Exiled heir the empty th.., p.3
Exiled Heir (The Empty Throne Trilogy Book 1), page 3
Lurching, he tried to throw me off, but I held fast, tightening my legs around his rib cage and holding on like my life depended on it, because it did.
JD collapsed, breathing unsteadily. The carotid artery in wolves wasn’t exactly the same as in humans, but if you kept your arm tight enough, it worked the same.
I loosened my body in increments. Every muscle hurt, whether from the fight with the Tweedles earlier, this new fight with JD, or any of the other injuries I had accumulated with four weeks on the run.
“Are you coming?” Cade’s question was quiet, a breath of sound. It was only because of my enhanced hearing that I even heard it.
Cade opened the driver’s door of the abandoned car. I spared one last look at JD. He was out cold.
As Cade got in, I walked up to the passenger side. The windows were too filthy for me to get a good look at myself. When I opened the door and threw myself into the passenger seat, it was a lot more luxurious than the exterior had implied.
Soft leather seats, glossy chrome accents, an enormous touchscreen in the center of the dashboard that came alive as Cade pressed a button, turning the car on.
“A disguise spell?” I glanced in the back seat, but the whole car was clean, as though it had just been detailed.
“A basic glamour.” Cade drove out of the parking lot slowly, his wheels grinding over the gravel. As he turned onto the main road, he pressed down on the accelerator, and we were flying.
“Well then, you need to start working for Hollywood. Why rent an expensive car when you can just glamour a Camry to look like one?”
“I’m sure the hours would be better than my current position,” Cade said. “Although you have to admit, it would be an extreme step down from prince to prop master.”
I swallowed. When I caught sight of my arm in the light of a passing streetlamp, I brought it up to my face. “What is this?”
“Magic,” Cade said shortly.
“Yeah, that’s pretty obvious. I’ve just never seen it up close before. Do I get to see behind the curtain, or does the great and powerful Wizard of Oz want to keep his toys secret?” I examined my arm, watching as the tattoos shifted and moved as though they were alive.
Cade glanced over at me, frowning, and then he snapped his fingers, and the magic crawled across my body, a millipede feeling of too many feet. The dark, twisting lines collected on my hand and leapt from my skin to his like an enormous, black static shock.
Of course. Mages were notoriously tight-lipped about their magic. If you had the power to raze a city to the ground, why would you tell people how you did it?
The hundred mage houses kept their people in line, as though breathing a word of how their magic worked would kill them. But even independent mages never explained magic, and those who talked to outsiders about it disappeared.
The internet was filled with conspiracy theories, and it was hard to pull real facts from what we did know: mage houses were powerful, wealthy, and secretive. Their kings ruled via wealth and influence, happy to let the rest of us pretend that Congress and the president had the real power of government.
“So it’s a secret,” I said, annoyed. On the other hand, I tried not to ask, what would happen if Cade did tell me? Would he have to kill me? “What about why you need a consort? Do I need to play twenty questions to figure out why you needed a werewolf so badly you decided pissing off Declan Monroe was the best way to do it?”
Cade’s features twitched, but he didn’t say anything else until we were several miles out of Pineridge Springs. When we hit the open highway, the ocean on one side, tall redwoods on the other, he said, “We’ll tell everyone that we met in Los Santos. At a bar named Syndrome. We’ve been seeing each other for three weeks. I suggested you become my consort. You agreed.”
“I agreed to become your slave after three weeks.” I raised my eyes to the roof of the car, taking a long breath. Even inside the expensive vehicle, I smelled the forest. The conifer trees, the damp earth called to me.
“A consort is not a slave.” Cade’s words were clipped, and he turned on his blinker, slamming his foot down on the accelerator to speed past an eighteen-wheeler.
“Really. Are you sure about that?” The clock on the dashboard said it was midnight, and I did the math in my head. I’d gotten to the bar around nine, and I was pretty sure they had drugged me a half hour after that.
Whatever they had given me, I could still feel it. My senses felt muted. The familiarity of them was gone. Usually, I could sense everything. Now, it felt like I was listening and seeing things through a thick layer of glass.
“If you have a problem with being a consort, you’re welcome to get out now.” Cade accelerated, speeding past a minivan before darting back into our lane.
“That’s not much of a choice,” I said.
“You’re going to have to make everyone believe it was your choice,” Cade said shortly.
“Maybe there’s an acting school on your way back to your estate. Pay some community theatre reject a hundred dollars to lick your boots.” I still remembered the feel of his foot on my face, the way he had nudged my jaw to make sure I was paying attention.
“A consort is not a slave.” Cade’s voice rose until it was nearly a shout. “They are a trusted companion. They’re the other half of yourself. They have rights to your money, status, and rank. They even have access to—”
He broke off before making a disgusted sound and pulling over on the side of the road. Dust swirled around the car, lit briefly by passing headlights, and Cade’s breath evened out.
I watched him suspiciously. There was something here I wasn’t understanding. There was some reason that he wanted me specifically to play this part. And it wasn’t some elaborate revenge on me. I could figure that out myself.
“If it’s so great, why don’t you get someone to do it for real? Why me?” The last part niggled at me, a loose tooth in the back of my mouth that my tongue wouldn’t stop probing.
“If you aren’t interested, I will.” Cade didn’t even look at me, pressing a button on the steering wheel that unlocked all the doors with a decisive click. “I’ll be happy to tell Declan exactly where I left you. Maybe he’s still at the bar. I’m sure he could be here in ten minutes.”
“I’m stepping into a situation I don’t like. I’m taking a job I don’t understand. That’s going to lead to mistakes. That’s going to lead to both of us getting exposed. I need you to tell me what’s really going on.” I dragged my hand through my hair. It was too long, but I wasn’t sure a haircut was in my future. “Why did you choose me?”
“Declan is known for his wolves. I need someone strong. Someone who looks the part of a consort.” Cade’s profile gave away nothing, all sharp edges and harsh lines, the blond of his hair brilliant white in the light from the dashboard instruments.
I knew immediately what he meant. Consorts were getting rarer these days, but there was still a type. Muscle-bound, tall, brutal, no matter their gender, they looked like they could take down a linebacker. There were rumors that when mages got into an argument with each other, their consorts would fight to the death over whatever the argument was.
Mages with consorts didn’t even bother with bodyguards; they didn’t need them. Why hire someone when a werewolf who looked like an MMA fighter had pledged their life to you?
“That’s it? You could have gone down to central casting if you needed someone to look the part,” I said.
Cade glanced at me, and both of our skin was dyed by the blue lighting of the car. His eyes traced over my face and down my body.
“Declan is involved in whatever is going on. I’m not sure what you did to him, but since he has a hit out on you, I thought we both had a mutual enemy.” Cade’s words were cold, and his glacier eyes cut to me, as though he could see straight into my heart.
I tensed—there were some thorns in this bouquet. With Declan on my tail, I couldn’t afford to get pricked. “Declan is involved in what?”
“Someone is trying to kill me, and I suspect they hired Declan. You’re strong. Declan doesn’t keep weak wolves on his payroll. I don’t need to worry about you taking care of yourself while I figure out who it is.” Cade seemed annoyed. “You’re getting paid money, and you get to keep your head. What more do you want?”
“I want more details. How are they trying to kill you? What methods? Did you catch them?” I began ticking off questions on my fingers. “How do you know Declan was involved? When he wants someone dead, they’re dead by the time he finishes his morning cup of coffee.”
“Except for you, Miles with no last name,” Cade said.
“Yeah, well, I’m a special case. I had a head start, and I know how he works. Even I couldn’t make it any further than Pineridge before he caught me.” I stared out at the trees, thinking about how a single stupid decision had the power to end the life I’d so carefully put together.
“Someone blew up my car a few weeks ago,” Cade said.
“That’s not Declan’s MO,” I said. “Too many people with badges get involved when a car explodes.”
“—and two weeks ago, someone released poison in his private club while I was there.” Cade continued as though I hadn’t spoken. “Convenient that he drew me there and then didn’t show up for our meeting.”
I whistled. Yeah, that had to be him. No one messed with Declan’s establishments without his permission. Clubs were where the money was, and if he was willing to poison one, to metaphorically burn it to the ground, someone had to be paying him a lot of money. As in, Declan now had buy a small tropical island amount of money in his pocket.
My mind raced with all the things Declan could do with that much change.
“You didn’t catch anyone for either assassination attempt?” I asked.
“Not yet,” Cade said.
“How did you survive?” I asked. “A car blowing up isn’t usually something that you walk away from if you aren’t in a high-budget action movie.”
“With difficulty,” Cade said. “I could feel that the magic around us suddenly disappeared. It allowed me to throw a ward around myself just barely in time to save my life.”
“And the poisoning?” I pressed.
“I teleported myself out as soon as I sensed it in the air.” Cade swallowed. “Others were not as fast.”
“Someone’s gunning for you. This isn’t exactly going to be me sitting around looking pretty. You need someone who’s watching your back.” I took a guess based on what he’d said. “You need someone watching your back who isn’t in Declan’s pocket and who doesn’t belong to the person who hired Declan to kill you.” Chuckling, I shook my head. “So it’s not so much the enemy of my enemy; it’s that I was your only option because if I was good with Declan or the person paying him, you wouldn’t have had to rescue me from a murder room in the back of a dive bar. I’m the only wolf between here and Los Angeles you can trust.”
Cade swallowed, and I thought I saw a dark flicker around his high collar. On the steering wheel, his fingers tightened and opened. When he spoke, he raised his chin, sniffing, ignoring what I’d just said about his real motives. “Yes. I need someone who can help me. You can either do that, or you can get out here. I’m sure running from Declan with no money and no transportation is so much better than the job I’m offering you.”
I turned and looked out the window. We were in a patch of forest between towns. Pineridge Springs was outside of Los Santos, and until we reached the turnoff for Clear Lake, it was just one small town after the other.
I could probably make it. Even if Cade called Declan Monroe and let him know exactly where he had left me, I could make it into the forest.
Sure, I didn’t have food or water, and I was running on no sleep. My head still throbbed from the fight and being coldcocked, but maybe I could make it work.
Experimentally, I flexed my fingers, trying to get the fur and claws I felt under the surface to spring to life.
Beside me, Cade tensed. Magic swirled, lines of darkness in the air that coalesced into something I knew could kill me.
The shift wouldn’t come. The wolf wouldn’t come. My stomach clenched.
How far could I make it on foot? How far could I make it without the ability to shift, the thing that had defined my entire life up until now?
My options were to go out into the wilderness as a human or go with him. I got food and someplace to sleep. I had enough time to rest up, to heal from whatever had been in that drug that made it impossible for me to pull the wolf to the surface.
House Bartlett’s compound was even further from Los Santos. It was even further in the woods. I could probably reach the Sierra Nevada mountains from there.
“We met three weeks ago. Are we screwing each other?” I asked. For eleven years, I’d been a paid gun for hire. What was so different about doing it for a mage instead of Declan? Both were paying me money. As long as I had that, I was good.
The buzz of magic beside me faded, and when I looked over, I saw the barest hint of a dark line crawl from Cade’s neck under the collar of his shirt.
He put the car in drive, the wheels spinning on the dirt of the shoulder for a moment before catching and jerking back onto the road.
“Yes. Part of being a consort is the… intimacy of the act.”
I stared at the side of his face, watching his expression, illuminated by passing headlights. “There has to be a hundred werewolves out there who would happily be your ‘consort’ for real. Strong ones who can survive assassination attempts and watch your back.”
“Having a wolf is a status symbol. It has been made clear to me that there will be no coronation until I have a consort.” Cade’s eyes flicked to me, but then they moved away so quickly that I couldn’t read his expression.
“That doesn’t answer any of my questions. Go to a club for real. There are matchmaking services that would happily hook you up with some brain-dead wolf who will give you their freedom in exchange for all that money and status.” Clenching my fists, I tried to pull at the change again, but it was missing, a puzzle piece in the center of my chest that had been removed. Until I found it under the couch, I wouldn’t be whole.
“I need someone strong enough on their own that we won’t actually have to join.” Cade’s words were stiff, unbearably formal.
“You don’t want to have to have sex?” I snorted. “You’re hiring me because you don’t want to have to lie back and think of England?”
“My reasons are my own.” Pointedly, Cade unlocked the door again. Even though my healing abilities didn’t seem to be affected by whatever drug they had given me, I still wasn’t eager to leap out of a car driving fast enough to place in the Indy 500.
“Okay, okay. We’re going to at least need to know some details about each other if we’re going to pretend that we’ve been ‘joining.’” I leaned back in my seat, shrugging. “What do I call you? Cade? Prince Bartlett?”
“I…” Cade went silent, and I watched his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed. Finally, he said, “Cade.”
“Do you go to clubs a lot? What were we doing when we were seeing each other for three weeks?” When he didn’t answer, I said, “Unless we spent the whole three weeks in bed?”
“No. Of course not. Museums. Restaurants. That sort of thing.”
“That sort of thing. Of course.” My brows drew together. I tried to remember the last museum I had gone to and came up with the seventh-grade field trip to the local agricultural museum. They had let us sit in the driver’s seat of a massive tractor. I still remembered staring out over the parking lot, my hands on the wheel, the other kids whining in line behind me.
“Why? How should we have dated?” Cade asked sharply. “Did we meet up at bars like the one I dragged you out of?”
“No, no, of course not. That would injure your precious sensibilities. You’d be too afraid of getting tetanus in the bathroom.” I tapped my chin, pretending to think on it. “I bet we went to cockfights and cage matches.”
“Not wolf fights?” Cade’s lip lifted in a sneer. “I hear Rage allows opponents to rip off each other’s body parts.”
I went stiff, all traces of teasing gone when I asked, “What else do I need to know?”
“Nothing.” Cade glanced at me, a slight frown between his brows, but he didn’t apologize.
I narrowed my eyes, staring out at the world around us. We were passing through another small town, the bright gas station sign lighting the sky in primary colors.
Only a few more miles until the turnoff, and after that, the chance to get off this ride was gone.
“Five hundred thousand dollars.” I drummed my fingers on my leg. “That’s a lot of money, even if it gets you the crown you want.”
The interchange was coming up, the signs for it indicating the lanes we had to be in to get on the 175. Cade signaled, merging to the right.
We didn’t speak for the next half hour. I was trying to wait him out, and he had no problem driving in silence, without even the radio to break the quiet.
It was only when we turned off the freeway, taking an exit that led to an unmarked road, that Cade spoke again.
“Here. You’ll need to put this on.”
Shifting his body, with only one hand on the wheel, he dug something out of his pocket and threw it at me. Automatically, I caught it before it hit my chest.
It was heavy in my hand, and I squinted down. A passing streetlight illuminated what it was: a collar.
Chapter
Four
I dropped the collar. It fell to my jeans and then slid down into the footwell.
Cade’s eyes narrowed. “Put it on.”
“I’m not putting that on,” I said.
On the floor, it looked even more innocuous. A plain strap of leather, two inches wide, enough to cover a swath of my neck. There were no hook clips, nothing for a leash to attach to. It was simply a brown length with a silver buckle.
“We don’t have time for this, Miles,” Cade said. “We’re almost at the estate.”
