Page 39 of Wolf's Endgame

“This is not my pack,” the shaman spoke in a reasonable, calm voice. “You know better, Kristoff, than to use the Goddess to overrule an alpha.” The old man turned his head to look at me. “I have thought over my most recent conversations with Landon as you asked, Alpha.” The old shifter looked puzzled. “He spoke with clarity.”

“Was he lying?”

“I have known him for a very long time.” The shaman paused. “He was always skilled with strong conviction and?—”

“Showmanship,” Kris grunted. “He’s a skilled performer. Don’t believe a word he says.”

Royce’s eyebrows rose upward in surprise. His look to me spoke volumes. “Your mate is his sister.”

“I know.” Kris was on his feet. Making his way amongst the outstretched legs, he walked to the bookshelves. “Luna, Kez would have died when she saw these.”

I moved over to see what he was talking about. “Crime novels?”

“She loves this author. Goddess, I don’t know how many suppers I’ve sat through, listening to her retelling me the entire book.” He looked at me over his shoulder. “No wonder you’re mates.”

I wanted to tell him it was more than a shared love of the same genre of books, but when I saw his look, I knew he understood that it was so much more than that.

“If she ever comes back, I’ll gift her the whole collection.”

Kris gave the books his back as he looked over the occupants of the study. “I need to hear it all again.”

And so I listened to the retelling of Kezia leaving the pack and the return of Moonstar. I sat silent throughout it.

Some would call it brooding. Some could kiss my ass.

When they were finished and Kris had asked the same questions, silence fell around us. Looking up, I saw the shaman looking right at me.

“Shaman?”

“You have been quiet for too long, Alpha.” Leaning back in his seat, he tilted his head to the ceiling, his stare so focused it was as if he could see through it. “The anger burns deep. Not all that scorches your bones is silver.”

Bowing my head, I heard what he said. “I need to know where she is,” I admitted quietly. “I can’t think, I can’t focus. All I can feel is her absence.”

“Yet you sit here,” the shaman chided, “with the books.”

“I committed an act of war on a neighboring pack. We have one of the pack leader’s children, his beta, and the pack’s shaman in my pack. It could be said that I kidnapped them. Bale has not retaliated, why? Why? Because he is within his rights to call for Pack Council. And I lost the advantage when…”

“When you rescued me and Cass.”

It wasn’t fair to blame Kris. It was my choice to get him and his mate to safety, and I would make it again. Even if it meant I had lost my advantage. Which I had.

Kris shuffled his feet. “I could go back.” He met my stony glare. “She’s my mate, he’s her twin.”

“And they would take you prisoner again.” When he went to argue, my temper rose higher. “You will stay in my pack until we have a better plan than you going back and handing yourself over for that limp dick little shit.”

Kris stared at me, his body still. “I will stay?”

My gaze swept over my mate’s brother, reminding myself she would kill me if I put him in the cells, even if it was for his own protection. “You are my guest.”

“Am I?” We held each other’s stare until Kris looked away. “Sorry. But…”

“There should be no but.” Royce’s glare was just as hard as mine. “We offer you shelter; don’t fuck it up by betraying our alpha’s trust.”

Kris was pacing again. “Just listen. Okay?” When no one spoke, he looked at the shaman, who gave a slight nod. “Right. Well…so, I’ve been digging. Ever since we knew…things.”

“What kind of things?” Royce asked warily.

Kris tugged at his ear. “For years, we”—he gestured to the shaman and himself—“have suspected that Bale has been bribing the Pack Council.” I noticed that my own wide-eyed shock mirrored those of the others. “As I dug deeper… He’s not bribing them, he owns them.”

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