That, and killing Leopold and that blue-eyed bastard.
Reaching a small gully, he shifted into human form and raced across the ground. A few hundred yards farther, he leaped upward and into the branches of a massive tree and climbed higher.
He held his breath as mages and hunters ran along the wet leaves of the forest floor. The force of their movements bent the trees and underbrush. Birds squawked and flew, startled from the trees and raced upward, sounding the alarm to other animals.
Jonas closed his eyes and let his nose and ears do the work when he lost sight of the enemy. He cocked his head as the faint sound of his attackers faded. Drawing in a deep breath, he held it, scenting the wind. The forest became quiet save for the crows still sounding the alarm.
He climbed down and then dropped the ten feet to the earth. Stupid fuckers. He snorted and turned back the way he’d come.
An invisible force stopped him in his tracks. He clutched at his throat as his air was cut off. Gasping, he struggled only to find his feet dangling over the earth. With burning eyes and lungs on fire, he fought and clawed at the invisible band around his throat.
From the dimness emerged a darkly cloaked figure.
“Well, well. Not so smart, are you, wolf?” Leopold sneered.
“Fucker!” he gasped, but the word stayed silent.
“You’re all the leverage I need.” Leopold flicked a hand to someone near him and a prick pierced the skin of his arm. The forest grew foggy and he wasn’t sure if it was from the lack of air or the dose of whatever the fuck they’d given him, but they were all going to die.
He slammed hard to the earth when the force around his neck released him. Sucking in huge gulps of air, he called to his wolf through the fog in his head.
Only, his wolf didn’t answer.
The old blue-eyed mage stepped forward, white robes and equally white hair billowing in the wind. He lifted his hands and began chanting and waving his arms. Whatever they’d given him, he felt it settle like a living thing in his body.
It kept him weak and silenced his wolf.
After a moment, the mage turned toward the group and motioned more mages closer. Several stepped up and laid their hands on the older mage and before his wavering gaze, a portal stretched open. The magic was hideously slow, but after a moment, the opening appeared.
Roughly, he was hauled up and shoved through the portal.
He landed painfully on his side in a courtyard of rocks and dirt behind a wrought iron fence. The fucking drug they’d given him kept his gaze wobbling like a bad case of vertigo. Whatever the hell it was, he still couldn’t shift.
“Bring him,” Leopold ordered, and disappeared ahead into a nearby building.
Jonas was yanked upright and shoved after the hunter’s leader. He stumbled and fell, rocks cutting into his knees, and his face hit the ground. Yanked upward, he was shoved again. This time, though, he swung out, but they dodged his swings. His ears rang when someone hit him in the head and he went down again beneath a barrage of kicks and punches.
“Stop it,” a quiet voice said, and the beating instantly stopped.
“Leopold wants him inside and he won’t fucking walk,” someone complained.
“He’s drugged. Help him up,” the first man snapped impatiently.
They yanked him upright and he tried to get a look at his savior, but the world whirled and he sagged in their hands. His legs dragged across the rocky ground and he was lifted and pulled through the doorway.
“He weighs a fucking ton.”
“Wolf shifters weigh more than you can imagine,” another voice tacked on.
“Lockland, why isn’t the drug working very well?” Someone fisted his hair and yanked his head back on his neck.
“He’s an alpha leader. They have more power than a regular wolf shifter. It’s enough to keep him from shifting but not knock him out,” Lockland replied. It was the man that had stopped the beating.
“Where does Leopold want him?”
“Put him in one of the lower levels,” Lockland said. “And don’t forget to use the chains.”
Instead of forcing him to walk, they pulled him along the hallway and down a set of concrete stairs. He winced as the edge of the stairs slammed into his legs, leaving them bleeding and bruised. He clenched his teeth, calling desperately to his wolf, but there was nothing but a hollow ache.
When they reached the lower level and pulled him toward a gapping steel cage, he balked. Tugging one of his arms free, he sent his fist into the side of a mage’s ribs.
“Owe, you stupid fucker!” The mage picked up something that resembled an iron club resting against the wall and hit it against his arm. The bone stayed strong, but he cried out at the intense pain. The same guy smashed the iron club on the back of his calf, and that time, Jonas felt the bone shatter with mind numbing pain. Biting the inside of his cheek, he didn’t make a sound.
“Stop messing around,” someone laughed and punched him in the temple.
He went down hard. Smacking his face into the wet, cold floor, his nose crunched. Gasping, he drew in a ragged breath through his mouth.
From there, they pulled him along the concrete and into the cage. Before the door shut, he felt a presence and turned his face enough to gaze up. He hoped like hell it was Lockland to put a stop to this again, only it wasn’t.
It was the mage he’d punched.
The man drew back his foot and kicked him in the balls.
Stars exploded as pain punched into his stomach and he curled forward, puking onto the ground and the mage’s feet.
“Fuck!” the guy shouted and jumped back, but not fast enough before the puke covered his shoes.
“Come on! Let’s go,” another mage laughed and the clang of the door locking was a dim sound.
He had just enough strength left to angle his head away from his own puke before the world went black.
Alister
“Hello, Marcus.”
“You fuckers need to let me go!”
Even though the hunter’s face was all angles and sunken skin, his rage was clearly seen through his eyes.
“Not until you answer a few questions.” Alister squinted. The guards standing at the door bowed as he moved farther into the room.
“Go take a break,” he told them, and they left, closing the door.
Even though his words held rage, Marcus sat docile in a chair. Alister knew it was more to do with the man’s weakened condition, because he knew for a fact that if Marcus could stand, the guy would rip his throat out.
“You’ve made me weak!”
“I haven’t made you weak, Marcus. You’re dying,” he returned flatly.
“What?” The man’s eyes shone huge in his sunken cheeks.
“You do realize that Leopold had Grand Mage Cornelius put a spell on you, correct?”
Marcus frowned and lifted a shaky hand to his forehead. “What are you talking about?”
“You didn’t stage your death or leave your mate of your own volition.”
Confusion pinched Marcus’ brow and hurt filled his eyes.
“Mate? You’ve got it wrong.”
“Roman still loves you.”
At the mention of Roman, Marcus’ confusion increased.
It pained Alister to think that Marcus couldn’t remember his own mate. It was another way Leopold had tormented wolves and hunters who chose to mate against his law. Roman had changed Marcus and the pair had become bonded. It wasn’t long afterwards that Marcus had been ripped from Roman’s arms to be used as a pawn in Leopold’s twisted need for control.