Page 3 of The Enforcers: KANE

Then he’d found this scrawny little street girl and taken care of her. Wolf felt better, with someone to protect. Kane hadn’t realized until later that she was taking care of him too. And on nights when he was afraid to sleep but so exhausted he was shaking, she’d sung him to sleep with this song.

He’d never heard anyone sing it since.

And, masochist that he was, he kept coming back to hear it again.

In the end, he’d betrayed Rachelle. Instead of protecting her, he’d abandoned her.

He never found out what happened to her, and the deep, aching pain and guilt had never left him. He’d just buried it under brittle layers of darkness, like volcanic glass.

And now he sat in here, night after night, and let this stranger shatter it layer by layer.

What the hell he was going to do when the last layer was gone and he had to face everything he’d buried, he didn’t know.

She swung into the song twenty minutes into the set. It was about pain and despair, redemption and forgiveness. A reassurance that somehow, through the darkness, things would be all right.

That love would somehow prevail.

So far, he hadn’t even made it to the end. Wolf always started tearing at him, and he had to leave.

This time he almost made it. But the fear of facing all his guilt and failure was too much for him, and he chickened out, the way he always did.

Kane threw a couple of bills on the table and walked out.

Kane’s stride lengthened as he walked down the hall towards the exit. Wolf was fighting to get out, and he had to get outside before he changed. This might be a shifter-owned resort and casino, but most of the guests were human.

Seeing a man turn into a giant, enraged wolf would not exactly be a big draw for customers.

He slapped his security card against the electronic card reader and banged the emergency exit door open, almost running straight into the eleven-to-seven security supervisor, Noah Reilly.

What the hell? Noah was supposed to be doing rounds. “What are you doing out here?” Kane demanded.

Wolf growled.

Noah drew himself up—not quite standing at attention, but close. He was only twenty-three, an ex-Marine, and habits died hard—especially because Kane was technically his boss. As the Silverlake wolf pack’s Enforcer, Kane was primarily in charge of their security. But his team also did contract Enforcement work for other shifters, and the Silver Cloud Casino was his current assignment.

“Just checking the perimeter, sir,” Noah said.

Kane glanced at his watch, fighting Wolf down. The midnight perimeter check should be starting now, but not here. “Midnight check starts at the front entrance,” he said. “Is there a problem?”

“I thought I saw something on one of the security cams,” Noah said. “I wanted to check it out before beginning the rest of my rounds.”

Kane studied him. Noah’s stance was respectful and his voice was neutral, but his eyes had shifted just slightly when he answered, and so had his scent. He wasn’t telling the whole truth.

From inside Noah’s pocket, a cell phone chirped with a text alert. Not the alert used on their security phones.

Noah didn’t move.

Kane narrowed his eyes. “You going to get that?”

Noah’s eyes shifted again. “I’m sure it’s nothing that can’t wait.”

There was another chirp. Kane saw a muscle in Noah’s jaw tighten and then relax.

Fuck.

“Marine, if I rip that phone out of your pocket right now, am I going to find out you’ve been standing out here texting your fucking girlfriend?”

Noah’s jaw clenched again. “I would prefer it if you didn’t do that, sir.”