Magic Side: Wolf Bound Complete Series: Books 1-4, page 8
I surrounded her with my presence, calming, protecting. If she were going to stay in Magic Side, the most important thing I could do was convince her that she didn’t have to be afraid of us.
“This is a lot,” she mumbled.
“I know. But you’re now part of something very special.” I turned and looked out over the sparkling lights of the city. “This is Magic Side. It’s one of the largest supernatural cities in the world. Werewolves, vampires, witches—you name it, they all live here in the thousands.”
“A supernatural city? Full of witches and vamp…” She petered out.
I was finally beginning to break through her denial. “Yes. All those things and more. We’re known as Magica—it means people with magic in their veins. You can’t actually see the city unless you’re Magica.”
“But I could.”
“Exactly. You’re like us, and you belong here.” I studied her closely, unable to take my eyes off her damned red hair.
Why had the fates brought this woman into my life?
To torment me, no doubt.
Savannah
It was all too much.
I pressed my hand to my pounding chest, willing it to slow down. Wooziness settled over me, and I bent over with my head between my legs.
I didn’t care that Jaxson Laurent was looking. I could barely stand, and it had nothing to do with the drinks I’d just downed.
“What do you mean, I’m like you, like everyone here? Magic?”
He sighed with a hint of exasperation. “Yes.”
What did he expect? That I would accept his words without question?
Probably. Jaxson was an arrogant bastard who seemed to get his way.
I took a breath and straightened my spine. “Like, I have powers?”
“Yes, but I don’t know what kind.”
I shook my head. It was impossible to believe, but there wasn’t a hint of deceit in his eyes.
“And my family here, the LaSalles. Are they magic, too? You talk about them like they’re monsters. What, are they werewolves? Or something worse?”
Jaxson’s eyes blazed with fury, and I had the sudden urge to flee.
“They’re practitioners of the dark arts. Black magic.”
His words were laced with venom, and I froze as information poured into my mind. My family was magical, and they practiced the dark arts—whatever the hell that was. What had they done to deserve this man’s ire?
I regarded him carefully as he moved close, his posture commanding. “Stay away from them. And don’t mention your relation to the LaSalles to anyone in this city. They may be the reason you were targeted.”
“So where am I supposed to go?” I asked, nearly in tears.
He laid a hand on my shoulder, and as a soft current of electricity flowed between us, I shivered. Was that part of his magic? I sucked in a breath and met his honey-gold eyes—eyes that penetrated straight through me, leaving my soul naked before him.
“It will all be fine as long as you stay away from your family. I’ll arrange a motel here for you. You have nothing to worry about. You’re in a new world. Magic is real, and your potential here is limitless.”
Jaxson’s gaze drew me in like a black hole, and his voice soothed me. The anxiety in my chest evaporated, replaced by a cool, flowing undercurrent of calm.
Just like that, my worries vanished like smoke rising from a candle. Some part of me—maybe a magical part of me—knew that I didn’t have to worry because finally, I was where I belonged.
When Jaxson escorted me downstairs, everything I saw, I saw anew.
The bartender wasn’t just flaring cocktails and flipping bottles. He floated them in midair, grabbing the ones he wanted and spinning the others like pinwheels. He sent drinks sliding down the bar, hovering an inch above the marble surface.
In the back, another band was playing—but it wasn’t a band, just one girl singing along to five instruments suspended around her.
“I think I’ve had a lot to drink,” I muttered.
Jaxson pressed his palm to my lower back. “You have a lot to take in.”
I nodded, too exhausted, confused, and inebriated to register the goosebumps that his touch elicited.
His eyes had lost their honey tone, and they bored into me. “Will you meet with the sketch artist tomorrow?”
I gulped and nodded. “I want to help.”
I’d expected my aunt to help me figure out why I was being targeted, but if Jaxson could do it, so much the better. I’d come to Magic Side for answers, after all. I’d take what I could get.
His gaze landed behind me, and his jaw tensed before his eyes returned to mine. I was no idiot—I could read the distaste written all over his face. My family revolted him, and by association, so did I.
“It’s late, and I have a prior engagement.” Jaxson’s voice was as cold as his sudden demeanor. Or maybe it had always been that way, and I’d just been too foolish to notice. “Samantha will get you set up with a place tonight. I’ll send a car to collect you from your motel at noon tomorrow.”
He was ditching me?
“Fine.” I was too overwhelmed and affronted to think. What had I expected? It wasn’t like we’d been on a date, but still, after bombarding me with all of that information, I never expected him to just leave me here. My cheeks burned from my foolishness.
Without another word, Jaxson turned and strode out, leaving me high and dry. Bastard.
Suddenly, I heard a woman’s voice behind me. “I’m Samantha. You’re Savannah, right?”
Turning, I recognized the female bartender I’d seen earlier. I nodded again, because I was pretty sure that if I tried to speak, the floodgates would open.
She raised her brow. “You okay?”
I’m alone in a magical city, and my car is broken. My only family here apparently dabbles with the dark arts and gun running, and werewolves are hunting me down.
I shrugged.
“Don’t worry, Jaxson’s made arrangements. I’m taking you over to the Magic Moon Motel. It’s not the Four Seasons, but it’s clean and safe and cheap. The valets will grab your bags.”
Suspicion and curiosity crept under my skin. “Is Jaxson your friend?”
The bartender smirked. “You could say that.”
I felt like a complete idiot. She was probably his girlfriend, or at least his ex, because attractive people like them couldn’t just be friends. I rubbed my throbbing temples, and whatever willpower I had was gone. I was like water, going with the flow.
“Thanks, Samantha,” I mumbled.
“Call me Sam.”
We loaded up in the back of a waiting Jeep and drifted off through the moonlit city. I was too dazed to think, to ask questions, to do anything but watch the lights go by.
For a second, I thought a black SUV was following us, but it drove past as we pulled up in front of the two-story motel. I craned my head to look up at the giant angular sign and its logo, a big yellow crescent that kept flickering.
Definitely not the Four Seasons.
“This is my uncle’s place,” Sam said as we got out of the car, perhaps sensing my sudden trepidation. She helped me check in and even lugged my bug-out bag to my room while I dragged Alma’s oversized suitcase up the stairs.
Sam winked as she turned to leave. “Don’t worry, hon. Tomorrow, everything will be better, I promise.”
I triple-locked the door with the deadbolt and chain, and then pulled off my sundress and collapsed on the bed, utterly overwhelmed by the world that had just sucked me in. Scared and exhausted though I was, I was blessed with the ability to sleep almost anywhere, and the bed was good enough.
Tomorrow would be better.
11
Savannah
The nightmare coiled around me, a python slowly crushing the breath from my lungs.
The tattooed woman from Belmont chased me through the crowded bar. I shoved left and right, but people with horns and fangs pressed in around me. I could barely breathe, let alone move. In desperation, I dove over the bar, dodging flying cocktails and bottles. But I wasn’t fast enough. The woman lashed out with long claws and dug them into my skin. My blood poured down her fingers, and her eyes blazed with crimson light. “You won’t escape! You’ll give us what we need!”
When I pulled away, I slipped in my own blood and crashed to the floor. She leapt through the air, face contorting and twisting into that of a wolf. Then she was on me, clawing and biting my neck like a savage animal.
In the midst of all the chaos, he was there. With one swift move, Jaxson slammed his fist into her chest and sent her flying off my body and onto the bar—just as that tattooed werewolf had done to the driver at the Taphouse.
I staggered to my feet. The woman lunged for me, but Jaxson finished her with a savage blow. He turned to me, muscles taut and chest heaving. His eyes glowed with golden light, drawing me in, heart and soul.
But my breathing faltered as my gaze drifted to his hands. They were bloody claws.
“They’re everywhere, Savannah.” He put his head back and howled, then his whole body began shifting into a wolf.
I screamed and turned to flee, but everyone in the bar began shifting and howling. The bartender, the musicians, all the staff and patrons, one by one, until there was only one woman left alone, a woman with dark black braids and a jean jacket. I’d never seen her before, but there was something oddly familiar about her face.
Darkness swirled around her, as if she were gazing through a whirling maelstrom. She smiled at me. “You cannot outrun your fate, Savannah. They’re coming for you. Beware the wheel of fortune. It does not stop. Time is ticking. You need to learn who you truly are so that you can stop the ones who are coming.”
I screamed and thrashed against my covers, then sat bolt upright, lungs heaving and sweat rolling down my chest.
A nightmare.
I ran my fingers through my damp, tangled hair. I wasn’t in my bed. Where was I? A hotel.
The memories of the previous day rushed back. The bartender, Sam, had sent me here. She’d said that tomorrow, everything would be better.
Sam was a goddamned liar.
My skull was pounding, and I regretted everything. My stomach and thoughts churned like Lake Michigan in heavy weather. Too many cocktails. Too many varieties of food. Too much weird city.
Too much Jaxson Laurent.
I sat up and rubbed my forehead. I remembered talking with him on the rooftop terrace of Eclipse. About magic and werewolves—which was insane. No wonder I’d had nightmares.
How much did we have to drink?
Hazy memories danced through my mind—the bartender flying bottles and cocktails around the room, people with horns and fangs, and an entire jazz band played by one lady.
I put my head in my hands. God, I must have gotten absolutely plastered.
Worse, I couldn’t really remember the details of my conversation with Jaxson. Had I really told him that I was attacked by werewolves? Or wait, had he said that?
Either way, it was bad news. One of us was off our rocker.
Had he really claimed that magic was real and that werewolves were after me? The logical half of my brain took control. Impossible. I’d had too much to drink and mixed a lot of things up. That sucked, because I was going to have to start weaseling information out of him all over again, and I really didn’t want to be near him.
Lie.
What the hell was I going to do?
Take a freaking shower, that’s what. Because I was gross.
As soon as I’d gotten into my room last night, I’d stripped off my sundress and face-planted into the bed. Normally, I’d shower before crawling between the sheets, but the day had just knocked me out cold.
I staggered out of bed and retrieved my crumpled dress from the back of the chair. It smelled faintly of sweat, car exhaust, and burning coolant. Man, I’d been some date—underdressed and over-fragrant.
I sighed. Not that it’d been a date. More like information gathering.
I peeled off my threadbare undies and slipped into the shower, letting the warm water relax my mind and muscles.
To be honest, I wouldn’t have minded if it had been a date, even if it had ended weirdly. The place was amazing, and Jaxson was unbelievably hot—burn-your-fingers-if-you-got-too-close hot. He’d been studying me all night, though he’d tried to hide it.
Unfortunately, Jaxson wasn’t interested, especially not after he’d learned who my relations were. The look on his face on the bridge and in the restaurant had made my skin crawl. Pure hatred. He’d said they were into weapons trafficking.
And dark magic.
What did that even mean? I couldn’t be remembering things correctly.
It was possible that they were the reason I’d been targeted. I needed to find out more about them, to figure out why. Obviously, I’d need to be careful.
It didn’t help that I was stranded. I didn’t even want to think how much it would cost to repair the Gran Fury. Thousands, for sure, which was more than I had and probably more than the old car was worth. If my family turned out to be sociopaths, I could probably sell it for a bus ticket out of here, but otherwise, I couldn’t leave it behind. That meant I needed a job and a place to stay.
Panic crept in, and I decided to focus on the short term as I rinsed the soap off, along with any remaining illusions I’d created about Jaxson Laurent. He was a means to an end, a way to get the information I needed. That was all.
I recalled that I’d agreed to meet with a sketch artist, and that Jaxson was going to send a car at noon. That was something, at least, even if the rest was a blur.
I got out, dried off, and wrapped the towel around me. Feeling a bit guilty, I texted Alma: I’m ok. Spent the night at a motel. Had a little car trouble, but I’m getting it fixed. On my way soon. Love you. I’ll call you when I get to my destination.
I didn’t like stretching the truth with her, but it was a lot easier by text.
The return text had probably taken her four minutes to type on her old brick phone: Love you, too. Don’t worry, no sign of feds.
That was because they’d already found me, and I was going to meet with one in under two hours. At least it would be a good chance to talk things over, because there was no way that anything I remembered about last night could be real.
I had no idea what to wear. What casually said, I’m hot and want answers, but I won’t be pushed around? Not like I needed or cared to look hot for Jaxson. I was pretty sure that he all but despised me, and I wasn’t the kind of girl who tried to impress guys. Normally.
Biting my lip, I selected some gray jeans that made my butt look great and an airy button-down short-sleeved blouse. I examined myself in the mirror and popped a few buttons to nice effect. It was summer, after all.
I opened the door to my room and stepped out onto the concrete walkway. A cleaning lady moved her cart out of my way, and her broom scooted along after. Then it began sweeping off the walk.
All by itself.
I stepped back into my room, shut the door, and leaned against the wall.
Savy, you’re not in Kansas anymore.
I cracked the door and peeked out, making sure not to look at the possessed broom. The lady was cleaning the adjacent room, and I slunk around the corner to spy through the open door. She pointed a stick—a wand—at the bed. The sheets flew off, and a new set zipped off her cart and onto the mattress, followed by a pair of towels that folded into a swan.
I squeaked in surprise.
She turned and put her hand on her chest. “Sorry, I didn’t see you there. Can I help you?”
My mouth worked for a while before I finally spoke. “How are you doing that?” I lamely made folding gestures.
“Oh, just a little hocus-pocus. Nothing special.” She waved her wand like a conductor, and a couple of mints levitated off the cart and landed gently on the pillows. “Is there anything I can get you? How about a mint?”
She flicked her wand, and it skipped into the air, hovering.
I gingerly plucked it from the air and munched it.
Minty.
Holy crap. Magic was real.
The rational part of my mind—which had been screaming in denial against everything I’d seen over the last twelve hours—finally packed up its bags and went on holiday, leaving the clearly insane part of my mind in the driver’s seat.
I needed something to drink. Probably not alcohol. Espresso.
“Where can I get some decent coffee?” I asked the cleaning lady.
“Try Moon Bean, two blocks south.”
I nodded as if cleaning ladies with telekinetic powers were perfectly normal. “Kay, thanks.”
With that, I locked my room, strolled down the concrete stairs in a bewildered daze, and headed south to Moon Bean.
All around me, the city bustled with signs of magic. A shop selling potions. People with horns. Empty dresses sashaying in store windows. It all meant one thing: what Jaxson had told me was true. Magic. My family. Werewolves.
The hair on my neck stood on end, and I glanced around nervously. They literally could be anywhere. Anyone could be a werewolf. The backwoods couple had looked normal until their eyes turned blood-red and their hands grew claws.
I jogged the last couple of steps to Moon Bean.
As soon as I pushed through the door, the scent of freshly ground coffee and toasted pastries wafted over me. A short, gangly creature with wings pulled a shot of espresso from the machine and then started frothing milk.
I immediately turned away, trying not to hyperventilate. Too much, too soon. Instead, I studied the overhead menu and discretely avoided the creature that was actually making the coffee.
A nerdy kid in a dark yellow apron smiled from behind the counter. “Hi, welcome to Moon Bean. What can I get you today?”
I kept my eyes locked on the menu. “Uh…a latte?”
“Anything else?”
What I needed was information, more than I’d needed anything in my whole life. I could risk making an ass out myself. “So, um, this city is full of magic. And werewolves?”
