Page 34 of Ignited

Karisma froze. A huge, dark-haired, especially angry man wearing nothing but boxer shorts shoved himself between her and the bunny, pointing a huge pistol right between Karisma’s eyes. “Back off,” he snarled.

She could feel his wolf dominance, rolling out into the winter air. And she could feel the danger wafting off him. This wolf was a killer—and he was taking her rabbit.

The rabbit hissed at her, darting between the man’s legs to snap at her, and then screamed at her again.

It was making Karisma’s ears hurt. She yowled to make it stop, and hissed back.

The man with the gun said, “One more move, tiger, and you’re dead.”

Boomer had been having an amazing dream, involving hot sex with a tiger in the middle of a fireworks show, combining two of his favorite things.

And then he heard the screams. They were coming from down the hill, in the main compound, but he still knew who it was.

Madison Fontaine. Friend and rabbit shifter. Something was threatening Madison.

Boomer jumped out of bed and scrambled into his underwear. He was halfway out the bedroom door when he realized the bed was empty.

No tiger. Fuck. She wasn’t in the house—he’d smell her. There were more rabbit screams, and then he realized.

No one at Outlaw Ridge would threaten Madison. Everyone knew her, and her rabbit form. Everyone but Karisma.

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Not even stopping to put on his pants, Boomer grabbed his piece and raced out of the cabin, down the road to the compound.

The second he cleared the woods, he saw the crowd outside Madison and Sanchez’s cabin. More people were coming up all the time, to see what the fuck was going on. Boomer had to shoulder his way through the crowd, which he did ruthlessly.

At the center was Karisma crouched in pre-attack mode, growling, her tail lashing.

Sanchez was standing, legs apart, a big-ass revolver pointed right between her eyes. Madison, still a rabbit, was standing between his legs, alternately hissing and screaming at her.

Cisco and Matéo were on either side of Sanchez, trying to explain to him that the tiger was a shifter. Sanchez didn’t appear to be hearing them. His trigger finger was twitching.

“Hey! Sanchez!” Boomer yelled. Sanchez ignored him too. Half of Madison’s other friends had gone wolf and were growling at Karisma.

Boomer aimed his gun into the air and fired a shot. “Everybody stand the fuck down!”

Without taking his eyes off Karisma, Sanchez said, “That thing tried to kill Madison.”

“She didn’t mean it.”

“You don’t know that. And I sure as fuck don’t.”

“Karisma,” Boomer said. “Don’t hurt the rabbit. She’s a shifter. And a friend. Not to mention, half the pack will tear you to shreds even before Sanchez can shoot you.”

“Don’t bet on that,” Sanchez said. “It’ll be after.”

“It’s not going to happen at all,” Boomer said.

Madison had stopped screaming and was now just hissing. Karisma, looking curious and slightly confused, picked up her paw and tentatively reached it out towards the rabbit.

Sanchez growled, “I’m warning you.”

“Cut it out, K,” Boomer said. “He’ll really do it.”

Karisma pulled her paw back and started licking it, pretending like she was never going to touch Madison, and what were they all upset about.

Cats.