“What does sort of mean?”
“Well, I always grew up expecting to be a rancher. But Justin… he wanted to be an Enforcer. It was all he ever talked about, and over time, it became my dream, as well. We tried out and I was accepted but he wasn’t—and it crushed him. He talked me into going to training without him, but it didn’t feel right without him. And I found it hard to trust people who would turn him down. So, I dropped out and went back to Montana, and did what I originally thought I’d do with my life. Ranching.”
She shook her head, her eyebrows raising as she looked at him again. “You gave up your dream for your cousin?”
“It was always his dream, and he wanted it more than I ever did. It eventually became m
y dream as well, but it was his first. Finishing training and officially becoming an Enforcer just felt all wrong to me, since he wasn’t there. And Justin is the best. For them to turn him down because his gift isn’t up to their standards… I just couldn’t trust them after that. It was a serious lapse in judgment.”
Somehow, she thought he had wanted it just as much as his cousin. She didn’t think he was lying to her about that, but rather lying to himself. He might not have been able to go through with it because Justin wasn’t able to, but not doing it hurt him. She could see it lurking in his hazel eyes.
“What exactly is an Enforcer?”
“They’re shifter law, basically. They hunt down the evil ones of our kind, the ones who are hurting others, terrorizing humans, or even sometimes the ones who are being too free with the secret. Depending on what the rule breakers have done, they’re either sent to shifter prison or put down. The last sounds harsh, but sometimes it’s necessary.
“Because of who they hunt, the Enforcers only take the best of the best. You have to be damned near perfect—in top form mentally and physically, able to fight in animal and human form, and you have to have an exceptional gift. Something that can aid in hunting and capturing the bad guys. Justin had it all but the gift. They didn’t think his was useful, so they didn’t accept him.”
She nodded slowly, thinking over what he said. Yeah, putting someone down sounded harsh, especially from a human’s perspective, but she could understand it. If there was, say, a dragon who was completely evil, she could understand killing him rather than letting him burn the world down.
She could even understand why they’d want shifters with amazing gifts. They couldn’t expect a shifter whose gift was something like speed reading to take on one whose gift was like Colton’s. There was no way that could work. But she also thought other qualities could compensate for that. Or putting together a team of Enforcers whose weaknesses were covered by another’s strengths.
“So why not do it anyway?” she asked, glancing down.
He looked up at her with an eyebrow cocked. “What, be an Enforcer?”
“Yeah. You and Justin. Go after the bad guys and take them down. Give Justin the training you received before you dropped out, and just do it.”
His smile turned rueful. “That would actually be going against shifter laws. If random shifters started trying to do Enforcer missions, it could go south quickly. And then we could end up being the ones hunted by them. We’d be the rogues.”
She considered that for a moment and then shrugged. “You’d train Justin, though. And you already said he had it all except the gift. I think yours is good enough to compensate for his. And I really can’t see you standing by if someone’s in trouble or being hunted by an evil shifter and doing nothing while something bad happened. You’d rush to save them, whether it was against the laws or not. You’d be great at it, and I don’t know Justin, but from what you said, he would be too. You could be Rogue Enforcers.”
He smiled and she could tell he was trying to pretend that it wasn’t a good idea, but she could also see that he was thinking about what she said. She hoped he did, because she thought it was a good idea. Colton was built for a job like that. He had strong protective instincts and his sense of honor was strong, as well. And he already said he was accepted into training and completed most of it, which meant that he had everything else going for him, too.
“Rogue Enforcers. That’s a nice play on words there. I’d be a rogue hunting other rogues.”
Smiling, she shrugged, scanning the lobby before looking back at him. “But you’d still be the good guy. Promise you’ll at least consider it. You’d be amazing at it.”
“It wouldn’t bother you, being with a law breaker?”
Warmth washed over her. She hadn’t thought the night before had been a one-night stand, but his words confirmed that it wasn’t. He was talking like they had an indefinite future, and that meant more to her than she could ever express.
“Nope, not at all. You have my complete support if you ever want to do something like that. There are probably a lot of shifters who mostly qualified but were rejected, for whatever reason. It could be bigger than just you and Justin.”
He nodded slowly. “I’ll think about it.”
“You should. Then you could both still have your dream. It might be different than you imagined it to be, but it would be close enough, wouldn’t it?”
“It would, especially for Justin. He hasn’t been the same since he was rejected. He pretended at first, but it became more and more obvious that he was spiraling.” Pausing, his brow furrowed, the look in his eyes saying he was far away in that moment. “At least until a few months ago. He became excited again, with a renewed interest in life. I was happy for him, but he wouldn’t tell me what was going on, and then he disappeared.”
“Maybe he was doing a little enforcing of his own.”
Frown deepening, he looked up at her. “I never considered that, but it makes sense. Why wouldn’t he tell me, though?”
She shrugged, watching as someone walked past the front door, relaxing when she realized it wasn’t one of the Bad Guys. “Maybe he didn’t think you’d approve, or that you’d try to stop him.”
He went quiet, his eyes distant as he reached out, putting his big hand on her calf and absentmindedly rubbing his thumb against her bare skin. Breath catching, she squirmed as heat spread over her body.
He wasn’t even trying to turn her on, but he was anyway, and it was a little mind blowing that he could do it so easily.