Page 82 of Wolf's Endgame

Kezia looked at me smugly. “My brother is sneaky,” she reminded me.

“Like his sister,” I teased back.

“But you’re not here for sneaky,” the shaman said soberly. “Are you?”

I felt my own smile fade, and I shook my head. “No. We need to know about Moonstar.”

The shaman put his herbs down and sat quietly. “The Goddess has shared nothing with me,” he told us softly.

“Do you need a sacrifice?” Kezia asked him, leaning forward and taking hold of his hand. “Deer? Rabbit?”

“I do like rabbits,” the shaman said with a wry smile. “But no, a sacrifice won’t work this time. The Goddess is quiet. It’s not the right time to ask.”

“When is the right time?” I didn’t mean to sound sharp and I saw Kezia’s eyes widen in warning, but I shrugged it off.

“The Goddess does not answer at our beck and call,” the shaman chided. “I am her vessel on earth. I’m not the one who rules; I am only a messenger.”

“Can you send a message to her? Ask her for help?”

“Cannon!” Kezia scolding me for being inappropriate was new.

“What? We need to know this. We are going into a fight with a pack that is ruthless and dangerous. I can’t take you with me in case you get hurt—or worse, captured—and you tell me that I can’t leave you behind in case your passenger hijacks your body. Some help from the Goddess would be appreciated.”

“She stirs within you?” the shaman asked Kezia.

Shooting me a glare, my mate turned to the shaman. “No, she has been quiet since we completed the mate bond. But…” She sighed loudly. “She has always been more dominant when Cannon isn’t near me.”

The shaman frowned as he thought about what she had said. “Hmm, the alpha’s Will is strong.”

“Not strong enough to get rid of her,” I muttered.

“You will never have that power,” the shaman told me sagely. “The spirit chose the wolf, not the other way around. Moonstar will need to want to leave. Kezia is much like myself in that regard; she is a vessel for the spirit of another.”

“I don’t want to be.”

The shaman chuckled lowly. “No, I imagine you don’t, but she has saved you more times than harmed you, child, remember that.”

Kezia slid off her stool and walked to the fridge, grabbing herself a bottle of water and one for me. “I do remember,” she said as she put the water back, taking a beer instead, and handing it over to me. “I also remember the months I lost because of her help. I sound ungrateful, I do, but it’s my body. Not hers.” Opening her water, she took a sip. “It’s possible that I could have survived without her.” Avoiding looking at either of us, she tried to act indifferent. “Women survive attacks every day and can be stronger for it. Maybe I make myself weak by calling on her for aid.”

“Maybe I’ve never heard such bullshit in my life,” I told her.

“I can fight. I should have fought harder, and I didn’t.”

“You didn’t fight harder because of Moonstar. You couldn’t fight harder because you were weak and overpowered,” I snapped at her. “The humans beat you and shot you with silver, Bale beat you and weakened you with silver, and the only way you survived that was because of Moonstar.”

“You’re the one who wants her out of me!”

“Of course I do!” I yelled in exasperation. “She no longer wants to be with you, she wants your body, and I refuse to let my mate go no matter how grateful I am to the one who has saved her over and over. You are my mate, not her. I will not lose you, Kezia.”

Her eyes were swimming in tears, yet she didn’t break my stare. “What if you have no choice?”

“I don’t accept that.” I looked over at the shaman. “I will never accept that. There is always a choice.”

The shaman rolled a flower bud between his thumb and forefinger. “You sound like you do not want to destroy her, Alpha.”

Blinking back my anger, I shook my head. “Destroy her? No, I owe my mate’s life to her.” Throwing my hands in the air in frustration, I barked out a laugh. “Mine too. I just want her somewhere that isn’t inside Kezia.”

The shaman tutted and I worried I had said the wrong thing until he spoke. “Keep her spirit but put her somewhere else? Is that what you are suggesting?”

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