Page 28 of Wolf's Endgame

“I do.” Turning back to the window, I looked out at my pack. “And I want revenge on Anterrio Pack as much as you all do, and we will get it. But…”

“What do we think she did?” Leo asked behind me.

“She gave up control,” I whispered, scared that giving voice to my fear would make it even more real. Looking over my shoulder, I confessed, “She gave it up, and I don’t know if I can get her back.”

“For her freedom? For her and the old shifter?” Doc asked, his forehead furrowed in thought.

“For me.” I knew it in my heart. My mate had surrendered her soul to the spirit that resided in her body so that Moonstar would heal me. “My life, for hers.”

CHAPTER 8

Cannon

Royce was the first to speak. “You don’t know that.”

Wetting my lips, I turned back to the window. “Don’t I?” I could feel the wolf inside me, prowling, eager to go find his mate and rip out anyone’s throat who got in the way. I was on board with that plan.

“Cannon,” Leo began, blowing out a low breath as he searched for the right words. “I get it. I do. Your mate is…everything, but?—”

“There is no but.” Keeping my eyes on the streets outside, I stubbornly refused to turn around. I didn’t want to see reason. I didn’t want to hear buts. I didn’t want to be here. I wanted to be running up that mountain and finding where that bitch took my mate.

“Of course, Alpha.” Leo didn’t hide his sigh of disappointment, and I knew there was more than him in the room who didn’t like my answer.

I also knew not all of those in the room would stay quiet, and Royce didn’t disappoint me.

“You’re alpha in this pack, Cannon. Every shifter in this pack is your responsibility. So, yes, there is a very big but.”

Nikan snorted and I heard the oomph as someone elbowed him, but my brother’s snort of inappropriateness eased the tension. Turning to them, I saw Leo smirking and Doc shaking his head.

“You’re such a juvenile,” I chided him with a small smile. Nikan cleared his throat but couldn’t hide his grin.

Royce’s attention was all on me. “How long do you think it will take you to find her?”

“I don’t know,” I told him truthfully.

“It took us five months last time,” he continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “And she was Kezia the whole time. Five months,” he ground out. “You think Moonstar doesn’t know how you hunt by now? You think she doesn’t know how to evade you, if you even knew which direction to look in?”

“I have to find her,” I told him.

“We will, Alpha.” Royce was solid. Steady. He didn’t let emotion overcome him or rule him. Until Kezia, neither had I.

I hated that he was right. I knew he was right; I knew I was letting the need to protect my mate rule my emotions. “Ever since I met her, she’s made me irrational,” I mumbled, and I saw my beta dip his head to hide his smile, knowing that I had heard him. “After Tev stabbed me, what happened?”

Nikan leaned back, mockery in his eyes. “Finally! You ask the questions we can answer.”

Dragging my hand over my face in frustration, I accepted all their criticism. They were right; I wasn’t acting as I should. “Start talking,” I ordered them. “Tell me everything.”

“I heard your call,” Royce began. “Faint. But I heard, and I found you. Nikan wasn’t far behind, and you were…” They exchanged a look. “It was bad. We got Doc, and Nikan and Leo enforced lockdown.” I watched him scratch his cheek. “Put the pack in panic, but too many had seen you injured by then. Rumor spreads quicker than wildfire after all.”

“Lockdown was in place. Patrols were in place within twenty minutes of Royce finding you,” Leo told me, and I could hear the pride in his voice.

As he should.

We were a well-disciplined pack, and that was reflected in how quickly they had responded to the threat. The pack had rallied without me telling them to—that’s how well communication ran through my pack. They didn’t need the mindlink to gather them. We had systems in place for all eventualities.

“Vic saw Tev try to leave despite lockdown,” Nikan carried on the retelling. “Contacted me immediately.” My brother looked at me with steely determination as he spoke. “Only for him did I leave your side that night.”

“Good.” I knew what he was telling me. “The answers to what was happening weren’t going to come from me,” I added. “Did he break?”

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