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  “Nice to know not everyone hates me,” she said, still watching the man amble off.

  “Did you think everyone did?” JD asked, darting a look her direction.

  “Me specifically no, shifters, well maybe. The news has been pretty dark.” She stepped on the gas and pulled back out into the street.

  “The news only reports the dire stuff. You know that. So, you aren’t going to hear about all the places that aren’t having issues where people are just accepting and moving on.”

  “That isn’t here.”

  “Not yet,” JD admitted. “But you are one of the people that could make it like that. So, back to the house. You sure?”

  McKenna went over her thoughts again as they drove. She knew she had the money, and the idea of her own place sounded good. But if she walked away, did it mean she ran? Did it make her a coward?

  No, I am just not willing to spill blood or cross lines for this. It doesn’t matter. This is what I needed to quit avoiding.

  “Yes. It’s time.”

  JD flashed a smile, then his head whipped to the right as a small two door, a blue sedan coasted through the stop sign. “And our first traffic stop of the day. That qualifies as too blatant to ignore.”

  “Yes, it does.” With a sigh she flipped on the lights and siren and moved after the person. Normally she didn’t mind traffic stops but with everything going on it seemed such a petty thing to worry about. But if he didn’t see the cop car driving right at him, he probably wouldn’t have seen a child either.

  The car pulled to the side, and she pulled up behind him, JD logging everything, and placing the call to dispatch to let them know. Nothing about the car screamed danger, but she followed protocol, getting out and approaching from the side, hand on her pistol.

  “Sir, do you know why we pulled you over?” She asked as she approached the driver’s side door, hearing JD get out of the car behind her.

  “Sorry, officer, I wasn’t paying attention, distracted by the news.” The man said as he turned handing his id to her, then froze. “It’s you?”

  McKenna blinked, not sure what to make of that comment. He was younger, light brown skin, shaggy brown hair and brown eyes. About twenty-seven if she had to guess.

  “I’m sorry?”

  “You’re the crazy cop bitch that changed on TV. Killed those two guys. Just ripped them apart. What kinda of monster are you?”

  In a weird way, the vitriol made her more comfortable than the praise had done. This she knew how to handle, they trained to handle this.

  “Sir, I need to ask you to keep a civil tone. Now may I have your license please?”

  “Fuck you, no animal can tell me what to do. I’ll call my lawyer.”

  Is he high? What in the hell?

  By this point JD had come up on the other side and leaned down to glance in, the guy didn’t notice him.

  “Sir, please let me have your license.” Her voice remained calm, but she had unsnapped the strap on her holster.

  “Oh, hell no.” His hand dropped inside the door, and she had her gun out and pointed at him.

  “Sir, please put your hands back up where I can see them.”

  He looked like he would say something, but at that point JD rapped on the window on the other side with his asp. The guy glanced over and paled as he took in JD’s size.

  “Fine, but I’m going to protest this ticket in court with a lawyer.” He shoved the ID and registration at her, then glanced to JD and away.

  “That is your right, sir. One moment.”

  McKenna went back to the cruiser as JD stood there and loomed. He had excellent skills in looming. Running his license the man, one Tony Gordon, was clean. She printed up the ticket and walked back. Taking the few minutes needed to make sure he understood everything, and handing him his citation and license, she stepped back and watched him peal out.

  JD walked over, looking at her. “You okay?”

  McKenna snorted. “He didn’t even phase me. No better or worse than being hated because I wear blue. This at least I know how to handle. If this is part of the ramifications of changing, I can deal with that. Hell, I deal with it anyhow, they just have something new to hate me for.”

  JD searched her face, then nodded. “Got it. Not a damsel in distress.”

  “Oh please,” she snorted, “I’ve never been that. And you know it. Go rescue someone else, I don’t need it.” She flashed him a smile and pulled open the car door. “All I need is a friend.”

  “There is more to life than friends.” He pointed out as he moved back to his side of the car.

  “True, but not for me. It isn’t anything else I need right now.” She forced a smile as she got back in, buckling up. Trust was something she couldn’t do, it had been ruined for her decades ago.

  The day went routinely, and the routine felt great, real, solid. But that didn’t mean everything made sense. Every so often she’d glance at people and those strange symbols would flash across her vision. But she could never focus on them fast enough, though she got vague impressions, but not enough to be sure.

  Maybe I should start recording these, making a note of what I see.

  The idea made her cringe. Document her insanity. That didn’t sound like a good idea.

  Still trying to figure out what to do about the weird images, it took a second for the radio call to register. JD answered before she could.

  Get your head out of your ass, Kenna. This isn’t the place to zone out.

  “RVS01, we have a situation with people arguing outside a pizza place that put up a ‘no animal’s served sign.” The dispatch rattled off the address as McKenna flipped on the lights and the siren and headed towards the address.

  Chapter 18 - Lion Riot

  The President in a press conference last night has confirmed that the ability to shift has no impact on your status in America. While the legalities of this are still being weighed and the Surgeon General has raised some concerns, there will be no policy change. While the military is publicly ignoring this all together, there have been rumors of bonuses and extra training for anyone already enlisted who wants to join some special groups. But at this time that is all it is, rumors. ~ TNN News Anchor

  The lights and sirens had them there in minutes, and she pulled up, flipping off the siren but leaving the lights going. The blue and white strobing over the small group of people shouting outside the pizza parlor created a disco effect.

  “Log it, I’ll go over and see what is going on,” she told JD as she opened the car door.

  McKenna could hear him calling in and logging the time of arrival and that they were investigating as she shut the door, turned down her radio, and walked over to the crowd with slow measured steps. The day had turned into a hot one already, and by one pm the temperature would be over a hundred. At eleven the bright sun, and ninety degrees plus served to make her already hot and amped up her awareness.

  The people hadn’t seemed to notice her, or at least deemed her not worth worrying about right now as they yelled at a man standing in front of the pizza joint, arms crossed over his chest and a truculent look on his face.

  “I’m telling you, it’s my business and I can serve damn well whomever I please. If I can say ‘no shirt, no shoes, no service’ I can also say ‘no fur’. So, go fuck off.” His dark hair and eyes seemed to glitter and the more vehement the people got, the more he resisted.

  McKenna saw at least two, what she assumed were employees, hanging behind the man, looking more and more uncomfortable, but all she saw were figures, not enough to even pull out gender, just indistinct shapes.

  “You can’t refuse to serve someone because of something they can’t control!” A woman shouted, her short blond hair flying around her head like a yellow dandelion.

  “I can refuse to serve anyone I want, it’s my business.” The owner insisted, his fingers digging into his crossed arms, turning white.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, can you please explain the problem here?” McKe
nna interjected before they could start another round of shouting.

  “This asshole thinks he can refuse to serve people because of their ability to shift,” the short dandelion woman said, her finger jabbing towards the owner.

  “It’s a private business, I can choose who I serve.”

  McKenna wanted to close her eyes and sigh. The law got tricky quick when it came to discrimination and private businesses. Instead she looked at the man and asked a question.

  “Why do you not want to serve them?”

  He looked at her like she had spoken in Greek or Latin. “Health concerns. I don’t need fur everywhere, and how do we know it isn’t contagious or spreadable via air or body fluids.”

  Huh, point. I hadn’t thought about the body fluids stuff. Crap, I wonder if Holich has.

  The thought ran through her mind lighting fast, but she didn’t let anything cross her face.

  “Do you refuse to serve people with AIDS or tuberculosis?”

  The man paused, then shrugged. “If I could tell who had it, probably.”

  You can’t cure stupid, she reminded herself. She could hear a few more people coming up and cars pulling in but pulling her attention from this scenario wasn’t possible at this point.

  “How can you tell if someone is a shifter, if they aren’t in animal form?”

  The man blinked and opened and closed his mouth, then his eyes narrowed, and he sneered at her. “Maybe not, but I know you are, and I don’t have to serve you.”

  Good grief. This was a thing for lawyers. How the hell do I diffuse it?

  “Sir, I can’t answer as to whether that is legal or not. That is for the courts to decide. But for now, having a shouting match with people outside is impeding the flow of traffic and causing a ruckus, and that is an issue I can answer.” McKenna shifted her attention to the woman, her hands on her hips and her hair a yellow fluff. “Ma’am if you wish to take him to court that is your issue but standing out here screaming at him will not accomplish anything. Everyone needs to disperse.”

  “I don’t think so, he can’t refuse to serve me.” A low deep voice rumbled from behind her, someone she hadn’t sense approaching with all the other noise and traffic. McKenna turned and a ripple of worry as a symbol flashed across her vision, a paw of some sort, and disappeared but this time she didn’t worry about it, instead focusing on the man glaring at her. Hispanic, gang tat on his face, and a sneer directed at her and the pizza man. But what really caused her tension level to ratchet was JD standing against the car, talking rapidly into the radio, and the twenty people who had appeared around her, raising it from a small group of people to a dangerous crowd. Various symbols flashed in her face, but she completely ignored the vision distortions right now.

  “Sir, is this really something worth going to jail for? This applies to all of you. Do you want to deal with this via the courts peacefully or risk going to jail for disturbing the peace?” McKenna pitched her voice to carry, but the mood had already shifted.

  People began to shout back and forth, and she realized half the people were supporting the owner, half protesting against him.

  And more were showing up as she saw cars parking and people piling out.

  Crap, crap, crap, crap.

  She tried to move towards JD, but the crowd had gotten too big. Following training she moved backwards, getting her back against a wall, even as she projected her voice.

  “Everyone, this has now become an illegal gathering. Please disperse immediately,” her voice rang out, and people turned to look at her with stubborn resistant looks on their faces.

  “No, we need to stand up for our rights now, before someone takes them away.” She couldn’t see who shouted that, but the mood of the crowd started to turn, and more people kept showing up.

  Damn, damn, damn, this is not good at all.

  McKenna could see JD over the crowd, but his plowing through to her would make it even worse. A gun in this crowd would not be a good thing and forcing her way through the crowd would put her too much at risk to have her weapons grabbed. The cat pricked at the back or her mind, demanding her to react to move, to push people away from her. She snarled internally, pushing the animal down, and an odd feeling of confusion ping at her, from something that wasn’t her mind. But now she didn’t have the time to figure out where that the feeling had come from.

  Once more she tried to get control of the crowd. “Everyone, you need to disperse, or we will start having to arrest people.”

  It didn’t help, and people started pushing and shoving, tempers flaring as the mood of the crowd changed.

  Dammit, I’m going to be involved in another issue my first day back on the job. Wonder how long I’ll be suspended this time.

  The strident sound of the bull horn feedback cut into the noise.

  “Everyone, you will disperse the area now. This is not a lawful gathering and you are impeding the flow of traffic.” JD’s voice boomed over the noise. McKenna raised herself up on tiptoe to peer and saw indeed they had blocked off the street. People around her looked a little spooked at JD’s words, but she heard a muffled shout.

  “Hell no. No bear is going to tell us what to do!”

  She could see people moving towards the squad car. This entire situation was going from bad to worse quickly.

  JD’s head disappeared from her view, and she heard the whoop whoop of the siren, as he tried to move the car towards her, but people rushed the car, she could see their heads and the whooping stopped. She cranked her radio up just loud enough she could hear it.

  “I’m blocked, Kenna. I can’t get to you. How much danger are you in?”

  She turned, looking frantically, people were glaring at her, but the violent ones seemed to be focused on the car.

  “Enough, but not immediate. How far out is back up?”

  “Too far, at least five minutes.”

  What was it with me and back up never being around?

  “You need to come with us, bitch. Show you how a shifter cop should be treated.” The Hispanic with the gang tats loomed in front of her. She didn’t remember seeing him move, but he materialized out of the fluid mass of people without a ripple, and she pressed back further against the stone wall.

  “You don’t want to do this.”

  “Oh yes, I do. I’ve never had a cat before.”

  Exasperation mixed with anger and fear.

  What is it with people wanting to have sex with a cat?

  Reaching for her weapon, she prepared herself for killing someone, because if her pistol cleared the holster, she’d shoot to kill. Before she could draw her weapon from her holster, a roar shattered the developing riot. The sound so loud it made her flinch and the people all fell silent, eyes wide. The roar sounded again, and she could hear anger and stress in the roar. People panicked, screaming, yelling and fleeing away from the source of the sound, the sound that rippled through her body, deep and primal.

  McKenna spun, her hand still on the butt of her weapon, searching for the source of the roar. The pizza owner, standing stock still, eyes wide and mouth open stared at a lion in the door of the pizza shop. Remnants of a pizza t-shirt hung around the body of the lion, and it moved one step closer to the people and roared again.

  Every fiber in her being wanted to turn and run, to avoid the animal that made that sound.

  “Kenna?” Fear and stress were clear in JD’s voice.

  Moving with slow, sure gestures, she clicked on the microphone. “I’m fine, give me a minute.”

  She then glanced at the frozen owner. “Get out of here. Move slowly.”

  His head bobbled up and down and he started to back up, only to come to a wobbling halt at the lion growled.

  “What’s his name?” McKenna’s whisper was fierce, for all that she never glanced away from the lion.

  “Jason, Jason Frema.” The pizza guys voice was high squeaky, and the scent of urine wafted over to her, even as the crowd kept running. The rumble of the lion all but vibrate
d through her bones.

  “Get,” she said and stepped in front of the lion, blocking his view of the man stumbling away. She watched him in the reflection in the shop windows, noting how many people had fled. She caught JD driving forward with the obstacles gone, even as she focused on the lion.

  “Jason, hey, remember me? My name's McKenna. I’m the cop that turned into the cougar? The one in the video?”

  The lion stopped and looked at her, and she swore she saw him flinch, his head dropped a bit.

  She crouched, lowering herself to the eye level of the lion, his short shaggy black mane making him look a bit woebegone, like a lion version of Eeyore.

  “Hey, Jason.” The lion’s ear’s tilted up at that. “It’s okay. In fact,” she glanced around at the almost empty street. JD had pulled the squad car up to the door behind her. “I think you did the best thing ever. Look around. Everyone left, no one got hurt, and maybe some people have learned a lesson?”

  The lion sat up a bit straighter, his chest puffing out, then sagged again, glancing back at the pizza shop.

  “Ah, yeah, you probably don’t have a job anymore. But really, did you want to work for a dick like that?” She nodded at the sign in the window, and Jason growled, then snorted.

  The whine of sirens sounded in the distance, and McKenna relaxed a bit more.

  “You aren’t in trouble. No one got hurt, and a lot of that is because of you. You want to change back to human?”

  The lion’s head bobbed up and down, and McKenna smiled. “Think about being human again, the feel of fingers, and arms. Remember what it means to be you, the human Jason.”

  The lion’s eyes closed, and his body sagged, twisted and morphed into a human male. As the last bits of fur receded, JD tossed a pair of sweats at him.

  Jason opened his eyes looking at McKenna. “No one got hurt?”

  “Nope, you scared them all. That roar was damn impressive. Made me want to run.”