Bonedust

shoulder holster chafed against the back of her arm as she rolled to get a good view.
    All clear.
    Lennox gave a toothy grin. About damn time. She loved a good hunt.
    Dirty work as it was, Lennox worked her way closer to the ranch, flinching as a roar filled the slowly darkening sky. A tremor ran down her back, raising gooseflesh down her arms in a rush. It sounded again, deeper this time. Throatier. The roar had a physical punch to it, loud enough it rattled through her lungs, grabbed hold of her bones and shook her out like a ragdoll.
    With nothing more than sound, Kanon Reyes left her frozen on the dirt a quarter mile outside of his ranch, staring as the pride scurried into their homes. A lion cub pounced on a human sibling before darting in a front door; an impatient woman tapped her foot against the white-washed porch step before she too disappeared inside. Kanon stood on the tan steps of the two-story house in the center, his face tilted back against the dying sun.
    Gold ember light highlighted the rich tan of his skin, drawing out the profile of his face in sharp contrast to the shadow of his jaw. It made him look hard, fierce. His tongue darted out over pale, pink lips and then his mouth opened again. A shudder stole up his spine and his whole body swayed with the force of the sound ripping out of him. Another roar thundered across the savannah sky leaving Lennox to sway under the force of it, grubby fingertips curling into dirt.
    Mine , it screamed. Mine.
    A stark claim settled on the land and with a final glance across the now silent string of houses, Kanon let out a snort and turned on his heels, disappearing inside. Lennox watched him go, strength coiled in every step. Like most lion-shifters, Kanon Reyes was built like a tank—sheer power and brutality stamped across every inch of his skin. He’d hurt one of her Hounds, left the poor man hospitalized. He’d pay for that. Her jaw tightened.
    She was going to take the violent bastard down.
    Hard.

    ***

    Kanon stretched out across the leather sofa, a bowl of popcorn balanced on his stomach as he flicked through the channels. There was nothing on. A few hundred channels and he’d have thought he could find one decent thing to watch. Frustrated, he settled on a rerun of Halloween. Maybe watching Michael Meyers kill people would make him feel more at ease.
    The night felt...off and it bugged the hell out of him.
    The house was too damn quiet.
    One finger slipped over the volume button until the sound rattled through the walls. Nights without Tegan home were long, dull affairs that put his teeth on edge. But it had been a night home with the pride without Tegan or a night negotiating territory with the Idaho Basin Pride’s coalition.
    He’d passed on the latter.
    Kanon didn’t have the temperament for it. They’d trespassed. In Kanon’s book it was simple: A quick slice of claws and they wouldn’t be an issue anymore. Tegan had more patience, more finesse. And then, when all else failed, Tegan would kick their asses as cleanly as Kanon would have.
    The new shifter laws demanded that all shifters belong in easily catalogued groups, and for lions that meant being classified as part of a pride. There was still the occasional rogue, but they had to report a permanent address and suffer the random check-ins. After Kanon had almost ate the last Hound to show up on make-out night, they’d opted to give pride life a shot.
    The woman on screen screamed as the man in the mask jumped out at her and Kanon tossed another kernel of popcorn in his mouth. Stupid woman. They were all too stupid to live in movies like this. Didn’t anyone know when to look behind them?
    A soft creak sounded from the porch and Kanon gave an irritated huff. He couldn’t even watch a movie in peace. He waited for the tentative knock of one of the pride females. Needy little things they were. No doubt wondering if he was lonely. He wasn’t.
    The floorboard creaked again, the soft whisper of it almost lost completely under the wail of the dying woman on screen. But it’d moved around the wraparound porch to the side of the house. Someone sneaking in then. It wouldn’t be the first time one of the pride females had snuck in. Lionesses in heat didn’t tend to think much beyond their current cycle.
    Soft footfalls and the quiet groan of the aging floorboards let Kanon track her progress to the window he’d left open in the dining room to let in the breeze. Smart. Kanon munched on a