Page 47 of Wild Wolf

He slammed into me, nearly knocking me to the ground as his muscular arms wrapped around me, gripping me tightly as he buried his face in my shoulder.

I hugged him back, his long, golden hair sweeping around me, the scent of citrus on his skin which was deeply linked to my childhood. He was the light to my dark, my little brother who had been born to love the world while everyone in it loved him back. He was the boy I’d played my first game of Pitball with, the kid I’d shared everything with, who had followed me on adventures, trusting me blindly while leading him through rivers and caves. There was no bond in the world like ours and to reunite with him now with free air in my lungs and no chains in sight or guards barking at us to keep apart, was a thousand times better than I had imagined it to be. But the relief at finding my way to this future was tarred by the truth of what I was now.

Leon finally released me, smiling so big it lit up every corner of his face. “You’re here. Fuck, what happened to your hair?” He reached for my short hair mournfully and my chest tightened.

“It’s a long story,” I muttered, batting his hand away and he frowned deeply.

He looked to Rosalie and snatched her into a hug before she could escape, crushing her into his chest and scrubbing his knuckles against her head. “You did it, you little hellion. You freed him.”

She struggled her way out of his arms, smirking at him and shrugging like it was nothing. But she knew it was everything. I’d seen what she’d gone through to get me out of there and I had no doubt that the Oscuras would pull every damn detail from her tongue and repeat it to the whole world until it was pure legend in the family.

“Come inside, everyone’s waiting to see you.” Leon beckoned me after him.

“Leon…we should really talk,” I said darkly.

“But-” he started but Rosalie cut him off.

“Go talk to him, Leone,” she insisted, giving him a push toward me and heading up to the house where a bunch of Wolves swarmed her.

Silence fell between us and I ran a hand over my short hair self-consciously.

“It’ll grow back,” Leon offered. “Did someone cut it?”

I nodded and he growled angrily. “Are they dead?” he hissed and I nodded again. “You’re still more of a Lion than anyone I know. They’ve all been talking about you. Our moms are so excited to see you. And Dad, holy shit Roar, he’s telling everyone about what you did. Escaping Darkmore. It’s the most he’s spoken about you in years. He can’t shut up actually. He says he always knew his great Lion son couldn’t be kept chained. Not even inescapable Darkmore could keep a Night contained.”

My frown only deepened at those words and Leon’s smile fell.

“I know he’s been an asshole,” he added. “The worst damn kind. But maybe there’s a chance for you two to make it right now?”

I scored a hand down my face, shaking my head. “Leon, you don’t understand. Dad won’t want anything to do with me when he finds out…” My throat wouldn’t release the words, my tongue weighed with lead. What if I lost Leon because of this? What if he couldn’t handle it?

“Finds out what?” he pressed, his concern rising.

“You remember Vard, right? He used to be the king’s Seer. He was into experimenting on Fae.”

“Yeah,” Leon said grimly. “I remember that asshole. He was Lionel Acrux’s Royal Seer.”

I nodded, not that I’d been out of prison at that time. I’d had to hear about it from him mostly. “Well, he’s back.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean he’s been undercover for some time, and he was using prisoners from Darkmore for his experiments.”

“But he died in battle. His body was found,” Leon insisted.

“Then he must have faked it,” I said fiercely and Leon’s gaze bored into mine, a thousand protests dying on his lips as he saw the truth in my eyes. Vard hadn’t died in battle; he had made everyone believe he had then snuck away like a rat down a hole.

Leon’s face paled as I told him about everything we’d discovered in the Psych Ward, but when it came to the next part, I stalled.

“Tell me,” Leon urged, clearly sensing where this was going as his golden gaze trailed over me.

I cleared my throat, my eyes falling from his face to land on a grape vine as I forced myself to tell him the rest. “He’s been perfecting a procedure that enables him to...to exchange one Fae’s Order for another.”

He sucked in air and I made myself barrel on before he said anything.

“He did something to me at Drav Enterprises, drugged me, forced me to go through some twisted procedure and when I woke up, I…” The pressure in my head was growing and I felt painfully dizzy as I recalled what it had been like in that moment. “I was on an operating table and my chest was wide open. Vard was there and him and his surgeon, they…they took my Lion.”

“Roary,” Leon said, fear lacing his words. “They can’t, it’s not…how could they?”

---