Dark Lies: Chapter 16

Jaxson

I stepped around Max as he struggled to drag the last of the unconscious Arrowhead Disciples out the door. “Big Red is awake and pissy, but I think he’s willing to talk.”

With an unreadable look, Savannah and Harlow broke off their conversation and followed me outside.

Big Red began struggling violently as soon as he saw Savannah. “Don’t let that psycho bitch near me! Look what she did!”

I grabbed him by the jacket and shoved him back against the telephone pole. “Were you part of the crew that grabbed the redhead outside of Eclipse?”

He spat in my face. “I’m not answering your questions.”

I pressed him back so his shoulders popped, then rammed him with my alpha presence as hard as I could.

“Ah, fuck, don’t…” he whined as I bared down. “Yes! It took me a second, but I recognized that little slut even with her brown hair. I could smell her blood. Wanted the Scarlet.” He gave Savy a licentious look as I released a little pressure. “I would have taken more than that.”

She hauled back and slapped him, then snarled, “Who sent you after me?”

He turned his head in resistance.

“Answer our questions.” I let the weight of my alpha presence drop on him like a sledgehammer, commanding his submission with every fiber of my body.

“Fucking alpha,” he spat, but he scowled and submitted. “According to our president, if we got you, we could make more Scarlet.”

“How?” I asked.

He twisted to face me and bared his teeth. “I don’t know! I just push the stuff! We were supposed to hand her over to the alpha of the Central Michigan pack. I don’t know why.”

“Lucius Grayling?”

Big Red snorted. “Yeah, he used to be called that. But he’s changed. Now he just calls himself the Dragon, or something. That fucker is out of his mind, but if he could deliver the Scarlet…”

Savannah clenched my arm, and I could feel the urgency tingling in her fingertips. Not Dragon. Dragan.

Her claws dug into my skin. “Why do you say he’s out of his mind?” she pressed.

“I haven’t met him. But the guys he hasn’t brainwashed say he’s batshit crazy. Argues with his wolf aloud. Fucking acts like some kind of prophet.”

Damn. It had to be Dragan.

Harlow didn’t miss a beat. “You two know this guy?”

Savannah’s eyes burned with emotion. “Victor Dragan. My aunt killed him decades ago, but he won’t stay dead. His ghost possessed Ulan Kahanov, and he’s been hunting me. Seems he’s found a new host.”

“Possessed?” Harlow asked. “And Kahanov? The prisoner who escaped Bentham several months ago?”

Savy nodded. “He’s dead.”

Sam tensed. “Time’s up, boss! The fuzz are on their way. I can hear them.”

“What?” Harlow asked.

I perked up my ears, catching the faint noise though the cars were still miles away. “Sirens in the distance. You’ll hear them soon enough.”

“Shit! We’ve got to wrap this up before more humans arrive.” Harlow turned back to Big Red. “Where can we find this Dragan, the Dragon, whatever he calls himself?”

“I don’t know.”

I gripped the biker by his vest and pulled him forward so his cuffs caught on the pole, his shoulders straining in his sockets. “Where?”

He growled and clenched his teeth, but at last, he spoke. “There’s supposed to be a rally up in Michigan three nights from now. I’m certain that he’ll be there. I wasn’t going to go. Those two-headed freaks are involved and pushing it hard.”

I let him slump back.

Harlow glanced at Savannah. “Two-headed freaks?”

Big Red glared at us. “Yeah, they’ve all got these freaky two-headed wolf tattoos. I think it’s like some sort of doomsday cult. There’s a few in every pack and MC around.”

Harlow’s eyes burned. “Have they ever approached you? Told you what they wanted?”

For some reason, he looked at Savannah. “They say the Dark Wolf God is coming back. That we won’t have to live in fear of humans anymore. We won’t have to hide. I told them I’m not afraid of any human. I just want to sling dope, get paid, and get laid.”

Harlow looked over her shoulder in the direction of the approaching sirens. “I hear them. I’ve got to get this prick back to the Hall of Inquiry. Laurent, you three better get your bikes and ride. The cleanup crew is going to have a hard enough time setting all this straight without you getting caught.”

Savannah knelt and looked Big Red in the eye. “Where and when is the rally?”

He trembled in front of her and looked away. “Monday night, an hour before midnight at Pere Cheney Graveyard. Too fucking freaky, if you ask me. That’s all I know, I swear.”

I could feel the truth of his words.

Harlow pulled Savannah back. “You’ve got to go, now. I’ll let you know if I learn anything else. For now, this guy needs to take his nap for transport.” With that, she pulled a potion bomb out of her pocket, uncorked it, and splashed a little in Big Red’s face. He flinched, but as the liquid began to steam, his head lolled forward. “He won’t be begging to call his lawyer anytime soon,” the agent muttered.

Savannah turned to go but paused at the door. “Thanks for the bailout and for not busting us.”

Harlow nodded. “You three aren’t out of the woods. Don’t go vigilante again. If you do, I don’t care what friends you have up top—I’ll throw you in lockup myself. We’ll help you get Dragan, but you’re working with us, under our rules.”

Savannah nodded. Fucking hell.

“Let’s go, boss!” Sam shouted from inside the building.

The three of us raced through the bar.

“Don’t come back, now!” the bartender said meekly from the back corner.

I turned and took a step toward him. “If I hear you open your mouth about our role in this or say anything to the cops, I’ll come back and gut you myself.”

They’d wipe his memory, but it was deeply satisfying to see him start trembling.

I followed Savy and Sam through the broken front door. Our bikes were still outside and in one piece.

Savannah wiped her eyes and started fiddling with her helmet. I could feel her strangled sense of despair pulsing through me, a deep melancholy that was not my own. “Are you okay?”

“Not really. I messed that guy up pretty good. If you hadn’t stopped me…” She looked away, in the direction of the approaching cop cars.

I reached out and brushed away a tear, then gently traced the bruise on her cheek. “Don’t cry for that prick. He and his friends were planning to abduct you and drain you dry. Do you think you’re the first girl he’s hurt to get what he wants? Harlow knew him by name, and she’s got a dossier on him. The beating you gave him—he probably deserved worse.”

She pulled away and tugged her helmet on, concealing her face. “And I’ve done worse, Jaxson—I’ve killed people, for heaven’s sake. But today—that wasn’t me, and it wasn’t my wolf. I was so angry. For a moment, I was just…somebody else. I’m becoming something I’m not. A monster.”

I grabbed her by her shoulder and spun her toward me. “No. You’re a wolf, and you’re fighting to survive. You’re not alone, Savannah. You’re part of a pack. We all wrestle with our beasts, but I swear, you are not a monster.” I let my presence wrap around her, soothing her emotions.

There was so much more I wanted to say, but the sirens were almost on us. I glanced down the road as my fists clenched in frustration. “Fuck. We’ve got to go.”

Sam gunned her Harley and rumbled out of the lot. I swung my leg over my bike, and Savy hopped up behind, just like I’d taught her. She wrapped her arms around me and squeezed tightly. Her magic and signature flowed through me, and although I could sense her despair, for one second, in a bloody fucked-up day, everything was all right.

I fired up my bike, and with Savannah pressed close against my back, we rumbled out onto the open road.