Dark Lies (Magic Side: Wolf Bound Book 3)
Dark Lies: Chapter 10

Jaxson

Violent thoughts plagued my mind during the drive back to the Dockside Dens. I gripped the wheel, considering all the ways I’d murder the bastards who’d laid their hands on Savannah.

Fucking echoes of my past.

I’d been the one who was supposed to protect my sister, and she was dead. I wasn’t going to let the same thing happen to my mate—whether or not she was a LaSalle, whether or not she accepted me and the pack and our bond.

Fuck the world, I wouldn’t let it take her, too.

The steering wheel cracked, and I looked down. Well, it was a new truck.

“Are you okay?” Sam asked.

“Fucking fine,” I said as I looked over and reassessed the damage they’d done to Savannah. The skin on her wrists and ankles had been rubbed raw, and the gash on her head was still swollen and slightly blue.

My gut wrenched.

No. I wasn’t fucking fine.

The fortune teller’s words rose in my mind: She cannot be tamed, but you must tame her to save her from herself. If you cannot help her, she will die and bring ruin to us all.

How the hell was I supposed to tame Savannah Caine? The bar had seemed the perfect place to keep her safe. I hadn’t expected her attackers to be so bold as to enter my den. I should have just locked her in the office. My arrogance had almost cost me everything.

Was her blood really so valuable that they would risk everything by entering the pack headquarters?

The metallic, sweet scent of her blood filled the truck, and damn me to hell, I wanted a taste of it myself. Was I just as crazed as they were?

Sam’s phone rang. “Hello?”

I heard Tony’s voice come on the line and monitored the short conversation as Sam nodded.

Finally, she hung up. “Not great news. The assholes ditched the van and escaped with a bunch of other creeps on unmarked bikes. Tony tried to follow but lost them. He’ll apologize in person tomorrow.”

Savannah tensed.

I was able to hear the sense of failure in his voice over the phone. His shame and regret would be repercussion enough if they were even a fraction of what I felt.

I ground my teeth. “Text him that I should have sent another team as well. Tell him to show up at my apartment with his people to keep watch tonight. No one that’s not one of us comes in or out.”

“There’s more,’ Sam continued. “The van is currently on fire, and the fire department is on its way.”

That meant no prints, no clues, and no way to cover it up. The Order would be looking into things and asking questions if they found out that all this had started at our bar. We worked with a lot of MCs to distribute our products, and I couldn’t risk a clusterfuck Order investigation threatening pack business or our autonomy to pursue our own justice. Our own laws.

I sighed.

Nothing could ever be simple, could it?

Savannah

The moment we stepped into Jaxson’s apartment, my phone made a strangled noise, and I pulled it out of my pocket. The screen was splintered, but somehow, the thing was still working. “Hello?”

Agent Blake’s voice came across the other line. “I just heard from my little birdies that someone tried to abduct you tonight, and that there was a godsdamned car chase.”

I tensed, with no idea what to say. I looked from Jaxson to Sam and put it on speaker. “Agent Blake, thanks for calling.”

“The question is, why didn’t you call me? Or the cops? I had to replace out because someone left a burning van in the middle of the street. I told you to call me if anything happened or if you had any information.”

The truth was that somehow, in this fucked-up place, I’d gotten used to the idea of vigilante justice. I didn’t want to sit around and file reports and hope that in ten years, someone would put them behind bars. I wanted to hunt the assholes down and take them out.

I bit my lip. “I escaped. I’m fine. They’re gone.”

“And you don’t think those assholes will be back?” she snapped. “You need to file a report. By law. There’s no covering it up.”

Her words were harsh, but I could tell from her tone that she was worried. And that she hated these bikers almost as much as I did.

But I didn’t know her, and I knew she had an agenda.

Jaxson shrugged noncommittally, so I said, “Fine. I’ll come in tomorrow.”

Harlow cursed. “Tomorrow? Why not tonight?”

I was so in over my head. I had no idea where Jaxson stood with the Order, but I knew he was into something illegal, and I also knew he had people loyal to him at the Hall of Inquiry. I’d seen cops all around town treat him like a king.

But that was one minefield I wasn’t going to wander too far into—not without coaching. “I’m pretty shaken at the moment and need to get fixed up. Tomorrow, I’ll come in. Promise.”

There was a long pause. “Do you need a place to stay? I can offer one, same as before.”

Jaxson’s expression went dark, and Sam raised her eyebrows.

I blushed and looked around at Jaxson’s apartment. When I glanced back at him, his arms were crossed and muscles flexed, and he was boring into me with his eyes.

Danger. But not the kind she was thinking.

“I’m safe where I am. Goodnight,” I said.

“Wait!” Harlow shouted across the line. “Can you tell me anything? Were they bikers? Did they have the twin-wolf tattoo?”

I paused. “They were bikers, yes, but without bikes. I didn’t see anyone with a twin-wolf, but one guy had a big wolf skull pierced by crossed arrows. Does that mean anything to you?”

“Yes. That’s the Arrowhead Disciples, an outlaw MC with people all over Indiana and Michigan. Do you think you could describe your assailants or identify them from photos?”

My heart leapt. That was something, at least. I was tempted to head down there immediately to replace out more in person, but I knew Jaxson wouldn’t have it.

“I’ll draw them for you tomorrow,” I said, and hung up as weariness overcame me. I just couldn’t deal with it tonight.

Sam crossed her arms. “That’s interesting. Arrowheads Disciples. It’s not one of the clubs we work with. Do we know anything about them?”

Jaxson grunted. “No. They’ve never been in our territory, as far as I know, but our pack doesn’t deal with outlaw MCs. That said, I can replace someone who knows.”

“So what’s our plan?” I asked.

He worked his jaw and studied me intently. “I have my own thoughts, but you’re the one with a bullseye on your back. What do you want to do? Rely on the cops?”

My fingers twitched. It was the logical choice: let someone handle it legally. But I just couldn’t do it.

As a kid, my parents had warned me about the cops. Alma believed they were all in on some wacky conspiracy. My aunt and cousin were certainly on the wrong side of the law, as it seemed was Jaxson.

So far, the only things the cops had done for me was give me tickets and shrug their shoulders at my parents’ deaths and my werewolf attacks.

I bit my lip. “Honestly? I want to hit those bastards back. An eye for an eye. I’m tired of running for my life.”

Jaxson smiled. “Okay, then. Eye for an eye. They marched into my bar and tried to grab you on my turf. Tomorrow, we replace out where the Arrowhead Disciples hang out, grab one of their guys, and make them talk.”

God, I knew it was probably reckless and illegal, but a dark shiver of anticipation swept up my spine.

We knew who they were. And tomorrow, after long weeks of being constantly hounded and chased, I was going to be the one doing the hunting.