Shadow Kissed (Magic Side: Wolf Bound Book 4)

Savannah

Unfortunately, getting to Delos required using a portal, a mode of transport with which I was still getting comfortable. I had no idea how some people used them for daily commutes—it felt like having your body disassembled and dumped into a washing machine, then put back together again.

Jaxson’s driver dropped us off downtown at the edge of Rain Bridge Plaza. It was like O’Hare Airport, except the lines were shorter, and you were less likely to lose your luggage.

The wide plaza was ringed with dozens of wrought iron archways. Long lines of people had formed in front of each of the gateways, traveling to and from destinations in the magical and non-magical worlds. One by one, they stepped through and disappeared, while every so often, a different person would step out the back of the doorway.

The real mind-bending feature of the place—aside from all the vanishing Magica, which I’d now come to take for granted—was the floating river that wound overhead, the Rain Bridge. It was a living sculpture that gently misted all the people who passed through.

I followed Jaxson as he headed to the front of one of the lines and glared. The people in line dutifully shuffled back to let us cut. In the past, an alpha stunt like that might have embarrassed me, but at this point, we were on our way to save the world. The foodie on his way to get fresh biscotti in Milan could wait a bit.

“I haven’t left Magic Side for a decade,” the loremaster said as she shuffled forward with her cane. “I’m ready for an adventure.”

I glanced back and arched my brows at Sam, who was standing beside the old woman, probably worried that she might stumble and break a hip. As if reading my thoughts, Sam’s lips tightened, and she shook her head.

I wasn’t sure how to properly act around the loremaster. She was old and wise and definitely to be respected, but she had a fierceness about her, and I didn’t want to coddle her.

I stepped to the side to let her go ahead.

She raised her eyebrows. “What? Age before beauty? Are you kidding me, child? You and the alpha are going first in case there are any beasts lurking on the other side.”

I flushed red, but the loremaster looked over at Sam and winked.

Jaxson entered the coordinates that Neve had given us using a dial on the side of the portal. The translucent veil covering the ringed doorway began shimmering in the afternoon sun. Jaxson’s lips pulled up slightly into a smile, and he offered me his hand. “Ready?”

His question was simple, but the way he looked at me implied so much more. Would I step with him into the unknown?

With a gaze that intense and smoldering, how could I not follow a man like him anywhere? I swallowed and took his hand. He continued to watch me, though his eyes betrayed a hint of delight.

Yeah, he knew how my body reacted to his attention.

He gave my hand a light squeeze that made my stomach summersault, and then we stepped through together.

With a rush of magic, the ether sucked us into the void of space. My stomach flipped for real as my body was pulled in countless directions. Just as I thought I couldn’t take it anymore, I stumbled out onto a set of narrow stairs beneath a night sky.

Nausea swam in my gut, and I doubled forward. My balance was shit, though, and my foot slipped, and I fell.

With a single fluid motion, Jaxson slipped his arm around my waist. “Steady, there.”

His heat pressed into me, and his eyes dropped to my lips. Hell, I was in trouble here.

My neck flushed, and I awkwardly peeled myself out of his grasp. “Thanks. That was a rough ride.”

“Minor portals like these don’t get a lot of use. The magic degrades if it’s not maintained,” he said, giving me an amused smile.

Clearly, he’d enjoyed catching my fall. I wasn’t sure if that annoyed me or made me wish we’d been somewhere private when it happened.

My gaze drifted to the stars and faint clouds above.

Right. Greece was hours ahead of Chicago.

I took a moment to inspect our surroundings as best I could in the dim light. Since I’d first shifted, my night vision was getting better and better.

We stood in an ancient well or cistern of some sort. Low walls of stacked granite slabs enclosed the water feature, their surfaces etched by dark watermarks.

I wasn’t sure how deep the green pool behind us was, but it looked stagnant. At least the portal hadn’t dropped us in the water. The only thing worse than wet boots were slimy wet boots.

Ascending after Jaxson, I emerged into a windswept landscape filled with standing columns and the crumbling ruins of countless ancient structures off in the darkness. My pulse quickened as the wonder and magic of the place buffeted the air around us.

I was broken from the spell by the loremaster’s grunt from behind.

“My fates! That portal had the jitters. Who do I complain to around here?” The huge grin on her face told me that she’d been absolutely unfazed by her trip through the ether. Sam laughed beside her, and I felt the heat on my neck spread. Why was I the only one who got portal-sick?

Footsteps approaching over the rocky ground pulled my attention, and I glanced over my shoulder. A bobbing light approached, and Jaxson stiffened as I put my hand up to shield my eyes from the glare.

The beam of light swept down to the ground, and after a second my vision adjusted, revealing a petite woman with a pixie haircut.

“You must be the people Neve sent. Welcome to Delos.” She had a faint accent and wore cargo pants and a white T-shirt that accentuated her sun-kissed skin and green eyes. “Sorry to keep you waiting. This place has been shut down for hours, and it took longer than I planned to get past the night guardsmen—even though they know exactly who I am.”

She flashed us a warm smile and extended her hand to me. Her signature smelled of earth and rosemary and felt cool and calm. I was immediately drawn to her, and I was sure it had everything to do with her magic, whatever she was.

“I’m Savy. This is Jaxson, Sam, and our loremaster. Thanks for meeting us so late at night,” I said, shaking her hand.

“Night is better,” Myrto shrugged. “Better than having you folks pop out in the midst of a tour group.”

“Neve told us that you’d be able to show us to the Temple of Artemis?” Jaxson asked.

“Yep. Right this way,” she said cheerfully, heading down the path in the opposite direction than the one she’d come. “I’d give you a tour of the place if the moon was up, but it’s a bit dark, and I imagine you’re pressed for time.”

“Thank you so much, but the clocking is ticking,” I said regretfully. “The portal we came through, was that a well?”

“That’s the Minoan Fountain. It was one of the island’s public fountains, but long before that, it was a sacred spring that belonged to the nymphs.” She gave me a wink.

Was she a nymph? Her signature was unfamiliar and tasted like raw honey. She definitely wasn’t a sorceress or werewolf, or hell, a demon or vampire, for that matter.

Myrto led us down the weatherworn dirt path, her flashlight sweeping the way ahead. Like ghosts of the past, the ruins were pale and barely visible in the faint starlight. I couldn’t help but feel a pang of regret for not being able to see the place in its former glory, or even the light of day.

Suddenly, the hair on my neck stood on end, and I got the uncanny feeling of lightning about to strike, or of being watched.

I slowed my steps and scanned our surroundings. My attention settled on the outlines of a large building to our left. Broken columns and other pieces of architecture littered the interior, and a rectangular slab with a bull head was set on three supports.

Nothing moved in the ruins, but something wasn’t right.

Myrto must have noticed my gaze because she paused to flick her light toward the structure. “That’s a stoa. It doesn’t look like much now, but it was once a covered walkway with statues. Right beyond it is the Sanctuary of Apollo, where we’re headed.”

I glanced back at Jaxson and met his eyes. He gave me a subtle nod.

Something was up, and he knew it.

The air was almost heavy, and something about the old magic of the place started to shimmer and shift almost imperceptibly. Myrto drifted into conversation with the loremaster, but Jaxson and Sam both had their eyes fixed on the darkness.

One moment, all three of us stood there listening and searching for scents. Then a crunching and grating sound echoed from the distance, almost like stones being moved.

I stepped up beside Sam and Jaxson. “What is that?”

Jaxson’s nostrils flared, and then his body tensed. “Loremaster, Myrto, quiet—something’s headed our way.”

“What?” Myrto asked, glancing over her shoulders.

I felt a rising swell of dark energy rush over me.

The Dark God.

“I think we’re in trouble,” I whispered.

Before Jaxson could respond, two starlit shadows appeared at the junction in the path about a hundred yards ahead. My blood iced.

About the size and shape of lions, the feline creatures began to prowl toward us. Something was off about them. Their bodies were too sleek, and they moved with an unnatural gait.

Whatever they were, I had no doubt who’d sent them—the Dark Wolf God, to stop us from calling the Moon. But how had he known?

For a second, one paused, searching. The instant its soulless black eyes locked onto us, it bolted in our direction, and its partner was right on its heels.

I shouted a warning as adrenaline surged through my veins, and I instinctively shot forward with Jaxson and Sam to protect Myrto and the loremaster, who were about twenty paces ahead.

“Fates! What’s going on?” Myrto exclaimed.

The two beasts closed the distance in a flash.

Jaxson launched forward, colliding with the first in a crash of flesh and stone. As they skidded across the ground, the beast roared and kicked out with its hind leg, sending Jaxson flying back.

He landed on his feet with one hand on the ground as Sam hurtled into the second feline.

Her shoulder hit first, and she ricocheted with a horrifying crunch of bone and a pained grunt, as if she’d run into a brick wall. She practically had. The felines were made of stone, animated statues from a lost age. With a swift pounce and swipe, the stone lion rammed her into the low wall of the stoa.

Rage filled me, and I let the thrill of the hunt take over as I bounded over the crumbled wall.

The creature reared up to finish Sam.

With my adrenaline burning, I leapt forward and grasped its raised foreleg, using my momentum to pull it off balance.

I landed in the dirt, but it crashed into a broken column. Unfortunately, before I could even get up, it had righted itself. The thing prowled forward, its dark eyes focused entirely on me.

Then its head jerked unnaturally to the side, and it turned on Sam.

What the hell? Why wasn’t it coming after me?

“Hey!” I jumped to my feet and released a quick blast of shadows. It jerked its head back at me before turning its attention to Sam, who was now backed up against a low wall.

Realization dawned. The Dark God was controlling it like a marionette. He was going to kill my friends and leave me alive because he was planning to use me the same way—as his puppet.

Fucking bastard.

My magic swelled, like rivers of ice water spreading through my veins. Charged near to exploding, I released my magic in a torrent. “Stay back!”

Dark tendrils streamed from my palms, and as if obeying my command, they wound around the creature, ensnaring it in a cage of shadows. The stone monster leapt but slammed into the cage as if was made of iron. The creature roared from within, but my shadows muffled its bellows.

I’d never used my magic this way before, but desperate for any form of control, I imagined the shadows closing in like a vise. My pulse quickened and delight sang through me as I felt the beast being crushed beneath the force of my shadows.

When at last I released them, there was nothing left of the creature but a mountain of rock chips. For a second, I thought I heard the voice of the Dark God: Good. You see there is strength in shadow.

“Fuck you, and fuck your magic beasts!” I shouted, my chest heaving with anger and exhilaration.

Grunting, Sam pushed herself up from the rubble. “Thanks for stepping in.”

Her shoulder drooped strangely, and blood seeped from a gash on her thigh. She was wounded but okay.

I spun to find Jaxson as dread flashed through me.

I started running as soon as I spotted him on the path about a hundred feet away.

Somehow, he’d managed to pin the first stone lion. While its jaws snapped inches from his face, Jaxson seized its head and mandible and twisted.

He couldn’t be serious.

His eyes flashed gold, and his muscles corded as he strained against the stone beast. Suddenly, a crack of rock split the air, and then, with the grating of stone and a primal snarl, Jaxson shattered its neck. In seconds, the whole thing disintegrated into dust in his hands.

My jaw dropped as I stumbled to a halt. He’d just snapped the head off a stone lion.

I knew he was strong, but holy shit.

I sucked in a breath of relief, but it was instantly extinguished by a warning shout from Sam. Three more shapes bounded through the ruins on our right, straight for Myrto and the loremaster.

Jaxson was already moving to cut them off, but the cats were fast, and he wouldn’t intercept them in time. I could.

As I darted forward and leapt over the low wall, I threw up a billowing barrier of shadows between my friends and the beasts. “Run!”

Myrto grabbed the loremaster’s shoulder and ushered her down the path. Although they were hidden from view, if the beasts had decent senses, the veil wouldn’t do my friends any good.

It was up to me.

“Savy, get out of there!” Jaxson roared.

Anger coursed under my skin, dispelling my fear. I had to protect the loremaster. She was part of the pack and our key to summoning the Moon.

I moved without fear or hesitation. The Dark God had made it clear he wanted me alive and planned on making me watch him kill my friends and allies.

Screw that.

The beast at the front bounded over a series of ruins opposite the path, heading for the shadow veil. My heart thudded in my ears as I flung my hands forward and released the last of my pent-up magic. A ball of crackling wild energy pummeled into the airborne monster. The thing snarled as the force knocked it onto the path. Chips of stone scattered in the air, but the shot hadn’t been enough to kill it.

The remaining two beasts broke off after Sam and Jaxson, and protectiveness surged through me. But the creature I’d blasted was up on its feet again, and its attention was now solely on me.

Minor miscalculation. The Dark God needed me alive, but not unharmed.

The lion growled as it circled around me, its lips curled back, revealing a set of unnaturally long marble fangs.

Stone crashed behind me, and it was all I could do not to be blinded by the urge to go to Jaxson.

Protect the others, I thought I heard him say in my mind.

My muscles throbbed. It was taking everything I had to keep the veil of shadows up—and it was weakening. I’d spent too much of my magic. Fear crawled over my skin.

Wolfie, I could use some strength.

But she didn’t answer. I was on my own.

The feline took a step forward, but then, as if an invisible leash pulled it back, it tensed and stopped. It released a ferocious growl and tried to move, but again, it couldn’t. Something was wrong. The thing looked confused or conflicted.

It wanted to kill me, but the Dark God had put it on a leash.

This was my chance. I just needed to hulk out and rip its head off like Jaxson had done.

Fat chance without a boost from my wolf—or even with it. But I had to do something.

I spotted a column chunk five feet away. It would be heavy, but I could probably lift it and bash its head in, as long as the lion stayed on its tether.

Still wary of the beast, I extended my claws and slowly crept forward. The beast thundered and struggled against its invisible bonds.

Then suddenly, it was free.

In a flash, its front paws rammed me, sending me flying backward. I hit the dirt hard, and the air left my lungs in a gasp of pain. I struggled, and horror rocked me as the creature stepped over me and pressed down on my chest with its paw. Its breath was hot and pungent as it curled its marble lips and growled.

Was this how I would die? Death by a mythological lion beast?

Fucking fates.

I called my magic, but my veil of shadows had already dropped, and my stores were spent. I dug my claws into its stone leg and tried to heave, but I couldn’t budge it an inch.

The lion spread its jaws wide and reared back to strike. But just before its teeth grazed my skin, a detonation of rock shards burst above me.

Choking on dust, and with pain screaming from a thousand places on my body, I rolled to my side and flopped onto my back, totally spent. What the hell just happened?