Chapter 8: : Chapter 8

My body quaked with rage, and my wolf tore at my chest, demanding to be set free.

I scanned the street as the blood on my claws began to smoke and evaporate, leaving behind the sickly aroma of overripe fruit. The scent made me weary, dulling my thoughts.

Casey’s voice shook me from my dark thoughts. “What the hell are you doing in our territory, Laurent?”

I slowly turned my attention to the fool LaSalle, who had a ball of flame hovering in his hand. “Watching out for Savannah. Someone has to.”

He started to speak, but I turned on him and silenced him with my presence. He was a mosquito.

Laurel LaSalle, on the other hand, had me worried. She hadn’t said a thing, but her eyes hadn’t left me for an instant. Her gaze was almost painful, as if it were slowly peeling the skin from my body.

“The moment we find Savannah, you get the hell out of here, understand?” Casey hissed.

“Gladly.”

He started bellowing Savannah’s name again, but I snarled at him. “Quiet, asshole. She’s here and afraid. Shouting isn’t going to calm her.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I’m a wolf, and I can smell her.”

But it was more than scent. Something was pulling me toward her, a sixth sense leading me on. Had that always been there?

I crossed a yard and paused, then slowly stepped over to the shadows in the lee of a house. They were too black. Too deep. “Savannah? Are you there?”

No response came, but I didn’t need one. I could hear her thundering heartbeat and smell her fear.

“The thing is gone. You’re safe.” I stepped forward, but Savannah swept out of the darkness, away from me and from her cousin. The shadows clung to her, trailing her like a long black dress, moving softly in the glow of the streetlights.

It was beautiful.

“I will never be safe.”

Her voice rang with anger, but I could tell it was covering for terror. I sensed she wanted to run toward me, but she just kept moving away.

Casey came over and reached for her. “Hey, it’s going to be okay, Savy.”

She spun away. “No, it is .”

He shrugged. “Look, the bug is dead, and we all lived. It’s nothing a belt of whiskey can’t fix.”

“What do you know? Nothing,” she spat, maneuvering around us like boxers in the ring. “Kahanov just invaded my dreams and made me sleepwalk out here. Then he tried to feed me to a horror from the abyss. I am freaking okay, and I don’t think I’m ever going to sleep again.”

Shocked silence hung in the street.

He’d invaded her dreams?

My body shook as I tried to repress my wolf, and my hands and face ached as I held back the shift.

“Holy shit,” Casey murmured, eyes wide.

I wanted to go to Savannah, but I suspected the moment any of us took a step forward, she would back away—she was on edge, a tiger against a wall. Perhaps the others understood as well, because not one of us moved.

Finally, Savannah licked her lips. “Do any of you know what the hell that was? It was under his control and sent to capture me.”

“It was a demon, though not one I’ve ever encountered. Come back in the house, and we’ll figure this out.” Laurel’s voice seemed like a placid lake, but that was just a well-controlled veneer concealing a torrent of anger that made the hair on my neck stand on end. Her signature was oppressive—bees buzzing in my mind and a choking scent of spices. How Savannah could stand to be around them, I didn’t know.

I pushed my alpha presence toward Savannah, trying to calm her unease. “Clearly, Kahanov is capable of far more than blood magic. I warned you that staying here would be dangerous. You should come back to Dockside, and I’ll put you in a safehouse with an armed detail.”

Casey gave a bitter laugh. “No way in hell is she going back to Dockside with you. She’s safer here, and you know it. Bullets and claws aren’t going to do shit against that kind of thing.”

I spun on him and snarled. “You annoyed it. I ripped its throat out.”

“All the more reason she’s not going with you,” he retorted.

Savannah stepped forward, fists tightly balled. “Stop talking about me like I’m not here! Both of you!”

Casey flinched.

Laurel moved to the railing of her porch. “I can show you a way to protect yourself, Savannah, so that never happens again.”

“How?”

“When we trained this morning, you took cover in a circle of protection. I can make one around your bed that will shield your mind—that includes your dreams as well as protection against mind reading and scrying. It’ll take time, but I can show you how.”

My wolf rose in protest, but I reined it in. As much as I wanted to take Savannah away from there, I couldn’t guarantee that Kahanov wouldn’t hijack her dreams again.

Savannah looked between us, then met my gaze. “Yes. That’s what I want. Teach me to protect myself.”

I took a step forward. “Savannah—”

“We’ve got this, wolf,” Casey spat.

I twisted and narrowed my eyes at the asshole. “Obviously, you don’t, LaSalle.”

Savannah moved up the stairs beside her aunt. “Jaxson, I’m staying here.”

Bitterness wound around me. Fine. If that’s what she wanted, so be it.

I turned to go, but she spoke. “Casey, Aunt Laurel, give me a minute?”

With reluctance, they headed inside.

Savannah stared down at me from the rail, wrapped in her cloak of shadows. “I saw what you did. Thank you.”

I set my jaw. I wasn’t going to be patronized. “He’ll send more, whether you’re sleeping or not. We need to figure out what that is. Could you draw it? Like you’ve done before?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Send me a picture, and I’ll pass it on to Neve. I’ll let you know what she finds.”

Savannah nodded and turned toward the door. She paused as she held it open, letting the yellow light spill out. “You can’t protect me from this, Jaxson. You know that, right?”

Then she disappeared inside and shut the door.

By the next morning, shit had spiraled out of control. Three members of my pack were in the hospital. They’d gone to sleep, and no one could wake them.

I had no doubt that this was the result of another sort of dream attack and that Kahanov was to blame. His powers had grown. But how?

Dark thoughts percolating in my mind, I stormed through the halls of the hospital. With a nod of my head to the security guard, I entered the restricted wing where the sleepers had been taken. I had to see them for myself, to face the consequence of my choices.

My phone dinged, and I stole a glance as I pushed through a set of double doors. A text from Neve:

Of that, I had no doubt. I checked the time—almost 11:30—and sent a quick response:

Regina was waiting for me outside a curtained hospital room, along with a doctor and Lily Duvoir, the curse diviner, who was dressed in a long flowing blue skirt with stacks of bangles around her arms. I was surprised she’d agreed to come. She rarely left her home in Dockside.

I tucked my phone away. “What’s our status?”

The doctor looked at his chart. “We have three of your werewolves here. They’re in comas. We haven’t found a way to bring them around with magic or modern medicine.”

I pushed aside the privacy curtain, revealing a young woman with short black hair who was sleeping peacefully. My heart caught. “Shit, it’s Cara.”

Regina nodded.

Cara was a green recruit, but enthusiastic, and I’d believed in her enough to put her on the team that I’d sent to hunt the rogue wolves in Wisconsin last week. She was there when we stormed Billy’s cabin. Now she was comatose.

Had Kahanov picked his victims at random, or had he seen her up there somehow and was seeking revenge?

I scrubbed a hand across my jaw and cursed. This was my responsibility.

Rage and frustration fought for control of my emotions, and my wolf stirred. I dug my fingers into my palms and forced it back. I had to keep my head clear.

“What are we dealing with here?” I growled, my voice teetering on the edge of lupine.

The curse diviner stepped up beside me. “I’ve examined them all. It’s a sleeping curse.”

I looked from her to the doctor. “Fine. How do I break it?”

Lily shook her curly dark hair. “I don’t know. I think the girl is trapped in a dream, perhaps a nightmare. To break the curse, you might have to enter her dreams, but how that would be done, I haven’t a clue.”

“And the others are the same?”

Regina nodded. “Sleeping soundly, just like her. Sometimes they move a little or moan or cry out, but they can’t wake up.”

I looked from one woman to the other. “Savannah Caine was attacked in her dreams last night. The sorcerer made her sleepwalk. Did that happen to any of the sleepers? Were they attacked in some other way?”

Regina crossed her arms and lifted her head toward Cara. “According to her mother, she came in late and just went to bed like normal.”

I took a deep breath, seeking an increasingly elusive calm.

Kahanov had appeared in Savannah’s dream. Had he entered Cara’s dreams and trapped her there? The consequences were staggering. If the bastard could attack my pack in dreams, then he could attack anywhere. We were under siege from an invisible assailant who was going to put my wolves to sleep one by one until I submitted.

Regina handed me photos of two other pack members. The other sleepers, trapped in nightmares.

This was the consequence of not handing over Savannah.

Every muscle in my body wanted me to shift and to hunt and to kill.

, I told my wolf.

I needed more information. “Can I talk to Cara’s mother? Is she here?”

The doctor led me to a woman sitting alone in a waiting room, who rose when we entered the room. “Alpha.”

I inclined my head. “I’m sorry about Cara. She’s a good wolf.”

Her mother looked away and covered her mouth.

I pushed my alpha presence toward her. “It’s going to be okay. I’ll do everything I can to get her back.”

She nodded slowly as my presence took away her fear and pain and amplified the true power I had over my pack—their trust.

I placed a hand on her shoulder. “Tell me what happened. Was she attacked? Any sign of a demon entering the house?”

She shook her head and wiped her eyes on the backs of her hands. “Cara came home from a night on the town and was quiet all evening. I thought she was just sleeping in late, but when I checked on her, she wouldn’t wake up. I called 911 right away.”

The scent of her emotions tore at me. Despair. Anguish. Hopelessness.

My pack was hurting, and that cut worse than any knife wound.

I tried to coax more information out of her, but the anguished woman had little to give. Eventually, Regina laid a hand on my arm, and I caught the meaning in her eyes.

I stepped back. “I’m sorry to ask so many questions. I’ll let you get some rest. And I’ll do everything I can to lift the curse from Cara.”

“Thank you, Alpha.”

I turned to leave, but the woman caught my arm. “It’s silly, but I had a dream about this.”

My heart froze. I’d only been asking about Cara. “What do you mean?”

“A man came to me in my dreams…he was tall and thin, and I never saw his face. He said my daughter was in trouble, and that…” She paused and averted her eyes, and I sensed deep shame.

“What did he say? Tell me. It’s important.”

She swallowed and wouldn’t meet my gaze. “He said that you’d failed us, but that you’d know what to do to make it right.”

Fury wound around my heart. That fucking bastard Kahanov.

She quickly grasped my hand, sensing my rage. “I know it was just a dream, and this isn’t your fault, Alpha. But I’m praying that you do know what to do.”

I nodded. “I’ll get to the bottom of this.”

I left, and Regina tailed me down the hall. Once we were out of earshot, I pulled her to the side. “This is Kahanov, for certain. He’s trying to force me to hand Savannah over.”

“Will you?”

“No.”

She frowned, and I could sense her dissent.

“You think it’s the wrong decision? Kahanov is a terrorist. I won’t negotiate.”

She averted her eyes. “It’s the right call. For now.”

I followed her look back down the hall to the worried mother sitting alone in the waiting room.

What a fucking mess. Regina was my second in command. That meant she could question, doubt, and consider all options. But I couldn’t. I was alpha, and I wouldn’t bend before him.

“I’m going to the Archives to chase a lead. You need to get the word out. Find out if anyone else has been attacked. Get someone to interview the last people to see each of the victims awake, as well as anyone who was approached by a faceless man in their dreams.”

“On it,” she said with palpable relief. She was more comfortable when she had a clear plan to pursue.

I turned and headed down the hall. As I walked, I texted Damian Malek, one of Magic Side’s underworld bosses.

Savannah, Amal, Neve, Regina, Damian. One of them was going to find something that pointed to what Kahanov was up to.

And once I knew that, I would relentlessly hunt him down and make him beg for mercy. I would become nightmare.