Red Teeth paused in front of her, gaze unreadable behind the mask.
For a moment, the air between them went razor-sharp.
Then he laughed. A low, cold sound. “Fine. Entertain me.”
Lola’s mouth went dry.
Shit.
She hadn’t thought this far through.
Red Teeth seemed to know it, his blank, lifeless eyes staring straight through her lies. Every passing second felt like an eon.
She had to think of something. Anything.
But her useless brain had screeched to a halt in the face of the beast before her.
A humorless smirk tugged the corner of Red Teeth’s lips, and he turned, opening his mouth to say something to one of his alphas, when finally, Lola found her voice.
“A secret entrance!” she half-yelled, wincing at the volume. Red Teeth paused, turning back to her.
She gulped.
“Th-there’s a secret entrance. Into the Pine Shadow Club. One that only Dane knows about .”
Red Teeth cocked his head, “Is that so?”
“Yes,” she said, imbuing her voice with as much bravado as she could muster. Her legs were weak, one breath away from buckling under her. “I…read about it. In the old schematics. And told him about it.”
Someone had once told her the best lies were founded in truth. And Red Teeth was a wolf. Any slip, any false move, and he would scent her deception like rot on a corpse.
She needed any advantage she could get.
“Do you know who I am, little girl?”
Lola started at the ice in his voice, the pure menace. “I…I’ve heard of you.”
He stepped closer, and she fought the urge to shrink away. “And what have you heard?”
She glanced up at him towering above her, her eyes darting between his and the floor, all her bravery sapped away, “I…I know you were a member of the old guard. You were the…the…”
“Say it,” he said, eyes glinting.
“The enforcer,” she stammered out, heart in her throat.
The words dropped like stones between them.
An image of Dane, blood-soaked and vicious, flashed behind her eyes.
This was the monster he was afraid to be. The mindless killing machine who loved nobody and nothing and was not loved in return.
Only feared.
“I’ve not encountered thecurrentenforcer of the Iron Walkers in person in many years,” Red Teeth said, his teeth flashing. “Not since a battlefield where he ripped my comrades limb from limb. He did have a particular talent for murder.”
“He’snota murderer,” Lola spat, eyes widening as she realized what she’d just inadvertently revealed.
Shit.Shit.