Page 146 of Exiled Heir

When I opened my eyes, we were alone in the room, everyone else gone. Leon stood over Cade and me, a smirk playing at the corner of his lips. Jesaiah slunk out of the shadows.

“Now,” Leon said. “Let’s make sure this lasts.”

ChapterForty-Five

Leon’s magic wrapped around us, dragging us through reality until we landed in one of the cabins I was becoming intimately familiar with. Mage lights flickered in the corners of the room, and I tried to rise, but magic stretched me out on the ground, pinning my arms and legs.

Jesaiah bent down, rolling me over, and grabbed hold of Cade. He dragged him across the room to the iron chains in the center. Cade didn’t move at all, his body limp.

When Jesaiah flipped him over to clamp manacles onto his wrists, I got a view of Cade’s face. It was slack, mouth open, one eye open, the other shut.

His chest still rose and fell, but I began to struggle, trying to shove myself up. My shoulder popped, dislocating, and I screamed in rage.

“You coward. You couldn’t take him on, so you did this.” I bared my teeth, feeling my shift begin.

“I could take him on. The scared little boy, so close to the edge that he could taste the blood in his mouth? I could most definitely take him on.” Leon shook his head. “But it never should have come to that. Foolish child. He made too many mistakes, wanted too much.”

Leon drew a narrow silver case out of the air. He placed it in front of him, as though there was a table. It stayed flat, hanging on nothing. When he opened it, I saw him take out a syringe and a vial.

“I don’t know why I’m bothering. You’re both going to be dead by midnight.” Leon filled the syringe, flicking it twice and pressing the plunger to clear any air bubbles.

Jesaiah stooped, rattling the chains around Cade’s wrists to check how sturdy they were. Then he stood, arms crossed, watching me. I could barely see his face in the shadows, and I forced my shift. It pressed me tight against Leon’s magic, like I was shifting inside a concrete box.

“I have to admit, he did surprise me, bringing you home. He used to wet his pants if he even saw a werewolf.” Leon crouched down next to me, and the magic pinning me to the ground strained further, my claws erupting and digging into the concrete. I growled, pushing myself up. Leon’s magic crackled against me, giving.

Something pinched in my neck, the needle going in. Heat flooded my blood, and I felt the wolf melt, my body coming back to itself, clothes in tatters. Then,pain.

I screamed, my voice loud, going hoarse and desperate. The heat raced through my body, burning. My eyeballs felt so hot I was sure they were going to burst and melt.

Leon stood, looking down at me, the empty syringe hanging at his side. “This is an interesting side effect. Make a note of it—we have to see if there is a way to make the pain worse. Perhaps Mr. Monroe has some ideas.”

Leon’s magic disappeared, but I couldn’t push myself up to attack, every joint locked, every muscle tight. I seized, my heart beating so fast I thought it would burst.

“Lock up behind yourself. And get him chained. I don’t want to risk it wearing off before their execution. Monroe might appreciate the gift of this one’s head. We’ll have to figure out a way to get it to him.” Leon disappeared in a swirl of gold.

Jesaiah walked out, shutting the door behind him. I panted. This was painful. But I had been in worse pain.

When the pack that killed my siblings broke into our house, murdering them, I had to jump from the second story to get free. I had walked miles on a broken leg, running for cover whenever I saw a wolf hunting. By the time I reached Los Santos, I had been starving, my stomach made of nothing but acid and hunger.

Focusing on breathing, I pushed myself up, dragging myself over to Cade and lifting a hand to nudge at his shoulder.

“Cade, wake up,” I said. “We need to get out of here.”

Nothing. Cade’s breath was shallow against my wrist.

“Cade. The only way we’re going to do this is together.” I broke off with a groan, another wave of searing heat flowing through my body, leaving emptiness in its wake.

I had to shift. I had to shift before Jesaiah came back. I would take him, then get Cade out of his shackles, then…

I wasn’t sure what the next step was. I was stuck on what Leon had said. Monroe might be able to help make it more painful. Which meant that Leon was working directly with Declan.

Closing my eyes, I pulled on my wolf. The last few days had been me getting used to it again, adapting, finding the places of myself that existed within the wolf and the places that the wolfwasme.

But when I yanked, the wolf wouldn’t come, a dog slipping his collar and running off into the woods. I pulled harder, but there was nothing to pull on. The wolf was just… gone.

My eyes flew open. This was the same drug the Tweedles had given me. Leon had the same drug.

I ran back over what he had said. He had talked about changing the drug so that it was more painful. Leon didn’thavethe drug. Leonmadethe drug.