Page 64 of Ashvale: The Vampire's Thrall

"Liar!"

A flash of silver darted past me, intercepting Rowan and throwing him to the ground.

The silver wolf.

I wasn’t sure why it had decided to protect me now, when it had seemed like it might want to eat me before, but I couldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. I had to find Hayes and go. I looked around frantically, seeing only more trees and shadow. But the bond seemed sure he was already here, I’d become good at reading it the past few weeks so I couldn’t understand why—

The wolf snarled and then whined when Rowan landed a savage punch before shooting me a look, and I froze when I met the familiar pair of icy blue eyes. Hayes. Hayes was thefucking wolf.

Run,he managed to tell me, the words strangely distorted like it was hard for him to think in human patterns while in that form, but I didn't stay to ask questions—I just did as he'd told me: I ran.

ChapterThirty

The trees whippedat my arms as I ran but I felt numb. Rowan. All along. It still didn't make sense in my mind. How could he have been hiding this the whole time? Then again, there had been several times where he'd done or said something questionable—and Hayes himself had said Rowan had seemed different recently.

Wetness hit my cheeks and I touched them in shock. How could this be happening? How could the guy who'd kissed me in relief when he'd found me alive after that magickal overdose have tried to kill me? Even if it was the result of drugs? The guy who read in the library and studied literature? Who thought reading philosophy books was fun?

Before I knew what was happening, I’d stopped running and was instead bent over sobbing in the dark.

Elowen. He’d said Elowen had done this—had made him into a monster. I knew I should wait. Knew Hayes would be pissed beyond belief that I’d charged off ahead, but Rowan hadn’t been the only one keeping secrets.

I shook my head as I started running again, my mind replaying the moment that wolf—Hayes—had burst into the clearing.

A silver wolf, I realised. Surely not. The missing child from the royal line—it couldn't be Hayes, could it?

Rage flooded me and I let it fuel me as I ran faster than I ever had before. Did I actually know anybody I'd thought was my friend? My family?

The mage was my dad, my... Hayes, was a wolf, and maybe a prince? And Rowan.. he was a murderer and a liar.

I burst into Elowen's office without stopping or slowing, the door flying off its hinges and she looked up at me in surprise.

"Leonora—"

"Shut up," I told her, putting as much power as I could behind the command and growling when it only held for a moment before Elowen shook it off, her anger a white fire spreading across her face.

Her desk was scattered with papers and the rug beneath my feet was spotless except for my muddy footprints

“I knew you were lying,” I began as rage made me tremble. “But I couldn’t have guessed it was this."

"I don't know what you mean—"

"The drugs. Rowan. The murders. Why? Why supply it?"

All pretences dropped, her face smoothed out. "I don’t have to explain myself to you.”

"The fuck you dont! You’re the reason I’m dead!"

She stared at me for a second and then began talking. “Well, actually I think you’ll find that Rowan is the reason you’re dead.”

I squeezed my eyes closed as my vision filled with red, rage raising its ugly head.

"The drug increases the abilities of the living vampires to that of an undead, as I’m sure you’ve worked out by now, but it also increases their thirst, an unfortunate side effect.”

Unfortunate—that was how she described the deaths of all those students, and god knows how many we didn't know about. That’s how she describedmydeath.Emerson’s!

"The first batch proved to be too strong, unbalanced. Highly addictive. I had to keep supplying the initial test subjects, otherwise they completely went off the rails and would be of no use to me."

“You were—what? Trying to create a loyal little army?”

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