Chapter 11 #2
His grizzly strained to get out, but it was too soon for him.
He couldn’t risk going mad himself, so he held it back.
He used its fury to fight, but not its claws and mass.
Two of the monsters had centered on him.
They didn’t work together, but they were ferocious and oblivious to pain.
He got one with a swift kick to the knee that took it to the floor, but it didn’t lay there and whimper like a normal man.
Instead it just kept coming. It crawled forward using claws and tried to bite his feet.
He kicked it back twice, and the second time got it hard in the face.
Its head snapped back, but it still kept coming.
Fortunately, he had help. The wounded grizzly was doing what he could attacking from behind.
But he was unsteady from that leg wound.
And all the while, Simon was weaving and blocking the other monster.
He couldn’t find an opening to take it down.
Certainly not while dancing around the one on the floor.
Meanwhile, Alyssa kept shooting. She must have figured out that wounding shots weren’t going to work because a moment later, she fired and one of them flew backward, his face missing.
“Back off!” she screamed. “Or that’ll be you!”
Again, it didn’t work. Worse, Simon saw Vic go down on one knee as if crumpling under a great weight.
Nanook was pressing him psychically, and there was nothing Simon could do to help.
His friend just slowly bent down until first one then the other knee thudded to the floor.
But all the while, he kept speaking. First it was, “No. Gang.” But eventually, it was just a whispered, “No, no, no, no,” repeated with every breath.
Simon felt fire blister across his chest and shoulder, and he cursed under his breath. He’d been too focused on the others and misjudged the monster in front of him. And while he was still recovering from the claw slice, the bastard on the floor got his shin.
Damn, damn, damn! His grizzly roared in his mind, and he considered letting it out.
He’d loosened his boots before even coming in here, and it would take a second to pop his jeans, but it wasn’t worth the risk.
He might save Vic and Alyssa only to force them to put him down when he forgot how to go back to human. It was just too soon.
So he pushed his grizzly back and tried to finish the fight in the fastest way possible.
Hand to hand was too slow since it was two on one.
Which meant he had to rely on Alyssa, especially since another shot rang out and the other monster went down.
That left the two on him. Worse, the other grizzly went down.
Blood loss, probably. He needed to shift back to human but there wasn’t time or space to worry about him.
Which meant he had one good option: Trust that Alyssa could read his mind and shoot the last monsters in just the right way at the right time.
Did he risk it? He didn’t have the breath to call to her. His only choice was to dive out of the way to give Alyssa the shot. If she wasn’t paying attention, she’d be completely vulnerable to attack. There’d be no time to reverse to save her.
Who was he kidding? Alyssa was always paying attention.
And with that thought, he took the chance. He let the nearest monster lean into the attack, then Simon dove completely to the side. He rolled with the movement then jumped up the second he—
Bam! Bam! Bambam!
Damn, she was good. The other two went down, bullets in their brain.
Even better, Vic was starting to stand. His face was set—still in its monster form—but his eyes were clear and his claws were clenched into fists.
A man fought with closed fists. An animal fought with paws spread wide.
That showed clear as day that Vic was keeping control of his beast. He was stronger than Nanook, at least psychically, and Simon couldn’t be more proud.
But one look at the alpha showed that the bastard wasn’t used to losing.
Simon tried to break the psychic stare down. “We didn’t come to fight, Nanook. Or to enlist. We just want to talk.” No effect. Only one other way to appeal to his rationality. “We acknowledge your dominance, Nanook.”
That caught the man’s attention. He broke off his attack on Vic who visibly stumbled but remained upright.
Nanook’s lips peeled back. “You attacked my men.”
Alyssa’s voice rang out loud and clear. “They attacked us!”
Nanook’s eyes didn’t even flicker. The air was getting cooler as he drew in energy for a shift. Those soft sweatpants wouldn’t restrict him and the bastard was already barefoot. Hell.
Simon quickly started toeing off his boots. “We didn’t mean any disrespect.”
“You brought that thing in here! You attacked my men!”
Not logical. Not rational. Damn it, Nanook had lost his thinking mind, which meant there was only one way this could go: bad.
All around the room the others were stripping out of jeans, pulling off shirts, and kicking off flip-fops. Damn it, he was the only shifter moron in boots.
Then Vic spoke, his words clear despite his misshapen mouth. “Shoot him!”