Shadow Kissed (Magic Side: Wolf Bound Book 4)

Savy

One glance at the expressions on the gathered werewolf council made it clear that this was going to get dark.

Some were in human form, and some were wolves. I was almost overwhelmed to be in proximity to so many powerful signatures, elders and alphas both. It was a sea of dangerous and unfamiliar faces. The loremaster was the only one I recognized from our pack.

All eyes locked onto us, but I kept my gaze fixed straight ahead, focused on one werewolf sitting directly across from us. His face was like Jaxson’s but much older. He lacked the perfection of my mate’s features but none of his ferocity.

Jaxson’s father.

His expression stopped me in my tracks: abject hatred.

My stomach spun. For all his fury, Jaxson had never once turned his eyes on me in that way, and I thanked God he hadn’t.

Screw this. I’m done being judged.

I raised my chin and stepped into the ring. My wolf might be bound, but I was still a wolf.

We’ve got this, I said to Wolfie, though I knew she wasn’t there.

If, somehow, we lived through this and I could release her, would she ever speak to me again after what I’d done?

I closed my eyes and let the despair have its moment. When I opened my lids, I was all fire, while Jaxson was practically an inferno of rage beside me.

“You came,” Jaxson’s father said flatly, holding back the anger in his voice.

Before I took another breath, they were both in the center of the ring, face to face, staring each other down. While his father was built like a mountain, my mate still loomed over him and commanded the attention of every wolf in the clearing.

“What are you doing?” Jaxson bit out. “You’re no longer alpha of our pack. You abandoned that role.”

“The chairwoman asked me step in, if necessary. We both agreed that the council had to be called, so I did.”

Jaxson bent his head low to his father’s ear and spoke quietly, though we could all hear. “Why not come to me? I’m the head of this council.”

“Because you should have come to us. Because there’s no time. Because the current head of the council has abandoned his pack and his wits, bewitched by a LaSalle. Someone had to do something.”

“Do something? We’ve been fighting every day to stop this. To save our pack,” Jaxson snarled, his voice razor sharp with a fury I’d never heard before. “Where have you been? Fishing?”

His father’s voice remained quiet and level. “I didn’t realize that the alpha was harboring a twin-soul, or I would have been here in a second and dealt with her myself.”

In an instant, Jaxson’s shirt ripped along the seams as his body swelled. Fur rippled along his arms as his fangs and claws shot out and his eyes turned the color of the sun—but he stopped the shift right there, holding it in the space between man and wolf with a foot in each of the two worlds, master of both.

That trick required absolute control of your wolf, a thing not many could manage.

“She is my mate,” he growled in a voice that was neither his nor his wolf’s. “No one touches her.”

His words dropped like a hammer, and shocked noises filtered through the council. Jaxson’s father’s expression hardened, and his pupils dilated. “So the rumors are true, then. It’s worse than I feared.”

Jaxson didn’t respond, nor did his gaze leave his father’s face.

If I’d had the strength of my wolf senses still, I might have been able to untangle the emotions raging in the space between them. It looked and sounded like the knife edge of violence, but it hid so much more.

Betrayal. Pain. Affection. Pride. Fury.

They were close, or they had been, once.

I swallowed, barely able to breathe from the tension in the air. Finally, his father submitted and stepped away. “Fine. Take your place at the head of this council—but make no mistake, you two are the ones on trial here.”

Jaxson looked at the stone where his father had been sitting, a weathered rock wrapped in roots. He turned his back on the council and strode to my side, his eyes burning with gold. “If we are accused, then I will stand by my mate.”

I licked my lips. He was transformed and more savage than I’d ever seen him. His power washed over me as he approached, and I had to fight down the raw desire that rose as he took his spot, standing by me while all the others stared.

After a stunned moment, Camila walked to the far end of the court and addressed the gathered wolves. “Now that that’s settled, I will run this meeting. We’ve all shared a dream of the Dark Wolf God. This woman here—a LaSalle by blood—is a twin-soul and the one who set him free. In accordance with the prophecy, that’s enough for us to condemn her. But beyond this crime, they have bound her wolf with sorcery. This is beyond the pale of anything I ever imagined a werewolf could do or would do. I don’t see how we can let this stand.”

Jaxson tightened his fists. “Savannah is part of my pack. She is under my authority, not yours.”

“By tradition, an alpha who sits on the council accepts the council’s decision!” shouted a man I didn’t recognize. “Are you above our law now?”

“Only if the law no longer stands for what is right.”

The gray-haired alpha raised her eyebrows. “Is that a yes, Laurent?”

“The Dark God is loose,” Jaxson growled. “We’ve done everything we can to stop him. You can waste time accusing us of crimes, but you’ve also seen what’s at stake. The threat he poses. We are all in peril. Stopping him is the only thing that matters.”

Jaxson’s father gestured at me. “We are in peril because of her. She’s the twin-soul who was prophesized to set him free. She’s corrupted you and released the Dark God from his prison, can’t you see that? She’ll take our souls and make us weak before him. We must deal with her here and now to protect our packs and families!”

Jaxson snarled, but before he could lunge at his father, I seized him and pulled him toward me, trying to soothe his rage through our bond.

“I am a wolf. I must stand for myself here,” I whispered to him. We both knew it was true.

Slowly, the bloodlust drained from his eyes, and he nodded.

I looked to his father, my eyes hard and accusing. “Yes, I’m a twin-soul. And yes, I released the Dark God. I was trying to stop him, but the game was rigged.”

Furious conversation erupted around the circle, but I held up my hand, and the crowd soon grew silent. “Victor Dragan conducted a ritual to bring back the Dark God. It required the sacrifice of a twin-soul. Once the spell was complete, the die was cast.”

I looked around the assembly, trying to meet the gaze of every wolf there, even as I came to confront the truth of what had happened myself. “At the time, I didn’t realize that it didn’t matter which one of us died, just that one of us did. Had Dragan killed me instead, the Dark God would have been released all the same, and you’d be up against Dragan as well.”

“You say you’re trying to defeat him, but the Dark God said that you are his chosen. What evidence do you have that you’re not his puppet?” someone accused.

I unslung my backpack from my shoulder and set it on the ground. Pulling out the glowing moonstone, I raised it high for all to see. Even just holding the orb, I felt the goddess’s power in me, calming my fear, giving me strength. “The Moon herself gave us her power to use against him. We fought the bastard in the Dreamlands, and when he returns, we will fight him here.”

A stunned silence fell over the crowd

Suddenly, a white-haired man leapt to his feet. “This is preposterous! The Moon?”

The loremaster rose. “It is true. The moon mother came to us at Delos. Not in all my years did I imagine I would see that happen. She pledged to help us. To help Savannah. We are not alone.”

Shocked whispers swelled around us, but Jaxson’s father stood and scowled at the changing tide of emotion. “Whether this story is true or not, we cannot overlook the threat. The prophecy says this woman will steal our souls!”

I spun on him. “That will not happen. The Dark God sought to control me through my wolf, but I bound her to stop it. That means he can no longer take control of me.”

An enormous man rose at the corner of the ring. “You admit to this sinister magic? That you and Jaxson purged your wolf? I don’t think this council has ever faced a more perverse act.”

Roars and accusations erupted all around me as vibrations of outrage filled the space, and the tide of sentiment shifted.

“We will have order!” Camila shouted, and she glared until conversation faded away to silence. “This is a grave act for which there is no precedent. Tell us, what, exactly, have you done to your wolf?”

My voice quavered more than it should have, but I dug my nails into my skin and set my chin in defiance. I would not be judged. “My aunt and I used sorcery to bind my wolf. Once this is over, I will release her again.”

“This is the LaSalles’ dark magic,” Jaxson’s father spat. “You know what these monsters are capable of!”

Renewed murmuring broke out through the crowd, and someone growled, “We should have wiped out those sorcerers years ago.”

Another shouted, “Fiend!”

Though they didn’t move from their spots, the council of wolves seemed to press in all around me as they hurled accusations. I could smell their rage and fear and horror.

All because of me. What I had done.

Anger twisted through my veins. Maybe once, I would have cowered before them, but not now. My wolf had made me stronger than ever before, and that spirit hadn’t gone away. I let the strength of my own presence lash out. “Listen up!”

Their words died in their mouths.

I thrust my finger in accusation at the gathered wolves. “When I was a child, my parents bound my wolf to protect me from the likes of you. I had to grow up without half my soul and my pack because of you and your hatred for my family. Now, I’ve had to bind my wolf again to protect all of you from the Dark God. Tell me how that’s fucking fair.”

No one answered, and tears of rage clung to the corners of my eyes. “I’m empty, and I miss her more than my own breath. But I would do it again because if not, the Dark God would be right here, right fucking now. And he would tear this world to pieces.”

Stunned silence fell over the circle. As my words sank in, I knew I had left something unsaid.

“Sam spoke to you from beyond the ring,” I continued. “In the Dreamlands, the Dark God took control of my wolf and turned me against her. I nearly killed her. That’s why I bound my wolf. To keep him out forever, even if it meant giving up the best part of myself.”

Several of the wolves sucked in sharp breaths at my confession, but I raised my hand to hold their tongues. “This is what you need to hear: the Dark God made me turn on my best friend with his power. That is why he sent the dream, to manipulate and divide us. To sow fear and turn us against each other. Don’t let him distract you from the truth. He’s back, and it means the end of the world as we know it if we don’t stop him.”

I gave Jaxson’s father a pointed look, but he turned away.

For a while, no one spoke. No attestations for me, but also no insults hurled against me, either. All of them seemed to be considering my words, speaking now with their wolves in the silent speech of our people.

Finally, the gray-haired alpha stood. “I agree, this dream was sent to divide. And your packmate, whom you wounded, has spoken passionately on your behalf. That bears great weight among our people. Despite her antics, I could smell the truth of her words.”

The tightness in my chest began to release, but Camila hadn’t yet finished speaking. “These remain shocking revelations, more than any we’ve ever faced. The council must deliberate on how to rule. I ask you both to leave while we reach our decision.”

My stomach dropped, but I felt Jaxson’s signature surge, and when he spoke, it was in a feral voice—a single word that sent a shudder of terror down my spine.

“No.”