Page 117 of Exiled Heir

When their human features were no more than ridges and bumps along a massive trunk, I slowly made my way around the circle and sat next to Jesaiah.

The twigs and leaves were uncomfortable on my bare ass, but I hesitated to turn back into a wolf. It would be a clear act of aggression, a threat he wouldn’t be able to ignore.

“It doesn’t have to be like this,” I said quietly. “I’m not here to play Yoko Ono and take your pack from you.”

Jesaiah turned his head away from me, and I saw him roll his eyes back toward me, giving me an annoyed side-eye.

“I’m serious. The only reason I’m here is to protect Cade.” I stared at the massive trees. They began to hum, the musical sound like wind whistling through a hollowed-out tree trunk. “Why did you attack me, anyway? You didn’t even bother to give me a chance. For all you knew, I could have just been a gold digger here for the life of luxury. Maybe all I wanted to do was lie by the pool all day. Did you just want to keep being alpha so badly that you couldn’t risk it?”

There was a cracking sound, and I looked away. It was considered impolite to watch an older werewolf shift.

“I told you it’s not a pack,” Jesaiah said.

“You sure act like it’s a pack,” I said.

“Youact like it’s a pack. This is the last place most of them have. Tyson can come in and play at being alpha all he wants, but he can’t kick anyone out. No one here can be exiled.” Jesaiah shook his head. “You should have left when I gave you the chance.”

I blinked at him, frowning. Before I could ask any more questions, he shifted back, then trotted off into the woods.

I watched the dryads and found my thoughts returning to Cade. Why had he gotten so angry? It had been a fair exchange. He had been after me to wear the collar for so long, but when I finally put it on, he’d been furious.

The poison glinted in the morning light, dripping onto the ground. I thought again about how Cade’s magic had gotten wilder and wilder, his temper shorter and shorter just in the short time I’d been here.

The dryad trees shrank by increments, losing their bulk and size and greenery until it was a circle of mostly human-sized dryads again. The elder tree nodded her head at them, and the other four disappeared into the forest, each headed in a different direction. Then she turned to me. A line carved her face from the corner of her eye to her mouth, as black as a burn mark.

I gestured at my own face. “Are you okay?”

“Yes. The poison ran deeper than we suspected. It has been here a long time.” She approached, then sat down next to me, her wooden clothing crunching the dried leaves underneath her.

We both stared at the exposed roots sticking up into the air.

“Will it still poison the magic?” I asked.

“We have given them some relief, but unless the source of the poison is discovered, it will continue to spread.” The elder tree wrapped her arms around her knees, bringing them close to her chest. “I admit to being surprised.”

“At the extent of the poison?” I asked.

“At the fact of your existence,” she said. “Prince Bartlett has long been a follower of his father’s. We have observed this from afar. He wants peace, as his father did. It would have been easy for him to lay claim to every inch of the reclaimed lands that we cleared, yet he let us keep the territory.”

“Until he forced you to give them up,” I pointed out.

“Until we needed something from him that would make it an equal exchange.”

A bird landed on the fallen tree, digging its beak into the soft, decaying trunk.

“What will you do with them?” I asked. “The wolves? They’re children. They’re not a real pack.”

The question lingered on my mind, a carrion eater perched on a telephone wire, waiting for its prey to die. Wolf pups without the protection of a pack had value. Human traffickers would pay top dollar for them.

“Likely use them as intended.” The elder dryad considered me.

I took a long breath in, already planning. As soon as the wolf pups crossed the border to the dryads’ territory, I should be able to get them out. I could sneak out using one of the holes along the wards, track around Cade’s territory, and then—

“On our side, there is a small town nestled in the mountains. It has become a home for those without one. A fae princeling lays claim to it, but we protect it. There’s a school, although there are rarely enough children for a full class.” The dryad closed her eyes. “It is a sanctuary more than a home. Most do not stay for longer than a few years.”

“And for this sanctuary, all they’ll have to do is agree to be your guard dogs. Track down whatever is disrupting your forest.” The image of the small town lingered behind my eyes, though. What would my life have been like if I had found that town rather than Declan Monroe’s open arms?

“We need them for their noses, not their teeth,” the dryad said. “Oak was not wrong. We disagree with ownership of any sort. Should the children refuse to help us, they’re welcome to stay or leave. It is not our collar that they wear.”