: Chapter 19

Savannah

The Dockside asshole turned and walked away.

Clutching my radio, I leaned my head back against the rough red brick and let out a deep sigh of relief as he turned the corner, though the world seemed less vibrant with his signature gone.

Get your head screwed on straight, Savy.

I hated the way my body felt around him. Excited. Aroused. The man was a wolf. He’d stolen my car and threatened me with a murder charge. He’d chased me down a dark alley at night. Not to mention he loathed everything about me. I could see it in his face whenever he set those damn honey eyes on me.

Also, the noble werewolf king had just left me standing there with a couple of his thugs.

“Let’s go, LaSalle.” Goon One shoved me hard and gestured down the alley.

“I’m not a LaSalle.” I bent to grab the bottle of mace I’d dropped, but Goon Two put his foot on it.

Fine.

I raised my chin and strode down the alley with the goons in tow. My phone rang for the third time, and I pulled it out and answered, “Hey, Case.”

“Are you okay? Do I need to call in the troops?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m being marched out of pack territory by a couple of Jaxson’s thugs.”

“Thank fates. I was getting nervous,” Casey clucked like a mother hen.

“Are you okay? What happened?”

He sighed. “Well, I just got my ass kicked by a chick.”

I wrinkled my nose in annoyance. “And what’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing,” he huffed. “I’ve got lots of chicks who are friends, so it happens a lot. I’m just saying I literally got my ass kicked by a woman, and it’s gonna be uncomfortable sitting down for a few days. Where are you?”

“An alley somewhere. Probably headed in your direction.”

“Cool. I’m just chilling across the street from my new wolf pals, so I guess I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

I hung up as we exited the alley and followed the sidewalk along the street. Everything was closed aside from a couple of dive bars, though the road was well lit with the deep golden glow of sodium streetlamps. A few late-night drinkers staggered down the sidewalk, and I brushed my hand along the bars of a pawnshop window, quite happy to have bodyguards at my side for the walk through this part of Magic Side.

This wasn’t small-town Wisconsin anymore.

As my fight-or-flight instinct began to relax, a spark of elation built in my chest. Sure, I was forcibly getting escorted out of the neighborhood, but we’d gotten my car back, and it’d been a rush. I’d been chased down by the alpha, but I’d stood my ground at the end and showed him I wouldn’t back down. And that felt good.

Sort of. He had made me nearly piss myself.

Despite that, by the time we reached the edge of the pack’s territory, I’d gotten my mojo back.

Casey sat on the hood of a car across the street, under the close supervision of Sam and another wolf. I opened my mouth to apologize to her, but she tossed her hair, turned away, and climbed into a black SUV.

Goon One gave me a final unnecessary shove. “Stay on your side of the street, LaSalle.”

“Hands off,” I snapped, and then I marched across the road, head held high.

Casey grinned, and flipped off the wolves as they drove away. “Hey, we did it!” he crowed. “And I’m glad you’re okay. How are you feeling about your first car heist?”

“Well, short of injury, I’m not sure how much worse that could have gone. We got busted. I thought you were a pro at this.”

He shrugged apologetically. “Maybe not a pro, but in all fairness, I didn’t think they’d disassemble it. That was bullshit. Anyway, we got the car and the parts, and that’s what matters.”

I pointed the radio at him accusingly. “Your asshole friend ditched us. God knows where the car is.”

He shook his head. “Rules say every man for himself, but yeah, she’s an ass. Still, she did her job. I called her, and your car is at the shop now under lock and key. The wolves won’t risk a confrontation up in the Midway Dens. Mission accomplished. Also, don’t tell Mom. Ever.”

Great. That basically confirmed how idiotic this had been.

I took a deep, chest-stretching breath and scanned the nearly empty street. “Mission-critical question: how do we get home? That’s not your car, too, is it?” I gestured to the Honda Civic that Casey was sitting on.

He glanced down. “No. Why? I already summoned a cab. It’ll be here in a couple minutes, and we’ll grab my RAV-4.”

I shrugged and leaned back against the Civic. “I thought your ass hurt so much, you wouldn’t be able to sit for a week.”

Casey kicked his legs out. “Yeah, but my legs are tired. That was a lot of running.”

He’d made it all of five hundred feet before getting tackled. Casey was oddly out of shape for his build.

I released a long, low breath that felt like it had been pent up in my chest for hours. “I can’t believe we did that. It was so stupid. And dangerous.”

“Totally stupid, but not that dangerous. These things don’t generally end up with fatalities. I can throw fireballs. They can gut us with their hands. Generally, everybody is so deadly, we make sure things don’t escalate. The most important thing is that we had a fun time.”

I closed my eyes and slowly shook my head. My cousin was clearly bonkers. One hundred percent a nutter. But I couldn’t deny that I’d had fun. Breaking magical locks, sneaking in, getting what was mine…even getting caught, though I was scared at the time. My instincts told me Jaxson wouldn’t hurt me, but damn was he intimidating.

And I’d wanted to run. To have him chase. That made no fricking sense at all.

I cracked a smile at my lunatic cousin. “I think hanging out with you is making me crazy.”

He kicked his heels softly against the side of the car. “Oh, we’re crazy for sure. But that probably wouldn’t wear off on you so quickly unless you were nuts to begin with.”

“Maybe. But strangely, I didn’t notice it before coming here.”

Casey slid off the hood as our cab pulled up. “We’re all more than what we suspect we are. In this case, I’m willing to bet you were nuts long before you met us.”

Fair enough.

We walked our tired asses back to Casey’s RAV-4, then immediately violated Jaxson’s explicit orders by going to the Magic Moon Motel.

It was a risk, but I needed fresh undies, clothes, and a toothbrush. I was a civilized person, and I was going to get my stuff back.

Casey parked out front and shook his head. “You’re shitting me. You actually stayed here? The name wasn’t a dead giveaway?”

Magic Moon. That made a lot more sense now.

“How was I supposed to know? At the time, I was drunk and didn’t really know about magic. Now come on, help me pack.”

“Hold up.” He reached under his seat and pulled out another bottle of mace and handed it to me. “Try not to lose this one this time.”

“How many bottles of this stuff do you have?”

Casey smirked. “More than I can count. I wouldn’t go on pack lands without it. Just remember, emergency use only.”

The guy at the front desk was gone, thank God, so we darted up the stairs two at a time.

“This place isn’t half bad,” Casey said as we reached the first-floor landing.

“Just because they’re animals doesn’t mean they can’t run a good business. I mean, have you been to Eclipse?”

“Girl, did I just hear what I think I did? Rewind. Werewolves are bastards, and any business they run is shifty. Don’t you forget that.”

I rolled my eyes and pulled out my room key, but I paused before slipping it into the lock.

The door was already slightly ajar.

“Motherfuckers,” I whispered. I’d raided the shop, and now the werewolves had raided my room. Was Jaxson going to hold my underwear ransom?

My instincts held me back. Maybe it wasn’t Jaxson.

“Let’s get out of here,” I whispered to Casey.

Before I could turn around, the door whipped open, and a meaty hand grabbed my arm and pulled me inside. I twisted and came face to face with a six-and-a-half-foot-tall grinning shifter. He wore a ski mask that hid everything but his erupted canines and glowing crimson eyes.

Fear sunk its claws into chest, and my pulse shot through the roof.

Red eyes. It’s them. The people hunting me.

I wrenched back, but when he wouldn’t release me, I pulled out Casey’s mace and gave him a good spray. A cloud of mist enveloped the man’s masked face, and a heart-wrenching snarl erupted from him. He stumbled back into the wall, clawing at his eyes and roaring in pain.

Tears streamed down my cheeks, and I coughed, suddenly unable to breathe.

“Don’t spray that shit inside!” Casey yelled, too late.

A second shifter stepped out of the bathroom and let out a roar of rage. Casey stepped around me and unleashed a glowing fireball.

Flames billowed around the room and paralyzed me in place.

Was I breathing? No, because I was choking on mace.

A hand smacked me in the face, returning me to my senses. I stumbled back and clutched my stinging cheek, then snarled and kicked my attacker in the nuts. He was still fighting the effects of the mace and dropped to his knees, grimacing in pain.

“Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to hit girls?” I managed between coughs.

Before I could react, his fist shot out, lightning fast, and struck me in the stomach. I flew several feet back and crashed into the opposite wall. Pain exploded in my abdomen, and I gasped for air.

“You okay?” Casey shouted over his shoulder. Another crimson-eyed man appeared through the door and leapt toward Casey, claws extended.

My eyes bugged out, and I tried to scream a warning, but only a croak came forth.

Casey spun away from the claws and flung a burst of glowing light at the man. It hit the shifter in the chest and pitched him back out through the door.

The shifter I’d dropped to the floor grabbed Casey’s ankle and jerked him to the ground. He twisted, and Casey’s ankle popped. My cousin unleashed a slew of curses that shocked even me and blasted the shifter with a stream of fire.

The shifter howled with pain as fire cascaded over him. His ski mask went up in flames, and the skin on his face sizzled off. I gagged from the smell of burnt flesh and polyester. He scrambled to his feet and charged out the door in a blur, followed by the other.

“You little sissies! Come back and fight!” Casey yelled after them.

Clutching my stomach and gagging from the aftershock of the mace, I got up and dragged Casey to his feet. “Come on, we can’t let them get away.”

He flinched and hobbled on one leg. “Are you nuts?”

“Probably, but this is a chance to nab one of these bastards. Let’s go!”

I hauled him outside and down the stairs. His ankle was swollen, and I had to brace him the whole way. Luckily, the guy at the front desk was still gone. I hoped he hadn’t been offed by the attackers.

Unless he was working with them.

“Keys!” I held out my hand and shoved Casey into the passenger seat. He rolled his eyes and tossed the keys to me, but as I started for the other door, I froze halfway around the car.

The three shifters who’d ambushed us were lurking across the street, their ruddy eyes on me. Fear and anger gripped me, each fighting for control. The one that Casey had fireballed strode toward us. His skin looked like it was almost healed, and I shivered.

These monsters were unstoppable.

Casey rolled down the window and held out his hand with a ball of fire floating above his palm.

The shifter paused, and then all three scrambled for an Oldsmobile parked on the side of the road.

Casey’s fireball soared through the air and exploded on the pavement beside them, knocking one of them on his ass. The glass of the nearby storefront shattered with the blast.

“What the hell are you doing?” I yelled as I jumped into the front seat of the RAV-4 and turned the ignition.

The shifters scrambled into their car and tore down the road, weaving across the street.

I gunned it and raced after them.

Casey grinned at me, one hand holding the oh-shit handle. “Preparing the barbeque. I’m hungry for some shifter steaks.”

“And I’m the one who’s nuts? You are a certified wacko, Casey.”

He was having way too much fun, and I was pretty sure that blowing up shit in the pack’s territory was a no-no.

There was going to be hell to pay.