Wolf Marked (Magic Side: Wolf Bound Book 1)

by Veronica Douglas

  I could make out the scents of Regina and the bloody trail she’d followed. She was a cunning tracker. That was a glimmer of hope.

  I glanced up at the setting moon, just slightly past its peak. I wouldn’t be able to try the ritual until tomorrow, and that would be too late. The attackers’ timing had been perfect to disrupt the ritual and grab Savannah while I was away.

  The hair on my neck rose. “They knew what I was doing and when. And it looks like they knew exactly which room she was in. We have a leak. Someone’s feeding them information. That, or they’re scrying on us.”

  Tony, Regina, Billy. I trusted them to the ends of the earth. They were as loyal as blood.

  I fixed my allies with an iron expression. “For now, no one talks to anyone outside our team. Not a scrap of information gets out. Tony, we’re going after Regina. Billy, you’re the only one I trust to sort out this fucking mess. Someone tipped these assholes off. If it was the East Wisconsin pack, I want to know. If it was our pack, I want to know. Crack skulls and call Tony if you learn anything.”

  Traitors in the pack. Rogue wolves potentially working with the LaSalles. Blood demons. It was chaos.

  I needed to clear my mind.

  I stepped away and pulled off my clothes. My wolf rose, and the familiar snapping of my bones and tearing of muscles rocked my body.

  Once the shift was over, a sense of calm settled over me, and things became crystal clear.

  Traitors and trucks and logistics were two-legged problems. The fortune teller had said that Savannah would provide the answers I sought. There was nothing on earth that was going to stop me from finding her. To do that, I needed to capture the rogue wolf alive.

  My paws dug into the dirt as I leapt forward through the trees.

  Time to hunt.

  It took all night, but we caught up with the miserable bastard just as sunlight rose above the horizon. He had lost a lot of blood and was barely able to run. He wasn’t wolfborn but rather a shifter like Tony, and he wasn’t even strong enough to stay in wolf form.

  He stumbled out of my way, but Regina slammed him to the ground, and he futilely writhed beneath her paws.

  Tony shifted into human form and started going through the man’s pockets.

  I padded over to where the bastard was lying belly-down, then bared my fangs and snarled in his face. He stank of piss and fear and drugs, and the sickly stench of death clung to him. Most importantly, he wasn’t one of ours. As we’d expected, whoever was behind this was recruiting outcasts from all over.

  After what he’d done to Savannah, the scent of his fear was delicious. I opened my jaw and pressed my teeth against his trembling throat, a mild suggestion from my wolf.

  No. Not yet. Answers first.

  Reluctantly, I reigned in my wolf. As my bones cracked, I shifted back to two-legged form and gave a savage growl. Shoulders heaving with restrained fury, I turned to Tony. “Did the bastard have anything on him?”

  He passed me a little vial, and my heart skipped a beat.

  A week ago, I’d found the crushed remnants of a glass vial at one of the other crime scenes. We’d never figured out what it was.

  I held up the vial and examined its contents in the light of the rising sun. Not much was left. It was bright red, like fresh blood. I popped the cork and sniffed. Definitely blood, though something was very strange about it—something that pulled at a memory I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

  I passed it back to Tony. “Let’s stand him up.”

  Regina gave a low warning growl and stepped off the man. He started to crawl away, but I heaved him up and slammed him against the trunk of a tree. Tony grabbed his arms and pulled them back behind the trunk, then lashed the man’s wrists with his belt.

  “You’ll pay for this,” the rogue werewolf wheezed.

  Tony rammed his fist in the man’s face with a sickening crunch, and blood flowed from his nose. Grabbing a fistful of the man’s hair, Tony yanked his head back against the trunk so the fucker’s eyes met mine. They were bloodshot and dilated, and his skin was ashen and clammy. His hands were trembling, but not from fear.

  He was a junkie, and I could smell that strange magic on him.

  I leaned forward and let my alpha presence force him into submission. “Who are you working for?”

  “Tory. Please, man, she’s the one to talk to. I don’t know nothing. She gave us the address of the motel last night. Said we had to get the redhead.”

  I sniffed. He reeked of Red Bull and vodka and sweat, but I also caught the scent of truth. But I was certain Tory wasn’t the ringleader, just another lackey.

  “How long have you been working for her?”

  “A couple weeks. I met her at the Dirty Hound,” he said.

  I tightened my fists, and my knuckles cracked. “Who does she work for?”

  “You have no idea what he’ll do to me if I tell you.”

  “I’ll do worse.”

  “You can’t,” he spat. “If I tell you, the sorcerer will let his fucking demons devour me alive. They don’t just eat blood, man, they suck out your soul. I’d sooner let you tear my skin off, strip by strip, so do your worst.”

  Truth.

  He was far more afraid of the sorcerer than me. That was bad news. But the man was a junkie, so there might be another way to get information.

  I held up the vial. “What is this?”

  “Shit, man, I thought I’d lost that. Let me have a taste. Just a drop on my tongue. I’ll tell you what you want to know. Just a couple drops are all I need.”

  The freak stuck his tongue out, and I had the urge to slam his jaw up so his teeth cut it in half, but I needed him talking. “Tell me what it is. Then we’ll talk.”

  “You haven’t tasted it?” A crazed smile cut his face. “It’s his blood. Sorcery in a bottle. Better than Blow, and I need some. Now.” He strained against the ropes as panic coursed through him. He was losing it.

  I gripped his throat. “What does it do? Where do you get it?”

  “Tory got it from the sorcerer. I’ve never met him, but he gives us his blood for our services. I’m telling you, man, once you taste it, you’ll see the world in a whole new light. It makes you stronger, faster.”

  My breathing stilled. This was how the sorcerer was controlling the wolves? Enchanted, superpowered blood? It explained how the bastards had outrun us, had even outrun Savannah’s car.

  Could the LaSalles be manufacturing this, like they did wolfsbane?

  “Why did the sorcerer want the redhead?” I snarled.

  I doubted the junkie would know, but he was talking, and it was worth a shot.

  The bastard writhed. “Don’t you get it? It’s all about the blood.”

  “I don’t care what he was going to give you, why did he want her?”

  “The blood, man, like I said. He wanted her for her blood. It’s like his. He could make more of the Blow shit. That’s why we couldn’t just kill her.”

  My mind spun, and Regina and Tony eyed me. I gave a low growl.

  Not a word about this to anyone.

  They dipped their heads in acquiescence. The last thing we needed was word spreading through the packs about Savannah’s blood.

  I’d known there was something different—special—about Savannah, but her blood? Worry churned in my gut. The junkie had said that her blood was like the sorcerer’s. Did that mean they were related?

  LaSalles.

  Billy might be right after all.

  Nothing quite added up, though. Werewolves, sorcerers, demons, and blood-drinking junkies. And all of it seeming to revolve around Savannah Caine.

  My heart began beating harder. “Where’s the redhead now?”

  The junkie’s head rolled side to side. “No way, man. His demons will eat my soul.”

  Regina growled and stepped forward, but the bastard was beyond threats. It was time to bargain.

  “I’ll give you the blood and let you go if you tell me where she is. This is your
only chance,” I said, struggling to stop my wolf from ripping its way out of my chest.

  He sniffed the air, sensing the truth of my words. I squeezed his throat, and he gurgled, “Fine, I submit. I’ll tell you.” Sweat rolled down his face. “We were supposed to take her to the abandoned sanitorium on Old Mill Road. That’s all I know. Now let me go, man.”

  Truth.

  “And the shifter woman, Sam. Is she there, too?” I asked.

  “I don’t know,” he panted. “I wasn’t there for that, but probably. Yeah. That’s where they’ve been bringing people.”

  I turned to Tony. “Pull up whatever you can on the sanitorium and call in backup. Again, don’t say a word about what you just heard. Understood?”

  “What about me?” the junkie snarled. “You said you’d let me go.”

  “I did.” I nodded to Tony, and he undid the belt. The junkie staggered back, and I tossed him the vial. “Run.”

  And then, in one swift motion, I set my wolf free.

  39

  Savannah

  Buzzing. The oven timer.

  I turned my head and groaned. “Alma, shut the buzzer off.”

  But the relentless noise continued. Why wouldn’t she shut it off?

  My head throbbed, and my throat burned. I tried to move my arms, but they stopped short. Opening my eyes, I squinted against blinding fluorescent light. Wooziness took hold. I tried to turn away but couldn’t move.

  My wrists were secured.

  I blinked over and over until my eyes adjusted. Finally, I could take in my surroundings. A bare concrete room. An IV stand to my right with a blood bag attached to it. A tube connected to my arm. The buzzing was coming from the overhead light. Judging by my dizziness, I was being drained.

  Panic flashed through me. A human juice box for blood demons.

  I tried to sit up, but my wrists and ankles were secured to the hospital bed with Velcro straps. I struggled against the bindings, but they were sturdy and wouldn’t budge.

  This couldn’t be happening. I searched my groggy mind, attempting to recall how I’d gotten here.

  I’d shot two wolves in the forest. Then Billy had appeared…

  Billy.

  My head throbbed where he had punched me. I knew that bastard was a hateful son of a bitch, but this…he was Jaxson’s brother-in-law, part of the pack.

  I poured my anger into straining against my bonds. Then a woman’s voice echoed outside, and I froze. A lock clicked, and the door behind me opened. I closed my eyes and laid completely motionless, trying to calm my thudding heart.

  “She’s still asleep,” the woman said.

  “Are we draining her dry?” a man asked. I didn’t recognize either of their voices.

  “No,” the woman snapped. “Billy wants her alive. The sorcerer needs her blood.”

  The sorcerer? Was he here?

  My stomach flipped, and I fought back the rising bile in my throat. Why would Billy be working with a sorcerer? I knew he hated the LaSalles, and I’d assumed he hated all magic and sorcerers, but clearly, that assumption was wrong.

  One of my abductors tugged on the needle that was secured to my arm, and I battled the urge to flinch. I peeked open an eye. The woman frowned as she removed the blood bag from the IV stand and replaced it with an empty one. A gold ring pierced her lip, and her eyes were smudged with what looked like day-old shadow. She secured the tube to the needle that was stuck in my vein, and then the two of them left.

  Fear pulsed through me, and the room spun. I glanced at the empty IV bag and strained against my bindings. How much blood could they take? The average human body had ten pints.

  Fight, Savannah. Before it’s too late.

  Tears welled in my eyes. I leaned over and tried to grab the tube that was draining my blood with my mouth, but it was too far. A wave of dizziness and drowsiness settled over me, and I closed my eyes and drifted as I tried to fight it off.

  Minutes—or hours—later, a hand slapped my cheek. “Wake up!”

  I forced my heavy lids open and blinked several times. I must have passed out. How long had I been down here?

  “Where the hell am I?” I mumbled.

  “Eat.” The woman with the lip ring and smudgy eye shadow shoved a peanut butter and jelly sandwich at me. I turned my head away, but she grabbed my hair and forced my head back. I took a bite and chewed.

  Tears rolled down my face, and I swallowed the rising lump of sorrow.

  A brawny man with a scar under his left eye appeared by my side. “I’d love to have a few moments alone with her. Make her pay for what she did to the others.”

  He grinned and brushed my cheek with his knuckles. My skin crawled, and I jerked against my bindings.

  “Hands off. You can use the look-alike for your twisted fantasies. This one’s too important.” The woman’s voice was filled with malice, and she shoved the sandwich into my mouth.

  The man leaned forward and sniffed me. I strained as revulsion overcame me, but he held me down. “I wonder if her blood tastes like his?”

  If my blood tasted like whose? Billy’s? The sorcerer’s? Why in the hell were they tasting anyone’s blood?

  Confusion clouded my mind as he detached the tube from the needle in my arm and smeared a few drops of my blood on his finger. He tasted it and jerked, closing his eyes. When he opened them, they were a deep crimson and manic.

  Holy smokes.

  “She’s like him,” he growled. “Not as potent, but sweeter.”

  The man looked like a drug addict who needed another fix. His nostrils flared, and a crazed grin cut his face. “I need another taste.”

  Crap.

  He lifted the dripping tube to his mouth, but the woman snatched it from his hand. “No! Billy will kill us both. Her blood belongs to the sorcerer.”

  I watched in a daze as the woman secured the tube to the needle in my arm. What the fuck was going on?

  The woman picked up a needle and jabbed it into a vial, filling it with something. She stepped over and lifted my sleeve. I struggled, but the man pinned my arms while she jabbed me and injected the fluid.

  She flicked the needle into a metal trashcan and opened the door. “Come on. This dose of magic inhibitor should keep her down for a few more hours. I wish they’d just spring for magicuffs. Let’s finish draining the others. We don’t need them anymore.”

  As soon as they left, I glanced around the room, searching for anything I might use to get out of these bindings. There was a scalpel on the counter, but it was too far away to reach.

  I grunted and thrashed uselessly against the bonds, but then an idea drifted through my sluggish mind.

  Use your magic, Savy.

  She’d mentioned she’d given me a magic inhibitor. Maybe it hadn’t kicked in yet.

  I closed my eyes and focused, searching for that feeling of cold water trickling over my skin—but it was like it had never been there.

  Deep fatigue overwhelmed me, but I fought it back as my panic rose. I had to get out of here. My mounting desperation strained against my chest, and it felt like my heart was going to rip free. I arched my back and pulled against my bindings with all my strength.

  “Please,” I begged in a whisper.

  Searing pain exploded through my arms, like my very flesh was being torn from my body. I gasped, too shocked to even scream, and felt something ripping. Was it my skin or the straps? I tried to look down, but the blood rushed to my head, and darkness swirled at the corner of my eyes.

  For a second, I saw my arm as it ripped free. Something was wrong with it…

  But then darkness took me.

  When I came to, my head was throbbing. The buzzing of the overhead fluorescents didn’t help matters. My body ached everywhere, and my cheek was pressed against something cold and hard.

  Get up, Savy.

  I was so tired, but I forced my eyes open. My fingers ached. I was on the floor, my arms and legs no longer bound.

  Confusion washed over me. I cl
imbed onto my hands and knees, wincing at the soreness in my muscles and joints. It felt like I’d been run over by a train.

  The IV stand was on the floor, and drops of blood—my blood—were splattered everywhere. The needle was still stuck in my arm, but the tube looked like it had been ripped out and was lying on the floor, still connected to the partially full blood bag.

  What had happened?

  I used the bed to pull myself to my feet. My legs were weak, probably from blood loss. The bindings that had secured my wrists and ankles to the bed were shredded.

  For a second, a vision of my hands tearing through the straps swum in my eyes, and then dizziness overcame me, and I swayed. None of this made sense. But I had to get out of there. Escape.

  I listed right and stumbled. Well, this was going to be interesting.

  The door was unlocked. I cracked it and listened outside, but all was quiet. Thank goodness I hadn’t made too much noise.

  I opened the door and slipped into a long, concrete hall that was lined with half a dozen closed doors. The place was dirty and looked derelict, and a few of the overhead lights flickered. There was no indication of which way led out, so I went with my gut and headed left.

  The floor was cold and clammy, and I really wished I had my boots. God knows what was lying around to step on. At least the muscles in my legs had warmed up and were beginning to work again. I sneaked to the end of the hall and paused. Voices carried around the corner, coming my way.

  Panic streaked through me. I lunged toward the nearest door, unlocked the deadbolt, and slipped inside. The room was almost identical to the one I’d been in, except there were two monitors hooked up to wires that connected to a large bed that had been adjusted upright.

  “Who’s there?” a woman asked, fear evident in her voice.

  I rounded the bed and froze. It was like looking in a mirror—a red-haired girl in her twenties, strapped to the bed with tubes and wires stuck into her arms. Madison Lee, the girl I’d seen on TV. She was gaunt with sunken cheeks, like she’d been drained dry.

  This could have been me. A wave of emotions slammed into my chest. Relief that I wasn’t alone, and rage. These people were fucking monsters.