Leah's POV
As I walked out of the clinic, Dr. Jafar stood there, his white coat flapping like a tattered flag in the wind, his eyes pinning me with a gaze that felt too heavy, too knowing. He stepped closer, all stiff formality and quiet urgency, and I froze, my breath hitching.
"Your Highness," he said, his voice cutting through the dusk like a blade, "I came immediately after receiving your call."
I tilted my head, letting a flicker of surprise twist my lips. "I thought you wouldn't come," I rasped, my tone dry as dust.
He straightened, his jaw tightening. "In our medical school, we took oath. We swore to answer all Lycan calls. Besides…" His eyes softened, just for a heartbeat, "I very much hoped to see you, to confirm your well-being."
I swallowed, the weight of his words sinking into me like claws. "I called because I wanted to know something about Leo," I said, forcing the name out, bitter and sharp. "I know you used to be his colleague at college."
Dr. Jafar inclined his head, a shadow crossing his face. "Besides Gean, I should be considered His Highness's best friend. What do you want to know?"
I hesitated, shame curling in my gut like a living thing. "Everything," I admitted, my voice cracking just enough to sting. "To my disgrace, Leo's been the most familiar stranger to me all these years. I know so little about him."
He studied me, his expression unreadable, then nodded slowly. "Leo was… extraordinary," he began, his tone low, reverent. "A chemistry genius since childhood. Entered the Royal College of Medicine at thirteen - barely a pup, but already outsmarting the elders. By fifteen, he'd cooked up a drug to treat the scurvy that gnawed at our kind, saved hundreds of thousands with it. At nineteen, he cracked the Lycan genetic sequence, laid our essence bare for the world to see. And at twenty, under the Old King's orders, he started the enhancement project."
I stared at him, my heart thudding against my ribs. This wasn't the Leo I knew - the snarling, broken thing I'd glimpsed in shadows. "He's indeed a genius," I murmured, tasting the word, foreign and bitter.
"More than that," Dr. Jafar said, his eyes darkening. "A mad scientist, some called him. He had… Asenberg syndrome, they said. Made him brilliant, but fractured. Social bonds slipped through his fingers like smoke. Except with Gean."
"Gean," I echoed, the name a splinter under my skin. "The rogue."
He nodded, his mouth tightening. "A male werewolf, low-bred social climber. They met in college, and Leo fell hard - madly, desperately. Love like that… it consumes. But Lucian dangled coin in front of Gean, and he took it in the blink of an eye. Left Leo bleeding in the dirt."
I clenched my fists, nails digging into my palms. "So he thought Gean betrayed him."
"More than thought," Dr. Jafar said, his voice dropping to a growl. "Felt it in his bones. Abandoned, gutted - he turned that pain into fuel. Threw himself into the enhancement project like it could stitch him back together. But it twisted him, Leah. He hated you - envied you. That's why Jalin found him so easy to bend."
My breath caught, a snarl rising in my throat. "Bend... how?"
His gaze held mine, unyielding. "Jalin whispered in his ear, fed his rage. They kidnapped you, hypnotized you - made you confess to killing the Old King on camera. A lie, but it stuck. That scandal handed Lucian the throne on a silver platter."
I flinched, the memory clawing at me - my voice, not my words, spilling from a screen for all to see. "And then?" I pressed, my voice raw.
Dr. Jafar's face hardened. "He hated everything after that - the world, himself, you most of all. Used the separated Lycan serum to birth monster - half-werewolf, half-zombie abominations. Called it Plan Z, a name as ugly as the things he made. Stopped only when Gean came crawling back, promising love again. Leo thought he'd found hope."
I narrowed my eyes, sensing the drop. "But he didn't."
"No," he said, his voice heavy as stone. "Finn killed Gean - slaughtered him like a dog. Leo's disgust with the world hit its peak then. Finn locked him up, found Plan Z scrawled in his notes, and saw power in it. Wanted him to build a monster army for Lycidas, to claw back the throne. So Leo kept going, forced to stitch his nightmares into reality."
I rocked back on my heels, the weight of it crushing. "And now?"
"Now?" Dr. Jafar's lips twisted, a grimace of pity and horror. "He's schizophrenic - trapped between reality and illusion. Lives on sedatives, talking to Gean's ghost like he's still breathing. When the drugs fade, he sees the truth - Gean's dead, and he's alone with his madness. Breaks down, wants to burn it all. One minute he's sharp as a blade, the next he's clawing at shadows, manic and lost."
I stood there, the wind howling around us, my mind racing. I'd wanted to know Leo's habits, his routines - not this festering wound of a life. But Plan Z… that stuck in my craw, a dark little gift. If he saw Gean again - really saw him - Leo'd bend like a reed. I could control him, twist him to my will.
"I could use that," I muttered, half to myself. "Make him 'meet' Gean again. Seth could rig a hologram, something real enough to fool him."
Dr. Jafar's eyes flashed, sharp and wary. "That's a cruel game, Your Highness. But it might work."
I smirked, the idea taking root. "Cruelty's the only language we speak anymore."
He shifted, his posture stiffening. "There's another reason I came," he said, his voice dropping low. "You know I've doctored for the White Walkers Pack and the Farrow family since I left the academy. I'm no prodigy, but Alpha Lucas Farrow… he always looked out for me. So I'm asking - presumptuous as it is - for you to pay him a visit."