Dark Lies (Magic Side: Wolf Bound Book 3)

Savannah

Heart pounding and pain searing through me, I stumbled to the side of the enormous gray and brown wolf. His body was savaged by deep cuts and wounds, and the side of his head was battered and matted with blood.

Oh, God.

Forcing my stomach to still, I dug my hands into his fur and felt his heartbeat. Strong and powerful.

Joy leapt through me.

I didn’t know what Jaxson was to me. A lover? My alpha? A mystery? All I knew was that I couldn’t let him slip away. That I needed him, and the pack needed him.

How do we heal him? I asked my wolf, panic straining at the edges of my mind.

I’ll guide you, she said weakly. But I don’t know how much we can give. I closed my eyes and let her take control. My hand pressed against him, and we pushed with our magic, searching for that connection that bound him to me.

I could feel it, that unbreakable thread.

My magic began to flow. Not cold and shadows, but warmth and light. It poured out of me, like a torrent of life. The world sharpened, and euphoria filled my veins. I didn’t know how much time had passed, but every part of me became alive, even as the last of my strength drained from my body.

I slipped sideways, barely catching myself with my weakened arms as the euphoria faded and my head spun.

The great wolf lying before me suddenly thrust upward. He shook his head, then looked at me with radiant golden eyes that pierced into my soul. Eyes that I could lose myself in forever. Ignoring the pain that racked my damaged body, I wrapped my arms around his furry neck. “You’re alive!”

Without warning, the savage beast shifted beneath my arms and lifted me upward. I yelped as I suddenly found myself wrapped around a naked man.

“Savy,” he practically purred. Dragging his fingers through my hair, he brought my mouth to his and kissed me deeply. Passion, desire, and need flashed through me, dulling my pain, but the kiss was more than that. It was deeper. It was an unspoken promise between us, that we would always protect one another. Whatever Jaxson was to me, I knew he would always have my back.

Shouts echoed across the roof.

I dropped from Jaxson’s arms with a moan and summoned my knife while he shifted into a wolf.

It was Devi and Ethan. My shoulders relaxed, but the aches and pains in my body screamed as the adrenaline wore off. I was drained.

They surveyed the white rooftop with wonder. It was covered in burned sigils and streaks of blood.

“What the hell happened up here?” Ethan asked.

I tilted my head toward the corpse lying face-down on the roof. “Well, I almost learned why they call him the Crusher.”

Ethan grunted. “Looks like that bastard’s reckoning finally came due.”

Turning to survey the wreckage, I shrugged. “As for what else happened here. I’m not exactly sure. He was casting a spell. I don’t know what it was, but it was powerful enough to turn this whole place into a sacrificial altar for his god.”

Ethan crouched down and inspected the charred remains of the runes. “It’s crude but powerful sorcery. Fates, was that lunatic going to nuke the entire prison? Himself included?”

I nodded. “That checks out. He’d really drunk the Kool-Aid.”

The Dark Wolf God had promised him a new form.

Ethan rose. “I don’t know how close it got, but if you hadn’t killed him when you did, chances are we would’ve all been dead, and this place would’ve been a charred pile of rubble.”

Setting the Dark God free and leaving Magic Side without its archmages. Man, we’d been really close to disaster.

Devi dropped down beside the massive corpse of the Crusher and inspected the talisman she’d made. The onyx pulsed with its sick light.

“Did it work?” she asked.

My heart skipped a beat at her question, and I looked at her, wide-eyed. “Are you telling me there was a chance it wouldn’t work?”

She rose and dusted off her hands.

“No. Of course it would work. I didn’t have a doubt,” she said, clearly lying.

Oh, God.

But it had worked. That’s what mattered.

I took her hands. “Thank you. Without your spell, he’d still be out there.”

Devi smiled. “Just glad it did its job. Now we have to figure out what to do with it.”

Ethan knelt and reached for the talisman, but Devi stopped him and shook her head. He stroked his chin, studying the vile, pulsing thing. “We could lock it in our vault. It’s a labyrinth with a few billion combinations. No one would be able to get to him, and he’d never be able to get out if he broke free of the enchantment.”

If he broke free? More like when.

Jaxson grunted. “We need to destroy him. For good.”

“How?” Devi asked.

Silence hung in the air.

“I think I know how,” I murmured. “My aunt has a way.”

The Sphere of Devouring.

But that meant I’d have to face her. And Casey. I wasn’t sure if I was ready for that.

Taking a moment to myself, I walked to the edge of the roof and looked out across the channel toward Magic Side. Home.

But was it? I couldn’t go back to the LaSalles, knowing what my aunt had done to me. And staying at Jaxson’s was out of the question. I knew we shared a mate bond—we had since birth—but I needed space to sort out what that meant.

And certainly, I couldn’t spend my life sleeping on Sam’s lumpy couch, for the sake of both our friendship and my back.

But even though I was homeless, Magic Side was still home. And today, it was safe.

I’d never seen the city from this vantage. It was beautiful. In the north, the towering skyscrapers were lit with fierce sunlight. The south was a sea of red brick apartments. The center of the island was cut by the green expanse of trees and parks where I’d run with the pack for the first time. The sky hanging over the city was bright blue.

But not over Bentham.

I craned my head back. Dark clouds still spun above us, and a cold wind tore at my wet and blood-soaked clothes. We had our own micro-climate on the island.

A deep dread settled in my gut, and I swallowed hard.

When we’d disrupted the ritual at Pere Cheney, the storm clouds had dissipated. But not now. While the glowing funnel cloud was gone, the vortex remained, spinning slowly and ominously.

We weren’t finished here.

I scooped up the glowing talisman and turned to Jaxson. “Take me to the Indies.”