Untamed Fate (Magic Side: Wolf Bound Book 2)
: Chapter 44

Savannah

My ears rang, and I shook with fright at what I’d just witnessed.

Between Neve and the demon, I didn’t know which terrified me more.

Kahanov.

I sucked in a slow breath to steady my nerves as we moved deeper into the cave. What the hell was I doing? I’d just escaped from this nightmarish place, and now I was headed back in.

I rubbed my ears, but nothing would get rid of the pain. Suddenly, I felt the light touch of Jaxson’s hand on the base of my back. I took a sharp breath and closed my eyes as his magic pulsed through me. The pain in my ears subsided, but my heartbeat still pounded.

“Stay close,” he said gruffly as he flicked on a flashlight and stepped in front of me. His woodsy pine scent wrapped around me, and a deep ache settled in my chest at the memories that rose in my mind.

Sam pulled out two flashlights and gave me one as we followed behind him.

Jaxson’s power to heal me drove me to the edge of fury. I hated the way it aroused me, the way I suddenly found myself warm and wet and breathless. Fuck.

I bared my teeth at his back. He’d made his position clear: what had happened in the Dreamlands stayed in the Dreamlands. Wasn’t that what I wanted, too?

What an idiot, I thought. I should have known better than to have opened myself up to him like that.

Do you ever stop thinking about him? my overly snarky wolf asked.

She was right. I needed to get my head in the game, but that was the last place it wanted to be. As long as I distracted myself with Jaxson, I wouldn’t have to think about walking into doom.

I could smell it on the air. The cruel death the fates had planned for me. I didn’t care anymore. Just as long as I got to take Kahanov down.

The dripping of water grew louder as we pushed deeper into the cave.

I glanced back toward the entrance, fear fluttering in my stomach. We’d left Neve to deal with the noctith demon, but after seeing what she could do, something told me she could take care of herself even if its friends showed up.

Jaxson stopped abruptly.

“What’s that?” Sam whispered behind me.

I inclined my head and listened. A low, faint scraping noise came from the passage ahead.

“It sounds like something scratching or digging,” Jaxson said.

Hope and dread flared in my chest, and I cautiously stepped around Jaxson. “Maybe Cavra’s spell woke the shifters. They might be trying to get free.”

It was a long shot, but if there was any chance, we had to get them out of there before Kahanov noticed. I drew the shadows around me and sneaked ahead down the hallway.

“Savannah, wait,” Jaxson hissed as he grabbed for my arm.

I slipped out of his grasp and pushed forward, moving toward the fork in the cave that I knew was ahead. I flicked off my flashlight. “I’ve got this. I’m practically invisible.”

“Damn it,” he growled behind me, and I could smell his frustration. But he wasn’t my alpha—or at least he wouldn’t be for long—and he held no power over me.

I ignored my wolf’s snicker and paused where the tunnel split to let my werewolf vision adjust to the darkness. The stink of sweat and bodies was so strong, I almost gagged.

I peeked into the cavern, and my heart dropped. The sleepers still hung from the walls, roots snaking around their bodies. They hadn’t awakened. Their chests still rose and fell softly like they were deep in a dreamless sleep. The strange scratching sound wasn’t coming them, but from the roots digging into dirt.

I covered the end of my flashlight with my hand, flicked it on, and let a thin ray slide over the cave walls.

The sorcerer wasn’t here, just slumbering wolves.

I breathed a long sigh of relief, and waved Sam and Jaxson into the room. “The coast is clear.”

Sam froze as the beam of her flashlight illuminated the suspended bodies, “My gods…”

A dark rage spread across Jaxson’s face as he shone his light from one body to the next. The muscles in his arms twitched as his signature boomed around us. My body trembled even as heat pooled in my center.

Shit, my wires were seriously crossed.

“We need to get them out of here,” Jaxson growled.

Sam shot forward and began pulling the roots away from the closest shifter. “How are they here and in Magic Side as well?”

I could hear her heartbeat and practically taste her panic.

“I think we’re in the Dreamlands,” Jaxson whispered as he counted the figures. “Shit. It’s not everyone.”

The Dreamlands? Fuck. I helped Sam rip the roots from around the sleeping body as a shudder worked its way up my spine. The moment I pulled the last root free, the woman’s eyes shot open, and I gasped.

She turned her head as if looking at someone behind my shoulder. “Mary? Where am I? I was having a nightmare…”

Then the sound of her voice and her form faded away into nothing.

“What just happened?” Sam asked, stunned.

“I think she woke up,” I whispered as I looked from Sam to Jaxson. Suddenly, I was certain of what was going on. “Jaxson’s right. This isn’t just a cave in Forks. It’s a portal to the Dreamlands. If we free the people here, they’ll wake in the real world.”

Jaxson spun his light around the room. “We need to cut these people down before Kahanov returns.”

A familiar chuckle sounded from the passage ahead, and a sickening dread crawled down my spine.

“But that wasn’t our deal, Jaxson.”

I spun. Kahanov stood at the far end of the chamber with a shit-eating grin on his face.

Jaxson’s claws extended. “This ends now, Kahanov. Release my pack.”

“The deal was your shifters for the girl. Why would I release them when you haven’t met my demand?” The sorcerer paused, and his eyes flicked to me. “Unless, of course, you’ve reconsidered.”

Irrational dread flooded my veins. I knew Jaxson said he would never hand me over, but if it came down to several dozen members of his pack or me, would he really keep his word?

“Wrong answer.” Jaxson dropped his light and bounded forward in a blur of violence. The sickening sound of claws connecting with flesh was masked by Kahanov’s scream.

Before I could react, a flash of green flame hurled Jaxson into a wall.

Sam rushed toward Kahanov, but he scrambled up the wall like a spider and out of her reach, then drew forth the Soul Knife. “Fine. That’s the way you want to do it? Then I’ll take what’s mine. Savannah’s soul.”

He lunged for me, and I scrambled back. In my terror, I focused on one thing: summoning the knife to my hand.

With a puff of purple smoke, it vanished from his fist and appeared in mine.

Kahanov grinned as he leapt back to the wall. “What a clever trick, Savannah. I wish I’d thought to do that, too. Oh, wait. I did.”

He snapped the blade back to his hand.

My jaw dropped as I looked down at my empty palm.

Shit. This is going to be a problem.

“Die, asshole!” Sam shouted as she pulled out her pistol. She braced it on her hand with the light and unloaded three rounds at him as he scrambled along the ceiling of the cavern. I flinched as the deafening gunshots rang through the cave, making my already damaged ears throb with pain.

I searched wildly for Kahanov, but he was gone.

“Fuck!” Jaxson shouted. “He ran.”

He shone his light over the sleepers dangling from the wall. “Sam, get these people free. Savannah, you’re with me. There aren’t enough bodies. We need to replace the rest of the pack and take Kahanov down. Time for stealth mode.”

As Sam turned to the root-bound shifters, I drew the shadows around us, and we headed into the dark passage.