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CHAPTERNINETEEN
Parking his motorcycle in front of the bar, Rev took a deep breath. It had been a week since he’d seen Hallie. He was still trying to wrap his head around what had happened. Was it really because of his own stubbornness, or was it because of her unwillingness to understand why it mattered to him?
Either way, time apart from her wasn’t helping. It made things worse. He missed her, everything about her. “Damn it,” he growled, stepping through the front door.
The place wasn’t much to look at, just an old dive with cheap booze and few distractions other than getting drunk enough to forget about her. It was just a few minutes past noon, so he knew he had plenty of time to work on it.
Taking a seat at the bar, he noticed the place was empty, with the exception of two scruffy swamp bubbas in a corner booth.
The blonde bartender wiped off the bar and leaned toward him. Her tight T-shirt was barely able to contain her breasts. “Well, look who the cat dragged in. Finally came around to see me again?”
“Just here to drink, Cherry. I’ll start with a beer and a shot of whiskey.”
“Drinking to forget. I don’t know who she is, but remember I said I’d clear my schedule for you anytime. That offer still stands, big boy. I bet we could take your mind off her for a few hours at least.”
Cherry had flirted with Rev for years, trying to bag her prize quarry. And so far, she’d been unsuccessful. He just wasn’t into her. He looked at her again, wondering if he could take her to bed. It was an easy answer. She paled in comparison to Hallie in every way that had mattered to him.
“I’ll keep it in mind. Just keep the drinks coming,” he replied, not wanting to offend her and have his drinks poisoned. It wasn’t like he didn’t find her attractive. Her blonde hair, cute round face, and bright eyes were welcoming enough. But she also had a body that made every man’s mouth water. And she was fun to talk to, but she wasn’t his Hallie.
While he played along and flirted back at her, Rev knew better than to get casually involved with a friend, especially one in his own backyard.
“You got it. I just can’t imagine any woman letting you slip away,” she teased, setting out the drinks he had asked for.
Even with the jukebox playing, Rev’s extra-sensitive ears picked up part of the whispered conversation between the scraggly men in the corner booth. Normally he would have tuned them out, but their words caught his attention.
“Hey, did you hear about that bitch we saw snooping around in the bayou?”
“Oh yeah, there’s a price on her head. One grand. You thinkin’ we should go hunting?”
“Why not. One of us will get her sooner or later. Might as well be us.”
Rev’s hand tightened around the shot glass, crushing it into powder with his powerful grip. He knew exactly who they were talking about. “Cherry, get out of here right now. There’s about to be some trouble,” he warned.
Seeing the crushed glass and Rev’s flushed face, she had no doubt he was dead serious. She ran out the front door, not even looking back.
He walked straight to their booth, grabbing the table and ripping it free from its base.
Shocked by the bold stranger’s violent greeting, the men jumped up. One of them pulled a knife from its sheath, which hung on his belt. “I don’t know who the fuck you think you are, but we don’t play games,” he said, slowly wielding the knife in Rev’s face.
Rev’s hands moved so fast, they were like a blur. Grabbing his foe’s arm, he wasted no time snapping it like a twig. Blood gushed from the opened arteries of the severed arm. The man screamed as the knife fell uselessly to the floor. The other man broke open a beer bottle, using the jagged brown glass as a weapon. His fatal mistake was lunging forward. Rev grabbed his wrist and shoved the man’s hand backward, driving the broken bottle into the attacker’s neck.
Although Rev wanted information, it was too late. With one man quickly bleeding to death on the floor and the other man with the shattered bones protruding from his arm also bleeding out, they would both be dead in minutes. Taking in the scent of their blood, he realized they were shifters. Not just shifters, but jaguars. The worst of the lot.
“I called the sheriff! I saw it all through the window, Rev! You had no choice! It was self-defense for sure,” Cherry cried.
“Thanks for sticking up for me, Cherry. There’s someone I care about, and she’s in serious trouble. I need to go now,” Rev said, rushing outside and quickly starting his motorcycle.
Hallie’s face flashed through his mind. The very thought of those inbred cats so much as laying a paw on her made him nearly blind with rage.
But where to look for her. They mentioned seeing her someplace in the bayou. Of course, she is hunting for her elusive big cats.
Taking a chance on the nearest road that followed the shore, he raced along until he spotted two vehicles. Hallie’s Jeep and Sam’s pickup truck.
“Hallie! Sam!” he called out. But seeing Sam’s empty boat trailer, he knew they were long gone.
Checking Hallie’s jeep, he found the copy of the antique map she’d left on the seat. It took a minute to place the old drawings to what he knew currently existed. She had circled a small island.
He didn’t have a boat, but he had something better, a giant tiger.
His tiger was primed and ready for action. Charging forward, Rev shifted, tearing through his clothes, as he ran into the bayou and landed in the water with a thundering splash.
