Page 6 of Ascendant King
“Who is Leon Lucas?” the old woman asked. “Surely you aren’t implying the current king of House Bartlett? How is that any different than a civil war?”
“Leon has developed a drug. You’ve all seen it—Thorn. He used it to tear wolves down, to steal the magic that makes themwolves.” I looked around again, and there were sharp murmurs that cut off as the eldest wolves growled.
“Addicts. What do we care of Reaper addicts who destroy packs with their illness?” a younger woman asked. I recognized her as soon as I heard her voice, although last time she’d been dressed in a white wedding gown. Cade and I had been hiding out at the hotel next to her wedding in Dos Lunas. Half her pack had been on Thorn.
“It’s not Reaper. I know Reaper. Thorn steals our magic. It steals our wolves. I know because it was forced on me, and I survived only because Cade saved me.” The truth here was more complicated than that, but it was close enough that I kept the difference to myself. “Thorn was masked with an overdose of Reaper, so wolves felt very good on it, and they kept taking it until Leon made his move.”
“And you’d know Reaper,” the Dos Lunas alpha said. “I know who you are now. You’re Declan Monroe’s henchman. You’re his little pet wolf. You’re the reason that Reaper is up and down the coast like an infection, destroying every pack it touches.”
“I was.” I nodded. “After my family was killed by the Ghost Pack, I could only find help from Declan.”
“But even now, you’re still pushing Reaper,” she pressed. “It’s still what you peddle.”
“Only until we find the antidote,” I said.
There was a gasp, another murmur that crested and then died off.
“You’re going to find an antidote for Reaper?” the older alpha asked.
“It’s already been found,” I said. “Declan and Leon tried to wipe it off the earth, but it exists. We just need to find out who was producing it.”
The silence in the circle changed, a sinuous tension that reminded me of Basil squeezing tight around his prey.
“And when you find it?” someone asked.
“When I find it, the Los Santos Pack moves out of the Reaper business, and all we focus on is distributing the antidote. Los Santos becomes Reaper- and Thorn-free.” I watched the disbelief move around the circle.
Someone barked a laugh. “Really.”
“Really,” I said. “The first step is finding Leon and making sure he’s not in power. Wolves will never be free as long as someone can steal the part of us that iswolf.”
“Hmmmm.” The old woman stood, and Cade tensed next to me as she approached. “It seems to me like that is a job for the Emperor Wolf. If this mage king is as dangerous as you say, that should be dealt with by the leader of all our people.”
I bowed my head, then lifted my chin, looking her in the eye. “It’s true. I have said in the past I want to be the Emperor Wolf. The throne has been empty too long, and our people need a leader.”
“And you’d be that leader. The last Castillo heir, fresh from his service to a criminal who peddled in the drug that destroyed too many packs on the coast.” She tapped her chin, then dug a finger into my chest, where Cade’s magic twisted over my pecs. “With proof of a mage’s ownership on your chest. How is aslavesupposed to lead all of us free wolves?”
“I’m no slave,” I said sharply.
“We have all heard who you are. You were his ‘consort’ only a few months ago. Are you here to tell me you were not his slave? You did not follow his beck and call, answer obediently?” Her questions were sharp, her tone unforgiving. There was no wiggle room here, no space for me to tap-dance my way out with the truth, just a very shaped version of it.
“Several months ago, two werewolf hunters caught me. They had silver bullets.” I smirked, and a laugh rolled around the circle. The silver wasn’t what killed us. It was the bullets. The silver was just an expensive plating used by men who believed in myths rather than truth. “The one real thing they had was Thorn. They shot me full of it, stealing the wolf from me.”
I looked over my shoulder to where Cade stood, still as a statue. “Cade saved my life. In exchange, he wanted my help finding out who in House Bartlett was trying to kill him. He didn’t know my past. He didn’t know my last name or my pack name. In order for me to walk freely on House Bartlett grounds, I pretended I was his consort.”
I took a deep breath, letting it out. “None of you have any idea what it is to lose your wolf. If you did, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. You would be with me, side by side, tearing down the walls of House Bartlett with your bare hands. When Leon revealed himself as the culprit, he forced another dose on me. Cade and I barely escaped House Bartlett with our lives.
“I discovered the only way to free myself was with magic. Cade gifted me some of his, and my wolf returned.” I gestured to my chest. “He’s here because he knows what House Bartlett has done, and he wants to make it right.”
“Is that why you’re here?” The older alpha turned to Cade, her attention sharper than a blade at his throat. “Or is it to make sure that your pet says what you want him to say? An Emperor Wolf who is also a consort would be quite the boon.”
Cade stiffened. “Miles isnotmy consort.”
His words were quick, immediate, harsh.
“He says he’s not.Yousay he’s not, but how can we believe you when he wears your magic?” The woman looked between the two of us. “I’m old enough to know what a consort is, what that magic means.”
“I couldneverhave the son of the alpha who killed my parents as my consort.” Cade looked at me briefly, his eyes hot with anger. “I could never trust him that much.”