Page 18 of Wolf's Endgame

No, this wasn’t real. He was lying, he had to be lying. My heart was racing too fast in my chest. I couldn’t get breath. I didn’t make Cannon vulnerable. Was this another of Landon’s acts I had to play along with? I tried to focus. “He says thanks by chaining me with silver?”

“Ahh, your good friend sarcasm is back.” Landon reached over and squeezed my hip. “You’re getting better.”

“Stop touching me.”

“For fuck’s sake, Kez, I’m hardly licking you out while you sleep. You’re no virgin, stop acting like one.”

The sound of my fist connecting with his jaw was music to my ears. In seconds, we were full-on fighting, kicking and biting, until Landon was on top of me, straddling my chest, my hands pinned over my head, and I could feel his hot breath on my cheek as I turned my head away. The room was still dark, but wolf sight meant we could see each other better than I would have liked.

“Hey, baby.” Landon grinned down at me. “While I love that your fight has returned, let’s keep the tangling between the sheets to more pleasant things.” Dipping his head, he kissed the corner of my mouth. “Play along,” he whispered.

“I’m grieving!” I snarled.

With an exaggerated sigh, Landon rolled off of me and flopped onto his back. “You hardly knew this guy. He’s dead. Move on already. I’ve been your best friend for years.”

Friend. Not this. Never this.

Landon rolled onto his side, propping his head onto his hand as he loomed over me. “Remember the day we fought in Dad’s training room and they caught us?” he asked with a small smile. “You think you can lie to me that you weren’t checking me out?” Once more, his head dipped, and I felt his lips brush my cheek. “This was always the plan for us, Kez. You know it as well as I do.”

Only I didn’t, and as I stared up at him, I wasn’t sure if this was another part of the act. I remembered Cannon telling Bale in the cells the day I went into heat for the first time, that they had to knock Landon out twice. Before any of this happened, he had tried to get to me on the day of my heat. When I returned to the pack, he was keen to start something with me.

As he leaned over me, that small cocky smile playing about his lips, I suddenly wondered who Landon was acting for.

His father? Or me?

Drawing in a shuddering breath, I moved onto my side, my back to him as I closed my eyes tight. “I’m tired.”

His hand skimmed over my hip with a familiarity I resented. “Me too, we’ll talk more later.” I felt his lips pressed into my hair, and I willed myself to not turn around and punch him again.

You there?

We are.

Is he lying?

We do not know. We don’t trust him.

I caught myself from nodding in agreement.

I don’t trust him either. It hurt to admit it to myself, but Landon was proving a very good actor, and I was no longer sure who the performance was for.

Trust no one. Moonstar agreed with me, and that eased my paranoia a little.

When we leave… I hesitated and then surged on as I thought of Cannon. When we leave, we won’t take him with us.

We never were.

My savage passenger.

For the first time since I had woken up here, I knew I was going to be all right. Moonstar was here, and with her by my side, I would be unstoppable.

Nothing was going to keep me from returning to Cannon.

Nothing.

I fell asleep wrapped in that belief. Although I was only allowed a few hours of sleep, it was undisturbed.

I woke to the sight of Bale staring at me. Pushing myself up into a sitting position, I looked around the room for Landon, but it was just me and the pack leader.

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