Page 108 of Echo and the Homicidal Sea Panda

He needed to save Echo.

“Mael!”Echo screamed, tears in his eyes.

When the third taser hit his back, he froze, his body twisting in pain. He collapsed on the bed, trying to remain conscious. The zapping fortunately stopped before he passed out and he could breathe again.

“Get him in cuffs before he gets back up,” the cop with Echo in his arms snapped, eyeing Mael lying across the bed.

One of the officers neared. Mael twisted and knocked the guy on his ass before spinning to the other.

A gun was pulled and aimed at Mael, a steely glint showing in the late afternoon sun.

“Don’t make us do something we’ll both regret,” the officer with the gun said to Mael.

Mael lifted his hands. “Do officers in Dolphin Bay not announce themselves?”

“We don’t answer your questions,” the one holding Echo snapped.

“What right do you have to break into his home and snatch us from our bed?” Mael asked the four men.

“You’ve broken the treaty,” the cop holding Echo said. “Both of you have. That gives us every right to come in here—to stop whatever this is before it ends up starting another war.”

“How have we broken the treaty?” Mael asked.

“Your kind don’t belong in Dolphin Bay, and you sure as hell don’t belong in a dolphin’s bed,” the officer snapped. He glared down at Echo. “Disgusting orca whore.”

Mael saw red. He advanced on the man, but the cop with the gun moved closer, pressing the barrel against Mael’s head.

He widened his stance, prepared to wrench the gun away.

“Don’t,”Echo warned Mael. “I need you alive.”

Mael couldn’t stomach the fear in Echo’s eyes. He couldn’t add to it. Lowering his hands, he surrendered for Echo’s sake.

One of the cops came behind Mael and cuffed him—but he didn’t make it easy. “The treaty only covers the waters,” Mael said as the officer finally closed the cold metal around his wrists. “There’s nothing in there that says I can’t be here. Nor does it say Echo and I can’t be together.”

“You haven’t read it clearly enough,” one of the other cops said.

“As sheriff of Maki Island, I know that document like the back of my hand,” Mael murmured.

“Sheriff?” the cop holding Echo asked.“You’re Maelstrom Marino?”

“In the flesh,” Mael muttered, for once hoping they believed the rumors were true—though scared officers often made deathly mistakes. Maybe it wasn’t a good thing after all.

“Fuck,”the cop holding Echo grumbled under his breath. He turned to the other three. “Watch him close. He’s a killer. One evil enough that he killed his own brother.”

“You can’t do this,” Echo said, pulling against the hold on his wrists. “We’ve done nothing wrong.”

“I doubt the council will agree,” the cop holding Echo said. He eyed the others. “Take him to lockup. I’ll take the pregnant one.”

“Can we at least get some clothes on?” Mael asked, seething.

“Nah, I think we should parade your ass in there just as we found you. A killer and his whore.”

Mael tilted his head from one side to the other, cracking his neck and holding onto his control.

“If you touch one hair on his head, I’ll show you just how evil I can be,” Mael murmured, narrowing his eyes.

The three cops prodded Mael out of the bedroom first and down the stairs. He glanced over his shoulder, keeping an eye on Echo. When the one holding Echo pushed him down the last three steps and made him fall to the floor, Mael whipped around. His gaze went to the cop who’d been holding Echo—who chuckled like the fall was funny. Mael wrenched both wrists apart, snapping the chain in two. Before the others could stop him, he got Echo’s assailant by the throat and against a wall.

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