Dark Lies (Magic Side: Wolf Bound Book 3)

Savannah

Fear and rage poured through me. Dragan’s evil delight, his arrogant confidence, the way he’d toyed and tormented me for weeks on end—I’d had enough.

“Fuck you,” I growled as I tried to push myself up. My left arm exploded with pain, and I crumpled while the bastard laughed.

Let me take part of that load, Wolfie said. Suddenly, some of the agony drained away, and my thoughts cleared.

Thank you.

Just make this count, she whined, and I could hear the suffering in her voice. She’d taken on my pain.

Shakily, I rose and pressed my right hand against the wall. I felt the toxic strength of Dragan’s magic, and it made my skin crawl.

The flames around him lowered as the runes across the roof took on a brighter glow. “The Dark God commanded that I perform a ritual for him, and he promised he would deliver the sacrifice. Well, here you are. I will offer him you and your pet alpha, and all the archmages and prisoners in this place!”

He raised his arms and voice to the sky. “I have prepared your altar, great one! A sacrifice unlike any before.”

Altar? I looked around at the rune-inscribed top of the prison. Oh, shit, the whole damn thing was going to be his altar.

Horror chilled my veins. The Order’s top people were entering the prison now, and I was pretty sure the place was about to go up like a nuclear bomb.

Do something, Savy!

I summoned my Soul Knife and pressed the point against the invisible wall, hoping that somehow, we could break through. I felt my wolf’s power pour into me like heat and ice, but my blade didn’t budge.

I could feel Dragan pushing back with his mind, repelling my own power. He laughed, a low, thunderous sound coming from the body of the Crusher. “You think you have the strength to stop me? My cultists have charged me with the power of their souls. You are nothing.”

He raised his arms, and the runes that had formed over the top of the building leapt into pillars of green fire. A green glow formed in the sky above, and a radiant, twisting funnel cloud began to rapidly form.

My blood grew ice cold. A sorcery-infused tornado was about to drill down into the prison and rip it and its occupants apart. Hundreds of inmates, as well as the agents and archmages, all sacrificed on the altar of the Dark God.

Jaxson.

My will surged, and I screamed and threw myself into the wall. Dragan’s vile magic lanced through me, and it felt like pushing through the barrier would rip apart my soul.

And then it did.

Pain beyond imagination cascaded through me, and I staggered back as the shadow of a wolf leapt from my chest and through the barrier. My wolf.

How was that even possible?

She hurtled forward, dodged the blazing runes like land mines, and tore into Dragan.

My shadow wolf was as fast as the wind. She struck and was gone, leaving red trails across his pale white skin.

He bellowed in rage as she tore into his calf. He swung his massive fist, but like a stream of smoke, she vanished and reappeared, then brutally attacked again.

The invisible barrier in front of me flickered, and I felt its magic weaken as his concentration broke.

I charged forward and rammed my blade into the wall, pushing all my magic into it.

Black shadows streamed off me, and frost formed on my skin, but a green crack split the air in front of me. With a concussion I felt more than heard, Dragan’s magic shattered.

I was through the barrier in an instant and charging across the minefield of runes.

The twister above us had formed to a point, like a glowing green dagger plunging toward the roof.

Dragan had lost control of his form as well as the barrier, and his arms and head and chest shifted at random, from man to wolf to man again. The giant brute stumbled and twisted as he tried to incinerate my wolf with bursts of green flame.

I lunged forward, but he spun at the last second. His backhand slammed into me like a steam shovel and flipped me into the air.

I crashed down onto the roof, and my knife ricocheted from my hand and vanished into smoke. Unable to hold in the pain, I gasped and arched my spine.

And then Dragan was on top of me.

My shadow wolf tore at him, but he shook her free and lunged forward with blinding speed. I resummoned my blade, but he slapped it from my grip and slammed his giant hands on either side of my temples. Pain exploded through my skull, and stars swam through my vision.

The Crusher.

My wolf ripped and tore at his arm, but he didn’t budge.

I screamed in blinding agony, and he smiled. “This is the proper way to sacrifice before a god.”

Suddenly, his right hand ripped free, and he staggered back.

My head ricocheted off the pavement, and the world spun.

Get up! my wolf roared in my mind.

I shoved myself to my knees and saw Dragan the Crusher with his wrist clamped in the mouth of a massive gray wolf.

Jaxson.

Before I could move, the beast of a man swung his arm, sending Jaxson flying free. He tumbled and skidded across to the edge of the roof.

Dragan roared as the Crusher’s upper body turned into a half man, half wolf.

Jaxson climbed to his feet, and dread filled my heart. Crimson blood seeped from a deep, gaping wound in his side where a piece of rebar had impaled him. Charging forward, he leapt onto the Crusher’s chest, his jaws sinking into the monster’s throat.

The Crusher bellowed and gripped Jaxson’s head. With one quick movement, he ripped Jaxson free and bashed him down on the roof. Nightmare screams filled my mind as horror ripped through me.

Then the monster bent down, gripped Jaxson with his massive arms, and heaved him up over his head, as if offering him to the tornado above.

“Wolfie! Strength!” I shouted as I charged.

The shadow wolf slammed into my back. We merged as one and shot forward like a bullet.

The world was nothing but a blur. I had half a breath to summon the blade before I collided with the Crusher’s back. I drove the Soul Knife deep into his spine and poured my magic into the dagger. Black shadows boiled off my arm like smoke, and my skin burned as it turned to ice.

The Crusher opened his jaws and roared.

Gritting my teeth, I dug in with the blade, feeling the taut resistance from Dragan’s soul. He clung to his host like iron, and the knife wouldn’t cut.

Help me!

My wolf’s power flowed into me like sweet nectar, and the blade grew white hot. Then, with a gut-wrenching tear, it swung free. There was an explosion of magic as it sliced through Dragan’s soul, and I stumbled back.

The monstrous beast dropped to his knees, then fell face-first onto the roof, bringing Jaxson down with him.

The Crusher’s head twisted toward me, his mouth open in a lifeless scream of horror. Thunder ripped through the sky above as the white light in his eyes went out and dissipated in smoke.

I pulled the talisman from my pocket, waiting for the moment that I knew would come—just as it had after I’d cut Dragan’s soul from Kahanov.

My wound began to burn as a pale, spectral apparition rose from the corpse.

But it wasn’t Dragan. It was the Crusher. He loomed just as large as he’d been in life.

My arm dropped, and I stepped back.

The ghost of the Crusher spread his hands wide, and his voice roared in my mind. You little bitch! I should’ve caved your head in! How I would’ve loved to feel the slick pieces of your skull slip between my fingers.

He lunged forward, hands outstretched. I’ll haunt you unt—

The phantom dissipated into wisps of smoke as a translucent green spirit ripped through it.

Dragan.

I will possess you! the spirit screamed, a silent vibration that shook the rooftop. I will force you to rip out the throat of your mate with that little knife of yours.

He shot forward and dove into me as I raised the talisman.

Fight him! Wolfie cried from within my soul.

My arms began to shift between human and wolf as Dragan fought within me, trying to take hold. I felt all the poison and hatred in his soul as he thrust himself into me.

No!

With a scream of rage, my soul pushed against his. Wolfie joined her strength to mine as Dragan struggled for dominance.

I raised the black talisman high overhead. That was where the fucking evil bastard belonged.

Black shadows billowed from my skin as I concentrated my will, and with a final burst of power, I thrust the green specter out of me and into the onyx.

His unearthly scream was cut off as the last tendrils of green light drained from my body. The black stone glowed with a radioactive light, and the charm seared its shape in my hand.

I dropped it to the ground, and a trail of smoke curled up off it.

The tornado above me exploded into clouds and began to drift apart, but I had only one care in the world.

Jaxson.