Page 67 of Exiled Heir

I opened the door, and the smell hit me instantly. There must have been some magic that disguised the interior because inside, it smelled like a butcher’s shop.

No, it smelled worse than a butcher’s shop. Someone had torn open the bowels, releasing the stench of feces.

Beside me, Cade swallowed, but when I looked at him, his face was still.

Isaac wasn’t wrong. It looked as though Keith had been torn apart, claws raked across his face and down his chest. Something with enormous jaws had torn open his stomach, rooting around inside for the good bits.

I looked around the exterior of the room, checking for any cracks or holes that something might have got in through, but there was nothing. Keith was in the center of the room, wrists and ankles bound by heavy iron chains. His eyes had been gouged out.

“No wolf did this,” I said firmly.

“That’s not what it looks like,” Isaac said pointedly. “Jesaiah was angry after the meeting. Maybe he took it out on the closest victim.”

“He crawled from the meeting, ended up in the forest, happened to see you two bringing Keith into the cabin, then managed to sneak inside, kill Keith, and escape before Nia heard him?” I raised an eyebrow pointedly. Turning to Nia, I said, “What did you hear?”

She tapped her right ear, then brought the flat plane of her palm across her throat. It was clear what she meant.

“Nia didn’t hear anything. Meaning whoever did this was fast and quiet. They got in and out of this cabin before she even knew anything was wrong.” I pointed to the interior. “How?”

“You clearly have an idea,” Isaac said.

“Not an idea. I have a method. They used magic.” I walked inside, crouching over the body. I took a long sniff.

The wolf under my skin was going wild at the scent of blood. Blood meant weakness. Blood was an opportunity.

“Magic?” Cade had stepped inside the room.

I gestured to the body. “They made this look like a wolf kill, but no werewolf would do this. Sure, we’d kill a human. But eat one? No matter what campfire stories you’ve heard, werewolves aren’t cannibals. I’ve never heard of a wolf eating a person.”

I leaned closer, focusing on the details rather than the gore in front of me. “This fabric is thick—there’s two layers, and they broke through the rib cage. That would have left behind hair, maybe chipped claws or teeth.”

“And you know this from experience?” Isaac asked.

I stood, turning. Isaac’s light had followed me into the room, hovering between me and him so that he was nothing more than a dark outline. But I could hear the challenge in his voice well enough.

“Do you have something you want to say to me?” I asked.

“Just that it isawfullyconvenient you arriving, the answer to all of Cade’s needs for a consort. You just so happen to have all the experience to read this crime scene. He won’t even tell us where you came from.” I could hear the frustration growing in Isaac’s voice, the anxiety that underpinned his aggression.

“That’s because he bought me,” I said. Cade went still behind me, and I heard his sharp inhale. “He was looking for someone with my skill set, a consort who could be a partner and a security expert. We had been early in negotiations, but his needs sped up the process. We don’t all have the convenience of partnering for love. That’s just for fairy tales and romance novels with half-naked werewolves on the cover.”

I pointedly looked toward where I could hear Jay’s heart fluttering loudly. Given how important Isaac was in House Bartlett, it was clear that he had chosen his own consort for love rather than politics. He needed a strong werewolf, someone who could match him, have his back when he needed it.

Instead, he got Jay. Jay was someone he had to protect. I remembered Jesaiah’s words, describing Jay as prey rather than predator.

How had they even met? How had Jay become someone Isaac wanted to keep safe?

“Youboughthim? Cade, is that true?” Isaac’s voice rose.

“Yes,” Cade said, his voice cool. “It’s not that uncommon. I needed someone I could trust, and Miles gives me that.”

“Are youkiddingme?” Isaac burst out. “You trust someone who’s only in this for the money? What if someone else offers him more money?”

I laughed. “Trust me, Brett already tried that tack. My loyalty can’t be bought. If I was just in this for the money, I would take a security job guarding some high-profile CEO. Cade has my loyalty.”

“I don’t like this,” Isaac said. “Buying a consort? That’s…”

“That’s how it was done for hundreds of years,” Jay said, his voice small and tremulous. “That’s why they call us…”