Chapter 140 NOT EVERYTHING IS WHAT IT SEEMS

Chapter 140 NOT EVERYTHING IS WHAT IT SEEMS
NARRATOR
Meanwhile, Kaden was tense, waiting in the shadows, restless, watching for Isabella to come out through the door to the underground tunnel.
“Relax. Your girl’s tough...”
“Did I ask you to hype up my woman?” Kaden shot a sideways look at where Alistair was leaning against the cold stone wall. “And more importantly, what the hell are you doing following me?”
“You know I’m not leaving until you at least pay me a portion of what you owe me,” Alistair huffed.
He was about to start messing with Kaden when he suddenly went rigid, peeling himself off the wall and staring past the Lycan prince’s shoulder.
Kaden caught the movement, but his nose had already picked up a familiar scent, so he only turned calmly.
“Fine. You can stop being a pain. Isabella did it right, and she’s already back.”
Agata appeared through a thin mist that formed out of nowhere.
“Well, it’d be pathetic if even with you spying on them, you still got played...”
“Why you little...!” Agata raised her fist like she was going to hit him, but she stopped herself mid-outburst. “Ungrateful brat.”
She snorted, annoyed, and then her sharp eyes finally locked onto the arcane prince standing there like a rigid soldier, staring at her with stars in his eyes.
Agata didn’t need an introduction. Not only could she feel the nature of his magic, he was a copy of his grandfather.
“Look, this is the stalker I told you about. Please kick him already so he’ll stop chasing me,” Kaden growled, his eyes going back to the discreet exit of the other tunnel.
“Your Ladyship, Arcane Counselor of the Light of the Al...”
“Stop, stop, please, because I’m going to rip my ears off if I have to hear that pompous crap again,” Agata cut off all those titles they used to throw at her.
For the first time, Alistair looked genuinely stunned and lost.
Had he done something wrong? No way was he going to speak to her with the disrespect of that ignorant wolf prince.
“I... what do I call you then?”
“Her name is Agata, unless that’s an alias and she’s living multiple secret lives,” Kaden said, taking the chance to stir the pot, letting out a relieved breath when he saw his blonde step out and walk straight toward the center where the party was.
“Alistair, you’ve seen her. Agata, he wants to be your disciple, so what do you say...”
“NO,” she snapped, no hesitation. “For useless tagalongs, I already have you two.”
“But...” Alistair went speechless, which almost never happened to him.
He’d practiced his speech so much for this moment, and they weren’t even giving him time to list his qualities.
“You can romance her another day. Come on, old lady, it’s time,” Kaden said, grabbing her by the arm and almost hauling her along as they slipped out through the other side of the tunnel, so they wouldn’t be discovered by Leonardo.
“Drop the familiarity and get your slick hands off my waist...”
“What waist? Oh, these little rolls right here...”
“Let go of me. I’m walking by myself, shameless wolf...”
Alistair watched them disappear into the web of tunnels, side by side, and followed in silence like a wandering soul.
How the hell had that savage wolf conquered the heart of a witch that powerful?
For the first time, he envied Kaden, but he wasn’t giving up that easily.
If that ice-faced bastard could do it, then he, a sun full of charm, could melt the Counselor’s soul.
With his confidence renewed, he kept sticking his nose where it didn’t belong, mixing more and more with the werewolf race.

At last, the moment had come.
Leonardo saw them slip out of the party, just the two of them, giggling and touching each other.
He didn’t want to get too close, even with his scent camouflaged with plant essences, because a Lycan’s sense of smell was dangerous.
Still, Kaden was lost in lust. The last thing he’d notice was someone lurking nearby.
Crouched behind some bushes, Leonardo tried to see past the shadows and the tree trunks that blocked his view.
He was getting impatient, especially when he heard a few lewd sounds.
He hoped that idiot really took advantage of this moment, at least to hurt him, and then he’d finish him off.
This wasn’t the painful ending he’d planned for Kaden, but hey, a wolf’s still a wolf.
At least Kaden wouldn’t get happiness with the woman he loved or sitting on the throne of power.
Fuck all those elaborate plans with Loira. He’d take his revenge right here, right now.
Suddenly, the whispers changed tone.
Leonardo sharpened his hearing, barely moving, barely breathing, his body taut.
Through the distant noise of the party, a stunned, pained roar rang out.
“Bella... what are you...?!” Kaden’s growl broke off. The scent of blood spread through the air and made Leonardo’s excitement spike.
The roars kept coming. Trees shaking. Branches snapping.
Lycans dropped all their defenses in front of their mates, so he was convinced Kaden had gone down hard to the dagger.
He dared to leave his hiding spot, moving fast, listening to Kaden’s snarls, and through the low branches he finally saw it.
His enemy was collapsing into a seated position, leaving a trail of blood on the trunk behind him, his hand on his chest where multiple wounds were clustered, the dagger still buried deep in his heart.
Leonardo started laughing. He’d done it. He’d done it!
Then Isabella started crying and screaming, like she’d snapped out of her compulsion, but it was too late.
When she moved to help her mate, he stepped in.
“Don’t you come near him!” Leonardo threatened her directly, another weapon in his hands.
“I didn’t mean to do it, I don’t know what happened! We have to help him, we have to help him!” Isabella screamed through tears.
Leonardo only kept laughing, watching Kaden try to stand and fall again, blood running from his lips, his eyes dimming.
He didn’t even have time to shift.
He was going to take a moment to watch Kaden die right in front of him, just like he’d dreamed so many times.
“Nobody’s helping him, idiot,” Leonardo said, yanking off the mask he’d been wearing and throwing it to the ground.
“Because Prince Kaden is going to die here, betrayed by a little whore like you who worked for whoever I can make up... did I see you with a wizard? Or one of the vampires lurking around here?”
He said it like he was inventing some twisted story out of thin air.
“What luck that I was heading back to the Academy when I smelled his blood and came to save him... from you!” He pointed at her, and Isabella took a step back, “horrified.”
“You did it. Now I remember, you asked me to kill him!”
“I did it! I DID IT!” Leonardo roared, finally free of a truth that had choked him for years.
“Because sooner or later that beast was going to kill you anyway. He doesn’t care about you. He only cares about himself and his Lycan male ego! He stole my female from me! Isolde was mine, MINE!”
Leonardo completely lost it, and something long-suppressed and insane flashed in his eyes.
“So in the end, all that unjustified hate... it really was about Isolde.”
A voice, deadly calm, sounded behind him, freezing his momentum in an instant.
Leonardo turned like it was happening in slow motion, and his spirit almost left his body when he saw who was standing right behind him.
The man he’d written off, and the man he hated most in his life... Kaden Blackridge.