Page 3 of Wolf's Endgame

Landon nodded his head, and with one more baleful look at me, his father left the room. I opened my mouth, but the almost indiscernible whisper reached me. “Say nothing, Kezia.”

But I wasn’t scared of Landon. Until today, I had never been scared of Bale either. The male who had just stood in front of me had not been the male I knew as Pack Leader.

How well he had hidden his hate.

“Where’s my brother?”

Slowly Landon raised his head to meet my glare. “Kris is on pack business.”

Hope surged within me. “Where?” I took a step forward. “Is he here?”

Landon wet his lips, breaking eye contact. “Kris is on pack business.”

My stomach plummeted and I was about to demand more answers when something made me look to where Landon had turned his attention briefly before looking back at me.

A small red light blinked.

They were watching. Someone was watching. Me? Or both of us?

I stiffened when Landon stepped into my space, fighting revulsion when he reached out, a finger trailing over my collarbone. “You need to be smarter,” he murmured. Not low enough not to be heard. “I told you, you will be my mate, but you need to prove to Dad that you can obey.” His finger left my collarbone, moving over the curve of my breast. I jerked away from his touch, but he grabbed my hair, pulling me into his body as he held me tight. “Obey, Kezia. Obey me and you can live.”

Every cell in my body reacted violently to his touch, but the look of panic in his eyes stayed my hand. The memory of his tears, his beg of forgiveness as he followed me to the ground as he drugged me, resurfaced.

He has my mom. I remembered the plea before I passed out.

Was it true?

Landon’s hand cupped my hip, pulling my lower body into his. His breath caressed my ear. “Fight me,” he breathed. “But not too much. I need your help, Kez.”

The words confused me. His words contrasted with his actions. I needed to move away; his touch was making me ill.

“Take your hands off me,” I growled as I jerked away from him. “Touch me again, I’ll remove your hands.” My wrist burned and I looked down, ready to tear the metal off when I saw the thin trail of blood. “Silver…” Looking up at him, I held up my wrist. “You hold me with silver?”

His head dipped slightly. “It will help tame you.”

“Tame me?” Fury burned so fiercely inside me it almost dulled the pain of the silver on my skin. “Tame me? I will skin you alive for this.”

Landon stepped back, the usual wide smile I was used to spread across his face. “There she is. My girl. My fighter.” He looked pleased, but his expression didn’t match the sadness in his eyes. “You need to rest, babe. Someone will bring you food.” He pointed at my wrist. “You resist, Kez, we have more than one of those.”

He left me in the room. I was handcuffed to the wall, with the threat of more silver to use against me. Sitting on the bed, I tried not to react, but the truth was that I was alone and scared, with only the occasional blinking red light for company.

What the hell was I going to do, and how was I going to save my brother, never mind myself?

I was alone for days. No one came to feed me. No one came to even give me water. There was no bathroom, only a bucket in the corner of the room, and after one use and nowhere to empty it, the smell became nauseating.

I’d fallen asleep once. No matter if you were a shifter or human, your body needed sleep. When I awoke with a start and panic in my heart, I realized I had another silver cuff around my other wrist.

They’d also sliced my arm open, and the burning pain of the silver as it rubbed constantly against the shallow wound had me curled in a ball on the floor as I fought the agony.

I heard the footsteps approach. Black boots that were far too polished to be those of an honest shifter faced me. The kick to my stomach knocked the wind out of me, and I was gasping for air when Bale grabbed my hair, forcing my head back to look at him. An ugly sneer marred his face as he looked at me with loathing.

“You look like her.”

I said nothing. I wasn’t sure what I could say even if my throat wasn’t too dry to speak. I could smell the scent of liquor on his breath, and my fear intensified.

“She thought she was too good for me.” He pulled my head back further, my back arching to try to alleviate the unnatural angle. “Opened her legs wide for an alpha though.” The sheer intensity of his hate oozed out of his pores. “Just like her whore daughter. My boy’s not good enough? You just want to fuck an alpha? Like her.”

I spat in his face. It seems I had saliva left after all.

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