Page 6 of Wolf's Endgame

It didn’t matter.

Nothing mattered. Not anymore.

My mate was gone.

CHAPTER 2

Kezia

The days passed in a blur. I could have been here one day, one week, one month. I no longer knew. Landon had bandaged my damaged wrists, but somewhere between then and now, someone had removed them, and once more, my skin was torn and blistered where the silver cuff rubbed against it.

I’d stopped eating. Cannon would laugh at the miracle of me refusing food, I had no doubt.

Cannon.

My mate.

My mate who I had left. Who I hadn’t trusted enough to help me.

I was dehydrated, but still, the tears came. My body hurt. My heart was destroyed. I’d fought him so much, so determined not to accept the fact I was his mate, and just as we were both open to accepting it, I’d run away in the hopes of saving my brother.

Now Cannon was gone, and no one had told me if Kris still lived, and I had lost the strength to fight.

I knew I needed to be fighting, trying to escape. I couldn’t do anything. My body was weak; it was as if learning of my mate’s fate sapped all the strength out of me.

The bed dipped and I no longer moved away from the feel of Landon beside me. Bale hadn’t returned after the incident where he lost control, and I knew somehow that I had Landon to thank for that. The idea of thanking Landon for anything upset me.

Landon upset me.

The touch of my old friend made me stiffen as he smoothed his hand over my hair. I stank. I knew I did, but he didn’t flinch from touching me. Maybe he thought I needed consoling. Soothed? Hell, maybe his touching me soothed him—I didn’t know, and I would never care.

“Kezia, you need to eat.”

I found the strength to move away, no more than an inch, but it was enough when I heard his unhappy sigh.

“Kezia, you’re not helping.”

Had I the energy to lift my head and bite him, I would have.

“Can you hear me?” His voice was lower than a whisper, but I heard him given how close he was to me. “Kris is alive.” The weight of his hand stroking over my hair got heavier, pressing my head down slightly as if he anticipated my reaction to his words. “Kris doesn’t know you’re here. He’s with my sister. They locked them both up. Kez? Help me, I can’t do it alone.”

Help him.

Why would I help him?

Bale took Cass?

Slow, burning anger ignited within me. Cassandra was the apple of her father’s eye. Or so I thought.

Landon let out a loud sigh. “You’re proving them all right, Kezia. They told me that you were too wild and feral to accept pack life. I hate that they’re right.”

I felt him leave the bed and walk away.

“Who’s they?” My throat was so dry my voice was unrecognizable. My head remained on the mattress, my matted hair covering my face, but it was enough to stall Landon’s exit.

“Dad. Some of the other older pack members.” Landon gave a dramatic sigh. “The Pack Council, you know, the usual.”

I did not know, and he was telling me. Telling me his father had the backing of the Pack Council. This was so much more than the loss of Cannon, and I thought…perhaps Landon was as trapped as I was.

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