Wolf Marked (Magic Side: Wolf Bound Book 1)

Savannah

Three hours later, the moon was high, and we were on our way to play grand theft auto in real life. We drove the long way out of LaSalle territory to make sure we weren’t followed by any of Jaxson’s goons waiting to stalk me at the border. Eventually, we parked Casey’s RAV-4 a few blocks off the Midway, and my adrenaline was humming.

Stealing my car was an insane idea. I knew that.

Old Savannah wouldn’t have done anything of the sort. But Old Savannah hadn’t been attacked by werewolves, didn’t know her parents had hidden her magic and family from her, and hadn’t had her car essentially stolen by a mob boss who was using her as a pawn.

New Savannah was kinda having her teeth kicked in and needed a win. Also, I needed to teach Jaxson a lesson. Thus, I was going to break into his auto body shop and steal my car back.

What could go wrong?

Our plan involved three conspirators—Casey, me, and Zara, who owned a truck with a dolly trailer to tow my car. She looked almost normal, if not for the horns and the purple streaks in her dark hair.

“What are you looking at?” she snapped.

“Your horns.” I was past caring at that point. This place was so weird, and it needed to accept the fact that I thought so. “They’re cute,” I quickly added, because she was also driving the truck that would be towing my car to freedom, and I didn’t want to start off on a bad foot.

Zara shrugged and leaned back against the pickup with a nonchalance that shouted outward confidence but whispered, I’m ready to bolt the moment the cops show up.

I turned to Casey. “So, what’s the plan? There is one, right?”

He waved a hand dismissively. “Pretty simple. We all hop in Zara’s truck, then we break in, grab the car, load it on the dolly, and escape. The whole thing should take five to ten minutes.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You seem to be skipping important details. How do we get in? How do we not trip alarms? And crucially, how do we not get caught?”

“Don’t worry, cousin. I’ve got this handled.”

I put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m worried.”

“Fine. First step, we climb in the car. Second step, Zara turns the ignition. Third—”

That was just too much lip, so I kicked him in the shin. “Real details.”

Casey winced and rubbed his leg. “Jeez! I was teasing!”

“We’ll go through the back,” said Zara. “Casey will disable the alarm spells, and I’ll unlock the door. You find your keys in the office while he opens the garage bay door and I pull up out front. We’ll all push your car onto the dolly and drive away. Simple.”

“And if wolves show up?”

Casey shrugged. “We won’t trip any alarms, so they won’t. But if they do, we get in the truck and go. There’s no way to outrun them on foot.”

“Won’t they just chase down our car? The wolves that attacked me caught up with me on the open road.”

Casey’s eyes got big. “Really? Shit. I didn’t think they could run that fast. I haven’t seen them do that around here, but maybe they’re holding back. They don’t like us to know much about them. Still, that’s freaky fast. Let’s not get caught.”

“Watertight plan, Case.” I sighed.

“Also, if they catch you, no lethal force.” Casey fixed Zara with a stern look, then turned to me. “This is Magic Side, not Chicago. There are rules of engagement. That’s why I’m giving you this.” He pressed a little bottle into my hand. “I know you can’t control your magic worth crap, so if someone looks like they’re going to eat you, just point this at them, close your eyes, and spray.”

“Yeah. I’m familiar with the application.”

He shook his head. “No, you’re not. Only use this in dire emergencies. The wolves will try to scare you because they think it’s fun. They might rough you up. Roll with the punches and get them back later. Only use this if you’re staring down a wolf, it’s out of its mind, and it’s getting ready to bite. That’s some serious weapons-grade shit in your hand.”

I swallowed hard. None of these scenarios sounded great.

Casey paused as he opened the truck door and glanced between Zara and me. “And, uh, don’t tell anyone where you got that if they ask.”

I rolled my eyes. “I won’t.”

“And cousin, really, really, really try not spray yourself in the face.”

I pocketed the bottle of what I assumed to be some kind of mace and stuck out my hip. “Casey, you’re a complete ass.”

He hopped in the passenger side, leaving me the suicide seats in the back. “Strange. A lot of people tell me that.”

Five minutes later, we pulled to a halt a couple blocks from Savage Body.

“Why are we stopping?” I asked.

“Disguises for the cameras,” Casey said as he handed out black gloves and fuzzy masks.

I held one up. “Oh, God, what is this?”

In answer, Casey put his on. They were furry wolf masks.

I groaned. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

Zara put hers on, too. “Suit up. Let’s go, rookie.”

I acquiesced as the pickup rumbled down the road. The eye holes in the mask limited my vision. Was trolling the wolves like this really worth it?

Before I could decide if it was better to call things off, the truck stopped right around the corner from Savage Body. Adrenaline surged through my veins as my mind tried to come to grips with this lunacy.

Casey and Zara jumped out and darted up the alley behind the restored brick building, and I followed after. As soon as we got to the back door, Casey began whispering and waving his fingers like an abject madman.

Was this what it meant to be a sorcerer?

My doubts vanished as he formed a little glowing ball of light in his gloved palm. He blew, and the light drifted outward like a feather on the wind. It brushed gently against the door, and in a crackle of power, the whole doorway lit up with glowing magical runes.

My breath caught at the beauty of it.

Then the magic symbols dissolved into sparks and faded into nothingness.

“That should do it,” Casey whispered. “Wolves don’t do magic, so they buy off-the-shelf stuff from mages. Not too hard to crack.”

Zara knelt beside the doorknob, touched it, and closed her eyes. It clicked. She carefully turned the knob and swung the door in, revealing a pitch-black room.

“What did you do?” I whispered.

“I’m part Iron Mage. I control metal.”

“Cool.” I couldn’t quite wrap my mind around what all that entailed, but it sounded awesome.

Casey pulled a tiny flashlight out of his back pocket and flicked it around the room. Within a few seconds, he’d found the lights and switched them on.

My heart seized. My Gran Fury sat on a lift in the middle of the second bay, hood up and totally in pieces.

“What did he do?” I gasped as I dashed over to the car.

The seat back had been removed and lay to the side, along with several parts that I assumed made the car go.

This was bad.

Zara flicked a switch on the wall, and the hydraulic lift roared to life, slowly lowering the car to the ground.

Casey grabbed my shoulder. “Don’t worry, your ride’s probably okay. We’ll just need to take everything with us. Go get your keys from the office.”

Tears swam in the corners of my eyes as I darted for the office. That asshole had ripped apart the one thing that mattered to me.

I tried the office door. “It’s locked!”

“Give me a sec, I’ll get it!” Zara shouted from the lift.

I shook the doorknob as my mind spun with worry. There could be a silent alarm. They could be on their way. Jaxson could be here any second.

My skin began to prickle, and my arm hair stood on end. Then a shock of cold raced down my arm and blasted the doorknob out of my hand. I yelped as the office door blew off its hinges, and the detached doorknob clattered to the floor somewhere in the office.

“Damn,” Zara called from her post. “I thought you didn’t know magic.”

I looked down at my hand in shock. “I don’t.”

A big red light in the interior of the office started blinking.

Well, crap.

As a new layer of panic seeped into my voice, I shouted to Casey, “I think I screwed up!”

“Get the keys,” Zara hissed. “I’ll get the truck. We gotta work fast.”

I flicked on the office lights and found the cabinet with the car keys, which was also locked. Zara was gone, so I tried focusing my mind and doing the magic thing.

Nothing. No explosion, no icy skin, no juice.

With nothing else to do, I rampaged through the desk until I found a key hanging on a hidden hook. I jammed it in the lock and popped the cabinet open. My keys were on a chain with a bunch of tiny silver paint brushes, so they were easy to find. I snagged them and dashed out of the office.

When I emerged, Casey had the car down and the bay door open, and Zara had expertly backed the truck up so the tow dolly was aligned.

We were so close.

Casey waved me over. “Hop in and put her in neutral! Zara and I will push.”

I slid into the driver’s seat, and my heart wrenched. My radio was gone, leaving only a big black hole in the faux wood paneling.

I was going to murder Jaxson Laurent.

But first, we had to get out of here. I threw the car in neutral and gripped the wheel. “Okay!”

Casey grunted and pushed the car with all his might. Zara rolled her eyes and waved her hand, and the car slowly rolled forward. When Casey grunted and fell on his knees, she grinned.

Apparently, mastery over metal meant she could shove half-ton cars around. Cool.

The metal ramps of the trailer grated on the pavement as the Fury’s wheels rolled on up. Then the pickup lurched forward an inch as the car thumped against the end of the dolly and settled down in the wheel sockets.

“Nice! Let’s get the other shit!” Casey shouted.

I scrambled out of the car as Zara secured straps around the wheels, barely believing our luck. Casey was struggling with the loose back of the seat, so I grabbed hold, and we dumped it in the bed of the pickup.

I ran around the pile of car parts. “What is all this stuff? Does it even belong to my car?”

“No idea!” Casey yelled, picking up a few pipe-like objects. “Just grab it and go. You can give it back later if it doesn’t belong!”

“This is insane!” I snatched a few things I thought I recognized, ran back to the truck, and dumped them in the bed.

Zara had finished securing the Fury and climbed up into the cab of the truck. “Let’s go, you two!”

“Wait! There’s more stuff!” I darted back into the garage.

Casey held up a couple of bits and bobs. “I’m not actually sure that any of this is yours.”

“That’s my radio.” I grabbed it and clutched it close to my chest. The open socket in the dashboard had been like a hole in my heart.

Shouts erupted from behind us, and I spun around. At the commotion, the pickup’s tires screeched on the pavement, and it lurched forward. “She’s leaving us!” I shouted in disbelief.

Casey and I raced toward the open garage as the truck peeled away, my Gran Fury in tow. We staggered to a halt as shadows appeared in the street outside. Werewolves.

“Back door! Run!” Casey shouted.

We barreled out the rear into the alley. He slammed the door shut and wove a quick spell, and sparks erupted from the doorknob. “Go! They’ll just run around the outside of the building. Or over the top—they can jump really far!”

We tore down the alley. I looked back as a dark shadow leapt onto the roof of the garage, then sprung high into the air. With the obscured vision of the mask, I couldn’t see where it landed. I could barely see where we were going.

“Are they going to kill us?” I screamed.

“Probably not! Don’t use any hocus-pocus unless absolutely necessary. We’re on their turf, and that would be bad,” Casey panted, surprisingly out of shape.

“I don’t have any goddamned hocus-pocus left to use!” I yelled back as we rounded a corner.

“You’ll be fine!” he replied, but then the shadowy form of a woman slammed into his chest, and he flew into the wall.

Sam. Jaxson’s bartender.

I skidded to a halt.

Jaxson stood at the far end of the alley, silhouetted against the streetlights. My breath caught, and my knees locked.

“Run, Savannah!” Casey screamed as he scrambled up from the ground.

Sam swept his feet out from under him, which knocked him on his ass and knocked me to my senses. I bolted back down the alley with Jaxson on my heels.