Chapter 2

My arms ached as my muscles strained, hitting the punching bag again and again until I could barely lift my arms. I didn't even know how long I'd been going at it. It didn't matter. As long as my arms could keep going, I was going to be standing here, pretending the bag was the piece of shit who killed my brother.

Was that a healthy way to train? Not even close, but it kept me motivated and going, even when my arms began to feel like jello. And when that happened, I grabbed a long drink of water and started all over again. My beast required it, but I'd be lying if I said that was the only reason I was doing it.

Once I completed my assault on the punching bag, I decided to hit the outdoors and go for a run. Once upon a time, if I were running, it was in my fur. He loved to run the perimeter of the pack lands and look for danger. But lately he couldn't be trusted not to turn it into a hunting trip. And besides, it was my human body that needed the endurance.

The weather was a bit cooler than it had been, and that was a great thing. It meant I'd be able to run longer—farther. I'd figured out a five-mile run that both started and ended at the hotel and had been running it daily. I wasn't a third the way through it when I realized I wasn't going to be breaking any records today. Amping up my training was great, but my body was tired.

Maybe it would allow me to have a full night's sleep tonight. I doubted it. My brain wasn't tired, and that was the pesky thing that kept me up all freaking night.

I sped up, not wanting to have my run turn into a leisurely stroll. We really lived in a gorgeous region, and this run took me through a lot of it. Faster and faster I went, until I finished at the steps of the hotel. Sweat dripped from my body, and part of me wanted to call it quits for the day. But then there was the part of me who understood the importance of what I was doing, and he had me marching back inside.

After drinking a ton of water, I got back to it. I lowered myself to the floor doing rep after rep of push-ups, sit-ups, burpees, anything to keep my heart pumping and my body moving. And when I completed a circuit, I began again.

I needed to be ready for anything and everything. I wouldn't let my physique be any sort of limitation in the field. The people I was doing this for deserved better than that.

I might not have the experience that others in the pride did, but I would train relentlessly until I had the strength to take on anything that came at me. I refused to be less than what the job required. If I was doing this, I was doing it. Full stop.

"Back at it?"

I didn't bother to look up.

"Take a break!" Syman commanded, his voice firm. He didn't like me ignoring him, and fair enough. I wouldn't have liked it either.

"I only have a few more reps," I said.

Sweat dripped from my brow, landing on my abs as I did crunch after crunch. A towel hit me in the face. I grabbed it and let out a snarl as I faced the person who threw it.

"Take. A. Break. Now." It was not a request. "Do it… before you hurt yourself." Syman pointed at me, and I knew the lion shifter meant business. And also, he was right. Not that I was ready to stop.

"I need to train," I replied.

"You need a rest day, and maybe some therapy." He shot me a look, and my cat retreated. I might've been an alpha, but he was also an alpha and a higher rank than me within the pride.

"I just want to be the best that I can be," I said. I didn't even care if I was the best in the pride—I just didn't want to make mistakes. Not like I had with my first case.

"Experience comes with time," he said. "No amount of reps, no amount of working out, is going to change the fact that you're still very new to this."

"I've been studying." Training and studying were pretty much the only things I did lately. Healthy? No. But was that going to stop me? Also, no.

"Studying the history of shifters and the work we do is important, I understand that. You've passed all of those tests with flying colors."

It was true. I made sure of it. Whatever time I wasn't spending working out, I was buried in the histories. I knew the laws, the precedents, everything there was to know about everything Steelwick, the council, and shifters in general.

"Listen, man, you've got a chip on your shoulder that could be viewed from space." Symon wasn't being a dick. At least that wasn't the vibe I was getting from him. He was worried, and as much as I appreciated that, it pissed me the fuck off.

"I do not!" The protest fell flat. I had hoped that my insecurities wouldn't be so visible, but I was surrounded by people who solved investigations for a living. Of course they could see through my facade.

"You do. And we get it, we all want to see that justice is served." They wouldn't be here if they didn't. In that way, we were all the same.

I held back the snarl. I had thought I was serving justice in my first case, but it turned out I was after the wrong guy. I had almost put the wrong guy behind bars. If it had been up to me, he would have been locked away, the key thrown out. I'd done wrong, and I didn't know how to make up for that. And really, jail had been the best option. Odds were good he'd have been sent to meet the goddess, and that would've 100% been on me.

"Do you think that Armand will send me on a case again soon?" I asked. I had been on probation for a while, but I was still unable to go out in the field unless supervised by others. I didn't blame him. To say I fucked up royally would've been the understatement of the freaking millennium. I didn't deserve the second chance I was being given. Not really.

"Soon," Syman said, patting my shoulder. "You'll be able to go soon."

He meant it to be comforting. It wasn't. I winced. Soon meant not today. Maybe not even next week, and probably not even a lot longer than that. And the worst part? I deserved it.

He shook his head. "You overdid it, man. Even if you were cleared for the field right now, you've exhausted yourself. You're not going to be of any use out there."

"I'm fine. Nothing a soak in the hot tub won't help. A shift as well." Maybe a few shifts. Now that I'd slowed down, the pain of overuse was starting to seep in.

"You better get some of the healing muffins from the twins."

I had thought healing muffins were a joke when I first joined Steelwick, but then I'd seen them actually work on quite a few people. One of the twins, or maybe both, had some healing magic in them, and it transferred to their baking. They knew just the right herbs and spices to mix together to not only create something delicious, but something that actually healed—or at least assisted in healing.

"I will," I said. And maybe a cinnamon roll or twelve. Those things were addictive.

"See that you do. After your shower and your muffin, Armand wants to see you."

I bolted upright. "You could have led with that! I can go meet him now." Knowing he wanted to talk to me, no matter what the reason, had me needing to get it over and done with as soon as possible.

"Armand is busy until four. Don't come to see him until that time." Then why did he tell me now? Didn't he know how that meeting was going to eat away at me until it was over and done with?

"Okay," I said. Since I had the extra time, and I knew I was being watched, I didn't continue working out, instead heading to the shower, letting myself stand in the heated water for a long time.

Symon had been right about me needing to stop. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, the reality of what I'd done was starting to settle in. My muscles ached. It was sick, but I reveled in it. Aching muscles meant I worked hard. Working hard meant I was proving myself. Proving myself meant I'd be back on the field. It was all a means to an end.

I'd come to the enforcer pack to make a difference, to help those who couldn't help themselves. To maybe prevent what had happened to my brother from happening to other people. It was my purpose, and it was why I was so driven. But it was also that goal that had made me blind to the realities of my work.

Once I was showered, I went and grabbed a muffin and a coffee. I had to admit that I did feel better as soon as I ate it. I also grabbed a cinnamon roll because… yes, please.

At 3:55, I was outside Armand's door. It was all I could do not to be there even earlier than that.

"Come in," he said. He and someone else were both there, but I couldn't see who at first.

"You wanted to see me, sir?" I asked as soon as I stepped inside.

"Yes." Armand gestured for me to sit down. "I got a call from one of our contacts at Asilo."

It was odd for them to call him and not me, since I was supposed to be their liaison.

"One of the omegas there got a note that he believes is from his former pride." The way he said it, that wasn't a good thing.

"How were they found?" That was a huge problem. Asilo packs were meant to be hidden. "Asilo is supposed to be hidden from everyone."

"We don't know. But once he started giving me information, I realized there is some overlap here."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Did you ever meet Thomas any of the times you were at Asilo?"

I shook my head. Thomas was a common name, and I tried to remember a Tom or Tommy, thinking there might have been a nickname in play. But nope. No Thomas.

"He's one of the permanent omegas that works for Asilo." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "He happens to originate from the Baxburg pride."

I sat up straight. It wasn't often that anyone mentioned my home pride. I hated thinking of them. What were the odds that someone from there was at Asilo? The very pride that I had been partnered with housed one of the former members of my old pride?

"He says his former Alpha Easton sent him a note," Armand continued.

I let out a growl.

"So, you do recognize the name?" he said. "I think the two of you should work together on this."

I wanted nothing more than to see Alpha Easton put down for the crimes he committed against my family. He was evil, full stop. The fact that he still breathed was a crime against shifters.

He was the entire reason I joined an enforcer pride. He would pay for killing my brother. Maybe this was the opening I needed to get to him.