Page 139 of Ascendant King
I jerked free, growling at him in warning. Tyson stepped back, lowering his head in submission. But I went back to our initial plan.
Red magic caught Cade, Sonja panting and sweating as she twisted the net tight, pulling Cade free from the golden press of Leon’s ink.
Coral and Theo darted in sequentially, grabbing at Leon’s legs, tugging just for a second before releasing and dancing away. He looked down in annoyance, clearly not even havingseen them approach. Nia tried slamming into his legs, but he was prepared this time, and she passed through.
She had learned her lesson, though, and spun in midair, landing facing Leon. As her paws skidded on the concrete, she ran forward again, passing through.
Leon’s annoyance grew, and he raised a hand. That was what I had been waiting for. As soon as he released his magic, I barreled forward, Tyson at my shoulder, three or four wolves coming out of the forest to join me. We grabbed at him, yanking and pulling.
He had to be solid to do his magic, and this was our only chance. I ripped his sleeve free, my teeth and claws dragging at the exposed skin. Tyson tore at his hip, teeth sharp enough to rip through the fabric. Two wolves landed on his back, trying to grab at the weak skin of his neck.
It worked. It was working. We were drawing blood.
Or we should have been, if every wound didn’t expose the seep of gold magic. I spat it out of my mouth, growling and circling, but the next time I leapt forward, Leon was gone, the wolves that had been on him collapsing to the ground.
“You think you will get me?” Leon laughed from behind us, and I spun, growling. He raised his hands, but Nia jumped at him, her teeth digging into his throat, tearing through the fabric at his neck and ripping into his flesh.
He swatted her aside with a wave of magic. She landed hard, her skull cracking on the ground.
Immediately, she was covered in flower tattoos, reappearing next to Rhys. They knelt, speaking quietly, and I dragged my attention back to Leon.
He raised a hand to his throat, pressing down. Then, he shook his head.
“We don’t have to get you, Leon,” Cade said darkly. “You might think you have control of this magic, but it’s the poisonthat’s controlling you. The poison is eating out your mind, consuming you. Soon, there will be nothing left toget.Lookat yourself.”
“And look at what you’ve done to the one that you love best,” Larissa said. She stood next to Jesaiah, holding on to his arm, one hand on his cheek. “This is monstrous, Leon. And I speak as one who has done the unforgivable.”
“Monstrous? Unforgivable?” Leon laughed. It crackled in the air around us, sharp lines of gold visible. “You think to try and tell me what to do?You? The one who ran away to House Morrison and aided in their twisting of nature. Oryou?”
Leon turned to Cade.
“Me what? What insult are you going to throw that I haven’t already heard in whispers because of you?” Cade sounded bored, his mildly annoyed expression at odds with the sweat on his face.
I glanced at my pack, going as low as I could. We inched forward, but as soon as we got within a few yards of Leon, my paws burned, and I stared down to see the entire ground was covered in a nearly invisible layer of golden magic.
My skin began to smoke, and I felt the heat rise in my bones. I retreated, yelping and growling until the rest of the pack did too.
“You. You think that you’re so strong because you have a few splashes of ink on your flesh? No. I know what real power is now.” Leon opened his arms wide, his fingers extending. Golden magic washed over the world, and my stomach sank.
He was going to drag us all into some terrible world again. I kept the fear at bay with the reassurance that we had gotten free once. We would get free again.
“I don’t think so.” Cade’s cool voice cut through the panic rising up my spine. There was an explosion of black magic, every blade on Cade’s body slicing outward, shredding the magic that surrounded us.
Leon made a surprised noise, and sunlight returned. He stared up blankly, then down at his skin, which was decorated with a thousand cuts, gold dripping from each of them.
This was our chance as Leon stumbled, extending one hand to try and stabilize himself. I raced forward, the pack at my back, and we ignored the burn of our feet as we took hold of him, yanking at flesh, pulling his arms and legs apart, wolves landing on his back until the Los Santos Pack buried him.
I got my mouth around his throat and tore. I tasted sour magic on my tongue, but I bit down again.
We needed to make sure that now that we had him down, Leon didn’t get back up. Magic exploded outward, sending us flying, and I landed on my feet, just barely. I was far enough away that I got a good view when Leon stumbled to his feet.
Every part of him dripped magic, and his entire throat was gone. When he tried to speak, golden magic bubbled up from the open wound.
Magic swept from underneath us, a geyser of it spraying upward, lighting Leon’s eyes, the power of it so intense that most of my pack looked away, whining in pain at the brilliance of the light.
He was refilling his own magic; he was going to heal himself. We were going to have to do this again and again until we were so tired that he was able to kill us. Because we just had ourselves, but he had the endless magic of the ley lines.
All the magic he used flowed back into himself because he was at the bottom of the river, drinking it before it went to the ocean.