Fuck.
Savy raised her eyebrows expectantly. All her initial fire had been a ruse, and I could smell her sense of expectation, even trepidation. The work was excellent, deeply lifelike. I’d seen enough of her artwork to know it was her design.
And it would mark her as a werewolf forever.
I nodded slowly, taking in the implications. “It’s…beautiful. Perfect.”
When Savannah Caine burned bridges, she used napalm.
The she-devil returned to her work, and the buzz of the tattoo machine filled the air.
“I love it, but why now?” I asked softly.
Savy bit her lip, then hardened her eyes. “I didn’t want there to be any mistake any more about who I am.”
My pulse accelerated.
The way she’d fought at first, I’d been afraid it would take her months or years to truly accept what she was. But now that the truth had come out, she was all in—just like that.
Part of me was elated. If Savannah could accept her wolf, she could accept the pack, and maybe she could finally face our bond.
But the rest of me boiled with fury.
All it took was her losing everything.
I fought down my anger at the fucking LaSalles and looked around the shop.
There was a big horned demon working on a vampire in the corner. I chose my words carefully. “Why this shop, rather than…down in Dockside?”
Implication: why the hell are you getting a tattoo of a wolf done by a devil rather than one of your own kind?
The she-devil paused her work and narrowed her eyes at me. “This area is for customers only.”
I didn’t budge.
Savy flinched and gave the tattooist an apologetic look. “I met a demon bartender at the Rift with unbelievable ink—colored tattoos on blue skin. I asked him who did the work. I figured that if you can work on blue skin, you can do anything. So I wound up here with Alana, who’s an unbelievably awesome artist, by the way. That’s her stuff on the wall over there.”
Alana, the she-devil, dipped her needle in an ink pot and returned to inking. “I’m just tracing the lines. You drew the design. I bet you could do this kind of work, if you wanted. You have a lot of talent. I can see it in your other tattoo as well. I can tell it’s your design.”
Savy winced at the pain but forced out a smile. “Thanks. But I just cope with this bat-shit crazy world by sketching.”
The original drawing was lying on the table, next to the transfer paper. It was more than just pencil and lines—it had vitality. I could feel her in every stroke. “It looks exactly like your wolf. It’s perfect.”
She met my eyes. “I’ve drawn her from every possible angle a hundred times, trying to come to terms with…all of this.”
I nodded slowly. “I understand.”
But did I? What would it be like to not know your wolf your whole life?
Savannah cocked her head to the side as if listening to someone. “Also, my wolf wants you to know that she hates having to pose for me in front of mirrors, which I think is BS, because I reward her with bacon.”
My skin turned cold.
Often, I referred separately to my wolf, but it was just a feral, more noble part of my personality—one that was in conflict sometimes with my more human drives.
But the way Savannah spoke about hers, it was like a completely different being living inside of her.
Was she a twin-soul like Dragan? Fully sorcerer and fully wolf, doomed to tear each other apart?
Or maybe she was simply wounded. Her wolf had been torn from her as a child. I couldn’t even imagine the trauma left by that vile spell. Savy never had a chance to understand that part of her personality growing up, so maybe the two parts of her soul were still suturing together like the edges of the wound on her shoulder.
I had to hope that was the truth. But it begged another question: would she ever be whole?
Yes,said the part of me that was a wolf. Give her time.
My knuckles cracked as anger threatened to consume my calm. Laurel LaSalle had stolen Savannah’s identity and chained her very soul. She’d ripped Savannah’s mind in two. I couldn’t think of a crime more perverse to commit against a werewolf. Against a member of my pack.
Her words cracked through my mind: We did it to protect her from your father.
My gut twisted, and my claws slipped out. Savy tilted her head to the side. “What’s wrong?”
This wasn’t the time or place to discuss these things, if there ever would be one, and so I set my jaw and reined in my wolf. “When will you be finished? We need to talk things over before we head to Michigan. The situation there is more dire than I anticipated.”
Savy looked at me with curiosity, then turned to the tattooist. “How much longer?”
The she-devil didn’t pause. “Two hours, give or take. We’re mainly doing outlines and some shading today. Finishing touches and color will take another session or two.”
I fished a wad of cash out of my pocket and counted off a grand or so. “Your best work. Please.”
Savannah’s eyes widened at the stack of bills. “I can cover it, Jax. This is for me, not you.”
“Fine. Then that’s the tip.” I turned and strode away but paused at the door. “Meet me at Eclipse at two. We’ve got a biker rally to break up.”