Dark Lies (Magic Side: Wolf Bound 3)

“Then why did Casey accuse me of turning you?” I asked, mentally flipping through scenarios. All of them landed on Laurel.

“He didn’t know.” A choked sob escaped her throat before she continued. “It was a secret. Laurel and my parents used sorcery or spellcraft or something to bind my wolf when I was born. I guess she hasn’t told him.”

“What? How’s that even possible? Your whole life—your wolf was bound with magic?” The horror of it tore into me as images of animals in cages bombarded my mind. Stunted, insane from a lack of freedom. A tremor of disgust and hatred shook me. My muscles coiled beneath my skin, and I flexed my fists, feeling my knuckles crack. I’d be paying Laurel a visit tonight.

“I don’t know how they did it. All I know is that my parents fled Magic Side because of what I was: half werewolf, half sorcerer, just like Dragan. I’m a fucking monster, Jaxson.”

She put her face in her hands and started to drop to her knees, but I closed the distance between us in a flash. Shaking, she buried her face into my shoulder.

Her agony was a dagger in my heart, and each silent sob twisted the blade deeper.

I breathed out, long and slowly, trying to get a handle on my heartache and fury. “I need you to listen. You’re not a monster, Savannah. You’re a wolf. There are those who can also work magic, like you. Dragan is different. He’s broken and tainted with evil.”

She shook her head and looked up at me, eyes red and swollen. “No. There’s a darkness inside of me—I can feel it.”

I grunted. “We all—”

But she broke away and began pacing the room. “Laurel tried to keep me at her house, Jax, and said it wasn’t safe for me to leave and that she didn’t want me around you and the pack. When she locked the door, I just lost it.” Savannah wiped her eyes and looked at me with a distant expression. “I hurt her with my magic really badly, and if it wasn’t for Casey…”

I strode over and cupped her face with my hands. “You were in shock. Your powers are new. Being a wolf is new. The same could have happened to anyone in your position.”

She tried to shake her head, but I tipped her face up to mine. “Hey. While you’re a pain in my ass, Savannah Caine, you’re no monster. You’re a good person who’s had monstrous things done to her. Do you understand me?”

Every fiber of my body screamed for me to kiss her, but I knew that wasn’t what she needed, so I fought down the urge with every ounce of strength I had.

Finally, she nodded, but her solemn eyes betrayed her lack of conviction. She was burned out. Spiritually, emotionally, mentally.

She needed someone to take control. And while tequila had been her first choice, I could do a much better job of it.

I grabbed her by the shoulders and held her at arm’s length, pushing my power into her. “You’ve had your night to grieve a bunch of fucked-up shit. But we have a real monster to fight: Dragan. So tomorrow, you’re going to tell us what you learned about him. Tonight, you’re going to get a shower, get to bed, and sleep this off. I need you fresh. Got it?”

“Okay,” she whispered, relief palpable in her voice.

I spun her and pushed her toward Sam. “Make sure she goes to bed. Give her my room, as usual. I’ll be on the couch.”

“Right, boss,” said Sam.

I grabbed my keys and headed toward the door.

Sam gave me a questioning look. “Where are you going, Jax?”

I paused partway through. “Taking care of some business.”

* * *

It was just past one a.m. when I parked out front of Laurel’s house. The neighborhood was quiet, the houses dark. All except hers.

The front door opened, and the devil herself strode out, arms crossed. “Where is she, Laurent?”

I stopped at the edge of the front lawn, my wolf and my fury reined in on a tight leash. “With her pack. Where she belongs. Meanwhile, you and I need to talk.”

Anger flashed across Laurel’s face, and she stormed down the front stairs. The air in front of me cracked, and a patch of sod near my feet was torn loose and hurled fifty feet away.

My lips curled, muscles flexing. “Was that a threat?”

“You’d better believe it. If you think you can turn her against her family, then you’d better prepare yourself for fucking Armageddon.”

My gaze lingered on the pulsing artery in her neck. It would only take half a second to close the distance and tear it out. She’d be dead before she even realized it.

I bent my head and growled low. “It seems that you’re doing a fine job of turning her against her family on your own.”

My wolf surged in my chest. She stole our mate.

Laurel shot a blast of green lightning toward my feet, leaving a pattern of jagged seared lines across the grass and sidewalk. “Don’t test me, Jaxson. I want my niece back here, ASAP. And I don’t want her to have any more contact with you or your kind.”

“My kind?” My claws slipped out as rage rippled over me. “Savannah is my kind. And she’s my mate, so there will be no negotiating. She stays with me.”

Laurel sucked in a razor-sharp breath and froze mid-step. “You’re lying.”

“I’m not.” My words were iron.

In the beginning, I’d fought against it. I’d seen how the bond destroyed Billy and my sister. I’d tried to convince myself that Savannah wasn’t a true wolf. That the bond was somehow false.

But I knew it to be true, now, without a doubt.

Savannah Caine was mine.

Laurel’s face contorted in a tortured expression, and her voice was hushed. “Are you certain?”

“As certain as the sun rises in the east,” I growled.

She froze for a moment, then dragged her hands through her silver hair. “Those damned fates!”

I bared my teeth as my temper threatened to boil over, but my words were slow and hard. “I’m going to ask you a question, Laurel, and I’ll know if you’re lying, even in the slightest. Did you use sorcery to take my mate’s wolf away from her?”

Hatred and murder burned in her eyes, but finally, she forced out a confession. “Yes. Her parents and I did it to protect her.”

My fury turned cold and brutal, like the wind in the arctic. “For whatever reason, Savannah still cares for you. But if I ever hear you’ve cast such a spell on her again, my pack and I will burn the Indies to the ground. There won’t be a sorcerer left in Magic Side.”

She didn’t flinch, instead locking me with an unyielding stare.

I turned to go, but she grabbed my arm. I spun, claws out, but the pleading in her eyes stopped my hand.

“We did it to protect her from your father.”