20. Kezia

The food hallwas cleared of tables and chairs when we got there, and I wondered who had done it and how long it had taken them. It was standing room only in the hall, and I felt self-conscious right up to the moment Cannon reached back and took my hand. His strength and belief in me came through the bond so strongly that I felt myself getting teary-eyed. Had I been anyone else, I would have rolled my eyes so hard at the lovesick fool that I was.

Cannon walked with purpose to the front of the hall, where Royce, Nikan, and Leo were already waiting. Kris was standing to the side, not apart, but not included at this time. I almost asked why until common sense told me it was because my brother was not part of this pack.

He was an alpha, and in time—hopefully, not too much time—he would have a pack of his own.

It was probably wrong that I hoped it wasn’t Anterrio Pack that he took over. That pack didn’t deserve the alpha my brother would be.

“Hey, folks, glad you could all make it.” Cannon began the meeting without any fanfare or preamble. Just right in there, direct and to the point. Like he was.

“Not a lot of notice,” Willy grumbled from the front. “If it’s to tell us about you two”—she looked around at several of the pack, who were grinning back at her—“trust me, we know.”

“Willomenia, have I ever boasted about my sex life before?” Cannon asked with a dry tone that made the desert seem lush. When the woman shook her head, he looked over at me. “Well, I could start now, but I’m worn out.” Several of the pack laughed at his playfulness and my reddening cheeks. “Kezia, as you all know, is my mate.” He pulled me into his side. “My true mate. And I am delighted that we have made it official.” Cannon bared his neck, showing the silvery scar of my bite. “Kezia?”

Blushing furiously, I moved my hair aside to show my own mate mark. Causing the hall to cheer loudly.

“Well, thank Luna for that,” Willy said loud enough for everyone to hear. “If I had to listen to either of you naysaying it one more time, I was going to paddle your behinds myself.”

Cannon faked a wince, which made the hall laugh, but as he grew sober once more, so did his pack. “I would love to tell you that was the only reason we were here…but I’ve never lied to my pack.” Cannon’s hand took mine and we stood together, united, when he told his pack we were at war. “As you know, Pack Leader Bale of the Anterrio Pack took my mate and her family hostage. They recruited one of our own pack to betray me, and with the inadvertent help of another of this pack, they sought to break the mate bond.”

There had been a low rumbling when he told them I was taken hostage, but there was outright fury at the fact they sought to remove a mate bond.

“An alpha’s mate is a gift from the Goddess,” Cannon told them. He tugged on the end of my hair, causing me to look up at him. “A fact that this one tried to deny for the longest time.” He grinned as there was a general chuckle around the room. “But the bond is sacred. We all know that, and even thinking of breaking it is a crime against Luna.”

Confused, I looked up at my alpha. “Weren’t we thinking of breaking it?” I whispered quickly.

“And don’t you think she has punished us for that?”

I had nothing to say to that. It was all very well and good for me to accept that the mate bond itself was a gift from Luna, but all the bad stuff that had happened? Was that my punishment for thinking I could run from my mate?

To be honest…I didn’t want the Goddess to be watching me that closely.

“Anterrio Pack has lost their way,” Cannon spoke above the murmuring of voices. “Not only did they take my mate, they caged her brother, their head of security and a trusted beta, along with his mate. When we found them and broke them free, they both wore collars of silver around their wolf forms.”

The murmuring this time was more of a rush of anger that swelled around us.

“The pack leader of the Anterrio Pack conspired with Tev to strike me down. He gave him the blade that struck me, knowing the damage that silver can do.” Cannon let that sink in, and I wondered how many of his pack knew that he had been stabbed with silver. “They have threatened us. They have struck against your alpha, they have chained your alpha’s mate and her brother with silver, they have tried to assault my mate. This needs to end.” He looked around the room. “Too many of us have turned our heads in regards to this pack. They are not different, they are not an anomaly. They are dangerous and manipulative, and they need to be stopped.” He looked at his pack, meeting their curious or angry glances head-on. “You are my pack. Will you fight with me?”

“I’m insulted you ask us, Alpha,” a man at the back spoke, his voice filled with amusement. I recognized him from somewhere but couldn’t quite place where. The moment our gazes met, a wave of familiarity swept over me. It wasn’t until he crossed his arms over his chest that I remembered where I knew him from—the fighting ring. He had been beside Royce the night that Cannon faced me in the ring.

Cannon wasn’t insulted by the male’s forthrightness, and he shared a grin with him that spoke volumes. “I wasn’t asking the likes of you, Ned; you’re with me regardless.”

Ned laughed and I noticed several others did too. The more I looked at the pack, the more I realized there were several males like Ned scattered throughout it, and knowing the sneakiness of my alpha, I wondered how random their randomness actually was.

“You be needing us all, Alpha?” The male who spoke this time was the one who had a limb missing, and I struggled to remember his name.

“I will.” Cannon held his stare. “This is my pack, and while I am an Alpha, I will listen to your concerns. If the will of the pack is to stay out of this one, then I will do everything in my power to keep my pack from my fight.” His eyes swept the room. “But I will go forward with my plan to bring the pain to Bale like he has to me.”

The male nodded. “I understand,” he said, his attention shifted to me. “And for Zia, I think we all do. Silver collars sound like a whole lot of hurt, and we don’t want any of that here. But…” He rubbed his limb, and I saw the flush to his cheeks.

Vic. His name was Vic, I remembered now.

“I grew up in the Anterrio Pack.” I stepped forward as I spoke. “I didn’t know pack life could be so different until you welcomed me in.” Taking a deep breath, I continued to share my story. “I was shunned most of my life. I mean, who wants a white-haired girl, who had to be forced not to shift, around their kin? I was considered unstable, unpredictable, wild.” My voice held a bitterness that I thought I had left behind me. “I shifted as a babe.”

Looking at my brother, I beckoned him forward. “This is Kris, my brother, he’s an alpha. Bale took us both in, and he knew when he did so who my brother was. He told me recently that he realized who I was not long after. You see, our parents were nomads. My mom came from the Anterrio Pack. You may have known her. Her name was Andrea.” I heard the slight murmurings.

“Your mom’s hair was darker than yours,” Vic said gruffly. “Was always in trouble too, if I recall,” he added with a wink.

“It runs in the family,” I said with what I hoped was a carefree shrug. “I learned recently that Bale was quite keen to secure my mom as his wife. I guess us standing here tells you he was unsuccessful. My mom met her mate and together they opted to be nomads. They had Kris and then me.” Swallowing hard, I watched the faces of the pack as they listened. “Bale murdered my parents. He shot them with silver, then shot their son and the wolf pup that was with him.” I pointed at myself as tears spilled over. “Only I wasn’t just a wolf pup. Through the grace of the Goddess, I lived, and so did my brother. Kris tried to raise me, but I am mischievous like my mom, I guess.” I smiled at Vic. “And so Kris went to the nearest pack and asked them to let us join them. He didn’t know that he was seeking refuge from the very male who took our family from us. He didn’t know that he was a beta in a murderer’s pack until the night he realized that his mate was Bale’s daughter.”

There were more rumblings amongst the pack.

“Not only did Bale have his lost obsession’s children in his pack, but one was also an alpha and mated to his daughter.” I took in a shaky breath. “I’ve done bad shit in my life. I fought in human fighting rings for money, never knowingly using my wolf strength, but I wasn’t fighting fair, I know that now. I’ve stolen from humans, disrespected pack law, and done it all to survive.” Deadly silence greeted me. “But my brother hasn’t. My brother is so good it’s…well, it’s kind of sickening.” A few of the pack chuckled. “He’s the kind of male who’ll let you have the last of the meatloaf even if it’s your second helping and he’s had nothing. He’ll stay up all night with you if you think there’s a monster in the shadows under your bed, even though he’s worked a double shift and must do the same the next day. He’s the kind of male who worked tirelessly to make us fit into a pack that didn’t want me. And it was that same pack that Luna mated him to.”

Kris stood beside me, his expression solemn, but when he glanced at me, I saw the emotion in his eyes.

“Yes, Bale took me, yes, he beat me and almost raped me.” I ignored the gasps. “And yes, Bale told his son that if I wasn’t going to be tamed, then I would be given to the men to ease their stress.” I heard the low growl from beside me and plunged on, knowing if I looked at Cannon now, I’d be too emotional to continue. “But I am not here in front of you for me. Those bastards put a silver knife in your alpha, not once, but twice. They left him to die. Those fuckers put collars of silver around my brother’s neck for being an alpha and a mate to that sick, twisted fuck’s daughter. Don’t fight for me.”

I met every one of their stares as I continued, “I’m not worth it; I deserve what Luna punishes me with. I don’t deserve your alpha, but he is mine and I will die before I let him fight this alone, and I hope you feel the same. Fight for Cannon, avenge him. Fight for my brother and hismate. Fight for what you know is right. The Anterrio Pack has evil within it, and it needs to be stopped. Fight for that, for justice, and for Kris, an alpha who deserves to lead. For his mate, who did nothing other than be mated to the son of an enemy long dead.”

The silence in the hall was heavy, and I decided it was now or never to purge my soul.

“I killed three humans.” If anything, the silence got quieter. “I fought in fighting rings for profit. I needed money to survive in the human world, and lacking patience, I chose the easy route.”

“Kezia,” Cannon murmured beside me.

“No, this is my pack now too.” I stood straighter. “You deserve to know who your alpha is mated to.” Pushing my hair back, I steeled myself for the backlash. “I thought I was clever, disguising my bruises with makeup, when in reality, I had already healed myself. I wasn’t clever enough. A man tracked me down, shot me three times with silver, and when I came to…well, it wasn’t going to be a party I wanted to be invited to, if you know what I mean. I fought them. I won’t say I won, but I did get free.”

“You killed them?” someone in the crowd asked.

“I did.” I swallowed hard. “I killed them and then I torched their bodies, and I walked away.” The mumblings in the pack were disconcerting, but I needed to finish this. “The reason that I share this with you is because we know that the Pack Council covered this up.” The mumbles became shouts. “I know you have no reason to trust me, and I have said nothing this afternoon that makes you want to trust me, but you need to hear this. Bale owns the Pack Council—I don’t know how or what he has over them, but he owns them. So when you think about avenging your alpha, my brother, or both, you need to know that the Pack Council is on his side, and we need to fight that too.”

Vic whistled low as he looked around. “You got anything else you want to share?”

I thought about it. “Probably, but I reckon my mate’s going to throttle me as it is.”

Strong arms wrapped around me, and I felt Cannon kiss the top of my head. “She may be a handful,” he told his pack, “but you can’t say she holds back.”

Looking up at him, I saw the affection in his eyes. “Are you mad at me?”

“No.” Dropping his head down, he kissed me briefly. “It’s more than I would have said right now, but it needed to be told.”

Rising up on my tiptoes, I kissed him back. “I do love you.”

Cannon grinned at me, squeezing me softly. “You better.” Straightening, he looked out over his pack. “Well, that was more than you probably bargained for,” he said with a casualness I envied. “We’ll give you tonight to think about it.”

“I don’t need a night,” Vic said as he looked around him. “Doubt many of us do. I’ll fight with you, Alpha. For the crime against you, for crimes against another alpha”—he looked at me—“and the crimes against my alpha’s mate.”

“Thank you,” I whispered.

“I was ready to fight before the reason why,” Ned spoke gruffly from the back. “I’ve been in another pack. Alpha Cannon picked me up out of the dirt and showed me what a true pack is.” Ned met my questioning look. “We aren’t all that different, Alpha Zia, but hearing your hardships, you have my loyalty and my fists whenever you need them.” He added with a wry grin, “And I’ve seen you fight in those human rings. You need all the fighters to protect you because, girl, you can’t fight for shit.”

“Ain’t that the truth!” Leo bellowed behind me, and I laughed out loud along with the others as the tension eased in the room.

Cannon quieted us all down, his steely look serious. “You sure?” The chorus of yeses was deafening. “All right, you know what to do. We leave in two days.”

As the pack broke down to discuss and plan, I watched Royce and Nikan work their way through the crowd. Leo went as well, and it looked like they were giving orders.

“Two days?” Kris asked from beside us.

“Probably one too many,” Cannon agreed quietly, “but they have a lot to process. They need that time.” His look was thoughtful as he scanned the crowd. “They were already alerted to a threat; this has just clarified our intent.”

“Where do I go?” Kris asked, looking uncomfortable. “I know the pack, but I don’t know the place where Kez was. I’ll go wherever you think best.”

“You stay with me,” Cannon told him. “You fight beside me. Okay?” Kris nodded once and Cannon clasped his shoulder in some manly bro hug-type thing. I still didn’t know how they had become so close, but I was glad that they were.

“And me?”

Cannon looked at me, his lips drawn into a thin line. “You stay behind.”

“Absolutely not.” I noticed my brother taking a step back, but I was too focused on the caveman in front of me. “I go too.”

“No. You don’t.”

“Cannon!”

“I said no, that’s final.”

“You said that we would do this together.” I knew I was glaring at him. “Me staying here, is not together.”

“We will do this together, and you staying here and protecting the pack that stays behind, is helping us both.” He glanced at Kris, and I saw my brother’s head dip in agreement.

Yeah, we’d see about that.