3. Kezia

Landon letme go once I was in his room. I said nothing when I saw the chain nailed to the wall, the glint of the metal too shiny to be anything but silver. Wordlessly, Landon attached my left wrist to the wall and made a show of how long the chain was, as if the length of the chain mattered when it still gave me no freedom. His room was not much bigger than the one I had been in. His bed was wider, his blankets clean and fresh. He had a chair in the corner of the room, and when he told me to sit on the bed, I took the chair.

Landon didn’t make a comment on my small act of defiance, and I felt it was for the best. I feared that if I started screaming and demanding to know what the hell was going on, I would never stop. Maybe he knew that too, which is why he didn’t say anything.

He left me in his room. Sitting in the chair, chained to the wall, with only the small red light in the corner of the room for company—again. The fact he had a camera watching him in his room was enough to curb my anger towards Landon.

I mean, was he dick? Absolutely.

Would I punch the shit out of him when I was free? I could guarantee it.

Was he in over his head as much as I was? Perhaps he was.

And I didn’t know what to do with that.

He’d taken me. Tricked me into leaving Cannon. Landon had been so vile and toxic that day in the study, I’d believed he was the worst thing I was facing. If he’d told me… I wiped tears away as I thought about the last time I saw my alpha. If Landon had been honest, Cannon would have helped him. I know he would.

We would have done it together.

And maybe…just maybe, Cannon would be alive.

The tears fell freely as I slowly retreated into my misery. This is how Landon found me hours later, curled in a ball in the seat, worn out.

“Kez,” he sighed, stooping to pick me up. Carrying me a few feet to the bed, he placed me gently on top of the covers. “What can I get you?” he asked gently, stroking my hair back from my face.

“My brother.”

His smile was pained as he watched me. “You know I can’t.” Landon gave a half shrug. “Kris has not cooperated well.”

“Is he hurt?”

He looked insulted that I’d asked. “No! Luna, Kez, it’s Kris! He’s with Cass.” Landon appeared relaxed as he leaned backward. “They’re mates, remember?”

“For how much longer?”

Landon didn’t meet my eye when he answered. “For now.”

I didn’t think I could cry anymore, but the tears spilled over. “You’re going to kill him?”

“No.” He didn’t sound convinced, and truthfully, I wouldn’t have believed him anyway.

Not for this.

His father, Bale, had shown unrivaled hate when he struck me; how would he be different toward Kris? Kris was an alpha, whereas Bale wasn’t. Kris, my father’s son, was mated to Bale’s daughter. It must have been the final thing to make Bale snap. I had no other reason for his behavior. It was so contrary to everything I knew about him. Sure, he was a dick at times, and he had forbidden my shift until I was fourteen, but I’d never thought he would be this.

“Where are we?”

“Not far from the pack,” Landon answered easily. “If you’d gotten off that chair, you could have looked out the window.”

“I could do a lot of things.” Turning onto my side, I stared at the closed door. “The door’s a sham like everything else.”

I felt Landon move on the bed, no doubt looking at the door as I faced it. “What makes you think that?”

“It gives the illusion of privacy, but what is the point when the camera sees it all anyway?”

Strangely, I felt his reaction, and despite his attempt to hide it, the small jerk of his body as he caught himself from turning to look at the camera told me more than he intended.

Landon never knew his camera was switched on.

“Do you want food?” he asked me as he got off the bed.

“No.”

“Kezia, you need to eat, babe.”

“Don’t call me babe. I told you that before.” Closing my eyes, I wished for sleep. An escape from the nightmare I was living. “I’ll eat when I’m hungry.”

I heard his sigh, but wisely, Landon said nothing, and moments later, he left me in the room again. For hours, I lay on the bed and watched the door, the faint glow of the camera in the corner watching me.

Where are you? Moonstar? Where are you? I need you…

Silence was my answer.

The slow burning on my wrist reminded me that I was contained far more effectively than simply chained to the wall. The silver wouldn’t allow me to shift. It also kept Moonstar subdued but not contained.

I was weak. For weeks, I had let my grief consume me, I hadn’t eaten, and my strength was gone. What chance had I left myself to escape? Cannon would be furious with me for lying down and accepting what had been done to me.

A cramp in my lower belly caused me some discomfort, and I knew my mind was listening to my body now. That I was listening to my body. I needed to eat.

Landon needed me to play along. For me. For Kris. For Cass. For his mom. His family needed me as much as I needed my brother.

Needed me? What did he think I could do? I was just…me. If I had the strength, I could fight, but I couldn’t rely on Moonstar. Even though I had called for her, I had little doubt that my passenger wouldn’t take my form and save only herself.

Or was I being too harsh?

I wished Cannon was here. Or the shaman.

The shaman. Where the hell was the shaman?

There was no way he related to this, I knew that. I hoped that. I had to have hope.

And I needed answers.

I lay awake, anticipating Landon’s return, and the subtle movement of the bed made me realize he had joined me while I was asleep. I felt him curl his body around me, spooning me, and I forced myself not to react.

“What time is it?”

I felt his start of surprise. “Too late for you to be awake.”

His fingers tangled in my hair before smoothing out to glide his hand over my hair. It was a new habit he seemed to have developed, and I hated it. Moving away from him, I felt his hand fall to the thin mattress. “Don’t do that.” My voice was barely a whisper.

I expected him to listen; I didn’t expect Landon to pull me into his body or for his hot breath to be on my neck. “Fight me, but not too much,” he breathed into my ear. When his hand moved under the shirt I was wearing, I reared off the bed, my legs shaky as I spun to confront him, my fists raised.

“I said don’t fucking touch me,” I snarled at him in the semi-darkness.

Light flooded the room, and I squinted at the sudden brightness. Landon moved from the door where the light switch was and walked around the side of the bed until he was in front of me. Even with my nerves strung tight and my body prepared for the unexpected, I still saw the familiar gleam in his eyes as he watched me. I also noted he stood with his back to the camera.

With easy insolence, Landon crossed his arms across his chest. “Kez,” he said with firm disapproval. “Why are you being like this?”

I almost lowered my hands in shock. “What?” I gaped at him and was pretty sure my mouth was hanging open. “Are you joking?”

He gave a half shrug. “Look, I get it, you liked the alpha bastard’s dick. But he’s gone. You’re here. I’m here. We’ve fooled around before.”

My tongue was stuck to the roof of my mouth as he casually spouted lies. My eyes flicked to the camera once. Landon followed the movement and grinned.

“Ah, you’re worried my dad didn’t know about you and me?” His eyes held a warning that I wasn’t sure I was reading properly. “He knows. I mean, I told the whole pack you’re my mate, babe. Stop this. It’s silly and you’re fooling no one.”

“I was with Can—I was with the alpha of Blackridge.” I swallowed hard past the tears that threatened, the thought of saying his name too much for me.

“Yes, and like I said when I came and got you, that’s over. It was time for you to come home.” Landon looked me up and down. “I am your mate, Kez, it’s my children you will have, and it’s my son who will be an alpha.”

“Son? Alpha?”

Landon looked me over critically. “You’ll need a few more pounds on first. You’re practically scrawny.” He walked around me, and although I flinched from his touch when his hand cupped my ass, he didn’t stop until he was in front of me. “When you’re healthy, which won’t take long, not the way you eat, Dad has said if you continue to be no trouble, we can mate.”

“Fuck off.”

Landon took a step forward, his thumb pressed against my bottom lip. “Lose the attitude, or lose the right to be my mate. Which is it?” When I went to speak, he spoke over me. “It’s always been me and you, Kez. Sure, I’ve fucked around, you’ve fucked around, but it’s me and you, babe.” Hard blue eyes watched me. He’d angled himself to give his side profile to the camera. When I didn’t answer, because I couldn’t answer, he rolled his eyes. “I mean, I didn’t fuck a human?—”

“Neither did I!”

Landon moved into my space, his hand around my throat, and it was so similar to the day in Cannon’s study, that I froze at the similarity. “Your human friend wasn’t quiet when he boasted about parting those thighs, Kez, so be very careful what you choose to lie to me about.”

Did he know about Vance? Searching his eyes, I forced myself not to look past him to the camera. “I’ve never slept with a human,” I said carefully, hating how vulnerable I sounded. “I kissed one. Once.”

Landon snorted and made a big show of turning away from me. “A human? A filthy human? And yet you reject me?”

“I’ve never rejected you!” I blurted and stumbled back at how quickly he turned around, looming over me. I froze as he pressed his lips to mine.

“See, Kez,” he said when he drew back. “This can just be a stumble in our road. We’re meant to be together.”

I almost told him he was batshit crazy, but I felt the small nip at my hip as Landon pinched my side before he stepped back.

“I need more time.” I licked my lips as I watched him, trying to rid the taste of him. “After everything, I still don’t know what’s happening. I need time…to come to terms with this.”

It wasn’t a lie. I would need time. Hell, I’d need eternity.

“How much time?”

“I’m not a machine,” I snapped more testily than I intended. I felt a surge of relief when I saw his lips twitch, but I forced myself not to react to him. “I need time.”

“Fine.”

“And my brother.”

Landon cocked his head and shook it slowly. “You were doing so well, Kez. Time to grieve? I get it. Time to adjust to the new pack life? Fine, I can give you that. But you don’t make demands of me, understand?”

This was the same character he had played in Cannon’s study. Once more, I was reeling, not sure who I was seeing in front of me. The character Landon the Asshole or my friend Landon? I shouldn’t push it until I knew which one was the real one.

Good mature advice, I told myself.

“He’s my brother.” I was also shit at taking advice.

Landon let out a long sigh and flicked the light switch off. “Get in bed. I need to sleep.”

I stayed on the spot until I was lifted off my feet and dropped onto the bed. “You weigh nothing,” he grumbled as I felt the bed dip. “Three weeks of starving yourself has not made you attractive, babe.”

My foot connected with his shin at the same time as my fist dug into his gut. I heard Landon’s oomph, but I realized a moment later it was laughter.

“You hit like a newborn pup.” Pulling me across the mattress, Landon curled me into the shape of his body, spooning me, careful never to touch the chain or cuff of silver at my wrist. “Kiss goodnight?”

“Fuck off.”

Landon laughed loudly, tugging me closer. “Go to sleep.”

Lying stiff and unresponsive in his arms, I almost sobbed with relief when I felt his lips at my ear. “That was good, Kez. Stay strong for them.”

I don’t think either of us slept. I was too alert, my body wired for anything else fucked up to happen to me. I knew from his breathing that Landon was awake too, but neither of us acknowledged the other, and I hoped whoever was watching was fooled. At some point during the few hours that we lay there, Landon moved onto his back, and I curled tighter into a ball, relieved not to be touching him anymore.

When the first rays of morning shone through the window, Landon rolled out of bed and stretched. He let me pretend to be asleep as he slipped out of the room, and only when he was gone, the door closed and the sound of a key turning, did I succumb to a fitful sleep.

He was back in the room when I woke, and watched me avidly as I sat in the chair and ate the broth he had brought with him. If what he said was correct, he wanted out of this situation as much as I did, and to do that, he needed me strong. So, I ate. The soup felt heavy and greasy in my belly, but I kept eating, and having known the male in front of me for so long, I recognized it when the tension left his shoulders.

“Where’s the shaman?” I asked when the soup was finished.

Landon looked surprised that I asked. “With the pack, where he always is.”

He was still here? Alive?

“Do I get to see him?” I asked tentatively, scraping the spoon along the bottom of my bowl, making Landon wince.

Landon shook his head, watching me with more attention. “Not yet.”

I nodded, placing my bowl on the floor. Straightening, I smoothed my hands over my bare legs. “I have herbs I take…”

“That suppresses your heat.” Landon sat back on the bed, completely at ease, his elbows propping him up as he held my gaze while I sat across from him. “You won’t need them with me.”

The soup turned sour in my belly. A reminder that I had only needed them to keep me and Cannon from completing the bond. With my first full heat passed, the others wouldn’t be as intense, not without my mate near me. Pain clutched at my heart, and I forced myself not to cry.

“Everyone in this pack knows you do not touch what is mine,” he added, interrupting my thoughts. “Next time your heat comes, we’ll lock the door and come out when it’s over, and your belly will be full of my kid.” He winked at me, and I resisted the urge to swipe the bowl from the floor and smash his face with it.

Landon stood smoothly, bending to scoop the bowl from the floor, almost as if he could read my mind. “You did well,” he said, pressing his lips to my forehead. “This is real progress, Kez.” Walking to the door, he looked over his shoulder at me, his smile wide. “Dad will be pleased.”

He left me with the stark reminder that we were never alone. Despite my best efforts not to, I stared at the camera in the corner. I wasn’t Landon. I had never been good at acting, but he and his sister excelled at it. I would know, I’d been their best friend.

What did I used to do when they were both putting on a show to get what they wanted? I played along, by not playing along. Mainly because I was shit at hiding my reaction. Hoping that Landon was performing for someone other than me, and only I knew he was acting, I tried my best to be who I used to be in this pack.

Landon had a small bathroom adjoined to his room, and I walked to it, still not sure there wasn’t a camera in there too. After washing my face, brushing my teeth, and using the toilet, I walked back into the room, the tightness of the silver chain lessening as I walked back.

On the bed, I examined the chain. The links rubbed against my wrist when I examined their strength with my other hand, hissing in pain as the silver burned my tender flesh.

Curling into a ball, I gave the camera my back. Stretching my arm out in front of me, I studied the links.

Moonstar?

Tears slid down my cheeks as I felt the emptiness within me.

Moonstar, please?

Silence answered.

A while later when Landon disturbed my sleep by pulling me into his body, I felt more than his presence.

Child?