24. Cannon

Heading back to the fields,I knew that I was barely holding onto my temper. Why was she so infuriating? It had been a pleasant and welcome surprise to find her in my bedroom. Even though she had been snooping, she looked right as she stood at my desk.

She looked like she belonged there. With her hair damp and her eyes narrowed in concentration, my mate looked right at home in my room, amongst my things.

"And then she spoke and ruined everything," I muttered with a grunt. I saw Royce ahead, laughing and joking with one of the other pack members. A male who had hunted Kezia down with me. Who had seen her in the ring the night I toyed with her and brought her home.

With a frustrated breath, I looked past both of them. I didn't want to be cheerful. I wanted to hit something. Preferably Vance fucking Forbes or, if I thought she could fight me and hold her own, Kezia.

I frowned at myself. She could hold her own, she just had shit training. But when she was trained and I knew I wouldn't hold the advantage over her with my training and strength, I relished the opportunity to kick my mate's backside.

Maybe knock some sense into her.

"Why do you look like you're about to go to war?" Royce asked me only half-serious. At the look I gave him, he nodded with a sigh. "Right. Of course. Zia."

"Her name is Kezia," I stressed.

Royce didn't give a fuck I was pissed off. He pointed to the wagon with the grain. "You know what to do. Go do some manual labor, work her out of your system."

Ignoring them both as they grinned at me, like they knew what it was like to have their mate get on their very last nerve, I shouldered past them. The trouble was they didn't know.

No one I knew, knew what it was like. When I was younger and beginning to understand that I was the next alpha of our pack, I had sought out shamans. I had no one to teach me. Luna knew my father, Rek, was never going to embrace his successor with welcome arms. He thought I was merely a shifter. I hid my alpha scent from him, and I hid it well.

That didn't help me with the way of an alpha though. I had sought out shamans in other packs, their duty to Luna overriding their duty to the pack when an alpha came seeking answers in secret.

A shaman in a pack that preferred the very far north of Canada had explained the mating bond to me. Luna needed strength and loyalty, and there was nothing more loyal or unbreakable than a mate bond.

A pack that had a strong alpha and his mate was a good pack. A pack that would do anything for each other. I had that already. My pack and I were loyal to each other. I had done everything I could for them, and they deserved a strong alpha female.

Did they deserve Kezia?

I wasn't sure I deserved her. She was a riddle I may never work out.

Picking up the first bag of grain, I carried it to the harvester machine, emptying it and shaking it loose. That was unfair, I reproached myself sourly. Kezia was wild and untamed, a fact I liked about her. Of course, my pack deserved someone who would fight for them.

I snorted. Luna knew Kezia loved to fight. About everything. She may be a puzzle, but I wanted to be the one to figure her out, I knew.

I emptied the next grain bag. Was it my fault she was irrational?

No.

It was her brother's.

Stooping to pick up the next sack, I realized I did know another alpha who was mated.

Kris.

He'd had more years than anyone to deal with the spitfire that was my mate. He would know how best to control her. Again, I winced at the terminology.

I didn't want to control her. I just wanted her to listen. To understand the risks that she ran at full-on, they affected others and not just her.

"It's only been four sacks," Royce spoke quietly beside me. "You lost that fire quick."

Straightening, I looked at him. "I'm an ass. She makes me act like an ass."

He half shrugged. "She's female. It's in their genetics, I think." He beamed at me. "It's what makes them so fun."

I shared his smile. "Yeah, I don't know if I'll ever get to the fun, but she makes it interesting." Reaching to my back pocket for my phone, I remembered I left it on the kitchen counter. I'd gone home earlier for it and been distracted by Kezia in my bedroom. Looking around, I looked back at Royce and saw his knowing look. "I?—"

"Need to go, yeah, I know." Patting me on the back, he pushed me away. "Get whatever it is out of your system, come past the house later. We need to plan the next move. Right?"

"Absolutely." I was already backing away. "I just need to make a call."

"Sure." His eye roll made me realize he thought I was going to find Kezia. "Just make sure you close the door," he added quietly.

I nodded but I was already planning on it. Not to disguise the sound of sex from my pack, but to hide the conversation I was about to have with my mate's brother. Thinking about Kezia and sex reminded me how good it had been.

Thank the Goddess, I'd had the sense to close her bathroom door last night, and then the other times, I'd reminded her to be quiet, but Luna, I needed to hear her scream like she had in the open yesterday. But the last thing my pack needed to suspect was me having sex with someone else's mate. As far as they were concerned, she was still Landon's mate.

The very thought of that made me want to punch the imbecile's face.

When she told me all those months ago that the prick had his hands on her ass, my ass, and he'd kissed her, I'd almost gone looking for him that night to rip out his innards. Thank Luna for Royce and his voice of reason.

Then I saw her kiss that vile bastard Vance, and no will in the world would have stopped me from slapping her ass that night in the ring.

She needed a good spanking. The thought of her screeching if I spanked her made me laugh. She would never allow that, and the idea of her fighting it was what made me like the idea even more.

I loved her fight. Her spirit. I hated her inability to keep herself safe.

Blowing out a breath, I jogged up the steps to my house. "Kezia?" I called out, heading to the kitchen and seeing my phone on charge where I left it. Taking the stairs two at a time, I poked my head into her bedroom, saw it was empty, and didn't find her in mine either. "Where are you now?"

She'd told Nikan she would see him later, I remembered. He'd told me he had yet to take her to the trades warehouses, where the skilled pack worked. She was still on her tour, and checking the time, seeing it was lunchtime, I guessed she was either still on her tour of our pack or in the food hall.

Closing the bedroom door, I sent a text to Kris.

Cannon: Can you talk?

Kris: What's happened?

Realizing he would immediately think the worst because his sister was such a magnet for danger, I quickly typed out a reply.

Cannon: All is good.

Kris: Why are you texting me then?

Luna, he was as difficult as his sister. No wonder they clashed so much.

Cannon: Can you talk or not?

Kris: Give me 5

Pacing my bedroom, I felt awkward as I waited for the phone to ring. When it did, I almost dropped the fucking thing.

"Hello."

"Is she okay? What's happened?"

"I told you she was fine," I barked. "Calm down."

"Don't tell me to calm down. You text for no reason, when you know I'm being watched—what is it?"

"You're being watched?" I asked, my focus sharpening.

"Of course I'm being fucking watched," Kris seethed. "I'm an undeclared alpha mated to the pack leader's only daughter, whose twin is declaring that my sister is his mate."

Shit. He was right, his situation was dangerous. "I'm…sorry." I exhaled slowly. "I shouldn't be adding to that risk. Go."

"You said sorry." Kris sounded curious. "What's she done?" he asked warily.

I couldn't help the smile at his correct assumption I was phoning because of his sister. "Has she always been so infuriating?"

"Every day of her life."

Rubbing the back of my neck, I closed my eyes as my awkwardness returned. "How do you not strangle Cass?"

I heard his snort of laughter. "Because she has me wrapped around her finger," he told me, and I heard the fondness in his tone. "Wait…have you had…is it formed?"

"We have, and no it isn't, not properly, she wasn't in heat."

"She slept with you anyway?"

"Should I be insulted you sound so surprised?" I asked him dryly. Looking out my bedroom window, I ran my hand over the chair. I could scent her here. Had she sat here earlier and looked out as I was now? Something inside me settled at the thought of her being so comfortable in my home.

"I'm surprised," he admitted. "Kez is…determined and can't usually be dissuaded. She was determined not to like you."

"I don't think she's dissuaded," I told him with a grunt.

"So…you called to tell me this?" he asked dubiously.

"No. I…" I didn't know how to say it. "I want to either kill her or fuck her. When does it pass? The urge." I grimaced when I grasped what I'd just said to her brother. Clearing my throat, I added, "No offense."

"I don't know," he told me simply. "Cass frustrated me too." I was grateful for him brushing past my implied violence to his sister. "It eased with her heat. I'd waited so long…" I'd forgotten his mate was still a teenager. Unlike mine, who had four years robbed from her. "Once her heat passed, we were more at ease."

"And the fact that she isn't as irrational as your sister helps."

Kris laughed. "Cass is just as unpredictable. She may look innocent, but she's responsible for more trouble than Kez ever was, I'm realizing." He was quiet for a moment. "You need to be together during her heat. It helps." Once more, he cleared his throat, clearly as uncomfortable as I was with the conversation topic. "The shaman told me it settles us. The bond intensifies all the small things that we find irritating and all the things we find…attractive. A completed bond creates balance."

Despite the topic, and who I was discussing it with, I was glad I swallowed my pride and phoned her brother. He had the advice of a shaman. Advice I lacked.

"Right." Glancing at the phone, I put it back to my ear. "I was thinking…" I took the plunge. "I was thinking extreme thoughts that aren't me and I knew were severe. I told her she wasn't allowed to think for herself earlier," I admitted, my gut clenching with embarrassment.

"Went down well?" I heard his huff of laughter.

"Like a lead balloon."

"We had a few moments like that on the days running up to Cass's heat." I heard him moving. "To be fair, there are still days like that, but our reactions aren't as exaggerated."

"I get it."

"I need to go," he told me, his voice lowering.

"You okay?" Concern for his safety surfaced once more.

"Yeah, I just need to be careful." There was a pause. "You good?"

"Yup. I appreciate the…this."

"Don't make it a habit."

"If you need to," I told him, becoming serious, "grab Cass and come here. We'll deal with it."

"That's what family's for, right?" Kris quipped. "I have it under control, but thanks."

We said goodbye, and with a grin, I dropped the phone on the chair. "Well, that's one thing, I suppose," I told the empty room. "The need to throttle her is the bond not complete."

Glancing out the window, I erased that rational thought when I saw my brother walking up the street, alone. "Where the hell is she?"

And I knew. Of course, I knew.

"Damn it, Kezia!"

Rushing out of the house, I grabbed my brother as I passed him, spinning him in place as I half dragged him behind me.

"Whoa!" Nikan protested. "I'd like to keep my arm!"

"Where is she?" I asked him, shoving him away from me as I headed to the bunker.

"Who?" Dragging Nikan in front of me, my nose touched his, and I saw him flinch as he looked at me. "Zia? I don't know. She went for a shower, didn't she?" He looked at me in panic. "She run?" he whispered urgently.

"No." I let him go. "She did something much worse." We were at the bunker. "She's in here."

"Ah, fuck, Zia." Nikan and I shared a look. "I'll get Royce?"

"I don't need my beta to babysit me," I growled at him as we went inside.

"I'm already here," Royce spoke from behind us. "Hannah texted me," he explained as he joined us. "Doc's letting her talk to him."

I felt my jaw drop, and thank fuck for Nikan, who said what I was thinking.

"Is he fucking crazy?"

Royce shook his head slightly, but his eyes never left mine. "Alpha?"

"We go in. We remove her. Someone stand in front of Doc." My voice was quiet and firm. "My wolf is not happy. I don't know if I'll control myself enough not to react."

"A quick, simple extraction," Royce confirmed.

As we approached the door, I held my hand up, seeing it wasn't closed firmly.

"Hannah," Royce whispered in explanation. "So I can get in."

The three of us listened.

"Why isn't he speaking?" Kezia's voice floated out to us.

"Cannon wasn't exactly gentle in his interrogation," Doc sounded sympathetic.

"Can he speak?" Kezia demanded. "He's useless if he can't tell me anything. He may as well be dead."

I heard her disgust, and my wolf felt less panicked. She wasn't here to save him.

"I've been working on fixing his throat," Doc told her. "Tricky, but I think it's working."

Exchanging a look with Royce, who looked as surprised by this as I felt, I made a mental note to ask the Doc a lot more questions.

"I don't have time for him to regrow shit or whatever," Kezia snapped. "Can you write?"

We heard movement and then Hannah's clear voice. "Don't go near him, Kezia. He can write. He won't, but he can."

My wolf urged me forward, and I took in two guilty faces and one of relief when they spun to face me as I walked into the room.

"You better not start talking," I warned Kezia. "You." I pointed at Doc. "I'll deal with later." Looking past all three of them, I locked eyes with Vance. "And you, I should have killed already."

"I need answers." Kezia stepped in front of me. Her hands came flying up to stop me. "I'm not protecting him," she told me softly, her eyes pleading with me to understand. "I need to know who knows. How did he know? He never knew before, I swear." She swallowed. "I need to know if he hurt anyone I care about when he came to find me."

"Care about?"

Kezia nodded. "The town Bullet found me in that time, I had friends there. Two women who cared for me. Lottie." She licked her lips. "Lottie was older. She was on TV, asking whoever had taken me to return me." Her eyes narrowed in anger. "I need to know if he hurt them." She stepped towards me. "Please?"

"Pup—"

"Pup?" The hoarseness of Vance's voice had all six of us turn our attention to him. He was leaning back, his shoulders shaking with laughter. "You call it pup." His voice was scratchy and raspy. It made my throat itch to hear it, but it had a different effect on Kezia.

"You!" Her body went unnaturally still.

I reached for her, but catching me off guard, she moved so fast that my hand clutched nothing but air as she launched her attack on Vance.

"Kezia!"

She was already on him. He'd gone from sitting on his cot to kneeling in front of her, with her arm locked around his throat from behind. Kezia's lips were at his ear, but her eyes were on me.

"He was in the truck."

My mind was racing, not connecting him and the truck at first until I saw her arm flex.

"You were in the truck," she hissed in his ear. "Why didn't I see you?" she demanded. "Were you the driver? How did you disguise your voice so I wouldn't recognize you then?"

The look on his face was vile, and malice was in his stare as he looked at me. "She tastes good, doesn't she?"

Kezia growled but I moved forward cautiously. "Loosen your hold," I told her. "He's doing it to antagonize you. Let him go," I instructed more firmly. "You won't get answers if you strangle him."

"Maybe I don't need answers."

"What was her name? Lottie?" I asked, and Kezia visibly flinched.

"Kezia."

She leveled me with a glare, but she stepped back, letting Vance drop forward. "Come here. Beside me." I reached for her, and when she took my hand, I yanked her closer, pushing her behind me as I faced Vance.

"All the information you gave me, you never mentioned tasting her." I stepped closer. "Because you haven't. You may have kissed her, but just now, you played with her fear that you and your friends did a lot more to her in that truck."

"You'll never know." His voice was so ravaged it hurt to listen to it, but it didn't matter because I knew it hurt him a lot more to speak.

"But I do know," I told him, seeing his confusion that he couldn't hide. "The women? Are they harmed?"

He sniffed and spat to the side. "One fought, one didn't."

I heard Kezia let out a sob, and I forced myself not to turn to her. "You told me you learned of what we were the night Kezia changed form at your cabin." I saw his sneer. "A lie?" He smirked. "When did you know?"

"When she kept coming back for more." The disgusting vermin winked at me.

My wolf growled but I pushed it down. Anger wouldn't serve me now. He was talking because she was here. Because Kezia was hurting hearing this. For all the walls that she built to protect herself from the way the Anterrio Pack treated her, she had trusted Vance.

"I don't believe you." It was Royce who spoke. My beta stood beside me, both of us blocking the others from seeing Vance, or him them. "I know humans. No one assumes someone's a shifter. No one."

He was right. We'd served. We'd done some humanly impossible stuff in tight situations for our regiment, for our brothers and sisters in arms.

Humans didn't accept the possibility of the supernatural; they put the impossible down to adrenaline.

"Who recruited you?" I asked Vance.

He smiled and I watched him as he got to his feet, taking a seat on his cot like it was a throne.

"We will speak with him, Alpha."

My insides froze as I recognized the tone of Moonstar in Kezia's voice. I almost didn't move aside, but firm hands slipped between Royce and myself as the slight frame of my mate moved between us.

Her step was smooth as she approached Vance. She took a step to the side, and he followed her movement, his eyes narrowing when Moonstar tilted her head to the side, assessing him. Even in his ignorant state, he recognized the she in front of him was not Kezia.

"What the fuck is this?" he asked, looking between me and the being who occupied my mate.

"Nikan, take Hannah and Doc," I murmured. "Now."

"I—"

"Now, Nikan," Royce growled.

We heard the door close, and despite the high tension of the situation, I felt Royce's relief that his wife was no longer in the room.

I didn't feel any relief, because my mate was in more danger than ever.