Thirteen

Someone needed to die. Correction. Kyle Wagner needed to die, and he needed to die at Arlin’s hands. What kind of a man hit a woman? Arlin twisted his hands on the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white from the pressure. If he had just arrived a couple of minutes sooner, he would have been able to sink his fangs into Kyle’s weaselly body and put an end to the threat over Eve’s head. It was time to make sure that her ex-lover knew that no meant no.

Once they arrived at Eve’s cabin, Arlin had her call Alanna to come over with her boyfriend, Josh Rayburn, to sit with her. Boyfriend was a very loose term, Eve told Arlin. “The two of them are more like friends with extra, extra benefits who happen to have no one else with the same benefits,” Eve said. “Apparently, Alanna has an issue with titles and roles, preferring everything to remain casual.”

Arlin just laughed at that. When Eve asked him what was so funny, he only replied, “Little Warrior, those two sniff around each other like mates denied. I don’t care what she’s saying out loud; inside, her wolf wants to mate with Josh’s panther.”

“Can they do that?” she asked. “Have sex and deny the actual mating part?”

“They can do it, but it’s not always easy or fun. They’ll have to give in sooner or later or go crazy with the calling. It’s a powerful pull on shifters.”

Once the others arrived, Arlin left Eve in their capable care and headed for the sheriff’s office. He wanted to get some type of restraining order on Kyle. It wouldn’t work, of course, but it would at least show there was cause when Arlin just happened to over-react in defending Eve.

The sheriff’s department was a small building, typical of what he would expect in a small town—single story, brick exterior, with a brown shingle roof. The parking lot was small, and the inside had nothing in the way of security measures to keep the bad guys from going after the sheriffs. There wasn’t even bulletproof glass in front of the receptionist, who happened to be a small, gray-haired lady with the thickest reading glasses Arlin ever saw. How she kept them on her nose was a miracle at best.

Stepping up to the desk, he asked if Lainie Everest was available and then was promptly told to take a seat as the woman stared at him over the top of her glasses as opposed to through them. He just smiled, withholding the chuckle that bubbled up, and took his seat. The hall behind the woman seemed to hold tiny offices off to each side, along with another hall breaking to the right. The noise was nonexistent as if everyone was out, and Arlin worried that he should have called first.

However, his wait wasn’t long, and soon, Lainie walked out of one of the offices near the back of the hall and motioned for him to join her. Arlin smiled at the woman behind the desk, who only watched him through cynical eyes as he passed her. She was probably deciding whether or not he was culprit or victim.

“Arlin, right?” Lainie extended her arm, shaking his hand as he returned her grip, nodding at her remembrance of his name. “What brings you by?”

Arlin stepped in behind her, following her to her office. “Eve was attacked a little while ago,” he said. “I want to file…”

“What?” Lainie came up short, spinning as she did, causing him to bump into her before he could stop his steps. “Why weren’t we called? How bad is she?”

Arlin took a step back. “Not bad. He only hit her once before threatening her and walking away. I just missed him.”

She arched an eyebrow at him. “Missed him?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I knew she didn’t want me to follow her home, so I shifted into my tiger and worked my way through the woods between her cabin and mine. By the time I realized she hadn’t made it home and backtracked, Kyle had already caught up with her and knocked her to the ground.” He shrugged, giving a proud smile remembering Eve’s determination when she told him what happened and how she wouldn’t back down. “She wouldn’t back down from him, and he made her pay for that insult. He also said he would come back for her in a few hours, and she had better be ready to leave. I want a restraining order to keep him away from her.”

She looked at him sideways. “You really think a piece of paper is going to stop him?”

“Not at all,” he said with a shake of his head. “But it starts a trail.”

She glanced around them, making sure no one was listening. “Starting a defense?”

It was his turn to pop an eyebrow at her. “Let’s just say, he won’t hit her again. Ever.”

Lainie turned and continued walking back toward her office, Arlin trailing behind her. “Well, a restraining order doesn’t happen that fast. It’ll take a couple of weeks after filling out the paperwork to get a hearing, but I can at least file a report and get it started. That’ll be something.”

“It’ll take that long? Really? We can’t do it faster?”

She entered the office, walking around the oak desk along the back wall. Arlin walked in behind her and stood in front of her desk as she sat down. Her words weren’t what he wanted to hear, especially knowing Kyle would return later that night to carry out his threat.

He wasn’t about to give up, however. “Seems odd that it would take so long if someone’s life is being threatened.”

Lainie sat in her desk chair, pulling herself up to her desk. “I agree with you but there isn’t anything I can do about it. As sad as it sounds, no one’s actually seen him do anything except make an ass out of himself at Everglades. We don’t know what happened back where they came from, or even what he did before you arrived today.”

“You think she made it up?” He couldn’t believe what he heard. This woman was supposed to be Eve’s friend. How could she not want to protect Eve? “I saw her on the ground right after he backhanded her.” His tiger growled, and Arlin fought to keep the animal from losing his control. Save it for Kyle, boy.

Lainie shook her head as she folded her hands. “It doesn’t matter whether I believe her or not, which for the record, I do. However, in the law’s eyes, it’s her word against his. No witnesses.” She leaned forward as he took a seat. “And it’s not a rare thing, either. Hell, twenty people are physically abused by intimate partners every minute here in the United States. And it’s not just women. Men are victims as well. On a typical day, over twenty-thousand calls are made to domestic violence hotlines nationwide, and there’s no stereotype for the victim; they come in all ages, races, religions, economic standings, and even sexual orientations. The problem is that most will keep it to themselves until it’s too late, because they feel embarrassed or ashamed. Eve’s a survivor. Not everyone is so strong. Quite a few victims suffer from a high rate of depression, which can even lead to suicide.”

“And even with all of that, there’s nothing we can do?”

She tilted her head to the side. “You said he told her he would come back to get her tonight?”

“No. Just that he expected her to pack and head back home to him. If she didn’t, he’d come back for her and make sure she regretted not obeying him.”

“Obviously, she’s not leaving, so my advice is to stay close to her and wait for him to screw up. I’ll try to keep an eye out as well, and when we see him attack her, she presses charges, and I can lock his ass away for good.”

“We have to allow her to remain in danger in order to catch the guy? Isn’t that kind of the opposite of protecting her?” Arlin was not the sit and wait type of guy. He wouldn’t risk anything happening to his mate while the police sat around on their asses. While the law might not be Lainie’s fault, her enforcing it was. “I’m not going to allow anything to happen to Eve.” He stared at Lainie through narrowed eyes. “You know I can’t.”

“Trust me, I know. Still, as far as the law is concerned, that’s the best advice I can give you.” Then she leaned forward even more, lowering her voice as she did. “However, you and I both know that some things can only be handled with a shifter type of justice. Protect your girl would be my personal advice.”

Arlin nodded but didn’t say anything. Protecting Eve had been his plan all along, regardless of what the law said. He wouldn’t sit on his ass while Kyle made some move to hurt Eve. Arlin’s tiger growled his agreement with a slip of fur oozing out of Arlin’s arms to prove the point. The animal would take matters into his own hands—or rather paws—if he had to in order to protect his mate.

Don’t worry, boy. I’m right here with you. Nothing is going to harm our girl. Arlin thanked Lainie for her time and then turned and walked out of her office. He had been away from Eve too long as it was and needed to get back to her. He wouldn’t feel calm again until he knew he was there at her side to protect her; it didn’t matter how many others were there already. Eve was his, and he would be the one to make sure Kyle did nothing else to hurt her. Not and be able to walk away from it anyway.