Dark Lies (Magic Side: Wolf Bound Book 3)
Dark Lies: Chapter 48

Savannah

My body shook roughly.

“Wake up, Savannah.”

I groaned and rolled over, and then, with a yelp of surprise, I pulled the sheets up around me. “Jaxson?”

He usually never came into the bedroom when I—

Oh. Shit.

With a wave of horror, the events of the night before came rushing back to me. As soon as we’d stepped through the door, we’d fought, and then, in a fit of adrenaline-powered rage, we’d fucked like animals.

I wanted to die of shame. We’d hadn’t even taken the time to wash the vampire blood off our bodies.

It was so dirty, but lord, it had been hot.

An aching heat throbbed in my center, and embarrassment flashed through me as I looked out the window, trying desperately to hide the faint smile that spread across my lips. I covered my flushed face as the truth of it all sank in. “Oh. My. God.”

“My thoughts exactly, mate,” Jaxson said, a slight smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth as he opened the window blinds, letting in the bright sun.

I wanted to slap that smirk right off his face.

And then throw him down in bed again? Wolfie asked with fake innocence, already knowing the answer.

My cheeks burned as need fogged my mind.

Was my brain ever going to work right again? That, or other parts?

I started pulling the sheets up around me as if more layers could shield me from the consequences of what I’d done. “Okay, we need to talk about what happened, because—”

“No time. They found Tony.”

“What?” My heart skipped a beat, and my skin turned ice cold.

That meant Dragan.

Trepidation froze me to my spot. “Is he…”

“According to Sam, he doesn’t remember what happened. Not even driving up to Michigan. But he doesn’t seem possessed, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

No relief came.

“He could be faking it. That, or if Dragan jumped ship, he could have slipped into anyone Tony met—even whoever it was that found him.”

“I know,” Jaxson growled, not even hiding the concern in his voice.

This was a disaster. Not last night, or our vampire murder spree in Mexico.

This.

When Dragan had been inside Tony, we knew who to look for. Now, he could be anywhere.

“Do you think you could tell if he was possessed?” Jaxson asked, crossing to the bedroom window that looked out on the city.

Could I?

Dragan inhabited a new body each time. Kahanov. Grayling. Tony.

But I knew his signature. I’d felt it at Pere Cheney, and when I first saw Grayling.

Bile rose in my throat. “I’d know that fucker on sight, no matter who he was hiding in. He tried to force himself on me. I’ll never forget that signature.”

Jaxson turned. “Good. Our second problem is that we’ve got Dragan’s finger, but the witch said we needed to replace someone who could cast a curse to bind him to it.”

I sat up and reached for my phone, still holding the sheets around me. “I asked Neve about that yesterday. She knows a woman at the Order, Devi Coltrane, who works with dark enchantments or something and might be able to help us. I got her number, but I wasn’t sure about working with someone at the Order you didn’t know—”

“Thanks, but in this case, there’s no room for division. You can call her from the road. Get your clothes on, and let’s go see if Tony is clean or still possessed.”

My new Vera Wang red silk dress was draped over a chair. Once beautiful, it had been reduced to ribbons and stained with dark patches of blood.

A deep pang of loss reverberated through my soul.

I hardly knew you, but I loved you, little dress.

Lord knew where my pumps were. My eyes widened. I hadn’t remembered taking them off… had I screwed Jaxson with shoes on? I didn’t think so, but it didn’t matter. Today called for jeans and my trusty ass-kicking boots.

“Ahem,” I said, and looked emphatically from Jaxson to the door.

“But we—”

“Get out,” I ordered.

With a grin that was a little too self-satisfied, he ambled to the door. “Be quick.”

The drive to the Docks was awkward.

I called and made an appointment with Devi, but after that, silence set in. Neither of us wanted to talk about what had happened or deal with the consequences.

I was lost in my own thoughts, anyway.

Dragan was out there. How would we replace him?

I wondered if Damian could locate people as well as objects. If so, that might be our only way of tracking Dragan down.

We were so fucked.

Why is that a bad word? Wolfie asked, her voice teasing. Because last night—

Shut it, Wolfie.

We passed through the dockyard checkpoint, and Jaxson slowly drove over to an area with three dozen stacked shipping containers.

“Where are we going?” I asked, looking over my shoulder at one of the massive freighters being loaded with cargo.

“Tony’s under lock and key until we debrief him,” Jaxson said. He turned the wheel and stopped outside of a rusty red container, where Sam was waiting for us.

“He’s inside?” Jax asked as he slipped out of the truck.

“All wrapped with silver chains,” Sam said.

Jaxson looked at me with an inquiring expression, then back at Sam.

Oh, shit. If she’d found Tony, Dragan could have jumped into her.

I reached out and touched her signature—a rich floral scent of lilac and almonds with an undercurrent of something else. Nothing out of the ordinary. Relief flooded through me. “She’s clean.”

“What?” Sam asked, looking between us.

“Savy thinks she’ll know if Dragan has possessed someone—their signature changes,” Jaxson said, striding over to the container. “Ready to see if he’s still in Tony?”

I nodded and summoned the Soul Knife. Jaxson’s eyes flicked to me, his unease palpable.

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to stab him,” I said.

Jaxson undid the latch and swung the door of the container wide with a metallic creak.

The early morning light shone in, revealing Tony sitting on a stool with his hands bound behind his back, his head down, and completely wrapped in silver chains.

He looked up and smiled, a few teeth missing from his familiar off-center grin. “Hey, boss.”

My stomach churned. Bruises darkened his cheeks, and his nose had been broken. He looked like hell.

I closed my eyes and concentrated on his signature, which I knew well. He’d driven me all over town and quietly put up with my antics for days.

No sign of Dragan, though I could feel the residual taint of his presence. Not hesitating, I rushed over and gave Tony a hug—perhaps the first time we’d ever touched. “He’s clean, Jax. It’s just Tony.”

“Good,” Jaxson said flatly. But beneath his tone, I could hear the deep relief and sorrow. One of his packmates had been returned to him, and I knew in that stoic moment that it meant more to him than anything.

“Just Tony?” the battered man asked, giving me a playfully sharp look. “That’s rather demeaning.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at his feigned outrage. “I mean, you’re not possessed by a psycho ghost anymore. What happened to you?”

His cuts and bruises twisted my gut. I looked at Sam leaning in the doorway, hoping we hadn’t done this to him.

“Car accident,” Sam said, reading the apprehension in my voice. “They found him this morning, unconscious in his Jeep, which was wrapped around a concrete barrier.”

“And you don’t remember a thing?” Jaxson asked, looming over the man.

Tony shook his head. “Last thing I remember was loading guns at Eclipse before we headed to Michigan. After that, nothing until those cops found me.”

Truth. I could feel it all the way in my bones. Jaxson could, too, because he turned to Sam and motioned to his wrists. “Keys.”

She tossed them over, and he began undoing the locks on the chains. “Sorry about this, Tony, but we had to be careful. Who found you? Our people?”

“Nah. Some non-shifter cops. Folks from the Order,” Tony said as I bent down to help unbind him. “They wanted me to go to the hospital, but Sam came and got me.” He laughed. “As if werewolves don’t heal on their own.”

The Order. My fingers itched as trepidation rose in my throat. “And where did they replace you?”

“Outside the Hall of Inquiry.”

I froze, chains dangling in my hands. “Fuck.”

“What?” Jaxson asked.

“That’s not a coincidence,” I said, my palms suddenly sweaty despite the cold metal. “Dragan could have gone anywhere, but he crashes Tony’s Jeep outside the Hall of Inquiry? He was wanting to be found so he could jump hosts. He’s trying to infiltrate the Order!”

“Maybe.” Jaxson pulled the chains from around Tony and hurled them aside. “But we don’t know for sure. Tony could have been resisting possession, and the Jeep crashed. You fought against Dragan’s dominance.”

That was a good point. “The result is the same. Cops found him. We should at least warn the Order.”

“Gretchen Mays. I’ll call her now,” Jaxson said. “Sam, can you work your contacts to get the names of the cops who found Tony?”

She nodded.

I pulled out my phone. “I’ll call Devi.”

Unfortunately, neither of us got through.

“What do we do now?” I asked as I hung up after dialing a second time.

Jaxson stepped out of the container and looked out across the dockyard. For a moment, he was silent, reflecting on something. Perhaps a memory.

At last, he sighed. “We head to the Hall of Inquiry and replace Devi as planned. We can warn her about Dragan, and she can warn the proper personnel. Maybe she can even help us track down the cops involved. Most importantly, we need to get Dragan’s bones enchanted before we run into him—otherwise, we won’t be able to trap him.”

“And if he’s already infiltrated the Order?” I asked, joining his side.

“Then we might be screwed.”

I swallowed hard. “What do you think he’s after?”

Jaxson turned and studied me with hard eyes. “I have no idea, but whatever it is, you can bet it will be very bad for us.”