Page 83 of Wolf's Gambit

“She’s not different,” Cannon corrected them both. “She’s…”

I waited, my awareness struggling to stay awake. Special? Was I special? A freak? Oh crap, was I a mutant too?

“Unique,” he told them.

Huh. Unique. I liked that.

I heard a rumble of laughter. Royce? What was so funny? I could be unique. I moved restlessly as I tried to wake up and tell them I was unique and also to fuck off so I could sleep.

“Shh,” Canon whispered, his hand smoothing my hair again. “She needs to rest,” he told them. “I need to clean this mess.”

“You need to clean more than this mess,” Royce scoffed as I heard them move away. “You need to speak to her brother, you need to speak to your brother, and you need to find out who the hell gave her attackers silver bullets. How did they even know that was a thing when we didn’t know it was a thing until about an hour ago? Well, obviously, you knew. Where in the Goddess’s name did you get it?”

“I sent you to the fighter,” Cannon said, his tone sharper. “The fighter who’s no longer where we left him.”

Fighter? What fighter? Did he mean Vance? Why would he want Vance?

I tried to ask the question, but my tongue was heavy. Getting shot with silver sucked hairy balls.

“Did she just say hairy balls?” Mal asked, and I could hear his amusement. “Maybe she’s dreaming.”

“Of hairy balls?” Royce laughed.

“Not if she wants to get out of that cell,” Cannon growled.

“It could be your hairy balls she’s thinking of,” Royce teased.

“Can we please stop talking about anyone’s balls and my mate in the same sentence?”

He was such a grump.

Wait.

What?

My eyes opened in alarm.

Pushing myself into a sitting position, I looked at three very guilty faces. I locked eyes with Cannon. “What did you just say?”

CHAPTER 22

Kezia

“I thought you were asleep,” Cannon said, looking flustered. It was a weird look on him. Stoic, cold, expressionless, I was used to. Seeing him flustered was strange.

“Are you blushing?” I squinted at him in suspicion. “Wait, am I awake?” I looked at Royce who was half-turned away from me, biting his lower lip to stop from laughing. I pinched myself hard and flinched. “Ow.”

“Did you just pinch yourself?” Mal asked with a grin.

“I need to know if I’m awake,” I grumbled, trying to sit up properly. “They always say pinch yourself to see if you’re dreaming.”

“Who says that?” Royce asked curiously. “Wouldn’t dream-you be able to pinch anyway because it’s a dream, right?”

I thought about it. That made sense. Dream-me didn’t want real-me to know it was a dream, so real-me would be fooled. “Shut up!” I shouted at everyone, myself included. Royce and Mal were both laughing at me now.

Pushing myself up and swinging my legs over the cot, I tried to stand and immediately sat again as a wave of dizziness swept over me.

“You should get some sleep,” Mal said, walking back to the cell. “You lost a lot of blood. You need to recuperate.”

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