Wolf Marked (Magic Side: Wolf Bound 1)

The structure was a simple, single-roomed building with a couple of grimy windows and a cracked front door.

Where was everyone?

As if in answer to my question, a pack of blood-covered wolves filtered out of the forest. Light swirled around two of them, and they shifted back into human form, fully clothed. Sam and a few others were still missing. Perhaps they were still catching up.

“What happened?” Jaxson growled, stepping into view from the trees.

“I don’t know,” one of the Wisconsin shifter’s said. “She was with us, and then the next minute, she was gone.”

“Fuck!” Jaxson scrubbed a hand through his hair. His body rippled with tension and anger.

Another wolf stepped out of the forest and rose on its hind legs. It bones popped and cracked, and its hair receded, until there was just a naked woman standing there, claws still out. Regina.

She fixed Jaxson with a penetrating gaze. “Sam was scouting ahead and was jumped. We heard her howl and she didn’t respond. We tracked them—two males—to the beach and saw a boat heading north. They’ve got her.”

I’d never witnessed a shift back into human form before, but the shock of it was instantly pushed from my mind by Regina’s words. They’ve got her?

“Wait a sec. Do you mean Sam?” I asked.

Regina looked at me, anger and blame in her eyes. “The bastards took her.”

The weight of that hit me, and the world spun.

Jaxson took the cabin stairs two at a time and ripped the door off its hinges. A few of the others followed, and I heard his curses from inside.

I rubbed my temples, and my heart sank. This was my fault. Sam had been taken because of me. She was the only one who’d shown me any kindness, even if she was still upset at me for wolfsbaning her. If anything happened to her, I’d never

forgive myself.

I had to find her.

The others disappeared into the forest, so I stepped inside the cabin.

“—bring him to the hospital.” Jaxson was crouched next to a low coffee table. Tony and two shifters were huddled around, blocking my view, so I maneuvered past them and froze. I’d seen snippets of this room in my scrying vision, but I wasn’t prepared for the horror of the scene.

Syringes and empty blood bags were strewn across the floor. Two limp arms dangled from the table, each bearing tubes secured with tape. The missing man. I’d seen him in my vision as well. Tony removed the IV needles from the man’s arms and lifted the body over his shoulder.

I covered my mouth as Tony carried the limp victim past me. The man was in his thirties and had purple-brown bruises where the needles had been inserted. His skin was gaunt, and his cheekbones protruded from his face. He was unconscious. Dead, maybe.

The two other shifters followed them out, and the three of them took off into the woods.

My mouth went dry as I surveyed the room. Was this what would have happened to me?

I inadvertently glanced at Jaxson. His eyes were fierce, filled with rage and concern. Was he thinking the same thing?

My gaze returned to the pile of bloody tubes. I swallowed, but my throat was sandpaper. “So they were harvesting his blood…that must have been what I saw the woman give to the faceless man, but why? What the hell were they doing here?”

“The faceless man must be a blood sorcerer,” said Jaxson. “They use blood to work dark magic. But why he would drain someone dry, I don’t know. Maybe he’s part vampire. Maybe he’s using it to summon those demons.” Jaxson’s body quaked with rage, and he crumpled a piece of paper in his hands and tossed it into the corner of the room.

I tried to keep the potato chips I’d eaten earlier down as I pulled my phone out of my back pocket and snapped photos of the room, focusing on the dark red ring of magic symbols in the middle of the floor. It had been drawn in blood. A few chips came up, but I forced them down again.

“This was the ring I saw in my vision,” I told Jaxson. “I should ask Casey what it is, now that I’ve got good photos instead of blurry smudges.”

“Do it. But if he gets back to you with any answers, don’t tell anyone where you got the information,” Jaxson muttered, his voice so low it was at the edge of my hearing.

I surveyed the wreckage. “They were expecting us. Why leave all this here for us to find? They must have been confident we wouldn’t survive the demons.”

“It was a message.” He shot me a look that chilled my blood, then headed for the door. “Let’s go.”