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“I won?” I asked hopefully as I prodded the inside of my cheek. I don’t care what my brother said. I felt like someone had hit me with a ton of bricks.
“You won?” Kris barked at me. “No, you idiot, you didn’t win. You only highlighted to this pack how different you and I are. Will always be.” Kris looked up the stairs for a long moment before he turned back to me. “We will never fit in,” he told me quietly. “But we can try to blend. I try to get us to blend so we don’t stand out.”
Swallowing, I nodded. “I know.” And I did. I just hated having to do so.
He gave a slow nod, and for the first time, I saw how tired he was. “Good, so make my job easier by not shouting to the pack that you can beat one of our best fighters, okay?”
Kris climbed the stairs, and I trailed after him as I felt feeling come back as my body healed itself.
“I still won,” I mumbled as we headed home.
“Damn right you did,” he said as he gave me a rare smile. “Just don’t do it again.”
“My life sucks hairy balls,” I complained as we walked the trail to the cottage.
“Suck it up, sister,” Kris said as we entered the cottage. “Once your heat passes, it won’t get any easier.”
“Why?”
“Why?” He started laughing as he walked to his bedroom, and I headed to the freezer for an ice pack. “Because first comes your heat, and then comes marriage,” he sang gleefully.
“Marriage?” I asked as I whipped around to look at his retreating back and heard him chuckling as he closed his door, leaving me hanging.
Who the hell said anything about marriage?
CHAPTER 5
Kezia
“I can’t believe you beat Landon,” Cass said as we sat under the shade of a tree, watching the flowers and garlands being taken into the hall.
“I think he let me win,” I lied as I avoided her eyes.
“Goat droppings.” Cass scoffed. “He’s my brother. He told me you beat him and did it well.” Cass nudged me with her shoulder. “And he said he knows why you did it. He understands, but he didn’t think you would cheat.”
Swiveling around to look at her, I took in my friend’s expression as she pulled at the grass shoots beneath us. “Cheat?” I asked her. “What do you mean? I never cheated.” Pushing myself onto my feet, I glared over at the training hall, my hands on my hips. “Is he telling people I cheated?”
“He can hardly tell people, Kezia…you’ll both get in trouble.”
Cass still gave the grass her full attention, almost like she avoided making eye contact. “Why won’t you look at me?” Her shrug did little for my feeling of frustration. “Cass! What the heck is going on with you?” Crouching down, I grabbed her chin. “Look at me.”
Her brown eyes met mine, and it surprised me at the anger in them. “I’m looking,” Cass snapped.
“Whoa, what is going on?” I straightened as Cass jumped to her feet.
“You part shifted when fighting with my brother, your friend. What were you thinking, Kezia? You could have killed him!”
“I did not shift, part or even a bit. I felt my wolf, but I was in control. I would never hurt Landon.”
“Hurt him? He had to shift three times before he was well again. My dad’s not buying his shit, and yet Landon is still insisting it was him who wanted to fight when we all know it was you.”
Shaking my head in confusion, I turned to the sound of approaching footsteps and saw my brother heading our way. The usual sinking feeling when I saw his tight-lipped expression was enough to let me know I was already hating this day.
“Kezia, you should be inside,” Kris barked as he dipped his head in greeting to Cass.
“It’s a nice day, and I’m out of everyone’s way,” I defended myself, my attention drawn to Cass when she gave a very unladylike snort. “What is up with you? I told you I didn’t do—” I stopped as I saw Kris move forward. “What you think I did,” I added lamely.
“Your mother needs you,” Kris spoke to Cass, and with a whispered thank you, she was practically running for the hall.
