Dark Lies (Magic Side: Wolf Bound 3)

“A little woozy. Not sure my legs are going to cooperate for a bit.” Sam turned to Harlow’s partner. “Who the hell are you? What did you give me?”

He stood. “Max. I’m with the Order. I gave you a revival potion. The sleep bomb should wear off shortly.”

Sam gave him an appraising, almost lusty look. “Thanks. Then again, you’re the asshole who KO’ed me with a potion bomb in the first place.”

She staggered to her feet with our help and gave me a wicked grin as she looked around the joint. “We’re in trouble, aren’t we, boss?”

Harlow put her hands on her hips as she surveyed the wreckage. “I should chuck the lot of you in Bentham for having a rumble outside of Magic Side.”

“That’s not going to happen,” I growled.

“Oh, I’m not naïve. I know I’ve got no chance of that, not with your friends and connections,” she snapped, eyes burning with resentment.

She was right.

“We want the same thing,” I said as I crossed my arms and pushed my alpha presence at Harlow. “You want to stop these bastards from selling Scarlet. We want to stop them from going after Savannah. Give me a couple of minutes alone with the prick out back, and I’ll tell you what I learn. I can make him talk.”

She opened her mouth to object, but I pressed with my power until she nodded. “You can ask your questions, but I’m going to be there.”

“Fine.” I didn’t care what she did as long as she didn’t get in my way.

Max nodded to the bartender cowering in the corner. “Heads up—this guy called the cops before I could stop him.”

“Damn it! Not what we need.” Harlow cursed and pointed to her partner. “Max, you and Laurent drag the other Arrowheads out back.”

I hefted one of the unconscious assholes off the floor. It was the guy whose teeth I’d knocked out on the counter. A better man would have cringed at his broken face, but I wasn’t a good man. Just the monster my father and sister had trained me to be.

And shutting him up mid-slur? That made me happy.

Savy helped Sam hobble to the bar where she could sit.

I paused. Savannah made me better, or she at least made me want to be better.

As if she could feel the heat of my eyes on her back, she turned and met my gaze. Fortunately, the bastard hanging over my shoulder was facing away from her. She’d seen enough gruesome work today already.

Her eyes drifted to the zip ties that bound his ankles and wrists behind his back. Practically the same thing they’d done to her.

“Seems like a fitting end,” I said.

Savy just nodded, and I hauled the guy to the back lot and dumped him against the wall.

“You motherfucker!” the biker cuffed to the telephone pole snarled. Apparently, he’d woken up from his nap. He strained, and the thick wood pole cracked a little. “Let me go!”

I slammed him with my alpha presence. “Sit still and be quiet, and don’t speak until you’re spoken to.”

He slumped against the pole and set his jaw.

As I stepped back into the bar, Harlow was speaking to Savannah in hushed tones. “Are you sure you’re safe? With him? You don’t have to be a part of this.”

“I am a part of this. Part of the pack,” Savannah said with defiance.

“Part of the pack? Like, Jaxson’s pack?” Harlow asked. “I thought you were a LaSalle.”

“I’m a werewolf, now, too,” she said.

My muscles tightened at the despair in her voice, and a deep wave of failure cut through me.

So far, all that being a werewolf had brought her was trouble. She didn’t understand what it was to be part of a pack. She only knew the bad side, and that had to change.

Ihad to change it.