Hagen, Lynn - Snooke [Demon Warriors 2] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) by Lynn Hagen

dangerous to leave him behind.”
    “Wait.” Dillon threw his hands out. Rainerio held the human under his arm like a football. “Tulip, I have to get Tulip.”
    “Who the hell is Tulip?” Rainerio asked as he set Dillon down.
    “He’s my Australian Terrier.” Dillon ran into a room at the end of the hall. Kane could hear yapping and rolled his eyes when Dillon brought out a small brown and black dog. A damn dog.
    “Where are we going?” Dillon asked as he stared at the two frozen men. He clutched the yapping dog to his chest as he stared up at Rainerio.
    “Away from them.” Rainerio nodded toward the invading men and then picked Dillon up as the four ran into one of Dillon’s closets.
    “I’m going to be sick,” Dillon warned as they emerged in Kane’s apartment. He held his hand over his mouth as he sat Tulip down. Dillon began to run around in circles.
    “Crap, go in there.” Kane pointed to the bathroom. Snooke grabbed Dillon’s arm and led him away.
    Rainerio stood in the kitchen doorway as he held the top of the doorframe with his hands and stared at Kane. “Wuss.” He chuckled.
    Kane soured his face as he looked away from the running pair and over at the warrior standing beside him. “Listen, while I’m thinking about it. I didn’t mean to snap at you last night. You just caught me off guard.”
    Rainerio’s eyebrows drew together in a deep frown. “What are you talking about? I didn’t see you last night.” Rainerio’s arms lowered.
    Now shit was getting really strange. “You were in Chris’s backyard. I saw you there. Hell, I spoke with you.”
    “Kane, I was at Diablo’s last night.” They stared at each other for a moment before Rainerio spoke. “Hondo said that the Pancake House owner pretended not to know about the conversation he had with Hondo the night Snooke was attacked and that shifter was killed.”
    “What shifter was killed?” Snooke asked as he came out of the bathroom, a pale Dillon following. The human looked as though he was going to vomit again.
    Kane felt just as queasy as Snooke glared at him. “You didn’t tell me there was a dead shifter.”
    “You want to see what Kane has to settle your stomach?” Rainerio grabbed Dillon and ran into the kitchen.
    Snooke crossed his arms over his chest as a finely arched eyebrow raised. “Well?”
    Crap, how was he going to get out of this one? A thousand different scenarios ran through Kane’s mind before he settled on the truth. “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to upset you. No big deal.” Downplay it. Good one. Kane gave himself a mental high five.
    “No big deal? What happened?”
    “We found you lying unconscious, as I told you.” Kane put his hands behind his back as he paced back and forth. “The thing I didn’t tell you was the fact that a dead shifter lay inches from you. A waiter from the Pancake House.”
    “But how? Why?” Snooke looked on the verge of tears.
    “I haven’t a clue, and you don’t remember. We’ve been trying to put the pieces together, but things keep getting weird every time we dig deeper.”
    Now Snooke looked ill. Kane stepped in front of the short demon, his knuckles lifting Snooke’s head. “Talk to me, shorty.”
    Snooke pulled away, shaking his head as he stared out of Kane’s living room window. “I can’t. I don’t remember what happened.”
    “But you do know more than you’re letting on.” Kane would stake his life on that fact. When Snooke didn’t answer, he pressed another issue. “At least tell me who keeps harming you.”
    “I’ve grown up in a very different way than most.” Snooke walked over to the window and stared out into the night. Although the street lights reflected through the window, Kane knew Snooke couldn’t see past them as he spoke. “My family just moved back here after living in the human realm for so long.”
    “How could they? It’s very difficult for us to live there with the sunlight.”
    Snooke shrugged.