The Prince's Guard
Chapter 39

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Jaxson’s shoulders were burning. That was the first thing he realised. That dull burning ache that screams at you to move. He tried to shift, alleviate the pain. Nothing. He couldn’t move. He thought he was bound until the next sensation hit him. While his shoulders were aching, his whole body was sizzling. He knew he was healing from the beating, but this was as if he had been beaten all over again.

Wolfsbane.

Wolfsbane was in his system. It was part of training to be injected with wolfsbane to know how it feels. To understand the effects. Well… that meant right now, he knew he was baned up to his eyeballs.

Explained why he couldn’t move. Not even a muscle.

He was a big male, he couldn’t deny that, while the dose that was standard in training knocked many for six, he had felt the effect but not a lot else. Now? Oh it seemed there was enough in his system to take down a royal and then some.

Bile squirmed in his stomach but he didn’t even have the strength to throw up. His heart was barely beating. It was there; he was alive…. But his muscles were failing. Wherever he was, he just needed to survive long enough for the poison to start leaving his body.

Desperately, he battled his eyelids open with no effect. He just wanted to see where he was. He couldn’t hear any footsteps, just birds, and the wind rustling through leaves.

So he was outside. Good to know.

There were no other sounds. No footsteps. All was silent. He strained to hear more… but couldn’t.

Wolfsbane, duh. His hearing was muted.

He focused on his toes, the soles of his feet. They weren’t restricted so they were bare.

Bare from bed.

He’d been dragged from bed. That was coming back to him, hands tugging, he’d been so tired he hadn’t really been alert enough to know what was going on.

OK… back to the feet… there was nothing under him, no ground, cobbles, soil… nothing. Just the slight breeze of the summer wind.

He took stock of each part of his body. Partly to distract himself from the blinding agony of wolfsbane, and partly to work out where he was without seeing.

He’d just gone over that his torso was still bare and his arms were numb. His wrists felt tight, he focused more and realised they were bound with something between them. Something rough that his weight was rested on.

All he could do…. Was be.

He thought back to his wrists. His slow mind clocking that was where his weight was rested… He was hanging by his wrists. Probably on a branch.

Great.

How long ago had he been injected? The sun was beating on his face so he could definitely say a few hours at least. Not really helpful as it could take twelve hours for it to even start leaving his body.

Seriously. Why was wolfsbane even a thing!? It should be destroyed. With fire. And acid.

An image flashed in his mind. Chris. The same had happened to Chris, he’d been pulled from bed but Jaxson had passed out before he knew what was happening. Where was Chris? Was he OK?

Worry and panic bubbled in him, enough for his eyes to manage to crack open. Not by much, he found himself peering through auburn eyelashes, making out trees. They weren’t the walnut and oak trees that frequented around the palace. No, these were thick dense pines that were common for the north. He wanted to swipe his eyes, feeling the need to brush them open. But his head was uncooperative still. He looked around to see no one. No Chris. He wasn’t sure if that was a positive or not.

His eyes drooped shut as if that tiny confirmation was enough to dull the panic. It hadn’t fully but that was the great thing this wolfsbane; it didn’t really care.

Frustration was building. He wanted to move. He wanted his body to work. Why wake up if not ready to work?!

He could only say he did doze off, for what he next knew, it was sunset and his eyes opened much more willingly. Not much else happened, but he took what he could. He was definitely in a dense woodland, no sign of civilisation glimpsed through the pine needles and rough bark. He managed to wriggle his numb hands within their bonds, relieved he had some movement back.

He shifted his head left and right… just because he could, feeling something brushing against his collar bones. He glanced down, forcing his stiff neck until his chin reached his chest to see a thick rope circled around… around his neck. He flung his head back, knocking the rope that was limp reaching up to the branch he found his wrists bound to. His face twisted in confusion. What was the point in that? If to not hang him, why put a noose around him?

His exhaustion hit and his head went limp, staring up at his bound hands, hands that had turned pasty white. The ropes had clearly cut him at some point, dried blood caked in streams down his forearms.

All he could think was he was in a bit of a pickle.

Well at least for a while yet until the wolfsbane burned up in his system.

They must have seriously given him a high dose.

A dose enough to kill a smaller male.

Had they tied him in the tree to die? Had that been their intention?… whoever they were.

He drifted off again, what more could he do? He couldn’t call his pack, his mate. No-one. He was the same as a human in that moment, just weaker. He wasn’t sure of the consequences of the level of wolfsbane he’d been unwittingly subjected to. He just could only hope the side effects weren’t permanent.

He drifted in and out of sleep, dosing without fully comprehending that’s what he was doing. Sunset gave way to night, the temperature dropping with every minute. His body managed a single reflective shiver. He strained his arms, trying to pull himself up enough to begin working on the bonds. But nada. Nothing. He was as weak as a babe.

Owls hooted, the previous still woodland gave way to the creatures of the night. Seemed like his hearing was getting a little better as he heard scurrying to his left on the ground. As long as nothing started munching on his toes, he was all good.

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