“Call me Sam.”
We loaded up in the back of a waiting Jeep and drifted off through the moonlit city. I was too dazed to think, to ask questions, to do anything but watch the lights go by.
For a second, I thought a black SUV was following us, but it drove past as we pulled up in front of the two-story motel. I craned my head to look up at the giant angular sign and its logo, a big yellow crescent that kept flickering.
Definitely not the Four Seasons.
“This is my uncle’s place,” Sam said as we got out of the car, perhaps sensing my sudden trepidation. She helped me check in and even lugged my bug-out bag to my room while I dragged Alma’s oversized suitcase up the stairs.
Sam winked as she turned to leave. “Don’t worry, hon. Tomorrow, everything will be better, I promise.”
I triple-locked the door with the deadbolt and chain, and then pulled off my sundress and collapsed on the bed, utterly overwhelmed by the world that had just sucked me in. Scared and exhausted though I was, I was blessed with the ability to sleep almost anywhere, and the bed was good enough.
Tomorrow would be better.
11
Savannah
The nightmare coiled around me, a python slowly crushing the breath from my lungs.
The tattooed woman from Belmont chased me through the crowded bar. I shoved left and right, but people with horns and fangs pressed in around me. I could barely breathe, let alone move. In desperation, I dove over the bar, dodging flying cocktails and bottles. But I wasn’t fast enough. The woman lashed out with long claws and dug them into my skin. My blood poured down her fingers, and her eyes blazed with crimson light. “You won’t escape! You’ll give us what we need!”
When I pulled away, I slipped in my own blood and crashed to the floor. She leapt through the air, face contorting and twisting into that of a wolf. Then she was on me, clawing and biting my neck like a savage animal.
In the midst of all the chaos, he was there. With one swift move, Jaxson slammed his fist into her chest and sent her flying off my body and onto the bar—just as that tattooed werewolf had done to the driver at the Taphouse.
I staggered to my feet. The woman lunged for me, but Jaxson finished her with a savage blow. He turned to me, muscles taut and chest heaving. His eyes glowed with golden light, drawing me in, heart and soul.
But my breathing faltered as my gaze drifted to his hands. They were bloody claws.
“They’re everywhere, Savannah.” He put his head back and howled, then his whole body began shifting into a wolf.
I screamed and turned to flee, but everyone in the bar began shifting and howling. The bartender, the musicians, all the staff and patrons, one by one, until there was only one woman left alone, a woman with dark black braids and a jean jacket. I’d never seen her before, but there was something oddly familiar about her face.
Darkness swirled around her, as if she were gazing through a whirling maelstrom. She smiled at me. “You cannot outrun your fate, Savannah. They’re coming for you. Beware the wheel of fortune. It does not stop. Time is ticking. You need to learn who you truly are so that you can stop the ones who are coming.”
I screamed and thrashed against my covers, then sat bolt upright, lungs heaving and sweat rolling down my chest.
A nightmare.
I ran my fingers through my damp, tangled hair. I wasn’t in my bed. Where was I? A hotel.
The memories of the previous day rushed back. The bartender, Sam, had sent me here. She’d said that tomorrow, everything would be better.
Sam was a goddamned liar.
My skull was pounding, and I regretted everything. My stomach and thoughts churned like Lake Michigan in heavy weather. Too many cocktails. Too many varieties of food. Too much weird city.
Too much Jaxson Laurent.
I sat up and rubbed my forehead. I remembered talking with him on the rooftop terrace of Eclipse. About magic and werewolves—which was insane. No wonder I’d had nightmares.
How much did we have to drink?
Hazy memories danced through my mind—the bartender flying bottles and cocktails around the room, people with horns and fangs, and an entire jazz band played by one lady.
I put my head in my hands. God, I must have gotten absolutely plastered.