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He turned to face her. “Now,thatis dangerous. This is the third time now that we agree on something on the same day.”

“We might as well tell the council the world is ending.”

If he disagreed, Cohen didn’t say it. He just followed her down the path, out of the forest, and right to Mrs. Francis’s house.

It was going to be a long night for all of them.

TEN

COHEN

Cohen didn’t want to be angry with Mrs. Francis and the other elders for turning to a witch to protect the town. Of course, theyhadn’tbeen old and wise when they made that choice. He was eager to hear their reasoning for turning to magic.

They probably thought it was the best course of action because, one day, most of the town’s shifters would be very old and fragile. The magic could very well be their long-term plan.

The sheriff couldn’t fault them for wanting to secure Half Moon Key. It was a safe haven for families ... shifters and humans alike. An idyllic small town where you could trust your neighbors just as much as the people across town.

It was one of the things Cohen loved the most about Half Moon Key. He also had a whole lot of respect for old age. It was a shifter thing he learned as a young boy: respect your elders because they know more of the world.

He didn’t doubt that was true for one second. There was a whole lot of wisdom in the council, but he still couldn’t understand why all of these smart people thought that a magical spell would be a good idea to cast on a whole town.

A. Whole. Town.

He tried to temper his anger as he and Alana made their way to Mrs. Francis’s home, where the council was currently gathered. Given that the power glitch had the cars still down, they had to walk all the way across town.

Most of the people were slowly getting back into their houses now that everyone was safe and accounted for. There was only a little bit of damage, but most of it would be easy enough to fix in the daylight. Cohen would try to coordinate the efforts, but he was sure a few of the elders had already set some things up.

The town really came together in times like this. It was a real community, with all of the residents wanting the best for their neighbors.

“At least now we can give some kind of information to the council.”

He only vaguely heard what Alana said. For some strange reason, Cohen was having a hard time focusing on much of anything. There was just too much going on in his brain.

Between the earthquake, his brother’s impending wedding, the truce with Alana, kissing her, and learning there was a spell on the town affecting their lives, Cohen was reeling.

He could focus on Alana, though. As confusing as that was, she completely stole his attention.

Did she have to look so good in that blue dress? Did her hair have to shine like that? And those fucking lips of hers. Did they have to be so damn delicious? All he wanted to do was cross the distance between them to kiss her again and again.

Cohen took a whole lot of pride in how well he could control his emotions. It was true that most people thought him to be surly ... evengrumpy.But Cohen rather thought he came by his hard exterior shell quite naturally.

Things happened to a man when his heart broke.

There was no healing from the pain of his past.

Losing his wife had hardened him beyond anything he could have thought possible.

Even the way he thought about Amanda wasn’t exactly normal. Cohen felt very much that he had lost her. As if she hadn’t chosen to leave. As if she had died.

She hadn’t.

Amanda was alive and well, and even more than that, she was happy. Married to the man she cuckolded him with, the couple had a few kids now. They had a nice house in a nice neighborhood.

The reason why Amanda cheated?

Cohen’s wolf.

The second she found out about shifters, Amanda was on the outs. It caused a huge rift in their relationship.