Page 9 of Wolf's Endgame

I saw the warning look in his eye as he once more stepped in front of me, his lips brushing mine gently. “Good girl, Kezia. Let’s get you back to bed.”

I ignored the stranger’s lewd comments because Landon was already scooping me into his arms and carrying me back through this strange compound.

His father blocked the way to the stairs. He was leaning against the wall, an apple half-eaten in his hand. “Did she bite?”

“She’s not an animal, Dad.”

Bale scoffed as he took another bite of his apple. “Now what?”

Landon stiffened but tried to hide it, and perhaps had he not been holding onto me, I may not have noticed it. “I thought a change of scenery might help.”

“She’s not going into the pack.”

“Duh.” If I had been watching him, I knew he would have been rolling his eyes. “My room. I meant my room.”

Bale looked speculative. “You think because she lets you hold her, wash her, shield her…” Okay, so he had been watching. That creeped me out more than the stranger in the washroom. “You think she’s compliant?”

“Or maybe I’m exhausted,” I spoke quietly, feeling Landon’s grip get tighter. “Maybe I’m tired and lost. Maybe the fact I don’t know why you’re doing this, why my pack leader beat me, said such ugly things to me. Hurt me. Maybe it’s taking a long time to process that I don’t know why any of this is happening to me.”

Bale watched me, his eyes narrowed, but I dropped my stare as a good pack member would. I had to be careful.

For me.

For my brother and Cass.

For Landon.

“War makes us all unpredictable, Kezia,” Landon said.

“War?” I dared look up, but the pack leader’s attention was on his son.

“It’s not for you to worry about,” Landon soothed me. “Can I take her to my room, Dad? I’ll keep her chained.”

He would?

“Fine.” Bale waved him away with a careless shrug. “Keep your trophy. One ounce of trouble from her, she’s gone. Understand?”

“Of course.” Landon dipped his head in acknowledgment.

“Of course,” Bale sneered mockingly. “Remember I’m watching.”

He walked past us, his shoulder knocking into his son’s like he was an enemy.

“Even you?” I whispered. Bale was watching his son also?

“Yeah,” Landon grunted and slowly climbed the stairs. “Especially me.”

CHAPTER 3

Kezia

Landon let me go once I was in his room. I said nothing when I saw the chain nailed to the wall, the glint of the metal too shiny to be anything but silver. Wordlessly, Landon attached my left wrist to the wall and made a show of how long the chain was, as if the length of the chain mattered when it still gave me no freedom. His room was not much bigger than the one I had been in. His bed was wider, his blankets clean and fresh. He had a chair in the corner of the room, and when he told me to sit on the bed, I took the chair.

Landon didn’t make a comment on my small act of defiance, and I felt it was for the best. I feared that if I started screaming and demanding to know what the hell was going on, I would never stop. Maybe he knew that too, which is why he didn’t say anything.

He left me in his room. Sitting in the chair, chained to the wall, with only the small red light in the corner of the room for company—again. The fact he had a camera watching him in his room was enough to curb my anger towards Landon.

I mean, was he dick? Absolutely.

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