Free Shifter Town 3 - Big Cats Don't Purr by Sadie Hart

“I’m going to run to the restroom.”
    Rift shook his head and waggled his eyebrows. “Or just plain run.”
    “Whatever.” Sawyer twisted away and cringed. And now Kinsey had her channeling her inner teenager. Running a hand through her hair, she headed towards the restrooms, sidestepping around a table as she passed. Sunlight glinted off the windows, just as she heard glass crack in the distance.
    Sawyer flinched, automatically dropping to a crouch, her lion right under her skin, when she realized it wasn’t this window. Confused, she scanned the parking lot. Shit.
    “Hey!” Sawyer lunged for the door, slamming it open as she sprinted for the tan Honda parked at the back of the lot.
    A man in a denim jacket stood whaling away on her car with a baseball bat. With a roar, she rounded on him, only to have him spin, the bat lashing out at her.
    Son of a bitch .
    The rogue from New Mexico. The one whose brother Rift had killed while defending them.
    The man swung at her again and Sawyer dodged to the left, her gaze skimming over her car. Rage lanced through her as she spotted the crumpled, popped-up hood, the smoke rolling off the engine, the slashed tires, the dented doors...
    She turned back towards him and hissed.
    “Rona!” Kinsey bolted past her toward the car. The man swung and Rift roared from behind Sawyer. Suddenly he was there, wrenching the bat out of the rogue’s hand and tossing it aside.
    Punches flew first, and then the rogue lashed out, an open-handed strike as he shifted. His long black mane poured out over his head and neck, his skin and clothes vanishing under fur. Rift shifted a second later and together they crashed to the ground in a flurry of fur, teeth, and claws. Rift aimed for the other lion’s face, one strike after another swiping over the other lion’s muzzle and drawing fresh lines of red over the golden fur.
    “Kinsey,” Sawyer snapped and grabbed the girl by her arm, wrenching her backwards and out of the tangle of lions.
    “Rona,” the girl sobbed, but Sawyer shoved her into the grass. “I will get her, but you have to stay here. Got it?”
    Kinsey nodded, tears still streaming down her face.
    So much had gone wrong already, and dueling lions in the parking lot was a fast way to have Shifter Town Enforcement bearing down on them. A low, panicked sound climbed up her throat as she turned back toward the sounds. They had to get out of here. Preferably before Rift killed the rogue.
    And long before the Hounds showed up.
    She started toward them. Rift had pinned the other lion, his huge paws battering down on the rogue, and she called out to him. No lioness would get in the middle of a fight between males, but she didn’t really have an option. But, unlike the rogue, she wouldn’t stand a chance of surviving if Rift turned on her.
    “Rift!” He ignored her. “Rift, goddamnit, you can’t kill him!”
    He pulled back then, his sides heaving. Sawyer knew it wouldn’t be long before someone else spotted what was happening. And called the cops, or worse, Shifter Town Enforcement. “We have to go,” she whispered. “We’ll be lucky if this isn’t all over the news soon. We have to go.”
    Letting out bone-rattling roar, he turned away from the rogue and stepped close to her, blood dripping down his black mane. He took another step and she felt the magick inside him swirl, the lion fading into a man, and suddenly he was standing before her. “We’re out a car.”
    “Get across the street to the gas station and start walking north. I’ll catch up.”
    He grabbed her arm. “I’m getting your cat, but your daughter needs you right now. She needs you to be more of a parent then her mother was. Protect her. ”
    His jaw went tight, but he stalked past her towards Kinsey. Blowing out a breath of relief, she jogged for the car. The rogue was groaning, rolling on the ground. No doubt trying to get to his feet. Sawyer ignored him and pried open the back door. “Rona,” she