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Cohen continued to scan their surroundings. “I felt it, but Iheardit too.”

“What did it sound like?” Though she was scared, she was also sure she had never been stronger.

“It sounded like very powerful wind crashing into something,” Cohen finally responded, still sniffing at the air.

Alana contemplated this. “I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not. I was just trying to remember the incantation from my dream.”

“Try again. Let’s see if this happens again.”

With Cohen’s hands on her shoulders, she tried again, but once again, she was taken by surprise by the crushing weight of the air around them in the spacious clearing. She blinked her eyes open just in time to see that the rocks were no longer glowing green. In fact, there seemed to be no magic in the rocks at all anymore.

“Something is happening,” she gasped. “Something bad.” Her body was getting lighter again, but instead of feeling strong, she felt faint. Alana turned to face him, and Cohen was peeling out of his sheriff’s buttoned-down shirt. “Are you going to shift?”

“I think I might have to. My senses are good in my human form, but it definitely doesn’t beat how I can perform in my wolf’s shape.”

Alana took a deep breath. “If you think that’s best, you do that, but this isn’t really how I thought I would meet your wolf for the first time.”

He grinned. “You thought about that, did you?”

“Oh, yeah, of course, I have. I’ve seen it a few times around town, but we’ve never interacted.”

He threw his head back with a laugh. “I don’t think that a wolf shifter and a witch usually interact, but we can if you like once this is all said and done. Are you okay if I do the shift now? If you need me back into my human form, just tell me. I’m gonna do a lap or two of the surrounding woods to make sure nothing is amiss. Are you gonna be fine here on your own? I’ll be within earshot, I promise.”

“You go it. Thanks, Cohen.”

“Anything for you. For this town.”

She gave a resolute nod because she wholly agreed with him. Alana watched in fascination as he continued to strip out of his clothes, but she didn’t have any time to enjoy the view of his formidable masculine form because his skin and body were soon contorted into the shift. His smooth and taut skin pushed and pulled and sprouted fur.

In seconds, Cohen, the Sheriff, was quickly replaced by a wolf. The loveliest wolf that Alana had ever seen. In fact, she didn’t even know how a wolf could be lovely. That was a weird thought, but it was probably because she was so into the man that everything about him felt like it belonged to her.

The wolf gave a curt head nod that was so human and so Cohen that Alana returned it with a smile.

Once she was alone in the clearing, Alana faced the rock formation again and closed her eyes. She focused on the rocks and tried to bring the glow back.

It was hard as hell.

It was the most difficult thing Alana had ever done in her life. She had no incantation to help her. All she had was her sheer determination and a life she loved. One that was about to get a whole lot better, too, now that she had someone to share it with. She wanted to date Cohen, to make love to him. She wanted to bicker over their booth at Moonie’s.

And one day, she wanted to marry him and have his babies. Half-shifter, half-witch babies who could lead Half Moon Key like Mrs. Francis did, as she and Cohen would. She focused all of her energy on that with her eyes scrunched closed.

“Well, well, looks like you’re even more powerful than Helena anticipated in her prophecies.” The sudden sound of an unfamiliar male voice made her jump up and out of the magic that she was trying to wield.

A man stood on the top of the rock formation, completely unfazed that if he fell, he would plummet to his death. The stranger’s skin glowed a faint green as if he was intaking the magic from the stones to leave the town ... and Alana ... depleted.

That’s exactly what he is doing, the magic warned.

Alana felt connected to the man, but not in a good way. A quick look at his green eyes told her that this stranger was her father, but that’s not why she felt connected to him. It wasn’t the same color of their eyes that had her faltering for her next move. Rather, it was purely based on suspicion.

Alana thought that the man was draininghermagic. From the town, from her very soul. That could only mean one thing, of course. It meant that even if the magic was in the rocks, imbued in the earth and in all of Half Moon Key, she could access it. The magic was hers, after all. It longed to be reunited with her.

“Who are you?” she snapped, suddenly wanting to destroy the father she never knew because he was trying to steal her power.

The stranger grinned. “You know who I am, daughter.”

“Don’t call me that. I had parents. My mother and grandmother. Not you. Never you. Why are you here? What do you want?”

His smile ... which was already terrifying ... turned cold and hollow. Now here was a man who wouldn’t care if he killed her. He was here for one thing and one thing alone, and that was her magic.