“Sheriff,” Jack responded. “Everything is under control here.”
“I can see that,” he cut back with a grin. “But we’re still here to help.” He nudged his chin toward Parker and Mason.
Mason, ever the jokester, waved at them with an infuriating smile. “Who is this? A lady from your past?”
“Fellas, meet my sister, Sage. She’s evil.”
“Clearly,” Parker commented, his keen eyes sparkling with the predatory animal ready to pounce. “I know all about evil from the past coming to bite my ass.”
“Trying to, anyway,” Jack shrugged. “She won’t win. She has Nora somewhere, but she won’t say where.”
“Well, by the looks of it,” Parker pointed to the broken chair and the strings of duct tape littering the ground. “Nora got away.”
Jack took a deep breath and roamed his eyes over his cabin. Parker was right, of course. Jack hadn’t noticed, too caught up in his fight with his sister to realize that Nora was not Sage’s prisoner anymore. He threw his head back with a laugh.
Sage looked scared for the first time in her life.
He savored it.
“You see that, sis? My mate was able to get away from you. Here you are, supposed to be this great leader and fearsome person, but you were bested by a human. A smart human, yes, but still. That must just get to you, doesn’t it?”
Sage’s fear was gone, disappearing as soon as it had arrived. “You think I came here alone?” It was her turn to laugh now. “It’s so cute how you think you know me. You think you know how this world operates, but you really don’t. Writing a few books doesn’t make you an expert on anything,bro.”
“Parker, do me a favor and get some of the deputies to patrol the town, won’t you? And get Mrs. Francis up to date on all of this. She’ll want the scavenger hunt canceled while we figure out what to do with this woman here.”
Sage chuckled again. “Ah, it’s honestly adorable, you guys. This whole vibe? It’s honestly like watching Paw Patrol. But see, this is real life. And I know that in fiction, the little doggies win the prize or whatever, but this is real life. And in real life,Iwin. AskJackhere. He’ll tell you I always win.”
“I don’t care if you always win out there in therealworld,” Jack snapped. “This is Half Moon Key.”
“Fuck, yeah, it is,” Mason added. “This is our town, and you are not gonna do anything to fuck with it or any of our people.”
“And we’re not doggies,” Parker flashed a very feline smile, letting his fangs elongate.
“If Sage is here, being such a bitch, there are going to be some of her cronies out there. Make sure your deputies are of the shifter variety. If they can shift to patrol, I suggest that,” Jack said to Cohen.
The sheriff gave him a nod. “You’ve got it. Parker?”
“On it.” Parker continued to smile at Sage. “I wish I could teach you a lesson, but Jack’s got it handled.”
Jack grinned. “I do,” he said. “I really do.”
No sooner was Parker gone than Sage shoved against Jack’s chest, already partway through her shift.
Sage wanted a fight, and she would fucking get one … but not in his house. Distracted as she was by the way her body was contorting into her lioness, Sage had no choice but to let Jack guide her to the back porch.
By the time both of the lion siblings were done shifting into their big felines, they were outside. Jack didn’t give Sage the chance to recover from the pain of her shift. He immediately lunged at her. He threw himself into her with every part of his strength, and together, they rolled into the lake.
Sagehatedwater when she was in her lioness form. She always said it messed with her fur, and her roar of anger was enough to make Jack feel like he was winning. That he wasgoingto win this fight. Whether he would let Sage walk away or not, he had yet to decide.
In the end, it would probably be up to her.
If she was relentless, he would do what he had to do.
That would mean living with the consequences that she had made him into a killer after all, which was the one thing he never wanted to be.
They grappled together in the water, the low current of the water leading them away from the shore. Jack had an advantage, and it wasn’t because his lion was much bigger. It was because he knew the layout of the lake and its shores completely. He ran the rental cabin, for fuck’s sake. He knew every nook and cranny of this town and of this lake. It was his home, and he would defend it from poisonous beings like Sage.
His sister, spotting land ahead, stopped fighting him and swam for it. As soon as her paws touched dry sand, Jack was on her. He bit her back, the taste of blood filling his mouth. She roared in pain and moved away with an agile push off the ground. While she was in the air to get away from his jowl, he swiped at her.