“So, you can call up the rest of your inbred jaguars to come after me? You must realize I have allies as well. We can start a war or finish this between the two of us. Unless you’re too much of a pussy. Let her go.”
Frank grunted and growled, unable to shift and still hold on to her.
Hallie felt Frank’s blood running down from his side. He was wounded worse than he let on. Perhaps so wounded, he was too weak to shift into jaguar form. Taking a chance, she spun and drove her fist into his chest. When he doubled over in pain, she knew the fight with Rev had left him with broken ribs and possibly internal bleeding. She broke free and ran behind Rev.
There was no need to shift into a tiger. Rev relished taking on Frank man to man. “Time to finish this.”
Frank, the blood loss weakening him by the second, stumbled backward.
Rev showed no mercy, just as he knew Frank intended no mercy for what he had planned to do to Hallie. Throwing a single powerful punch, his fist connected with Frank’s head with a sickening thud. Frank went limp, unconscious before he even hit the ground.
Hallie stepped around the fallen leader of the jaguars, visibly shaking. “I … I think he’s dead.”
Rev knelt and checked for a pulse. “Yeah. You don’t have to worry about him anymore. I don’t think the world will miss any of these criminals. Looks like they were running a pretty big operation out here, cooking up meth and God knows what else. Let’s get out of here just in case there are any other stragglers.”
Hallie took his hand, still shocked that Rev was also some sort of supernatural creature. Strangely enough, she also found some sense of comfort in the idea. She knew it was too soon to be sure, but she felt as if something inside of her had sensed this all along.
They returned to the garage, finding flashlights and a lantern. Hurrying to the dock, Rev quickly revived Sam’s outboard motor and headed directly to the island.
“I can’t believe you actually made it back!” Sam shouted when he spotted Hallie’s and Rev’s faces illuminated by the lantern. “And still naked.”
“I’m just surprised you ever doubted me. Now get in the boat, old man,” Rev said, helping Sam down from the shack.
“Well, I guess you found your big cats,” Sam said, stepping into the boat.
“More than I ever expected,” Hallie replied.