Page 60 of Wolf's Endgame

“Not really,” I admitted. “But he told me that Bale knew how to break the mate bond, and I needed to stop that. He also told me that Bale planned to kill Kris, but we could stop it, but I had to renounce you and the bond and marry him instead. If I did, then Kris would be safe.” I ignored the angry vibes coming from Cannon as we walked. “I know it means little now, but before I even got there, I knew I should have told you what I was doing. But it was too late.” Glancing at him, hearing his scoff, I forged ahead. “Tev was involved.”

“With your decision to leave?”

“I was in your room, I knew what Landon wanted me to do, and I sat in your chair, thinking through my options?—”

“So you did think and still chose to believe not telling me was the best choice?”

“Just let me do this, you can fight with me later. Tev was outside, and he tapped his watch, and I realized he was telling me that time was running out. When I left, he was waiting on the outskirts of town.” It was me who pulled Cannon to a stop this time. “I never thought…if I’d stayed…you wouldn’t have been hurt.”

“What ifs are a fool’s game, Kezia.” Cannon resumed walking. “Keep talking.”

“I got to the meeting point, and Landon was worried.”

“Worried how?”

“Biting his nails, fretful, anxious.” Pushing my hair off my face, I shrugged. “I’ve known him a long time, I know when he’s nervous, and he was nervous. When he saw me, he looked relieved.”

“Well, you did just walk into his trap.”

“Sarcastic comments won’t make this better.”

“Probably not, but too bad.”

“He knocked me out with some horrible chemical smell he put over my nose and mouth. When I was going under, he apologized and said he has my mom.”

Cannon glanced at me. “Bale?”

“No, the Easter bunny.”

“I thought sarcastic comments wouldn’t make this better?”

“Shut up.”

Cannon grumbled but was once more quiet.

“I came to in a cell. I recognized the smell. It was the hall cells where Kris put me that time during my first heat, but it was under them.”

“He must have tunnels that run under the town itself.” Cannon was frowning, but he gestured for me to continue.

“There are cameras everywhere,” I told him. “When they realized I was awake, they gassed me.”

“They did what?”

“They filled the space with some kind of steam, and when I realized it was gas, it was too late.” We’d slowed in our approach to the town, but Cannon was in no hurry since I was talking. “When I came to again, I was in a bedroom, chained to a wall, with a silver cuff on my wrist.”

“Openly using silver?” Cannon raised his eyebrows as he thought about it. “Seems like things have gotten worse since Barbara’s days.” My mate was pissed off but trying to keep it together so I would finish, but I knew he was furious, I could feel it.

“I wasn’t in the town anymore either. They have another place, a camp of some sort.” I swallowed hard in remembrance. “Landon was there when I woke, Bale too. Landon was trying to convince his father that I should be his wife.”

“Bale needed convincing? So taking you wasn’t Bale’s plan?”

“I don’t believe so,” I admitted. “They kept me chained to the wall, and Landon was advocating for me to be his mate. Bale wasn’t having it.” I stopped, wrapping my arms around myself. “I’d already realized that Bale didn’t care if I was mated to you. The need to break the bond wasn’t for me, it was for?—”

“Kris.”

“Yes.”

We shared a look and Cannon looked to the town where his pack was. “It would be agony.” His voice was barely a whisper, and I wasn’t sure if it was because we’d so recently formed our own mate bond, but I also felt sick at the thought of him being taken away from me.

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