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There was another lie Cohen told himself about Amanda. He always thought of her as his wife, but they hadn’t actually ever made it down the aisle. He thought of her as his wife because that was the depth of the love he had had for the woman.

The woman he was going to spend the rest of his life with.

Losing her in such a terrible way ... her choosing another man over him because he was a shifter ... severed something in his mind, in his heart. Cohen hadn’t been the same man since that day.

But he would never admit that since coming to Half Moon Key, he felt a whole lot more like himself. Not quite recovered, but more alive. Just the fact he was into fishing again was a major victory.

There was nothing like fishing with his buddies nowadays.

There was another part of his day he really enjoyed, but he wouldn’t admit it to himself. Not even in his most honest moments because nothing could come of it.

Cohen could not let himself fall in love again.

That was why he hated Alana Wixx so much.

That woman, with her long red hair, her intense gaze, the way she moved, how she talked, the way she never took any crap from anyone, not even him, theSheriff.

She was dangerous to him. An enemy. All because he wanted her. Badly.

“Sheriff, are you with me?” Alana asked with a soft giggle that made his back straighten.

Jarred out of his thoughts, Cohen looked to the left, seeing that Alana was now walking much closer beside him. The smile she gave him was tense, as she was still unsure of their truce. No doubt, she could feel the tension in him whenever she was around.

He only nodded curtly in response, and immediately, she shut down, crossing her arms. Cohen shook his head. He took hold of Alana’s hand in his.

Why? He didn’t know, but somehow, touching her was a whole lot easier thanspeaking. With his actions, he could let his instincts and deepest desires take over. He didn’t want to think and analyze and try to discern the meaning behind every gesture.

For some strange reason, Alana didn’t move away from him, nor did she object. She just let him lead her as if he had done it a thousand times before.

“Okay, we need to talk this out.” Oh, yeah, it was a whole lot easier talking when he was touching her.

“What do you mean?” she blinked up at him.

“Well, for starters, our truce means nothing if we’re only ever just going to take offense whenever we have a little misunderstanding.”

“I don’t know what you mean.” She was resolved not to have this conversation.

“You know what I mean, Alana. If you’re gonna be on the council, we’re going to be around each other a whole lot more. You can’t gloat when you beat me, and you can’t actively work against me. You …” he stopped, not sure how to continue.

Alana smirked. “Yeah! There! See? It’s just as much me as it is you. You also feel like you have to win over me.”

“What’s that about?” he asked more to her than to himself.

It was only when Alana’s eyes went round with shock that he realized what he had spoken out loud.

He was asking her why she felt like she had to have one up on him. He knew what his answer was, and if Alana came to the same conclusion as he had, he would be in really big shit.

“Pause for a minute,” Alana said, covering her face with her hands.

He chuckled, unsurprised that she would push back. “What?”

“I want you to stop for a second. You can’t walk in there this angry about the spell and the earthquake.”

He frowned.Okay, so she wasn’t thinking about me. Cool. Totally fine. I don’t care. “Why? I can be pissed about all this magic stuff. We shouldn’t be relying on magic to protect our town.”

“Aren’t shifters a form of magic?” She arched a brow.

“I can honestly say that I never thought about it that way.” He cleared his throat and forced himself to look away from her eyes. They were too beautiful, too keen. If they kept hooking on his, she would read what was in his soul, and there would be no telling how things would go from then on. If she wanted him, how in the fuck was he supposed to keep away? CohenneededAlana to hate him. It was an important line of defense.