Bonedust

dog.
    Even with her pointing a gun at him, he wanted her. His tongue made a wet line across his lower lip. He was every bit as stupid as the idiots in the movie screaming behind him. Worse probably, the ladies in the film never got the hots for Michael Myers when he came after them with an axe.
    “You attacked a Hound.”
    No he hadn’t. The son of a bitch had sucker punched him. Kanon had just made damn sure he’d finished the fight. If the Hound hadn’t wanted to play with a lion, he shouldn’t have started it.
    “That was your dog’s fault, not Kanon’s.”
    Tegan took a step closer and Lennox stiffened, her gaze slipping between them. She couldn’t shoot them both. With a slight baring of teeth, she holstered her weapon, briefly lifting both hands in a no-harm gesture. Confidence clung to her, as she braced herself to stare them both down. She never once looked away. Never once backed down.
    “Look, I’m not here to argue or negotiate. I have a warrant for your partner’s arrest. That’s it. If you have an issue with it...”
    “I have an issue with it, sweetheart,” Kanon drawled.
    The look she shot him was every bit as fiery as her copper red hair.
    “Then take it up with the courts.”
    “No. I’m taking it up with you. We both know in a court case between a Hound and a lion, I don’t have a chance. You all supposed to do whatever you’re bid...”
    “And you don’t have an obedient bone in your body.”
    Kanon closed the distance between them in a single stride. She radiated heat, warmth, but he could see now the slightest tremor in her hands. Scared. But a cornered dog fought back. Women were like that too. She wouldn’t go down without a fight.
    “I didn’t start that fight and the moment you lock me up, I’m a dead man.”
    He’d had issues with Hounds in the past and a lion with a troubled history only met with one end. The muscle in his jaw ticked as his teeth ground together. He wouldn’t get a jail cell; he’d get a holding cell before his execution. Better dead than alive was Shifter Town Enforcement’s motto.
    Tegan grabbed his shoulder and squeezed, the tension zinging between them. Wild, restless. One look at Lennox, the calm professionalism stamped over her face, and certainty settled in his gut.
    They were going to have to kill a Hound. Her.
    Spend the rest of their lives looking over their shoulders for something Kanon hadn’t even started. Goddamn it. He should have killed that stupid dog when he’d had the chance.
    “Then you shouldn’t have assaulted a Hound.”
    She reached for her cuffs when Tegan caught her wrist. “You are not taking my partner. Not for something he didn’t do.”
    The threat hung in the air.
    Lennox stiffened. “I could have you charged for obstructing justice. You’re not helping yourself, Mr. Sharpe.”
    “Tegan,” he said, and Kanon watched as Tegan gently took the cuffs from her hand, wincing at the touch of silver against his fingertips before he tossed them aside. They hit the hardwood with a soft clunk, but she didn’t move to follow them.
    The pulse in her neck jumped.
    Her lips thinned. Kanon watched as a subtle readiness settled in her muscles. Here came that fight.
    “Lennox,” Tegan said, imploring, but she bared her teeth at the sound of her name coming from him.
    Tegan gave her a grim smile.
    “ Lennox,” he repeated, drawing it out, “Kanon did not attack your Hound. I have witnesses who could prove it. Your man swung first.”
    “So, what, you punched him back?”
    Kanon gave a quiet huff. The edge of a smile curling his lips. “Yeah. I did. Then he kept on hitting and I thought, Fine, we’ll play .”
    He watched her lips thin, the corners lifting in a slight grimace.
    “I don’t start fights with Hounds. Tends to get me a bullet right here.” He poked his forehead. “Be kind of stupid don’t you think?”
    “Lions don’t tend to think.” There was a sour note to her voice as she glanced away, staring back towards the dining room and the open window she’d climbed through. Kanon waited, watching as she ran down her options. She had to know. Sexy as she was to him right now, Kanon wasn’t going peacefully. Maybe if a cop had asked him to go downtown, sure. But a Hound? Downtown for them meant: Hey, come see the electric chair . He’d pass.
    A sigh slid out of her, a sharp blast of breath as she took one last look at freedom and turned back to them with a nod. “And you got witnesses to prove