“These are some gifts that Prince Bartlett thought might help with the new wolves.” Leon bowed his head.
“We accept them gratefully,” the elder dryad said.
“There are more than the three trees we found?” Cade asked.
“We counted seven. There might be more, but we did not sense any. Their infection might be too underdeveloped.” The elder dryad looked at Cade, tilting her head. “We are happy to return and see if we might discover the cause with you.”
“You have given us a good starting point for our own research,” Cade said.
He stepped back from the group and raised his hands in the air. Turning away from everyone, he spread his palms, tearing the air in front of him.
Sonja gasped, her hand going to Tyson’s forearm. Her knuckles whitened, and I could hear her heartbeat, rapid in her chest. She looked at me and frowned, her eyes assessing, as though she was suddenly giving me more credit than I was due.
As though a tapestry had been torn, revealing the wall behind it, Cade’s magic exposed the little cell we had left the werewolves in. The light still burned in the corner, and they gaped at the portal appearing in front of them.
Cade huffed out a breath, and his tattoos dripped from his fingers, crawling across the ground until they wrapped around the werewolves’ wrists, binding them.
“Come here,” Cade commanded.
Justin looked at me, blinking his eyes, squinting into the bright daylight. I nodded my head once, gesturing with my hand, and the wolves stumbled forward. As they walked through the portal, they cried out in pain but muffled it quickly, clumping together with Justin at the head.
“This is them?” the elder dryad asked.
Cade squeezed his palms together, and the portal closed. “Yes.”
“Then, we take possession of you. We claim you as ours. You belong to the elder forest now. Do you understand?” The elder dryad spoke calmly, kindly, but when the younger wolves began to cry, the dryad’s face scrunched, turning gnarled.
They cried harder, and Justin turned to me. “You said you wouldn’t let them enslave us!”
“I said I wouldn’t let them kill you,” I said.
“Liar!” Tears were leaking from Justin’s eyes, but he pulled his shoulders back, his chin going high. “You’re no alpha. You’re a traitor. No wonder you have no pack. Youdeserveno last name.”
The words hit me as hard as a physical blow. I looked down and away, focusing on the pale concrete under our feet. The driveway had been swept recently, cleaned of any leaves.
“Come, children. The drive ahead of us is long.” Oak spoke from behind them, and I heard cries start up harder, a shriek of terror that devolved into helpless sobs.
Something nipped at my hand, the mouse desperately alerting me to its presence before I squeezed it to death. I loosened my grip, and it curled into a small ball again, entirely at my mercy.
When I forced my eyes back up, Oak held the door to one of the SUVs open while the other dryads stood near the other SUVs.
“You should bind them with your own magic,” Cade said.
The elder dryad considered Justin, tilting her head to examine him. “I had hoped not to bind them at all, but it looks like it may be necessary.”
She extended out her hand, and Justin shut his mouth, tears leaking from his eyes and his lips trembling. My heart wrenched. I had to stop this.
Before I could even think of stepping forward, Cade’s hand closed tightly on my wrist. I stared down at him, but he didn’t look up to meet my eyes. The cold consolation I had was his promise that this was the only way and the elder dryad’s vision of a small village, a perfect sanctuary for children with no home of their own.
I had never been very good at trusting people. Eleven years in his employ, and I still hadn’t trusted Declan. How was I supposed to trust these two people who I didn’t even know?
The dryads wrapped thin strands of roots around each of the werewolves’ hands. Then Cade lazily extended his hand out, drawing his magic back to himself. When it returned, the dryads ushered the children into the SUVs. Mages shut the door on the cries, and it was silent except for the roaring in my chest, the scream that I couldn’t let out.
If I was a real alpha, I would have torn the doors off the SUVs myself. I would have fought anyone who tried to take the pack pups. Instead, I watched Finley salute Cade from the first SUV, get in, and pull away.
The SUVs were gone, and my scream was still in the back of my mouth, lingering in my throat.
“Come on.” Cade walked up the stairs, his hand still around my wrist.
