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“No way,” Jack burst out. “It’s the same for us. I was so confused. I didn’t know why I was feeling such strong things for Nora, especially not since we had known each other for so long. How could I suddenly notice her all of a sudden? Makes not a lick of sense.”

“I have a theory,” Cohen began. “From what I was able to understand from Mrs. Francis and my extensive conversations with Alana, is this … Since the elders and Helena Wixx ... Alana’s grandmother ... put up the protection spell, none of the shifters’ mate sense has been working.”

“We know this, big bro,” Mason said.

“Right, well, what you don’t know?” Cohen sighed. “It’s a doozy. The magic started to slip a little while ago. Alana has been trying to convince the elders that they need help, that they need to do something to make it better, but they have been ignoring her.”

“What?” Parker interrupted. “Why?”

Cohen shook his head. “I think they believe in Alana a little bit more than she believes in herself, but the problem there is that Alana understands magic a lot more than they do. Obviously. Magic is just as much part of her heritage as shifting is part of all of ours.”

“I can see that,” Jack sighed. “It must have been hard for Alana to try to convince them that she needed help.”

Cohen didn’t like thinking about it. He also didn’t like that while Alana had been fighting for the town, he had been fighting her because he didn’t think her magic had any place in Half Moon Key.

Oh, how wrong he was.

He owed Alana a bunch of apologies, and he had a pretty good idea of how he wanted to make it all up to her, but he couldn’t do it when the house was full of people. It would have to wait until later when they were alone and a little bit more certain of what they needed to do to make the town safe again.

It was clear after the events of the last year that the small town would always be in danger of invading forces who would want to tarnish the safety of the lakeside, mountainous, and forested town of Half Moon Key. But the people who lived here had chosen this specific setting because it afforded them an added layer of community and security.

He couldn’t let Half Moon Key lose that.

Not when it had protected so many people for so long.

Cohen could now freely admit that he didn’t mind so much that magic had played a part in protecting his home before he was there to protect it for its inhabitants.

And now we get to protect our home with Alana, a witch who makes our heart beat a little faster. It’s almost like no matter what, we are made for each other. Think about it. Why else would it be so easy to fall for her even though you hated her just a little while ago?

A thought popped into Cohen’s mind. He was a bit uncomfortable with the heaviness of the notion.

“Guys, tell me something. You were only able to get your mate sense when you saidI love you?” he asked.

“I don’t know that it has to besaid,” Jack argued. “I only had to think that I was in love with Nora, and my lion was immediately roaring the truth of it.”

Oh,his wolf howled loudly, the sound reverberating back through his mind. Yet before his wolf could say something that was sure to complicate his day, Cohen continued. “You only had to think it?”

Jack threw his head back with a laugh. “Imagine my surprise. Here is this woman I have known for years, a woman who was apparently head over heels for me for years. It took me thinking that I was in love with her. All a bit backward, but it doesn’t matter in the end. We found each other, and that is what counts.”

“Right.” Cohen couldn’t argue with that. Jack had every right to be happy that he found his mate despite the protective spell that hung around the town. “But you do realize that the reason you were able to hear that mate sense callafterthe I-love-yous were said was because the spell was weakening? Without it, there would have been no way for you three to know you had found your mates.”

“I was gonna be with Lila regardless,” Mason pointed out, surprising his older brother. “I was in love with her, and I didn’t care if she was my true mate or not.”

“Oh, bro. Same. Very much the same for Jade and me. I was going to be with her no matter what. I couldn’t imagine my life without her long before my panther told me she was it for us.”

“And you?” Cohen asked Jack. “Is it similar for you?”

“It is. I can’t believe that it took me this long to notice that Nora was the one for me. I wanna kick my own ass for it sometimes, but how the hell was I supposed to know?”

“I wanna hate the elders for putting up this magic spell,” Cohen grumbled.

“Actually, if I’m honest, I don’t mind it so much,” Jack said. “Don’t get me wrong, they should have told the shifters who moved into town about it just in case we weren’t okay with it, but Mrs. Francis would have known that I was up to be in any kind of relationship for a long time after I moved here. I licked my wounds for a very long time. I would have been a very shitty boyfriend.”

“Yeah, I’m with you,” Parker nodded. “I needed the time to heal and feel for myself before my mate sense kicked in. I’m happy at the way things unfolded.”

Cohen was shocked. “How are you not angrier?”

“Because it doesn’t matter,” Mason answered. “It doesn’t matter if we know who our mate is today or tomorrow or in ten years. If you’re in love with a woman, you gotta see things through. Even if she isn’t your mate. I know that hasn’t exactly turned out great for you in the past, but I want you to know, big brother, that not all women are like Amanda.”