Page 81 of The Enforcers: KANE

But she had to get there. She knew that in this form, if she got to Selina, if she touched her, then she could blast her mind to smithereens.

Selina’s eyes were glowing. Rachelle could see the glow deepening around her hands, blood-red shot with black. Some kind of sick mating bond, laced with evil. Kane’s chest was heaving and he was trying to raise his arms, but he couldn’t hit her. Couldn’t hurt her.

Don’t fight, Rachelle’s animal spoke in her mind, cool as water. Give.

Give? What was she talking about?

And then she realized. She had healed Kane when they were young, given him a piece of herself. And he’d given it back to her with his love, healing her.

Selina had given Kane a part of herself too—a part that had caused untold pain and agony. And she’d given Rachelle a part of herself in the mind trap she’d sprung on her.

She could see the pain in Kane’s eyes; she could feel his agony in her mind, through the bond between them.

I have to get close! I can’t reach her mind unless I touch her! Rachelle thought frantically.

No. Touch him.

Understanding exploded through her. She didn’t need to physically touch Kane; they were always connected. But this still needed more.

Kane! Open up! She called silently. Open to the bond.

She could hear the “Fuck, no” as clearly as if he’d spoken it out loud. There was no way he was letting Selina in.

Trust me. Open to the bond.

There was a moment of hesitation, and then she felt Kane’s mind snap wide open, laying himself bare to her.

Everything he was, everything he had been. His hopes and fears, desires and hates, pride and shame. His love.

Selina screamed in triumph.

And Rachelle gathered up all the evil Selina had ever done, all the agony she’d ever caused, and slammed it down the connection back into Selina’s brain.

It roared through Kane like a freight train, picking up everything Selina had given him. All the horrors and pain of the time they’d been together, and all the years of torment since. It scoured his mind clean of her evil like a flash flood, and poured that world of hurt back where it had come from.

Rachelle said, I give you back what’s yours.

Selina started to scream.

Her body rippled and changed. Goat legs appeared and disappeared, then a wolf snout. One arm turned to a reptile’s clawed limb, gouging Kane’s chest before receding. Bones broke and rebroke.

Hold on! she said to Kane.

Rachelle directed the river of energy into Selina’s mind, trying to protect Kane from the backlash. Selina resisted with all the power of her enhanced mental abilities. With one beat of her wings, Rachelle rose into the air directly above them, intensifying her focus.

I give you back what’s yours. Take it.

* * *

Kane locked his arms around Selina’s swiftly changing body. He felt like a river of fire was pouring through his mind, snippets of pain and torment stinging him like fiery hornets as they went by. All he could do was trust Rachelle, and do what she asked.

Hold on.

Selina gave a huge heave, and Kane’s body twisted with her. His leg, caught in between the jammed desks, didn’t go with him. His knee snapped, the bones and ligaments tearing apart. More blood poured down his leg. He screamed as the pain ripped through him, but he still held on to Selina, clinging like grim death to her writhing, changing, shrieking form.

Over them Rachelle hovered, her iridescent black wings spread out like living shadows, pouring darkness and pain through her bond with Kane, back into Selina. Just the edges of it that he could perceive seared his brain.

Finally, it was done. Selina went still. Kane could hear her guards battering at the doors, howling and snarling. Ripping Selina’s mind from theirs must have driven them all crazy.