Page 68 of The Enforcers: KANE

“Then what?”

“What happens here is real. The bond would be permanent. We’d be mated.”

Rachelle’s heart rose up at the thought of that. Mated to Kane. No need to weigh options or make decisions or figure out who took priority. Once it was done, everyone would have to deal with it.

And it could free him from Selina.

“Do you want to do that?” she asked carefully.

“I love you,” he said simply. “If I wasn’t willing, I wouldn’t have come. But it doesn’t seem fair to shackle you to me forever. You don’t want this.”

“But I do,” she said. “I’ve wanted you forever. There’s never been anyone else for me.”

Saying the words felt like the sun coming out in her heart. She heard Kane’s intake of breath, and his lips found hers in a soft, gentle kiss. “I love you, Hunter,” she whispered against his lips. She felt him smile.

He pulled her to him, stretching out on the floor of the cave. The stone seemed to grow warmer with the heat that raced through her at his touch.

His kisses were soft and deep, and they ran their hands down each other’s bodies, eager to touch, to connect, to break down the inner walls between them.

Everywhere they touched, their clothes vanished like frost in the sunshine, and Rachelle felt like they were snuggled into a nest of fleecy blankets. They touched like blind lovers, exploring with their fingers and lips, touching the parts of each other than no one else had ever touched, that needed love and had never received it.

Kane stroked Rachelle until every inch of her skin felt like it was raging with heat, longing for him. He dipped his fingers into her wet folds and caressed her, pressing his fingers slowly inside her again and again, stroking her clit with his thumb.

She moaned, raising her hips to meet him, wanting to give herself completely over to him.

The pressure built and built, pressing on Rachelle until her chest felt heavy and she couldn’t breathe. It didn’t feel right. Not like the ecstasy of being with Kane earlier, at her house. She didn’t have that feeling of safety and rightness.

She felt like she was being pulled closer and closer to a dark abyss.

But she had to let go, to allow the bond. She had to let Kane in.

Her body was coming to its peak, and she wanted to let go. The screaming voices were receding. But there was another presence, getting larger, a hidden evil presence avidly waiting for her to break down the barriers and make Kane’s soul one with hers.

And then a dark shadowy form passed before her with a rustle of great wings. It tore away the shadows and Selina’s face rose up before her, blood dripping from her hands, a look of sick anticipation on her face.

Rachelle went cold.

“Stop!”

Kane’s hands stilled immediately. “What’s wrong?”

Rachelle felt sick. “She’s inside me,” she whispered. “I took Selina’s energy into me so I could track her. And then she used that to give me even more of herself—her pain and evil—when she set this mind trap for me. There’s a part of her in me now. And there’s a part of her in you.”

She took a deep breath. “If we bond, she’ll be a part of it too. Forever.”

* * *

Kane lay with Rachelle in his arms, trembling at how close he’d come to fucking this all up.

As usual.

“Are you okay?” he asked her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know what would happen.”

“I didn’t either,” she said. “Who could know? There’s no one like me in the entire world. I’m a freak.”

Tears were running down her face. Kane found each one and kissed it away. “You’re not a freak. You’re unique.”

“Potato, potahto,” she muttered.