1. Kezia

Darkness greetedme as I opened my eyes, and I swore to myself as I lay there on a hard dirt floor with a musty smell surrounding me, that at some point in my future, I was going to make a concentrated effort to stop waking up in cells.

It was getting old and repetitive.

My dry attempt at humor did little to quell the panic and fear I felt. Moving slowly, I sat up. The overpowering scent that Landon had drugged me with lingered in my nostrils, making me feel nauseous.

Landon.

That treacherous bastard had drugged me and threatened me.

He threatened my family.

Anger made me surge to my feet, my earlier caution fleeing as my temper rose within me. I wanted to scream for him. Demand he show himself to me. Reaching out, my hands sought to learn the confines of the place where I was being kept. Fingers brushed against the cool stone. Smooth.

I knew this place.

I was in the cells under the hall.

He’d brought me back to the Anterrio Pack. The hall was in the center of the town. How had he gotten me here without being seen? Where was Kris?

Moving to the left, I felt for the cot that I used the last time I was in here.

I really needed to stop getting locked up.

After a thorough search of the space, I realized there was no cot. Once more, I sniffed the air. The scent was familiar. Dropping to my hands and knees, I tested the floor. Hard compact dirt.

Getting to my feet, I brushed at the knees of my leggings reflexively. I wasn’t in the cell I was in before, the one that Kris had locked me in when I first went into heat.

Was I on the other side of it? Or worse…under it?

Panic swelled within me. What if I was trapped here? Cannon wouldn’t find me.

Would he even come looking? I’d left him and I hadn’t even told him why. Would he know? Would he guess I left to protect my brother?

Luna, I hoped so.

A noise above made me freeze. Cocking my head to hear better, I counted the steps as someone walked back and forth above me. The rhythm felt familiar. My body sagged with relief as I counted the steps. There was only one other person I knew who paced that fast when they were thinking, my brother.

Clapping my hand over my mouth in time to muffle the shout for Kris, I prayed no one heard my stifled yell. I was being foolish. If Kris wasn’t alone, I’d alert whoever was with him that I was awake.

Moving stealthily, I began a frantic search of my surroundings. If there was someone above me, that meant I came in another way. I needed to find it.

Stretching above me, my fingers knocked briefly against something small and metallic. On raised tiptoes, I stretched, reaching for it, hoping it was a way out.

I jumped back when the rush of cold air coated my fingers, and a hissing noise filled the room. It wasn’t a way out; it was a vent of some sort, spewing out gas into my small room. With my arm over my nose and mouth, I struggled not to breathe.

I was a shifter. Most things that hurt humans didn’t hurt us. But, I wasn’t invincible.

Sinking to my knees, desperate to cough, I squeezed my eyes shut as I fought the gas designed to knock me out. I knew I wouldn’t succeed. I was losing a battle I couldn’t fight.

The hissing stopped and I opened my eyes in time to see a solo blink of a red light, high in the corner of the room. Or what I assumed was the corner.

They were watching me.

It was my last thought as I passed out from the fumes.

“Kezia?”

Cannon’s arms surrounded me. I was safe in the warm cocoon he provided me. Sleep tugged at my awareness, bringing me back down to the warm slumber I had been in, with my mate curled around me.

“Kezia! Will you stop moaning and wake up?”

“Mm-hmmm…Cannon, shhh.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake, Kezia. This is your own fault.”

The sharp sting of water washed over me as I jumped up, confused and disoriented but awake. The blue eyes of my captor watched me warily as I took a step back from him. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw the bed I was lying in was empty; Cannon wasn’t there.

I’d been dreaming, and now I was faced with the ugly reality that I’d been betrayed by one of my oldest friends.

Taking in the room, I didn’t recognize it. This wasn’t where I had been when I woke up the first time, they’d moved me? “Where am I?”

“Home.” The glare I sent Landon’s way made him take a step back.

“You kidnapped me.”

He rolled his eyes. “You came to me.”

“You drugged me.

Landon let out a long sigh. “After you came to me. Willingly.”

“You threatened my family, you sociopath!” As I lunged forward, a sharp yank on my arm halted my progress, and I looked down at the handcuff around my wrist and the chain that led from it to the nail in the wall. “What the fuck is this?” I growled, yanking on the chain, hissing in pain as it dug into me.

“It’s a precaution.”

My head snapped so quickly to the sound of the other voice in the room, that I hurt myself. “Bastard!”

Bale was leaning against the wall, his arms folded, his dark stare fixed on me. “‘Pack Leader Bale’ is how you will address me.”

“You’re right, bastard is too good for you.” Looking him over with disgust, I sneered. “‘Fucking asshole’ is much better.” My attention flicked to Landon. “Where’s Kris?”

“It’s unfortunate, but Beta Kris is indisposed,” Bale answered calmly.

“If you’ve hurt him, I’ll?—”

“You’ll what?” Bale looked me over once, much as I had done him only moments before. His smile was cold and chilling. He straightened, his arms relaxed, one slipping into his pocket while he walked towards me. “You’ll glare at me some more?” Hate filled his eyes. “Call me more names?” he mocked. Leaning forward, his face inches from mine, he laughed. “You will do nothing. You are nothing. You live because I say you can.” He lost his smile, his face cold and emotionless once more. “You’re mine now, bitch.”

“Dad.”

I’d forgotten Landon was in the room, but I dared not break eye contact with the pack leader in front of me.

I saw the sneer on Bale’s face when Landon spoke, but it was gone when he turned to look at him. “Yes, I know, you want her.” He glanced back at me. “Fuck her and be done with it.”

Landon moved into my line of sight as he spoke to his father. “Dad, you said you would think about allowing the marriage.”

“No. She’s rabid.”

Speak for yourself, psycho.

Bale glowered at me. “She’s like her mother,” he spat. “Her mother was a whore as well.”

I bit my tongue so hard it bled. Landon’s head was lowered, his face pale, but I saw the tight clench of his fist at his side. “She can be taught.”

Bale threw his head back and laughed. A sound with no joy. “That?” He pointed at me. “That cannot be taught. You cannot teach a feral wolf, son. Use her how you want, then make her disappear.”

Landon nodded his head, and with one more baleful look at me, his father left the room. I opened my mouth, but the almost indiscernible whisper reached me. “Say nothing, Kezia.”

But I wasn’t scared of Landon. Until today, I had never been scared of Bale either. The male who had just stood in front of me had not been the male I knew as Pack Leader.

How well he had hidden his hate.

“Where’s my brother?”

Slowly Landon raised his head to meet my glare. “Kris is on pack business.”

Hope surged within me. “Where?” I took a step forward. “Is he here?”

Landon wet his lips, breaking eye contact. “Kris is on pack business.”

My stomach plummeted and I was about to demand more answers when something made me look to where Landon had turned his attention briefly before looking back at me.

A small red light blinked.

They were watching. Someone was watching. Me? Or both of us?

I stiffened when Landon stepped into my space, fighting revulsion when he reached out, a finger trailing over my collarbone. “You need to be smarter,” he murmured. Not low enough not to be heard. “I told you, you will be my mate, but you need to prove to Dad that you can obey.” His finger left my collarbone, moving over the curve of my breast. I jerked away from his touch, but he grabbed my hair, pulling me into his body as he held me tight. “Obey, Kezia. Obey me and you can live.”

Every cell in my body reacted violently to his touch, but the look of panic in his eyes stayed my hand. The memory of his tears, his beg of forgiveness as he followed me to the ground as he drugged me, resurfaced.

He has my mom. I remembered the plea before I passed out.

Was it true?

Landon’s hand cupped my hip, pulling my lower body into his. His breath caressed my ear. “Fight me,” he breathed. “But not too much. I need your help, Kez.”

The words confused me. His words contrasted with his actions. I needed to move away; his touch was making me ill.

“Take your hands off me,” I growled as I jerked away from him. “Touch me again, I’ll remove your hands.” My wrist burned and I looked down, ready to tear the metal off when I saw the thin trail of blood. “Silver…” Looking up at him, I held up my wrist. “You hold me with silver?”

His head dipped slightly. “It will help tame you.”

“Tame me?” Fury burned so fiercely inside me it almost dulled the pain of the silver on my skin. “Tame me? I will skin you alive for this.”

Landon stepped back, the usual wide smile I was used to spread across his face. “There she is. My girl. My fighter.” He looked pleased, but his expression didn’t match the sadness in his eyes. “You need to rest, babe. Someone will bring you food.” He pointed at my wrist. “You resist, Kez, we have more than one of those.”

He left me in the room. I was handcuffed to the wall, with the threat of more silver to use against me. Sitting on the bed, I tried not to react, but the truth was that I was alone and scared, with only the occasional blinking red light for company.

What the hell was I going to do, and how was I going to save my brother, never mind myself?

I was alone for days.No one came to feed me. No one came to even give me water. There was no bathroom, only a bucket in the corner of the room, and after one use and nowhere to empty it, the smell became nauseating.

I’d fallen asleep once. No matter if you were a shifter or human, your body needed sleep. When I awoke with a start and panic in my heart, I realized I had another silver cuff around my other wrist.

They’d also sliced my arm open, and the burning pain of the silver as it rubbed constantly against the shallow wound had me curled in a ball on the floor as I fought the agony.

I heard the footsteps approach. Black boots that were far too polished to be those of an honest shifter faced me. The kick to my stomach knocked the wind out of me, and I was gasping for air when Bale grabbed my hair, forcing my head back to look at him. An ugly sneer marred his face as he looked at me with loathing.

“You look like her.”

I said nothing. I wasn’t sure what I could say even if my throat wasn’t too dry to speak. I could smell the scent of liquor on his breath, and my fear intensified.

“She thought she was too good for me.” He pulled my head back further, my back arching to try to alleviate the unnatural angle. “Opened her legs wide for an alpha though.” The sheer intensity of his hate oozed out of his pores. “Just like her whore daughter. My boy’s not good enough? You just want to fuck an alpha? Like her.”

I spat in his face. It seems I had saliva left after all.

Bale backhanded me across the face, and it knocked me back. He was on top of me, hands around my throat, and I no longer had the strength to fight back.

But she did.

Moonstar burst forward, her strength weakened from the silver rubbing into our flesh, but she bucked our hips, and Bale’s grip loosened. Scrambling to our feet, we swayed as we stood. My fingers clutched the band of silver around my other wrist, tugging at it, trying to get it free.

“Bitch!”

Bale’s punch knocked me off my feet, my head banging off the floor as I fell. Another punch and I felt my cheekbone crunch.

“Dad! Dad, no! No!”

I heard them scuffling as I rolled away, my hands too shaky to be stable enough against the floor to push myself up. I heard voices, but I couldn’t concentrate. The pain in my head, my face, my wrists—every part of me hurt.

Using the wall for support, I struggled to my feet. Turning cautiously, I saw I was alone with Landon, and it showed how much my life sucked that I felt relief when I saw my abductor.

“Kezia…” Landon moved towards me, and I flinched. With his hands up, he approached me. “I won’t hurt you.”

“Again. You won’t hurt me again.” My voice was hoarse and croaky, but I saw the pain I felt reflected in his eyes. “Stay the fuck away from me.”

“Kezia, you’re hurt. I need to help you so you can heal.” He took another step. “I’ll take one of the cuffs off,” he said as he glared at my wrists. “I didn’t know you had two.”

“Right.”

“Kezia, I didn’t know.”

I watched him. My cheek was throbbing. My wrists were on fire, the agony constant and relentless. My scalp burned, and looking past Landon, I saw a clump of my hair on the floor. It hurt to talk. It hurt to breathe.

Everything hurt.

“I’ll take the cuff off. You can heal.”

“And then what?” I swayed on my feet, but I’d rather fall than let him touch me. “Your dad can use me as a punching bag again?”

Anger burned behind Landon’s eyes. “That won’t happen again.”

But he couldn’t promise that. I knew that and so did he. The overwhelming urge to cry welled up inside of me. I wanted Cannon. I wanted my mate, my alpha, to come and tear this hateful pack to the ground. I wanted vengeance.

I wanted a lot of things.

“Where’s Kris?”

Landon looked at me with pity. “Let me help you first. Then I’ll answer one question.” His eyes flicked to the side so fast I thought I imagined it, but then I remembered the camera in the corner.

“I don’t need help.”

“Your cheekbone is broken.”

“I know, asshole, I can fucking feel it.”

Landon rubbed his hands over his hair in frustration. “You’re my worst fucking nightmare sometimes,” he hissed. Striding forward, he grabbed my arm, right where the cuff dug into my bloody and wounded wrists. Unceremoniously, he pulled me forward, and when I tried to resist, he pushed the cuff into torn flesh. “Stop it, Kezia!”

Dragging me to the bed, he pushed me onto it. “Stay there and don’t fucking move.”

He left the room, coming back moments later with a tray of bandages and another male from the pack. I couldn’t remember his name; he hardly ever spoke to me, being one of the Anterrio Pack who was convinced I was feral and wild. His hypocrisy stank more than the smell of shit from the bucket.

“Clean up the floor and take that bucket out of here,” Landon demanded.

“Pack Leader Bale?—”

Landon turned on him so quickly that I gasped. Landon’s hand was around the male’s throat. “Clean up this room, take that shit out of here, and get my mate food. Now.” Landon watched him for a few minutes before he turned back to me. “Your face looks like a car crash.”

“Because I got punched in the face. What’s your excuse?”

He bit back his smile, but the glance he gave me strangely settled me. Carefully, Landon took the first handcuff off me. When I held up the other wrist, he gently but firmly pushed it back down onto my thigh.

“Afraid?” I murmured so low that only he could hear.

“Fucking terrified, babe.”

His simple admission scared me far more than anything that had happened since I woke up here.

He cleaned my wrist and then bandaged it before putting the cuff back on. He did the same with the other, leaving it off longer, and we watched my skin sluggishly heal itself.

“You always were a quick healer.” He spoke softly but loud enough to be heard by whoever was listening.

“Good thing.”

Landon took my hand, ignoring my attempt to pull away. “I have something to tell you.”

“I don’t think I can take any other revelations from you.” My voice was heavy with bitterness, and I took small satisfaction when Landon flinched.

“It’s about the Blackridge Peak Pack.”

Everything inside me froze. I was sure my heart stopped beating. “What about it?”

Landon cleared his throat. “It gives me no pleasure to tell you this…”

“Landon!”

“Alpha Cannon is dead.”

The words hovered in the air between us with a finality that I couldn’t quite comprehend. Eventually, I found my voice. “You’re lying.”

Landon looked at me with pity. “No, Kez, I’m not. He was attacked. They took him out with a silver knife.”

The room was spinning. I was on my feet, and the room spun around me in a frenzy. I stumbled, my knees giving way as I crashed to the ground.

A knife?

Silver?

He was dead.

No.

“No.” Panting on the floor, I fought for breath to fill my lungs. “No. He wouldn’t… No! He isn’t, you’re lying!”

Landon knelt beside me, his hand smoothing over my hair. “He’s gone, Kez. They held a service for him. That’s where I was, paying my respects on behalf of the pack.”

“Respect?” My teeth gnashed together as bile rose in my throat. “You didn’t respect him!”

I lunged for him, but Landon caught me and tried to soothe me. “I know, I know you’re hurting.”

Tears poured down my face, and somehow, I was sobbing into his chest. “Tell me it’s a lie.”

I felt him take a deep breath. “I wish I could,” he whispered, “but I can’t. They burned his body yesterday.”

I couldn’t stop the tears. At some point, Landon left me.

It didn’t matter.

Nothing mattered. Not anymore.

My mate was gone.