Page 16 of Wolf's Endgame

Get us free of the binding, child.

The wolf closed her eyes, and I felt her fade. On shaky feet, I stood in the bathroom, going over everything that she said. I was scared. I knew if I gave Moonstar control, I may never get it back. An hour ago, that would have been doable.

Now?

Now that she had told me that Cannon could still be alive, I had no desire to lose myself. More than ever, I needed out of this place. Studying the cuff on my wrist, I wrapped a towel around my hand and tried to push the cuff over my wrist.

The pain brought me to my knees. Fighting back tears, I pushed again, my mouth opening in a silent scream. Nausea churned in my belly as I gave another shove of the cuff, wincing in new pain as I saw my flesh break open and bleed as I tried to force the band over my hand.

My stomach churned again, and I heaved into the toilet. Gagging, I felt Landon’s cool hands on my shoulders when he swept my hair back.

“Hey, you okay?” he asked, and I heard his genuine concern.

“Yeah.” Straightening, I wiped my mouth on the towel, seeing the bloodstains from my hand and hoping he hadn’t. No such luck.

“Kez!” Landon hissed, grabbing my arm and looking at my bleeding mess of a wrist. “Did you try to take this off?” he whispered furiously.

“Would you be more surprised if I hadn’t?” I snapped, clambering to my feet.

“We’re being watched.” Landon was seething, his words no louder than a murmur, but his fury was so loud he may as well have been shouting.

“I tripped.”

Landon’s scowl matched his temper. “I’m not fucking stupid, and neither is anyone else here.” His look was meaningful, but I was pissed off.

“What do you want from me?” Turning on the faucet, I rinsed my mouth and tried to clean up my wrist. He was right to be freaked out; there was no hiding what I had tried to do. With the silver slowing my healing process, there was no way this would escape Bale’s notice.

“I want you to remember what the fuck we’re trying to do,” he hissed in my ear. Throwing his hands in the air, he spoke louder. “I want you to be my mate. Like we thought we would be.” Seeing my skeptical scowl, he made a carry-on gesture, and I knew he was telling me to go with it. “I thought you wanted this as much as I did. We spoke about it enough when we were younger.”

Bullshit.

Swallowing my temper, I tried to relieve the tension in my shoulders by rolling my head from side to side as I forced myself to pretend his lies were real. “We were children.”

Landon let out a relieved sigh, quickly masking it to sound like exasperation. “Children? We were seventeen.”

I almost told him I was four years older than him, but I didn’t want Bale to know I knew his murderous secret. “A lot changed.” Passing him, I dragged my chain behind me, sitting in the seat across from the bed.

“Did it?”

Holding up my wrist, I gave him a mocking look. “Well, you never used to cuff me to walls, so I’m saying, yeah, it did.”

“I thought you wouldn’t mind a little light bondage.” Landon’s smirk was wicked—and so achingly familiar to how we used to be, it hit me like a blow.

Pointing at the cuff, I leveled him with a flat glare. “I’m all explored out.”

“You need to behave,” he scolded with an easy smile, lying back down on the bed. “Trying to take the cuff off gives the wrong signal, know what I mean?”

“How can I be your mate if you want to keep me cuffed to the wall?” Tilting my head, I ignored the camera in the corner. “Mates mean trust. Any relationship is built on trust.”

“We’ll get there,” he said with confidence. I watched him as he settled into a comfier position, his hands resting behind his head as he stared at the ceiling. “You need more time.”

“I do? Or you do?”

Turning to look at me, Landon watched me with a seriousness I didn’t expect. “Maybe we both do?” he admitted. “Things aren’t how I thought they would be. We both need to adapt to the new ways.”

Picking at a scab on my wrist, I kept my eyes lowered as I spoke. “You never knew any of this?” I gestured to the room. “You didn’t know about this place?”

“No. I wasn’t ready.” His voice was soft, gentle, like he was confiding in a friend. “Dad’s been so smart, keeping this a secret. It’s impressive.”

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