Magic Side: Wolf Bound Complete Series: Books 1-4, page 71
Fuck.
The female cop wrenched one of the assailants up by the arm, twisted it behind his back, and brought him to his knees. Not my problem. I didn’t have time for this. I had to get to Savy and the last of the Arrowheads.
Pushing the cowering bartender out of my way, I leapt over the end of the bar top and charged toward the back.
Something slammed against the wall ahead of me in a cloud of smoke. A shockwave of magic raced through my body. My muscles seized in agony, and I crashed onto the floor.
Bikers and patrons collapsed around the bar.
Potion bomb. Stunner.
The male cop rose and hurled a second bomb to the other side of the room. Sam and the two bikers assailing her dropped to the ground.
These weren’t state police. This was the Order. Fuck them.
I forced my neck to turn toward the back door. I strained with every muscle I had, but I couldn’t move. But then a burst of pain shot through me. Not my pain—Savannah’s.
No.
Fire poured through my veins as I fought against the power of the potion. I wouldn’t let it hold me. My mate was in danger.
I pushed all my strength into my arm. Glacially, inch by inch, I pushed myself onto my knees. I turned my mind to my leg, and my muscles screamed as I forced them to my will. Slowly, I brought my leg forward and heaved myself up unsteadily against the wall.
With a roar, I shook off the chains of magic and hurled myself toward the back door.
Nothing would stop me. Not bikers. Not cops. Not sorcery itself.
Savannah
I charged after the orange-bearded Disciple who’d ducked out the back door.
The moment I stepped outside, pain lanced through my jaw as his fist connected with my face. My head cracked against the wall, and bricks dug into my skull.
I slumped to the ground as the world spun. The biker brought his boot down on my knee, and something popped.
My head flew back, and I screamed.
The sky above me whirled, a beautiful kaleidoscope of white and blue. The sight was interrupted by the silhouette of the bastard biker as he stepped over me. I tried to scoot back across the asphalt, but he drove his foot into my ribs. I gasped as the breath burst from my lungs.
“I can smell it on you! I’m gonna make you bleed Scarlet!” he growled.
Unable to breathe or speak, I gurgled and rolled to my side to face a couple cars parked on the old, degrading asphalt. It was just another parking lot, and just another werewolf trying to kill me. The first time I’d met one, I’d been terrified out of my mind.
But not this time. This time, I knew what was coming. I was ready for it, I needed it. And when my breath finally came back, I actually laughed.
The werewolf biker grabbed me by my jacket. “What the fuck are you laughing at, you crazy little bitch?”
Wiping the blood from my lip, I gave him a crimson smile. “How screwed you are.”
In a split second, I summoned the shadows around us and kicked out his feet. He shouted in surprise as he tumbled back against the wall. “What the hell did you do? I can’t see!”
I rolled away and stood.
While I’d made the world go pitch black around us, my power let me see. The bastard put his fists out in warning and looked left and right. “Who the hell are you?”
“I’m the wolf in the fucking darkness,” I snarled as I hammered my clenched fist into the back of his head.
He staggered forward, then spun and swung wildly, fighting blind. “I can smell you! I can hear you, and I’m going to beat you to a pulp!”
Someone was shouting beyond the darkness, but I didn’t care. I was focused on the asshole in front of me.
Fighting past the pain burning in my knee, I moved left. Unfortunately, my gimpy leg dragged on the asphalt. The biker turned his head and swung wildly in the direction of the noise.
Like Jaxson had taught me long ago, I stepped into the blow and deflected his arm to the right. My palm shot up and rammed into his chin with a deeply satisfying crack. I stood like a rock as he reeled back.
I attacked again before he could catch his balance, sweeping out his legs and dropping him onto his back. His head ricocheted off the asphalt just as hard as mine had hit the wall.
I was on him in seconds.
For a moment, he wasn’t just a seedy biker who’d struck and dehumanized me. He was the pair of werewolves in the back lot of the roadside Taphouse. He was the bastards who’d grabbed me at the motel, as well as the ones who’d thrown me in the white van. He was every one of those monsters who’d hunted me, terrified me, and used their power to hurt me.
My fists rammed down into his face, again and again. He struggled, but I was faster, stronger, and propelled by an unrelenting rage. He cried out in the darkness, but there was no one here who cared.
Or maybe there was. A woman was shouting loudly now, but I didn’t pay her any mind.
Savy, stop! We need him alive! my wolf commanded.
Fuck that. I called my claws, but they didn’t come.
No. I refuse to do this, Wolfie growled.
Fine, I snarled back. Have it your way.
I summoned my Soul Knife and dismissed the darkness so that the bastard could see what I was about to do to him.
The tingle of magic raced along my arm as the cold copper blade formed in my hand. I swung my arm back, ready to ram the blade into his heart.
But it stopped short as strong fingers wrapped around my wrist. Electricity surged through my body.
Jaxson.
I struggled against his grip, but he was iron.
A woman shouted, “Nobody fucking move! Savannah Caine, drop your weapon!”
My head whipped to the side. There was a woman in a jacket, potion bomb in hand and badge raised. I recognized her.
“Harlow?” What the hell?
I looked down at the biker. His face was pummeled and covered with blood, which matted his hair and pooled behind his head. He was barely breathing.
Oh, my God, what had I done?
My body began to tremble, and I dropped the cursed knife. Jaxson’s power poured through me. “Calm down, Savannah.”
“Back away from the biker,” Harlow snapped, kicking the blade away.
Jaxson helped me to my feet and pulled me close. I buried my face in his shoulder, but I could still see the biker’s bloodied face in my mind. He’d assaulted me, but somehow, somewhere along the way, I was the one who’d become the monster.
Again.
15
Jaxson
Fuck everything.
I held Savannah close and ran my hands through her hair, letting my alpha presence pour into her to calm her trembling.
I sent my power blasting through the parking lot to subdue all the others. The Order agent with her badge raised. Her partner, a sandy-haired man who had his sidearm drawn but wisely held low. The stammering bartender, who’d been cowering behind the bar. And finally, the bloody bastard lying on the ground. He was a drug-crazed shifter twice Savannah’s weight, and she’d absolutely annihilated him.
That, and she’d been one second from ripping out his soul.
Not good.
I didn’t pity the prick. He was scum who sold drugs and treated women like disposable objects. But there would be fallout from this, either with the Arrowheads or the Order.
“Everyone stay the fuck where you are.” The Order agent—Harlow—knelt by the body. “What the hell happened?”
“He attacked me…I fought back…I didn’t know what I was doing,” Savannah mumbled, her voice distant and thin with shock.
My muscles tightened with rage as she lifted her head and I got a good look at her. Her face was bruised and battered. My claws ripped out of my hands. “What did he do to you?”
Savannah’s hands dug into my jacket, and she whispered, “Please, no more violence.”
Harlow backed up quickly and held out a warning hand. “This is not the time or place to shift, Laurent.”
An asshole had battered my mate, and he was sitting five feet away. It sure the hell was the time to shift and rip his throat out. But we needed him alive. I tried to calm my breathing and glared at Harlow. “His buddies jumped us inside as well.”
“Is this true?” Harlow asked the bartender, who was human.
“One of the guys at the bar stood up, and then—” The bartender pointed at me with a trembling hand, then froze. “Shit, why are his eyes yellow? Like those freaks inside?”
The hair on my neck rose in frustration, and I gestured to the doorway. “You’re in shock. Go back inside and start cleaning up.”
I let my alpha presence slam into him like a baseball bat. He gulped and scuttled back into the bar.
Harlow cursed and knelt to check the unconscious biker over. “Well, this doesn’t surprise me in the least. I’ve got a file on Big Red here. He’s got a history of starting fights and beating women. He may rethink that after today.”
“He’d better,” Savannah hissed.
Harlow looked up at Savy. “Let me be clear. Whatever he’s done in the past, you’re not within your rights to stab the man, so it’s better for all of us that your knife is over there on the ground and not sticking out of his chest.”
Savannah nodded, and with the flick of her wrist, she discreetly returned the blade to the ether.
Harlow turned to her partner as she rose. “Okay, Max, go cuff the other Arrowheads before they wake up. Then call this in. We’ll need a cleanup crew and some mind mages on the scene, ASAP. I’ll take care of the mess out here.”
Harlow’s henchman headed inside, and I grabbed Savannah to follow.
The cop crossed her arms. “Nuh-uh, Laurent, I’m not through with you two.”
“We need to check on our friend, the blonde woman in the biker jacket,” I growled.
“She’s fine, just out cold from the potion bomb. First, you two need to answer some questions, like what the hell were you thinking”—she checked around the corner to make sure that the bartender wasn’t eavesdropping at the door—“starting a brawl in a human bar? Are you insane?”
We were forbidden to use our powers in the presence of non-Magica. The punishment could be dire.
Crossing my arms, I turned back to Harlow. “These assholes tried to abduct Savannah a few days ago. We came here to figure out why. We weren’t looking to cause a fight, just ask questions. We thought we might be able to talk to one alone. But four showed up, and they thought they could grab her.”
Harlow cursed as she rubbed her forehead with her fingers. “What a mess.”
“What are you doing here, anyway?” I snarled in irritation. “You got here suspiciously quickly.”
Harlow pulled out her phone and began texting someone. “We’ve had eyes on you two since Savannah was attacked, and we got an alert that you were headed out of town, dressed as bikers, so we followed. Seemed like a good bet that you were going to get yourselves in trouble.”
What the fuck?
I balled my fists. “So what, you were just sitting outside in your car, waiting to see what would happen?”
She shrugged. “Until someone threw a half-shifted werewolf through the front door. Speaking of which, we need to get the other shifters from inside. Help me restrain this asshole.”
We grabbed the huge shifter and set him up against a telephone pole. Harlow pulled his hands around his back and slapped a pair of magicuffs over his wrists, binding him in place. “That should hold him. Come on, let’s see the damage you did.”
We followed Harlow back into the bar. Chairs and tables were overturned. The front door was smashed in, and the countertop was decorated with blood and loose teeth. The pool table was snapped in half, with an unconscious man in the center.
The place looked like ground zero for a hurricane or an MMA match.
The patrons were all passed out, slumped over chairs and tables, and lying on the floor. Potions affected humans a lot harder than they did Magica.
Harlow’s partner bent over Sam. “Is this one yours?”
“Yes.” My heartbeat accelerated, though Sam only had a few scratches. I couldn’t afford to lose her for my sake, or Savy’s.
The agent—Max—lifted her up and gave her a sip of a potion he’d pulled from his coat.
Sam sputtered to consciousness and gagged. “Holy shit. What happened?”
Savy dropped to the ground beside her. “Are you okay?”
“A little woozy. Not sure my legs are going to cooperate for a bit.” Sam turned to Harlow’s partner. “Who the hell are you? What did you give me?”
He stood. “Max. I’m with the Order. I gave you a revival potion. The sleep bomb should wear off shortly.”
Sam gave him an appraising, almost lusty look. “Thanks. Then again, you’re the asshole who KO’ed me with a potion bomb in the first place.”
She staggered to her feet with our help and gave me a wicked grin as she looked around the joint. “We’re in trouble, aren’t we, boss?”
Harlow put her hands on her hips as she surveyed the wreckage. “I should chuck the lot of you in Bentham for having a rumble outside of Magic Side.”
“That’s not going to happen,” I growled.
“Oh, I’m not naïve. I know I’ve got no chance of that, not with your friends and connections,” she snapped, eyes burning with resentment.
She was right.
“We want the same thing,” I said as I crossed my arms and pushed my alpha presence at Harlow. “You want to stop these bastards from selling Scarlet. We want to stop them from going after Savannah. Give me a couple of minutes alone with the prick out back, and I’ll tell you what I learn. I can make him talk.”
She opened her mouth to object, but I pressed with my power until she nodded. “You can ask your questions, but I’m going to be there.”
“Fine.” I didn’t care what she did as long as she didn’t get in my way.
Max nodded to the bartender cowering in the corner. “Heads up—this guy called the cops before I could stop him.”
“Damn it! Not what we need.” Harlow cursed and pointed to her partner. “Max, you and Laurent drag the other Arrowheads out back.”
I hefted one of the unconscious assholes off the floor. It was the guy whose teeth I’d knocked out on the counter. A better man would have cringed at his broken face, but I wasn’t a good man. Just the monster my father and sister had trained me to be.
And shutting him up mid-slur? That made me happy.
Savy helped Sam hobble to the bar where she could sit.
I paused. Savannah made me better, or she at least made me want to be better.
As if she could feel the heat of my eyes on her back, she turned and met my gaze. Fortunately, the bastard hanging over my shoulder was facing away from her. She’d seen enough gruesome work today already.
Her eyes drifted to the zip ties that bound his ankles and wrists behind his back. Practically the same thing they’d done to her.
“Seems like a fitting end,” I said.
Savy just nodded, and I hauled the guy to the back lot and dumped him against the wall.
“You motherfucker!” the biker cuffed to the telephone pole snarled. Apparently, he’d woken up from his nap. He strained, and the thick wood pole cracked a little. “Let me go!”
I slammed him with my alpha presence. “Sit still and be quiet, and don’t speak until you’re spoken to.”
He slumped against the pole and set his jaw.
As I stepped back into the bar, Harlow was speaking to Savannah in hushed tones. “Are you sure you’re safe? With him? You don’t have to be a part of this.”
“I am a part of this. Part of the pack,” Savannah said with defiance.
“Part of the pack? Like, Jaxson’s pack?” Harlow asked. “I thought you were a LaSalle.”
“I’m a werewolf, now, too,” she said.
My muscles tightened at the despair in her voice, and a deep wave of failure cut through me.
So far, all that being a werewolf had brought her was trouble. She didn’t understand what it was to be part of a pack. She only knew the bad side, and that had to change.
I had to change it.
16
Jaxson
I stepped around Max as he struggled to drag the last of the unconscious Arrowhead Disciples out the door. “Big Red is awake and pissy, but I think he’s willing to talk.”
With an unreadable look, Savannah and Harlow broke off their conversation and followed me outside.
Big Red began struggling violently as soon as he saw Savannah. “Don’t let that psycho bitch near me! Look what she did!”
I grabbed him by the jacket and shoved him back against the telephone pole. “Were you part of the crew that grabbed the redhead outside of Eclipse?”
He spat in my face. “I’m not answering your questions.”
I pressed him back so his shoulders popped, then rammed him with my alpha presence as hard as I could.
“Ah, fuck, don’t…” he whined as I bared down. “Yes! It took me a second, but I recognized that little slut even with her brown hair. I could smell her blood. Wanted the Scarlet.” He gave Savy a licentious look as I released a little pressure. “I would have taken more than that.”
She hauled back and slapped him, then snarled, “Who sent you after me?”
He turned his head in resistance.
“Answer our questions.” I let the weight of my alpha presence drop on him like a sledgehammer, commanding his submission with every fiber of my body.
“Fucking alpha,” he spat, but he scowled and submitted. “According to our president, if we got you, we could make more Scarlet.”
“How?” I asked.
He twisted to face me and bared his teeth. “I don’t know! I just push the stuff! We were supposed to hand her over to the alpha of the Central Michigan pack. I don’t know why.”
“Lucius Grayling?”
Big Red snorted. “Yeah, he used to be called that. But he’s changed. Now he just calls himself the Dragon, or something. That fucker is out of his mind, but if he could deliver the Scarlet…”
Savannah clenched my arm, and I could feel the urgency tingling in her fingertips. Not Dragon. Dragan.
