Shadow Kissed (Magic Side: Wolf Bound Book 4)

Savannah

One week later…

My eyes fluttered open.

Rosy hues painted the lightening sky outside of the floor-to-ceiling windows of Jaxson’s bedroom. A few stars clung to the darkness, their brilliance slowly fading as golden fingers of sunlight reached toward the heavens over Lake Michigan.

My head rose and fell on Jaxson’s chest, and the steady beat of his heart matched mine. I smiled as I peeked up at him, memorizing the curve of his lips and the way his lashes quivered when he was dreaming. Warmth and happiness filled me.

But I also had to pee.

Careful not to wake him, I gently lifted his arm off me and slid out of bed. Jaxson stirred but fell back into a deep sleep.

He’s dead to the world, Wolfie said with a hint of amusement. You really wore him out.

I’d certainly done my part.

But that wasn’t all of it. We’d been working twelve plus hours a day to put Dockside back together. I’d learned to install drywall and spray paint walls and run caulking. It felt like everyone in the city was pitching in.

I didn’t usually see Jaxson from sunrise to sunset. He had his hands full with logistics and the council and tending to the infected werewolves, who needed help controlling their wolves while they awaited Aila’s antidote. Some, however, had decided to join the pack, which is good, because we needed every hand we could get.

Then there was bartending every night. Eclipse was donating all proceeds to the rebuild, and the place had never been so packed.

I shut the bathroom door and sat down, groaning as aches spread from my ass to my spine.

If being on my feet wasn’t enough, Jaxson had kept me on my back and knees all night. Even dead tired, we hadn’t been able to keep our hands off each other. Heat spread across my cheeks as I recounted all the places in the penthouse that we’d made love. The shower, the couch, pressed against his living room window…

Don’t forget the kitchen counter, Wolfie added.

The cold stone had been a delight for my overheated skin, but it was also hard. Five stars for the sex, but two for location.

After tending to business and brushing my teeth, I slipped into the bedroom and scooped up Jaxson’s flannel shirt and my phone. I guess I really had worn him out last night because he didn’t move an inch.

At least, we were finally going to get a break and get out of town. With the rebuild in full swing and most of our loose ends tied up, we were headed to Colorado for a week on a new adventure: tracking down my family—the werewolf side.

Mom’s side.

According to her letter, my grandfather lived in a small town called Silverton in the Rockies. Besides our trip to Forks several weeks ago, I’d never been out West, and I was looking forward to driving cross-country and seeing the sights.

Wolfie was practically buzzing with excitement.

Starving, I beelined for the kitchen, and as if on cue, my stomach rumbled. I started the tea kettle and fetched the coffee from the freezer as I made a mental list of the things we needed to do before we headed to Colorado.

I dumped several heaping scoops of coffee into a French press and filled it with steaming water.

My phone vibrated. You up?

Casey? At this hour? Consider me shocked.

I responded, The real question is, why are you up?

Seconds later, he called me, and I smirked as I tapped the screen. “Late night, huh?”

“You don’t know the half of it. Mom says you and lover boy are heading out of town? You need to stop by here before you go driving into the sunset.”

I opened my mouth to respond, but a shiver of heat worked down my spine, and Jaxson’s sexy woodsy scent wrapped around me.

“Lover boy, huh?” he whispered in my ear as he slipped his hands under the flannel shirt I was wearing. His fingers traced over my hips before settling over my tummy.

I pressed my back into him and looked up. “Hi,” I mouthed.

“Good morning.” He leaned down and kissed me, his touch slow and sensual. Liquid heat pooled between my legs, and goosebumps pebbled my skin. Jaxson smiled against my mouth. “You look good in my clothes.”

“Uh, you still there, Savy?” Casey asked, reeling me back to reality. “Because I still am, and I can hear Jaxson talking sexy in the background. I mean, I can go if you’re busy, but if things are gonna get interesting, I’ll stay on the line.”

Before I knew what was happening, Jaxson snagged my phone and turned the speaker on.

“Where are we supposed to meet you?” Jax asked, as he quickly kissed my lips then began working down my neck.

“The workshop. I’m there now. How about meeting me at eight?”

Jaxson froze and we exchanged shocked glances. By workshop, Casey meant the factory where my family made wolfsbane. I’d only been there once.

“You’re kidding,” Jaxson said flatly.

“I’m not, and you don’t have to worry. It’s totally above board. Regina and Sam are going to meet me here too, and they already gave me the third degree about it.”

What the hell was going on in Magic Side? Had the world fallen off its axis? I gave Jaxson a confused look and shrugged.

“Fine. But no bullshit,” Jaxson growled.

“Of course not. I’ll see you then.” The line went dead.

“What the hell do you think he’s up to?” Jaxson asked as his hands moved down my thighs, leaving a trail of heat.

“No idea.” I grinned up at him, delighting in the hardness of his body against mine. “What do you think you’re up to?”

“No idea.” Jaxson leaned down and traced his lips over my neck. “But we’ve got fifty minutes. Just enough time for breakfast and a shower.”

Molten heat throbbed low and deep, and I whispered, “Breakfast? What do you want?”

He met my gaze, and a sinfully sexy smile ghosted his lips as he gripped my bare ass and lifted me up on the delightfully cold counter. “I have a couple things in mind.”

My stomach was still grumbling with hunger—real hunger—an hour later when we pulled into the parking lot in front of my cousin’s factory. I couldn’t believe Casey was letting werewolves, let alone the alpha, anywhere near the place.

The security guards hadn’t been able to believe it either, and it had taken three separate calls to get through the front gate.

We parked beside Regina’s truck and hopped out. Jaxson immediately began speaking with her and Sam in hushed tones, but I made a beeline for my cousin, who I hadn’t seen all week except for a couple of visits while he was still in the hospital.

He stopped pacing and hung up his phone the moment he saw me and gave me a big hug. I squeezed him back. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in ages, and—” I paused and sniffed, then my eyes shot wide. “Oh my God… you’re still a wolf?”

A sheepish expression flooded his face. “Well, sometimes I’m a wolf. I’m pretty good at shifting now.”

The world spun. Had I just walked into the twilight zone?

“But… but you were going to take the antidote!” I stammered.

Casey gave me a deeply serious look. “There’s a lot of people who need that medicine, Savannah. Not just me. I’m trying to be strong.”

I shook my head. “Who are you and what have you done with my cousin?”

He stuck his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels in a self-satisfied way. “Hey, I’m just trying to turn over a new leaf. To be a better man. Or wolf man. Say no to prejudice and hate and fleas.”

The shock of his words practically took my knees out from under me. Could getting bit and living through a shift have actually transformed my cousin into a noble and altruistic person?

I scrutinized him with all my senses.

Not a chance.

Then the pieces clicked into place. I suppressed a knowing grin that tugged at my lips, and gave him a hard, interrogating look instead. “There’s a girl, isn’t there.”

“Absolutely not,” he said, lyingly. “And if there was, it wouldn’t affect my thinking.”

I rolled my eyes. “Okay. Who is she, Casey?”

“You’ve got me all wrong Savannah, I’m a changed man!”

I crossed my arms. “You have to be seeing a werewolf. Nothing else would keep you this way. Cough up the details.”

He gritted his teeth. “Okay, fine. Her name is Mira. She’s part of the pack.”

My eyes shot wide. “Oh my God! That was your nurse at the hospital! We got complaints from her for days!”

He shrugged. “I guess I just grew on her?”

My mind scrambled to assimilate information. Hell, he’d grown on me, but we were kin. I couldn’t believe that it would happen with others. At last, I shook my head in disbelief. “I’m guessing she gave in just to shut you up. You are incorrigible.”

“I couldn’t help it. She is so hot, and always bending over me to take my vitals. My vitals. It just sounds hot. And she smells so good. I’ve got crazy senses now, and when she’s aroused, it’s like—”

I threw up my hands. “Nope! We’re not going there.”

“Hey, you should be proud of me. I’m building bridges. It’s about making love, not war. Like, making a lot of love. Over and over. Werewolf stamina is amazing. How are you Jaxson not just having sex all the time?”

My cheeks burned.

“Oh,” he said looking over at Jax. “Okay, that makes a lot of sense. I’m guessing that’s why you’re late?”

Jaxson glared from where he stood with my friends and growled low. “That particular conversation is done. Forever. Now, what the hell are we here for?”

“Alright, alright,” Casey said. “Follow me.”