Untamed Fate (Magic Side: Wolf Bound Book 2)
: Chapter 23

Jaxson

Shit.

I yanked Savannah down behind the ornamental hedge. “Whatever you do, do not look at its eyes, or you’ll end up like the statues in the garden.”

Amal dropped beside us. “Stay quiet and crawl along the bushes.”

I glanced through the gap beneath the hedge.

The six-legged basilisk moved cautiously, testing the air with its tongue. Every few seconds, it raised and lowered a frill along its back. It hadn’t spotted us. That was something. I motioned for Savannah and Amal to start moving along the hedge.

Something rustled, and I checked beneath the bush again.

The thing had moved twenty feet, and I’d barely heard it. It was now only a few feet from where Amal and Savannah were still slowly crawling.

My mate. Protect her.

My pulse surged, and a wild madness consumed me. It was pure instinct, driven by the mate bond. Fuck.

I shot forward like lighting and slammed my claws into the basilisk’s back. It roared and thrashed as I tore away at its armored hide.

As long as I held on, it couldn’t look at me.

The beast reached the same conclusion and dropped onto its side to roll. I thrust back before I was crushed and slammed into the side of the fountain.

Dirt and leaves exploded into the air as a massive reptilian claw swept the bushes aside, and a roar shook my bones.

I rolled onto my back and looked up to see—

Nothing.

Utter darkness in all directions.

I wasn’t unconscious. My heart was pounding, and I could feel the damp, dew-covered grass beneath my body. Had its gaze blinded me?

Fuck.

The ground shook softly, and the creature’s breath rasped a few feet from where I lay, drowning me in an unbearable carrion stench. The thing sniffed, and I felt a hot puff of air roll over my skin.

It was right there. How was I not dead? Was it blind as well?

The thing made a hissing noise, and I held my breath as I slowly and soundlessly readjusted my feet to leap away.

Gunshots rang out to my right. The basilisk unleashed a deafening roar, and my eardrum burned in pain. Then something swept within inches of my body as the beast charged away.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed my arm.

“Come on!” Savannah whispered.

“What the fuck’s going on?” I couldn’t see a thing.

She pulled me forward, and we started running. “This is my shadow magic. I can see. Follow me.”

A blood-curdling roar sounded from twenty or thirty feet away.

“Hold on.” Savannah skidded to a stop. “Amal, come to my voice.”

“What’s going on?” Amal whispered from the darkness.

“We’re wrapped in shadows. It can’t see us, and we can’t see it. Nobody gets turned to stone.”

“Brilliant, but—”

“Amal, take Jaxson’s hand and follow me.” Amal took one of my hands in the darkness, Savannah the other, and we moved through the garden.

Our feet crunched over a strip of gravel, and then we were pounding over grass again.

Suddenly a sea of stars and silhouettes of trees appeared. I stumbled out of the wall of darkness and to a halt just in time to avoid tumbling over the precipice and into the misty abyss.

Amal and Savannah were wide-eyed beside me. We needed a distraction to throw the monster off our scent.

I grabbed one of the stone busts along the wall and heaved. The marble head spun end over end into the darkness, and the sound of a heavy thud and rustling bushes echoed upward. The basilisk roared from behind us, and the deafening sounds of its footfalls rose as it scrambled over the edge of the cliff, scaling its way down.

Fuck, that was too close.

I nodded at Savannah and Amal and quietly moved forward along the wall toward the gazebo and the caves in the cliff.

A moment longer, I searched the entrances of the three caves for a clue. Pale light emanated from a pool in one, and steam rose off the water. Idyllic in any other circumstance.

Amal pointed to the middle cave. “A way in.”

There was a thin seam of light. Before I could respond, an angry bellow erupted from the darkness behind us.

Savannah spun around. “The basilisk. Go, go, go.”

We charged into the cave. The light was emanating from a cracked door. I shoved both women through, then slammed the door behind me.

We found ourselves in a rough-hewn storage cave lit by dangling Edison bulbs. I pushed Savannah and Amal forward and around a corner just as the door exploded off its hinges, and shrapnel slammed me into the wall.

Savannah gripped my arm and hauled me out of danger as the darkness of her magic filled in behind me.

We scrambled up a narrow set of worn stairs cut from the rock. The walls shook, and the stench of carrion breath washed over us, trailed by the sound of claws scrabbling against the stone.

“It sounds stuck,” Savannah said as we wound up the stairs and emerged in a long cave that served as a wine cellar. Relentless scratching and grunting echoed up the stairwell, but it didn’t draw any closer. The basilisk was wedged. For now.

Savannah bent forward and braced her hands on her knees. “Thank God the stairs down there are narrow. I really hope there’s a way out the front door.”

To my surprise, her scent wasn’t fear, but rather elation—the thrill of the chase. I inhaled deeply, delighting in her. “Nice move with the shadows. You saved my ass.”

“It’s a nice ass. Where the hell are we?” she asked, breast heaving. I had to tear my eyes away from the sheen of sweat that glistened hypnotically on her chest.

Amal traced the thousands of gouges that covered the stone wall. “In some old, hand-cut Etruscan caves. A lot of the buildings here use them for storage. Speaking of which…”

She pulled a silver case from her pack and clipped it on her belt, then passed one to Savannah. “This is a potion bomb cartridge. Just flip the lid to pull one out. They’re labeled – firebomb, shockbomb, and stunner. I should have passed it out earlier.”

“Yeesss,” Savannah said. “I’ve heard of those.”

Potion bombs were unstable, designed to break on impact, and they didn’t play together nicely. I gritted my teeth. “Are you insane, running around with those?”

Amal shrugged. “The cases are pretty rugged.”

I placed my hand on Savannah’s arm. “Emergency use only.”

However, I was pretty sure my warning completely missed the mark. Savannah had an eager gleam in her eyes that reminded me of her half-mad cousin.

I silently cursed as she clipped the bombs to her belt, then stepped around her before she started up the stairs. “I’ll go first.”

The door in the cave was already open, and I was betting that Kahanov had used the same entrance. By now, he probably knew we were here and had prepared an ambush.

Savannah sighed but let me pass. “Fine, you get blasted first and have all the fun.”

We ascended the time-worn stairwell until we reached a narrow door, slightly ajar. I pushed it open slowly, revealing an expansive kitchen with white and black tile. A pot sat cooking on an old gas stove, and a body lay on the floor beside a knife. Blood was splattered everywhere.

“I don’t think that happened chopping vegetables,” Savannah whispered.

“Kahanov is here,” I growled as a deep rage clouded my thoughts and a savage drive to hunt and kill filled my mind.

The bastard had attacked my pack and put five of my wolves to sleep. He’d also attacked Savannah, and with the mate bond, that didn’t sit well.

My vision clouded as my body shook with fury. My claws ripped out, and my fangs erupted as hair bristled along my arms. I didn’t push them back but remained in that liminal state between man and beast.

“We need to move fast,” Amal said.

My senses blazing, I shot forward and out into a long, pearl-white gallery. The room’s vaulted ceiling was covered with ornate gold decorations. Gold-framed paintings hung along the walls, and erotic marble sculptures stood in the corners.

It was absolutely garish.

“This place is gorgeous,” Savannah murmured.

There was no door—the room simply ended and was followed by chamber after chamber, as far as I could see.

We moved on.

“I thought this was a tower,” Savannah said, as she peeked out a window. Then she slapped her hand over her mouth. “Oh, God. I think I’m going to be sick.”

I was by her side in a second. The skyline of the sleepy Italian town spread out before us.

Perpendicularly.

My head snapped around. The corridor was the tower. Somehow, the mage had turned gravity on its side, and we were walking upward.

“Man, that’s freaky,” Amal whispered.

“Then don’t look out the window,” I said. It didn’t really make any difference, just as long as gravity didn’t suddenly switch when we were partway up.

I moved silently from room to room, relying on my senses for warning. All we found were ravaged remains of golden automatons.

“Magic robots. Probably guards,” Amal explained to Savannah.

Halfway through the interconnected galleries, we came to a room with a massive hearth ringed by red velvet chairs. I froze.

Someone was sitting in front of the embers. In an instant, I had my claws at the figure’s throat—an old man, sleeping, and breathing slowly.

Not Kahanov.

I shoved my hand over his mouth and shook him awake, but he still didn’t stir.

“He’s like the sleepers,” Amal whispered.

“What do you want to bet that Kahanov knocked out everybody here, the mage included?” Savannah asked.

I was too enraged to respond. He was close. I could feel it in my bones.

We passed through a library and halted in front of a dimly lit gallery.

The hair on my neck rose. The shadows were all wrong, and a scent of rotting fruit hung in the air. I tasted blood and copper, and my skin felt slick, like it was covered in oil.

Savannah met my eyes, pinched her nose, and mouthed blood demon.

Kahanov hadn’t just been here—he was here.

My wolf surged in my chest with excitement. It was time for a reckoning.

I moved forward cautiously. Seven glowing glass cases occupied the center of the gallery. Each displayed a single object, most likely a magical artifact.

The furthest case was open. And empty.

Shit.

It had to have held the Soul Knife.

Suddenly, a voice called out from the shadows. “What a treat! You people are such a delight to work with. Here I sent you all sorts of invitations, and you turned them down. But now, when I’d lost all hope of you coming, you show up at the perfect time.”

Kahanov.