Wolf Marked (Magic Side: Wolf Bound Book 1)

Jaxson

I knelt by the edge of the water on an old, weathered limestone outcrop, waiting for the moon to rise.

The spirit guide was an old woman with dark, piercing eyes. She crossed her legs and asked, “You have not done this before?”

It was only something alphas could do, and I had not been an alpha long.

I shook my head. “When I was a child, I saw my grandmother moon-call once, and my father only one time after her.”

She nodded. “We’ll wait for the moon to peak, but now is the time to prepare our minds. Look at the light on the waves. Become one with the reflection.”

I gazed down on the slowly undulating reflections of the moon mother, who watched from high overhead.

But my mind kept going to Savannah. Worry gripped my chest, and the seer’s words haunted me. If you do not stop them, she will be dead before the full moon rises, and with her, the future of your pack.

It was almost full moon. Two more nights. I wanted her here. But would she have been any safer from demons waiting in the forest than in the motel, surrounded by armed men and women? No.

This was for the best, but the doubt still gnawed at me. Without her at your side, you will not discover the answers you need.

Pain shot through the back of my head.

“Focus,” the woman hissed as she shook out her fist. “We haven’t begun the ritual, and you’re drifting already. How will you walk through the rays of the moon and not get lost?”

I had no idea what that meant, so I tried to focus my mind on the reflection and let the guide do her work.

But I couldn’t focus.

I heard thunder miles away, but it didn’t smell like rain. I concentrated on that.

A mournful howl echoed in the distance.

I sat up straight, heart pounding.

Then again. Another howl, tinged with sorrow and regret.

My skin iced, and I leapt to my feet. No.

The woman grabbed my arm. “Where are you going?”

“My pack is in danger.”

“The moon will not wait.”

I cursed and ran as fast as my legs would take me.

Twenty minutes later, I skidded to a stop in front of the chaos of the Sunrise Inn.

Firemen were hosing down burning vehicles. There were bullet holes everywhere, and the entire parking lot stank of wolfsbane.

My wolf tore against my chest. I roared, and one of the broken windowpanes shattered the rest of the way.

As Tony came running out, I growled, “What the fuck happened?” In my rage, I was barely able to hold on to my human form.

“Ambush. Half an hour after you left, four trucks pulled up and hit us with wolfsbane bombs laced with sedative. Then they laid down suppressing fire and took Savannah. All our vehicles are shot to hell, so we couldn’t pursue.”

“Fuck!” I screamed. “Where’s Regina? I heard her howling.”

“Savannah wounded another werewolf out back, but he escaped. Regina’s searching the woods.”

That was something. Regina was our best tracker. “Are any of our people hurt?”

“Not on our side. They knocked us out. One of the attackers is alive but in critical condition. Savannah shot her in the heart with silver bullets. We moved her to a bed, and Billy’s trying to stabilize her.”

“Take me there.”

Silver bullets prevented us from healing but were only fatal in great numbers, or in hits to the head or heart. But when I stepped into the room, Billy stood and turned to me, disappointment and regret on his face. “I’m sorry, Jax. I tried to stop the blood loss, but she’s gone.”

Billy locked eyes with me, and something flashed in them—pain?

Shock dulled my senses, and I staggered forward.

Tory Lockhead lay lifeless on a pile of blood-soaked bedsheets. Another Magic-Sider. I cursed. The fucking Lockheads had been a thorn in my side since I’d become the alpha, but they were nobodies. Someone else was running the show.

If she’d lived, I would have forced the information out of her. But she was dead, and along with her, my hope of finding Savannah and Sam.

I checked her neck, my hand shaking. The twin-headed wolf tattoo. What did it mean?

A growl erupted from my chest, and I grabbed Billy. “What the fuck happened? I put you here to protect her. How many people did we have on site? A dozen?”

Rage filled Billy’s eyes. “They had gas masks and hit us with wolfsbane-laced sedatives. You know who’s responsible for this, Jaxson. The fucking LaSalles. They’re sorcerers. They can summon demons. One of them must be calling the shots. We just got attacked with wolfsbane smoke bombs, for fates’ sake. Who else could it be?”

“Fuck!” My claws erupted from my hands, and I let go of Billy, stepping back and trying to regain control. Billy didn’t deserve my anger. He’d always had my back, and he’d been through enough shit to last two lifetimes. I shook my head. “These attacks are being carried out by werewolves. No wolf in a hundred miles would be caught dead working for the LaSalles.”

“You are,” he spat.

I tensed. “That’s different.”

“Is it?” he snarled. “But you’re right, I can’t imagine that anyone else would have the balls to work with the LaSalles. Maybe those bastards found some way to magically control them.”

The rogue wolves were faster and stronger than they should be, and their eyes had been strangely tinged with red. Were they on some kind of drug or under an enchantment?

My stomach reeled. “But why? It doesn’t make sense. Why would the LaSalles risk going after the girl when she was with us? Savannah’s moved in with them.”

“To implicate us and cover their asses! They’re trying to bring the pack down, Jaxson. How better to frame us than to have one of their own disappear?”

I rammed my claws into the wall, trying to think.

Billy approached. “Don’t you think it suspiciously convenient that out of all the LaSalles, the one who goes missing is a woman who just showed up out of the blue? They have no attachment to her—she’s an easy sacrifice to bring the wrath of the Order down on us.”

My body quaked with rage. It was just twisted enough to be true, but I had to be cautious until we knew for certain.

“Not a word about this to anyone, Billy. But I want our best people on high alert in case things go down with the LaSalles. Just don’t tell them why.”

My head spun with possibilities. Savannah was gone. Sam was gone. Could it have been the LaSalles? I wouldn’t put anything past those monsters.

“Show me where Savannah was taken,” I ordered.

Tony led me out back into the forest, and Billy followed. Savannah’s scent bombarded my senses, and my wolf struggled to get out. I’d have to shift soon, or he might actually claw himself free. I’d never experienced him so agitated, except when my sister died.

“I need to think!” I roared at my wolf, though everyone averted their eyes.

Savannah had managed to fight off two wolves, again. But it wasn’t enough.

I could make out the scents of Regina and the bloody trail she’d followed. She was a cunning tracker. That was a glimmer of hope.

I glanced up at the setting moon, just slightly past its peak. I wouldn’t be able to try the ritual until tomorrow, and that would be too late. The attackers’ timing had been perfect to disrupt the ritual and grab Savannah while I was away.

The hair on my neck rose. “They knew what I was doing and when. And it looks like they knew exactly which room she was in. We have a leak. Someone’s feeding them information. That, or they’re scrying on us.”

Tony, Regina, Billy. I trusted them to the ends of the earth. They were as loyal as blood.

I fixed my allies with an iron expression. “For now, no one talks to anyone outside our team. Not a scrap of information gets out. Tony, we’re going after Regina. Billy, you’re the only one I trust to sort out this fucking mess. Someone tipped these assholes off. If it was the East Wisconsin pack, I want to know. If it was our pack, I want to know. Crack skulls and call Tony if you learn anything.”

Traitors in the pack. Rogue wolves potentially working with the LaSalles. Blood demons. It was chaos.

I needed to clear my mind.

I stepped away and pulled off my clothes. My wolf rose, and the familiar snapping of my bones and tearing of muscles rocked my body.

Once the shift was over, a sense of calm settled over me, and things became crystal clear.

Traitors and trucks and logistics were two-legged problems. The fortune teller had said that Savannah would provide the answers I sought. There was nothing on earth that was going to stop me from finding her. To do that, I needed to capture the rogue wolf alive.

My paws dug into the dirt as I leapt forward through the trees.

Time to hunt.

It took all night, but we caught up with the miserable bastard just as sunlight rose above the horizon. He had lost a lot of blood and was barely able to run. He wasn’t wolfborn but rather a shifter like Tony, and he wasn’t even strong enough to stay in wolf form.

He stumbled out of my way, but Regina slammed him to the ground, and he futilely writhed beneath her paws.

Tony shifted into human form and started going through the man’s pockets.

I padded over to where the bastard was lying belly-down, then bared my fangs and snarled in his face. He stank of piss and fear and drugs, and the sickly stench of death clung to him. Most importantly, he wasn’t one of ours. As we’d expected, whoever was behind this was recruiting outcasts from all over.

After what he’d done to Savannah, the scent of his fear was delicious. I opened my jaw and pressed my teeth against his trembling throat, a mild suggestion from my wolf.

No. Not yet. Answers first.

Reluctantly, I reined in my wolf. As my bones cracked, I shifted back to two-legged form and gave a savage growl. Shoulders heaving with restrained fury, I turned to Tony. “Did the bastard have anything on him?”

He passed me a little vial, and my heart skipped a beat.

A week ago, I’d found the crushed remnants of a glass vial at one of the other crime scenes. We’d never figured out what it was.

I held up the vial and examined its contents in the light of the rising sun. Not much was left. It was bright red, like fresh blood. I popped the cork and sniffed. Definitely blood, though something was very strange about it—something that pulled at a memory I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

I passed it back to Tony. “Let’s stand him up.”

Regina gave a low warning growl and stepped off the man. He started to crawl away, but I heaved him up and slammed him against the trunk of a tree. Tony grabbed his arms and pulled them back behind the trunk, then lashed the man’s wrists with his belt.

“You’ll pay for this,” the rogue werewolf wheezed.

Tony rammed his fist in the man’s face with a sickening crunch, and blood flowed from his nose. Grabbing a fistful of the man’s hair, Tony yanked his head back against the trunk so the fucker’s eyes met mine. They were bloodshot and dilated, and his skin was ashen and clammy. His hands were trembling, but not from fear.

He was a junkie, and I could smell that strange magic on him.

I leaned forward and let my alpha presence force him into submission. “Who are you working for?”

“Tory. Please, man, she’s the one to talk to. I don’t know nothing. She gave us the address of the motel last night. Said we had to get the redhead.”

I sniffed. He reeked of Red Bull and vodka and sweat, but I also caught the scent of truth. But I was certain Tory wasn’t the ringleader, just another lackey.

“How long have you been working for her?”

“A couple weeks. I met her at the Dirty Hound,” he said.

I tightened my fists, and my knuckles cracked. “Who does she work for?”

“You have no idea what he’ll do to me if I tell you.”

“I’ll do worse.”

“You can’t,” he spat. “If I tell you, the sorcerer will let his fucking demons devour me alive. They don’t just eat blood, man, they suck out your soul. I’d sooner let you tear my skin off, strip by strip, so do your worst.”

Truth.

He was far more afraid of the sorcerer than me. That was bad news. But the man was a junkie, so there might be another way to get information.

I held up the vial. “What is this?”

“Shit, man, I thought I’d lost that. Let me have a taste. Just a drop on my tongue. I’ll tell you what you want to know. Just a couple drops are all I need.”

The freak stuck his tongue out, and I had the urge to slam his jaw up so his teeth cut it in half, but I needed him talking. “Tell me what it is. Then we’ll talk.”

“You haven’t tasted it?” A crazed smile cut his face. “It’s his blood. Sorcery in a bottle. Better than Blow, and I need some. Now.” He strained against the ropes as panic coursed through him. He was losing it.

I gripped his throat. “What does it do? Where do you get it?”

“Tory got it from the sorcerer. I’ve never met him, but he gives us his blood for our services. I’m telling you, man, once you taste it, you’ll see the world in a whole new light. It makes you stronger, faster.”

My breathing stilled. This was how the sorcerer was controlling the wolves? Enchanted, superpowered blood? It explained how the bastards had outrun us, had even outrun Savannah’s car.

Could the LaSalles be manufacturing this, like they did wolfsbane?

“Why did the sorcerer want the redhead?” I snarled.

I doubted the junkie would know, but he was talking, and it was worth a shot.

The bastard writhed. “Don’t you get it? It’s all about the blood.”

“I don’t care what he was going to give you, why did he want her?”

“The blood, man, like I said. He wanted her for her blood. It’s like his. He could make more of the Blow shit. That’s why we couldn’t just kill her.”

My mind spun, and Regina and Tony eyed me. I gave a low growl.

Not a word about this to anyone.

They dipped their heads in acquiescence. The last thing we needed was word spreading through the packs about Savannah’s blood.

I’d known there was something different—special—about Savannah, but her blood? Worry churned in my gut. The junkie had said that her blood was like the sorcerer’s. Did that mean they were related?

LaSalles.

Billy might be right after all.

Nothing quite added up, though. Werewolves, sorcerers, demons, and blood-drinking junkies. And all of it seeming to revolve around Savannah Caine.

My heart began beating harder. “Where’s the redhead now?”

The junkie’s head rolled side to side. “No way, man. His demons will eat my soul.”

Regina growled and stepped forward, but the bastard was beyond threats. It was time to bargain.

“I’ll give you the blood and let you go if you tell me where she is. This is your only chance,” I said, struggling to stop my wolf from ripping its way out of my chest.

He sniffed the air, sensing the truth of my words. I squeezed his throat, and he gurgled, “Fine, I submit. I’ll tell you.” Sweat rolled down his face. “We were supposed to take her to the abandoned sanitorium on Old Mill Road. That’s all I know. Now let me go, man.”

Truth.

“And the shifter woman, Sam. Is she there, too?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” he panted. “I wasn’t there for that, but probably. Yeah. That’s where they’ve been bringing people.”

I turned to Tony. “Pull up whatever you can on the sanitorium and call in backup. Again, don’t say a word about what you just heard. Understood?”

“What about me?” the junkie snarled. “You said you’d let me go.”

“I did.” I nodded to Tony, and he undid the belt. The junkie staggered back, and I tossed him the vial. “Run.”

And then, in one swift motion, I set my wolf free.