scouted the area. No scent of any remaining demons.”
Jaxson pointed at her and the others. “I want you all to scout out the nearest town and marina. See if you can track the rogues who escaped with Sam. Then see what you can dig up on sorcerers in the area—find out if there are any blood sorcerers milling around. I’ll make arrangements for us to stay at the motel on pack lands.”
Regina and the others nodded and took off into the woods, leaving Jaxson and me. He strode into the forest, tense with fury, and I had to speed walk to keep up with him, even with my boots.
“How are we going to get Sam back?” I asked.
“I’ll let you know when I figure that out. Don’t worry.” His voice was a low rumble that sent shivers across my skin.
Even so, my irritation flared. He was trying to cut me out. “I am going to worry about it. Her life is on me, and I’m going to help get her back. I can scry.”
Jaxson’s honey eyes narrowed on me. “No. You’ve done enough. You wound up with blood dripping from your nose the last time, and you got caught. My guess is that wherever Sam is, the sorcerer will be there, too. He might not just kick you out of the vision next time. I don’t know what’s possible, but it could be very dangerous.”
I stepped in front of him to stop him in his tracks. “You brought me along because I can scry. I saw the note, and I know Sam is in danger because of me. I’m going to do it, whether you like it or not.”
He studied me for a long moment, a deep frown set on his face. When it seemed he was about to say no, I pushed. “It’s worth a shot, Jax, and I need to help.”
I’d never called him Jax before. It just slipped out.
His expression softened a little, and he sighed. “You’re right, it’s worth a shot. We’ll get somewhere safe, and then you can try it.”
Before I could argue with his presumptuous tone, my phone rang, and I pulled it out of my pocket. “It’s Casey. He might have some information.”
Casey’s voice cut across the line. “What the hell are you doing? Are you at some sort of twisted murder scene? Shit, tell me that’s not your godmother’s house.”
“A blood harvesting site. I’m not actually in Belmont. We found one of the abduction victims in Wisconsin. He’s alive, but barely. What can you tell me about that circle of magic symbols in the middle of the floor?”
Casey’s voice shook with what I presumed to be fear and outrage. “Are you out of your mind, Savannah? You have no idea how much danger you’re in! I’ve been trying to figure out what attacked you at the fair, and the photos you sent confirm it—blood demons.”
“Blood demons?”
Jaxson’s body tensed at my words, though I was certain he could hear everything Casey was saying.
“Yeah. Blood demons are like vampires on steroids. If they get ahold of you, they’ll drain you dry. They’re apparently really nasty and nearly impossible to control unless you’re an insanely strong spellcaster. My guess is that some fucked-up super-powerful blood sorcerer summoned them using a little of your victim’s blood, then kept the dude around as a human juice box for the monster to feed on. That probably means the demon is nearby. You need to get out of there before it comes back.”
“Yeah. Thanks for the warning, but we already shot four to death already.”
“Wait, what?” he squeaked.
“I really appreciate all the info, Casey. I know this puts you in an awkward spot, but text me if you learn anything more. I’ll be back tomorrow.”
“Savannah, wai—”
I hung up and gave Jaxson a half smile. “Bad news: those things are blood demons, and the sorcerer is using people like juice boxes to keep them hydrated. Good news: we just killed four of the bastards. Five, counting the one at the fair.”
Jaxson’s expression darkened.
“What? That’s good news, right? We know more.” I cocked my head.
He grabbed my arm and silently hurried me toward the cars, but I yanked myself away. “Tell me.”
He studied my eyes, then growled. “I was just wondering, with the demons dead, what do they need the juice boxes for anymore?”
My stomach churned as we hurried back to where we’d left the vehicles. Five abducted people and five dead demons. We’d rescued one of the abductees, but that meant there were four other people who were no longer useful.
It sickened me, but I prayed that the sorcerer still needed their blood for something else.
Hopefully, our prayers wouldn’t be too little, too late.
36
Jaxson
As soon as we returned to our truck, I pulled out my phone and called Billy. “I don’t care about your reservations about working with the LaSalle woman—I need you up here now. Bring men and guns. Sam’s been taken.”
As I gave him the rundown, I could feel his fury across the line. He valued Sam just as I did. I depended on her for so much—intelligence, counsel, even friendship. If Sam had been harmed, I’d unleash a fucking war in Wisconsin until the perpetrators were found.
My wolf clawed to get out, and I was one hair from slipping into a rage. I steadied my hand on the wheel.
“How are you going to find her?” Billy asked, clearly enraged himself.
I glanced at Savannah as she slipped into the passenger side. She really shouldn’t be privy to our traditions, but it was too late for that now. “I can do a moon calling ritual. Tonight, when the moon is at its peak. There’s a spirit guide up here in the local pack who should be willing to help.”
“Hopefully, that’s enough,” Billy growled.
Silence hung in the air. “The LaSalle girl might be able to help.”
“How?”
I wasn’t going down that road with him. “Meet me at the Sunrise Inn. It should be a safe base of operations. I’ll call you once we know more,” I said, and hung up.
Savannah turned to me with an arched brow. “What’s a moon calling ritual?”
I swore. “Something you’re not supposed to know about.”
“Why, because I’m a LaSalle?”
“Because it’s pack business, and I’m the alpha,” I snapped.
She rolled her eyes. “But it allows you to track Sam?”
“Yes. If she’s still alive, we’ll be able to track her.” I shouldn’t be telling her this. Our secrets were heavily guarded, and she was on the enemy’s side, even if she didn’t quite realize the gravity of what that meant.
“But you can’t do the thing until tonight.”
“No,” I snarled.
She seemed to sense I was done dispensing information and settled back in her seat. “Fine. If you can’t do it until tonight, then we should scry as soon as we get where we’re going. The Sunrise Inn, wherever that is. Glad to know the plan.”
I ground my teeth. “Now you do. We go to the hotel. You scry. If that doesn’t work, I do my thing. And we sit tight until we get a lead. The motel is on Eastern Wisconsin pack land. We’ll dig in and shoot the heck out of any werewolves or demons that come calling. You don’t need to worry, you’ll be safe there.”
“I’m worried about Sam, not myself.”
“Then you’d better start.”
Savannah sighed at my comment, her frustration unmistakable. She had no idea how much danger she was truly in. The goddamn sorcerer was up to something more sinister than summoning blood demons. I could feel it in my bones.
We drove in strained silence as we headed north, each of us brooding.
The moon calling ritual was something alphas could do, though it only worked when the moon was at its peak. And it was best to have a spirit guide. Like scrying, it could be dangerous to meddle with the moon mother’s magic.
I would howl—not a normal howl, but a soul-empowered cry that would travel through the moonlight and summon Sam to me. If she couldn’t come, then my spirit would be transported to her, and I’d be able to track her down. That was what I was counting on.
But spirit travel had its risks.
Perhaps cunningly, the sorcerer and his minions had never abducted a wolf we could have tracked. That might mean that the sorcerer knew about the moon rituals—or his werewolf minions had warned him. In that light, taking Sam had been a mistake, and I would make them pay, one way or another.
I glanced at Savannah. “To do the ritual, I’d need to go down to the shore on pack land. It’s only a few miles from the inn, but it means that I’d be gone for an hour, hour and a half.”
She frowned, but I could sense her unease. “You worried?”
“No.” I was glad she couldn’t smell lies, though she had a nose for them, all the same.
“Just take me with you.”
Like hell. “It’s taboo.”
“Like scrying?” she asked snidely.
“One I can’t break.”
I didn’t want to leave Savannah at the hotel, but I didn’t have a choice. Some things were sacred.
The Eastern Wisconsin pack wouldn’t let anyone suspicious onto their land, and Billy was heading up with reinforcements. He might hate her family, but he would protect her, especially if the moon ritual didn’t work. Then she’d be our best chance of tracking down Sam.
I just needed an hour and a half. It seemed like so little, but my gut told me we were almost out of time.
Twenty silent minutes later, we entered the nearby town. Its population wasn’t more than five thousand, and its main drag consisted of a handful of restaurants and shops catering to out-of-towners passing through. We passed a pasty shop, and Savannah’s stomach rumbled. She was always hungry. I glanced at the dashboard. In her defense, it was almost eight, and she hadn’t eaten anything substantial all day, which only added to my irritation.
I wasn’t used to looking after someone. Something also told me that Savannah wasn’t the type of woman who liked being looked after. But still, she deserved better.
“I’ll pick up dinner after I drop you at the motel,” I offered.
She nodded but said nothing.
A few miles out of the town center, a bird-shit-blue single-story motel appeared beside the road—the Sunrise Inn. The motel was set against the woods and looked like it had been built in the seventies but recently remodeled. I pulled into the lot and parked beside Cara’s Jeep.
Savannah grabbed her backpack and a bag of chips from the back seat as Cara stepped out of the motel. She was the youngest of our Wisconsin team, which meant she’d gotten stuck with coordinating logistics.
