Wolf Marked (Magic Side: Wolf Bound Book 1)

Savannah

Jaxson’s truck roared along highway 42.

It’d been nearly five hours since we’d left Chicago. I’d packed my backpack with an extra set of clothes and a toothbrush—that, and a Glock.

Shit was getting serious.

Five days ago, I was worried about how I was going to pay for car repairs. Now I was worried about getting gutted by werewolves while I shot demons in the face.

Casey was out, so I’d told Aunt Laurel that I was taking a bus to Belmont to help Alma with some urgent house repairs. I wasn’t sure if she’d bought it, but she hadn’t prodded.

In all likelihood, I should have stayed with the LaSalles while Jaxson did the dirty work. But he’d been pretty insistent on having me at his side, and I sure as hell didn’t want to get left behind. Not when there was a chance for me to beat some answers out of the bitch from Belmont and her werewolf gang.

So now I was about to follow a bunch of unfamiliar shifters into a patch of woods that was going to be inevitably haunted by werewolves, demons, and a psycho sorcerer.

My life had changed a bit over the last week.

We’d passed a long, awkwardly quiet drive after everything that had gone down at the docks. Sam was in the front next to Jaxson. They were probably having weird wolf-scent-only conversations, because they sure hadn’t been chatty with me. In Sam’s defense, she’d offered me the front, but at the time, I’d figured that Jaxson and I could use all the space we could get.

Not that being a foot behind him was any different than being a foot beside him, but it somehow felt less close. I hadn’t counted on him being able to watch me in the rearview mirror, though. He just couldn’t seem to take his eyes off me—though I wasn’t behaving any better in that department. It was frankly embarrassing to keep looking up and catching his eyes.

Thankfully, I’d passed out for two hours, missing the most boring part of the trip out of the city and suburbs. I was once again grateful for my mom’s sleep-anywhere-anytime genes.

Adjusting my position in the back seat, I glanced at Jaxson in the rearview mirror. “What’s the plan?”

“We’ll meet with a few of our other pack members shortly, then head north to the cabin,” he said.

“You have pack members living in Wisconsin? Does your territory extend all the way up here?”

Sam turned and shot me a suspicious look before staring at Jaxson. Could they speak telepathically? It sure seemed like they were exchanging thoughts. Creepy scent-speak, for sure.

“There are a number of other packs up here, but we have an inholding near their territory. Our pack is the largest in the Midwest, and Magic Side doesn’t have nearly enough land for us, so some of our people come up here to run and get away,” Jaxson explained.

“Is that why you were in Belmont when I was attacked? Wait a sec.” I leaned forward and looked between them. “Is Belmont pack territory?”

“No,” he said flatly.

“No what?”

Sam sighed, seemingly irritated. “You ask a lot of questions. You’re a LaSalle. Details about our pack are really none of your business.”

I scowled. “Just trying to make conversation.”

Sam seemed pretty damned paranoid for a bartender. Why the hell was Jaxson even bringing a bartender along? For mixing cocktails after kicking ass?

Sam had shown up when we’d raided Jaxson’s auto body and when I’d been attacked at the fair. She’d kicked Casey’s butt and chased after those rogue wolves.

She ain’t no bartender, I realized.

I settled quietly into my seat, and stared at the back of her head, just in case I had some sort of strange psychic powers and could read minds.

Apparently, I didn’t.

Since reading minds and polite conversation were both out of the question, I watched the houses go by. I recognized some of the towns we passed through and couldn’t help the rising lump of homesickness for Belmont. Alma was probably reading a palm or cleaning her crystals right now. A melancholy smile fluttered at the edge of my lips.

Jaxson kept looking at me in the rearview mirror. Was that remorse in his eyes?

He was reading my emotions again.

I leaned back and rested my forehead against the window, letting the late day sun warm my face and watching the blur of trees pass by. I didn’t want his remorse or pity. The attack at the Taphouse might have changed the course of my life, but I refused to be a victim.

I buried myself in my phone and found a text from Casey: Hey cuz. Where are you? Not in your room. I’m there now.

Irritation pricked my skin. Damn it, Casey. I wasn’t used to having people checking up on me and prying into my business. I typed out a reply: Why are you in my room?

Seconds later, my phone buzzed. Looking for someone to get drinks with. Apparently, you’re still out herding werewolves. Let me know when you get back.

On my way home for a few days to help my godmother, I responded. Sorry I didn’t give you a heads-up, but it was an emergency.

His response came back quickly. Are you crazy? Without me?

A sigh sloughed off my shoulders. I hated people keeping tabs on me. Don’t worry. I have hairy bodyguards. I promised not to wolfsbane them again, and they promised not to eat me.

After a long pause, which I imagined was filled with cursing, Casey wrote back. Stay safe. Call me if you need anything. If they look peckish, feed them some bacon and rub their bellies.

“What’s so funny?” Sam asked.

“Nothing.” I stifled my giggle and buried my head in my phone again.

I felt bad about the chain of lies, but I was pretty sure that if Casey got a whiff of what I was up to, he’d have an aneurism. I would have taken him along in a heartbeat, but I knew the werewolves would never work with him. The blood was bad.

Twenty long minutes of brooding later, Jaxson finally pulled into a Mobil gas station, and I silently rejoiced. I had to pee like nobody’s business.

He parked next to the pump. Across the lot, three well-built guys were leaning against a pair of Jeeps. They nodded subtly in our direction—Jaxson’s reinforcements, no doubt.

Regina—the sour-faced woman who’d called me a liability at the docks—pulled up behind us with a young, dark-haired woman.

“Be right back.” I slipped out of the car and hightailed it into the convenience store, clenching my muscles for dear life.

Two people were ahead of me. Dressed in jeans and biker boots, and they had the athletic, all-too-hot-for-my-own good shifter look to them. The man opened the door for the woman, but as I neared, he stepped in front of me and let the door close.

Definitely shifters. Apparently, my reputation preceded me—LaSalle.

I glared at the two as I speed-walked to the bathroom in the back.

When I came out of the ladies’ room, Sam scooped up several plastic bags from the checkout counter full of pop, chips, and candy. “Eat up, Savy. You’re going to need to keep up with us.” She tossed me a bag of potato chips and a Coke, which I nearly fumbled as I followed her out of the store.

“Right, because sugar and salt are what your body needs before a run,” I replied. This was a pretty sketchy way to carb-load, and it raised a lot of questions. Could werewolves eat carbs? Jaxson had eaten normally at Eclipse, but wolves in the wild ate mostly protein…God, I hoped Jaxson didn’t wolf out and eat deer and rabbits. Live.

That train of thinking was derailed as I crossed the lot, replaced by the hot-and-sexy express.

I couldn’t help it, but my eyes were drawn to Jaxson like a moth to flame. He had some maps spread out on the hood of one of the Jeeps and was going over details with the five new members of our team. Their eyes were locked on him just as firmly as mine were. Jaxson had a presence that absolutely commanded attention.

I took a deep breath. His ass commanded my attention. Jaxson’s blue jeans and plaid shirt had my mind playing out all kinds of fantasies. Seeing him standing there, I suddenly felt slightly less embarrassed about what had happened in the woods. How was a girl supposed to control herself around a pair of buns like those?

He shot me a look as I approached. After a moment of butterflies, I remembered that these shifters would be reading my scents the moment I was near.

I blushed and tried to remind myself of how terrifying he’d been the night before in his wolf form, his fangs dripping with another man’s blood.

That did the job.

Jaxson gestured to the five gathered shifters. “Savannah, this is Tony and several of our Wisconsin operatives.”

I nodded. “Hi. Nice to meet you guys.”

Only Tony acknowledged my presence. The others glared. If it hadn’t been clear before, I was certain they knew I was a LaSalle—I could practically smell their revulsion. It didn’t bother me. I was used to being the odd one out. As long as they played nice and didn’t try to kill me, we’d be cool.

Jaxson glanced in my direction, and I was certain he could read my mind, or at least everyone else’s.

“Savannah is the reason we know anything about these fucking rogue wolves.” Jaxson’s voice vibrated with power, and the Wisconsin shifters looked down and focused intently on the map.

I found myself inexplicably looking at my shoes.

Overall, it was one hell of an improvement from my encounter with Billy. He’d looked like he’d been ready to gut me. Thank God that asshole had stayed home.

Jaxson jabbed his finger on the map. “This is the area around the Jasper Point lighthouse, and this is the cabin Savannah saw in her vision. As soon as we pull along the road here, we’ll break into three teams and converge from the north, west, and south. They know we’re coming, so we’ll go in eyes wide and ready to kill. Keep in mind that we’re not up against normal wolves. They’ve got some kind of enchantments or enhancements, so chances are they’ll be faster and stronger than us. And they may have demons under their control. That means you’ll have to be smarter.”

Jaxson divided the group into hunters and shooters, and then we loaded back up in the vehicles and continued north.

Ten minutes later, we turned onto a dirt road that wound through a forest. We continued for another ten minutes before the cars ahead stopped along the shoulder.

Go time.

I stepped out and stretched my aching leg muscles. My stomach growled, and immediately, nine pairs of eyes locked on me. Holy werewolf hearing.

Jaxson reached into the car and handed me a protein bar, which I took reluctantly and scarfed down. At least it was better than the junk Sam had bought.

Then he unzipped a black bag in the bed and pulled out a bulletproof vest for me.

Yeah. Shit was getting serious.

I slipped my arms through, and Jaxson deftly adjusted the straps. His fingers brushed against my side, and I could smell the deep musk of his body. “Okay fit?”

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak without my voice shaking. Tightness constricted my chest, but not from the vest.

Jaxson, Tony, and one of the other shifters slipped into vests of their own.

“You can heal, right?” I whispered, “your scratches went away in the alley…”

He smiled, warm and confident. “Yes, but it helps to have fewer holes in you.”

When his eyes flickered gold, an unreasonable sense of comfort and security washed over me. At least Jaxson was going to be by my side.

He distributed guns to the shifters in vests, but most of his crew were going to go in as wolves and fight tooth and claw.

The jitters started to invade my belly, but they didn’t stick around long before they were replaced by shock as Sam stripped off her clothes.

“Whoa. A little heads-up?” I laughed awkwardly.

Right. She was wolfborn, so stripping made sense. I guess she didn’t want to shred her fancy Rock Revival jeans every time she shifted.

Sam shot me a gleeful grin and shook her buns as a couple of the Wisconsin guys shucked off their pants. I quickly averted my eyes…well, reasonably quickly.

Shifter guys had nice butts, so sue me.

Two of the clothed shifters transformed in a swirl of light and magic, and their signatures filled the air. That seemed a lot simpler.

I gave an involuntary shudder at the sounds of bones popping and flesh stretching as Sam and the other wolfborns transformed. The beds of my nails itched, and I dug them into my palms. I knew which I’d rather be, if I had to choose.

The bushes rustled, and I turned to see six large, fully transformed wolves disappearing into the trees. Tony and the other shifter raced north on foot with inhuman speed.

We were suddenly alone, and I was relieved that Jaxson wasn’t going to shift. I wasn’t ready to meet his wolf again.

“Ready?” he asked, concern flickering in his face.

“Hell, yes,” I said, with a lot more confidence than I felt. I slipped the Glock into the back of my jeans and gave him a wink. “Remember, just stay out of my way.”

His jaw went rigid, and he narrowed his eyes. “Let’s go.”

We took off into the forest at a jog, but with my boots and Jaxson’s speed, it was more like a sprint by my old standards. I was still a little sore from earlier that day, but the practice had helped.

The low sun cast long shadows through the trees, making it a little difficult to find my footing, but adrenaline focused my mind, and I was able to wind through the trees like a pro. Okay, perhaps a semi-pro.

A wild sense of exhilaration filled my heart. I’d always loved running, but this was something more, almost like flying. I would never get bored of this. With that thought in my mind, my foot caught on a root. I lurched forward and landed hard, scuffing my hands and knees in the dirt.

“Getting a little cocky?” Jaxson stood above me, his hand extended.

My irritation flared, but I took his hand, and he pulled me up. “The pot calling the kettle black?”

I took a step forward, but Jaxson gently grabbed my arm. “Hey—hold on.’ His body tensed, and he tilted his head, breathing deeply.

I scanned the woods, desperately trying to catch a glimpse of whatever had alerted his wolf senses. The trees were still. Light filtered in through the canopy, illuminating the moss and lichen-covered forest floor that grew in these parts. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Then a shadow moved.

My body strained.

“What did you see?” Jaxson whispered.

I pointed at where the shadow had been, but there was nothing there besides trees and dangling ivy.

And then I saw it: an eight-foot shadow, almost invisible in the patches of light and darkness of the forest canopy.

It moved a step, and my heart skipped four beats.

A twisted and monstrous demon, like the one that had attacked me at the fair. Its skin was a sickly, translucent dark green, and though it was humanoid in form, its legs and arms were unnaturally long and sinuous. It wore no clothes, and its muscles were just visible beneath the skin. The thing was even more horrifying in the fading remains of daylight.

I slipped the Glock out of my jeans.

Time to get even.