6. Kezia

I spentthe next two days waiting to speak to Cannon, but he was avoiding me again. However, Nikan was bringing me my dinner. His easy smile and good humor were infectious even if I was in a cell.

Royce had warned me that Nikan didn't know about the mate bond, and I was more than happy to have as few people as possible know about it. When Nikan was here, I could pretend I wasn't waiting anxiously for my heat or to see Cannon again. Royce had left the conversation very open-ended and ambiguous, using the "get out of jail free" card that Cannon was the alpha.

Cannon was indeed the alpha. He was also an alpha who was hiding from me.

Sitting on the cot, staring at the ceiling, I recognized Nikan's scent as he brought me dinner. Straightening up, I saw the small pack of cards on the tray and frowned at him in question.

"You play poker?" Nikan asked easily, pushing my tray through the cell door.

"Nope. I can play snap." Reaching for my plate, I enjoyed Nikan's easy laugh.

"You want me to teach you how to play poker?"

Uncovering my food, I grinned at the fat juicy steak and baked potato. "I think Royce's wife likes me," I whispered in a mock conspiratorial tone to the alpha's brother.

Nikan chuckled as he shuffled the pack. "Cannon cooked tonight. Royce and his family are camping."

I slowed in my chewing as I eyed the steak. "Alpha Dick made this?"

Nikan was grinning as he avoided eye contact. "You want him to take it off you?" he joked with a quick look over his shoulder.

"Pfft." I took a hearty bite. "That would involve him coming in here, and we both know he's avoiding me."

Nikan looked up at me with a slight frown. "Don't you want him to avoid you?" he asked, lowering his eyes again.

"I want him to let me out," I told him honestly. I took a bite of potato. "While avoiding me, if possible," I added with a grin, relieved to see Nikan's bright smile again. "So, how do we play poker?"

Nikan explained the rules to me as I ate, and when I was finished, I was too caught up in the rules and dealt hands to mourn the fact dinner was finished. I was sitting cross-legged on the cell floor, with Nikan across from me, learning to play poker when Cannon walked into the cell.

"What the fuck are you doing?" he asked Nikan, his jaw slack.

"He's teaching me to play poker," I answered as I saw the guilty flush on Nikan's face. "Problem?" I glanced at the large alpha male in front of me, and seeing his frown, I averted my eyes again. "What's a royal flush again?" I asked Nikan.

"Same suit and top cards. Ten, jack, queen, et cetera," Nikan mumbled.

"Oh, cool," I said with a forced smile, trying to ignore the heavy presence standing over us. "I have one of them." I laid my cards down on the floor of the cell. "Do I win again?"

My winning hand was enough to break Nikan's gloominess about his brother being here. "Luna, Kez! How?" he asked with a laugh.

"You keep dealing me the cards," I told him with a grin, handing my cards over to him, which were quickly swept up by the alpha. "Jerk." I scowled up at him to see him flicking through my cards.

"You have work tonight," Cannon spoke to his brother, holding his hand out for the rest of the deck. "You have to speak to Doc about that trip north too."

I watched as Nikan clenched his jaw but got to his feet. I couldn't recognize the tone the alpha was using. It was almost like a reprimand, but it held a softness that I'd never heard from him. That was why I was watching Cannon and not Nikan, so I missed the reason Cannon frowned at whatever look his brother shot his way.

"You leave her alone in here all the time," Nikan grumbled. "Why is she a prisoner?"

"I won't discuss this with you again," Cannon spoke sternly, that tone I was familiar with.

"I—"

"Quiet," Cannon commanded without looking at me, his attention on his brother. "You know why she's in here. Nothing's changed, no matter how charming she is."

Nikan opened his mouth to protest, but a flat stare from his brother, and he mumbled a goodbye to me before he left the room, closing the door behind him.

Cannon's bluntness had left me speechless, and instead of fighting with him, I got up from the floor and went back to my cot. I sat on the edge of the bed, watching him expectantly.

Cannon's attention was on the door, a slight frown on his face. When he turned to look at me, I wasn't expecting the frustration.

"I didn't do anything," I blurted, hating myself for how defensive I sounded. "And I've never met one person who called me charming."

"That I can believe," Cannon grunted as he watched me. "Do you think you should be playing cards with him?" he quibbled gruffly, pulling the seat towards him.

"Why can't we play cards? He taught me poker. I was winning."

"Nikan was letting you win."

My eyes narrowed on the alpha, not willing to believe him. "Why?"

For the first time in a while, I saw an emotion on his face that wasn't stern disapproval. Instead, I watched him as he rubbed his forehead. "I want to say he has poor taste."

Scrunching my nose up, I squinted at the alpha. "Huh?"

Cannon fanned the cards out on his thick thigh and pointed at the slight discoloration of some of the cards. "This deck is old. It's the one I taught Nikan to play with. It has the high cards marked."

Leaning forward, I peered at the cards. Sure enough, I could see the discreet markings now that I knew what I was looking for. "Oh." Chewing my bottom lip, I looked up at the alpha. "Explains why I was winning," I told him with a playful shrug.

"Mm-hmm, doesn't it…" Cannon watched me carefully. "How are you feeling?"

The question took me by surprise. "Um…fine?"

Cannon raised an eyebrow. "It's not supposed to be a test, try again."

"You're horribly bossy," I told him instead. "Where is Vance? How is he feeling?"

Cannon stretched his long legs out in front of him, his arms folded loosely over his chest as he watched me. "He's fine. Doc's been with him."

I could scream and yell and fight, or I could try to have a conversation with the brick wall in front of me. "Why is he here?"

"Where else should he be?"

It was my turn to give him a flat stare. "Just answer the question," I told him with a roll of my eyes.

"You were with him. A group of males took you. People who get left behind ask questions."

I was already frowning. "You took him so he wouldn't ask questions?"

"You think I took him for his company?"

Sitting still was difficult when he was being such a prick, but we had a tender truce right now, and if I cursed at the asshole in front of me, he would walk away, and I wouldn't get any answers. "Of course not," I snapped with more bite than I intended. "You just made it…well…it doesn't matter. When do you let him go?"

"I made it like I was jealous?" Cannon asked, ignoring the latter question.

"I didn't say that."

"You didn't have to say it; it's obvious that's what you meant."

"No, it isn't. It's only obvious to your ego."

"So, it is obvious?" he challenged me with a smirk.

"No! It's obvious to you because you're delusional."

"Am I obvious or deluded? I'm confused."

"You're an ass."

"An obvious ass or a deluded ass?" Cannon cocked his head to the left, his eyes dancing with laughter, and I looked away from his playfulness.

"Definitely an ass," I mumbled, but I couldn't hide my smile.

We sat in a comfortable silence for a few moments, which was unlike us, and although I didn't want to ruin it, I still had questions.

"Cannon—"

"He's been with Doc. He got some tests, we asked him some questions, he's in holding."

Fear traveled down my spine. "Why?"

"Why what?" Cannon asked me, still in his relaxed, almost lazy pose.

"Why is he still here?"

A half-nonchalant shrug was my answer.

Getting to my feet, I made the few steps across the cell to look through the bars at the male on the other side. "What are you hiding?"

The easy, relaxed facade was gone, and in its place was the coiled tense alpha I knew, ready to spring. "Who says I'm hiding?"

"You don't fool me," I warned him quietly, my gaze searching his face for any clue as to what he was up to.

Cannon stood slowly, stretching widely, his arms high, his shirt exposing the golden tan of his abs. Lazily scratching his head as he settled back from his stretch, the alpha smirked at me as he caught me looking.

"Don't I?" he murmured as his green eyes met mine.

Goose bumps ran over my skin as I held his stare. He may be an ass, but by Luna, he had sex appeal by the bucket load. I saw the answering flare of lust from the alpha.

A foreign scent, floral and…feminine, wafted towards me. Confused, I looked past Cannon to look at the woman who had entered the room.

She was stunning.

I wished I was exaggerating, but I wasn't.

She was tall, maybe taller than me, with long, thick lustrous black hair, a healthy golden glow from head to foot, and curves that made men sit up and notice. Tight black jeans and an off-shoulder pink shirt, which was loose but still managed to cling to her breasts, made my eyes narrow as I watched her approach Cannon. Curious brown eyes met mine as she looked me over and just as quickly dismissed me.

A perfectly manicured hand rested on Cannon's forearm, and he looked down as she spoke.

"Alpha, Doc's asking for you." Her voice was deep and husky.

I watched Cannon's brief nod, I saw her hand remain on his arm, and I felt my back get straighter as she stayed close to his side.

"Who's this?"

Cannon glanced at me and looked back down at the female. "Tell him I'll be there shortly."

"What? No introductions?" I asked mockingly as the female started to move away.

"Enough," Cannon growled with a cautionary glare my way.

"Alpha?"

She was loitering with intent. I heard my back teeth grind and realized it was because my jaw was clenched tight.

"Go back to Doc," Cannon instructed tersely, his eyes on me. "Close the door behind you."

With one last lingering look over her shoulder at the man who had fixed his attention on me, she left us, pulling the door tight behind her.

"Who's she?"

"Pack."

"Pack…what? Mate? Buddy? Worker? Bedwarmer?"

Cannon tilted his head. "You jealous?"

"I'm jealous of the freedom she has, nothing else."

Cannon crossed his arms as he watched me. "You're a shit liar."

"Funny that. You're usually so quick to tell people I'm some criminal mastermind, except I can't seem to lie, but when it suits you, I'm a liar."

"It never suits me for you to be a liar."

We glared at each other, and I would let it go. I would. But I could still smell her. "She reeks."

Cannon didn't hide his laughter. It only infuriated me. I could feel my claws ready to unleash as I watched him laughing at me.

As suddenly as it started, his laughter stopped. Hard green eyes met mine, and if I hadn't been so pissed at him, I would have heeded the warning. But I was pissed at him, as usual.

"Your eyes are changing," Cannon warned.

"Yeah?" I felt my claws extend from my right hand. "My claws are feeling thirsty too."

He stood in front of me, shaking his head as he took in the sight of me. "How the hell did you ever last down there for that long when you're so very fucking unstable?"

"Don't you ever stop to wonder that it's only when I'm near you I feel violent?" With my voice tight with anger, I was ready to launch myself through the bars if I could.

Cannon gave me a low mocking bow. "I'm leaving."

"Good. Stay away."

"So now you want to be in the cell?" he taunted me as he walked away.

"I just want to be where you aren't!" I shouted after him.

At the door, Cannon looked back at me over his shoulder. "Liar!"

The door shut with a ringing finality that did nothing to quell my temper. He didn't come back, and in a way, I was pleased, but mostly I was pissed off because I still didn't know who she was or why she got to touch him so freely. I ended up being irrationally furious for hours.

When Royce came in later that night to ensure I had eaten supper, I couldn't answer his query of why it looked like I had been crying for hours, because I had been crying for hours.

And no wolf with any pride was going to tell the alphahole's beta she was crying because the alpha was a giant dickhead who deserved to get knob-rot for his whoring ways.

Instead, I told him I missed my brother.

Thank Luna Cannon wasn't in front of me right then. Royce believed me and I knew with no doubt Cannon would have laughed in my face.

Cannon had left the playing cards when he left earlier, and Royce, who was obviously a decent shifter, unlike his alpha, must have felt bad for me and offered to play cards with me to pass the time.

As I sat on the floor across from him, I felt silly for my tears. "You don't need to keep me company," I told Royce quietly. "I know you have a family."

Royce continued to shuffle the deck. "My girls are in their beds," he told me gruffly. "My wife is baking bread for tomorrow and then will relish the peace of the house without me in it to get under her feet." He looked up at me with a smile. "I have time to teach you how to win at poker," he added with a wink.

"Cannon told you Nikan was letting me win?" I guessed with a small sigh.

"It was mentioned," Royce told me with a tight smile.

Watching him as he dealt the cards, I felt the sudden need to defend myself. "I'm not this horrible person he thinks I am."

"I know."

"I never, ever, not once let my wolf free when I was fighting," I told him, holding his eye so he could see I wasn't hiding from him.

Royce inhaled deeply, tapping the cards against his thigh before he looked at me. "When your fights were finished and you were alone, did you shift?"

Confused, I nodded. "Of course, only when I was alone, and no one could see me."

He nodded sagely. "Did the human men you fought shift too?"

What? I looked at him in confusion. "They weren't shifters."

His eyes gleamed in triumph. "Still think you were fighting fair, Kezia?"

I stared at him in surprise. "I never hit them with my strength. Not my true strength."

"But you healed the moment you left them, and you went back fighting others, with no scars, no wounds, no aches or pains, as soon as possible, didn't you?"

Swallowing hard, I nodded once.

"So, I'll ask you again, do you still think you were fighting fair?"

Blinking rapidly, I shook my head, looking away from the beta in front of me. "It's not the same."

"Tell that to the man who needed to feed his family that week and all he had left to turn to was a fight in a barn, but you broke his leg, so instead of a bruise and some aches, he has a broken leg and can't work for weeks. Or tell it to the man whose wrist you snapped even when he told you he conceded, but you snapped it anyway because Vance told you he'd give you an extra hundred."

"That's not fair," I whispered, barely audible. They had found out about me. How?

"And while you may have bled on stage, within an hour of clearing that ring, you'd shifted to your wolf and back to human form, and you felt no pain. Did you?"

"No." My eyes were fixed on the floor. I felt the tears building, and I couldn't hold them back.

"You may have never hit them with your strength knowingly, Kezia. But show me a human girl who can snap a man's leg in a clean break, who can break a man's wrist with the flick of her fingers, or who can walk back into the ring three days after a beating and fight like nothing happened." I felt his heavy stare on me. "Do you still think you were just human?"

"I…it wasn't like that." I couldn't look at him. I couldn't lift my head at all.

I heard Royce get to his feet, knowing he was standing over me, the cards on the floor forgotten. "Wasn't it?"

The question hung heavy in the air long after he had left me alone to face the ugliness of my reality.

Hours later as I lay on the cot and stared at the ceiling through the veil of my silent tears, I realized Cannon was right.

I belonged in the cell.