Page 79 of The Enforcers: KANE

“Kane?” she called out.

Selina raised her head and hissed. “You don’t speak to him,” she said. She wandered over to a tray of surgical instruments and picked up a scalpel, holding it up to the light. She put it down and picked up another one, frowning in concentration.

Holy hell. What was she planning on doing with that?

Kane tried to keep one eye on her while watching Rachelle. She tapped her belt buckle surreptitiously, and then gave the door of her cage the smallest push before pulling it shut.

Her lockpicks. She’d unlocked her cage door.

Kane gauged the situation. That might give them the advantage, but they’d have to time it right. And he still was going to have to fight his way past four guards. The only way to do that might be with Selina as a hostage. Or, trap them out there until he could call in the cavalry. But he didn’t know if he could keep them out—some of them must have the combination.

He shook his head fractionally at Rachelle. Not yet. She gave a faint nod in return.

Selina came back with a razor-sharp scalpel. She tested the edge against her thumb, and then ran her hand up Kane’s chest. She slid the scalpel over his pec, cutting a line through his shirt and into his skin.

He felt the burning pain a moment later, and blood soaked into his shirt. Fuck. He couldn’t believe he’d ever let her do this to him. She kissed the bloody cut and then pulled his head down for a hard kiss. He could taste the blood on her lips. It almost made him gag.

He was not going to be able to put up with much more of this. Wolf was already growling, and Kane didn’t even try to keep him under control.

Selina gazed up at him and narrowed her eyes. Then she pulled him over to Rachelle’s cage.

“Do you know what she is?” Selina asked.

Kane didn’t know what to say. My girlfriend? My mate? The love of my life?

“You mean her animal?” he asked.

Rachelle’s eyes went wide.

“She’s a Ki-rin,” Selina said dreamily. “Everyone thinks they all left with the dragons, but there’s just…one…left.” She tapped the cage with the scalpel on the last few words.

Kane stared at Rachelle. From the look on her face, she had no idea.

“You know why they left?” Selina asked. “Because they were so precious, people almost killed them all off. See, if you cut out their hearts and drink the blood, you get all their powers. I already have invisibility,” she said. “But they can do such amazing things with their minds. Things she doesn’t even know she can do.”

Selina went on, “Your little Raven is magic. And she’s going to make me magic. Even more magic than I am now. She has the power.”

She looked Rachelle straight in the eyes. “And I want it.”

Selina turned to Kane. “She bewitched you,” she said. “She got in your head and made you think you want her. But don’t worry. Once you kill her for me, and I have her heart, that bond will belong to me. And then you’ll never, ever, leave me.”

Holy shit. She was even crazier than he thought.

“What makes you think he would do that?” Rachelle asked.

Selina walked up to the cage door and hooked her fingers in the mesh. “Because I tell him to,” she said. “And if he gets rebellious—which he does sometimes—then I’ll just kill you slowly and make him watch.” She tilted her head thoughtfully to the side. “He doesn’t really like to watch.”

Shit. They had to stop this insanity now.

Kane backed up a step, slowly, reaching down to activate his transmitter. He nodded to Rachelle. She came right up to the cage door, distracting Selina’s attention. “He loves me,” she choked out. “And I love him. We’re mates. You can do what you want to me, and you can use your sick mind mojo on him all you want. But that will never change. He’ll never be with you willingly. You’ll always have to force him. And deep inside, you’ll always know I won.”

In one quick movement, she slammed the cage door outward into Selina, knocking her off balance. Kane caught her, one hand over her mouth so she couldn’t alert the guards, the other binding her arms.

But Selina was much stronger than she’d been before. She’d augmented that too, he realized. She pulled forward at the waist with unexpected force. Her feet hit the ground and she braced herself, ducking forward and flipping Kane over her head as she snapped her arms outward to break his grip.

He flew across the room and landed hard, sliding across the floor and hitting his head on a metal filing cabinet.

Through the ringing in his ears, heard Selina yelling for the guards.