Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 65066 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65066 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
Jordy
A rushing sound like the wind and brown fur bursts from Grizz’s skin. His animal explodes out of him, shredding his clothes. Cheetahs go flying as giant bear paws hit the pavement, sending a mini earthquake rippling through the parking lot. The black top cracks.
The cheetah holding me pauses, watching his friends rip their jackets off and shift. I bite him hard, and he snarls, gripping my throat and raising me above his head. I kick him in the crotch. He drops me and I twist away. Sucking air through my bruised neck, choking a little, I scuttle away from him as fast as I can. He doesn’t follow.
All around, greasy bikers fall to their knees and contort, their cats emerging. They’re bigger than any natural cheetah, with teeth like sabertooth tigers. They leap on Grizz.
“No,” I shout when someone clutches my arm. I fight wildly and another hand clamps on my other arm.
“Lass, it’s all right, it’s us.” Declan tugs me towards the Camaro. “We’re on your side.”
“No, I can’t leave him.” I try to dig my feet into the pavement.
“You’re not. We just gotta get you safe.”
Behind us, the grizzly bellows as cat after cat leaps on him while a huge gorilla hangs from the chain link fence, laughing.
“We gotta help him!”
“Not our fight, lass.” Declan tugs me the final few feet to the bike and pushes me down. “Stay here.”
I gnaw my lip, wishing I was stronger, faster, more dominant. So far Grizz has swatted most of the cats away. It’s crazy. The bear’s completely outnumbered…and he’s winning.
“Never seen anything like it,” Declan whispers beside me as Grizz whips around, smashing an attacking cheetah to the ground. Another move, too fast to track, and more cheetahs lay out on the blacktop, moaning. Grizz throws cats like they’re hollow. And—
“He’s moving so fast he blurs,” Parker says.
The gorilla roars in frustration. More cheetahs fall.
“Uh oh,” Declan murmurs and my heart seizes. Five cheetahs crouch behind Grizz, waiting to jump him. Two more run at the bear, who easily deflects them. But he takes a step back, right into the trap.
“No,” I moan. Five cats jump Grizz at once. One gets on his back, claws dug in, head rearing back for a killing bite.
“They’re killing him!” I shriek. “Do something.”
“Feckin’ hell,” Declan mutters and shouts to Parker. “Wrap this up.”
The grey-haired shifter is on top of the Camaro. “Cops are coming!” he hollers. The brawling animals don’t notice.
A whistle pierces the air. The cats scream and I cover my ears, wishing Declan warned me he was going to whistle.
Parker repeats, “Cops are coming.”
“Cops,” one of the bikers takes up the cry. He lets out a scream and his buddies stop mauling Grizz.
“Cops!” Declan whoops. “Every animal for himself!”
The cheetahs turn tail and run.
Grizz picks himself up. His fur is red in patches and he’s limping. But he’s still alive.
The gorilla roars and leaps from his perch, landing a few feet away from Grizz.
“He’s not gonna let Grizz leave without a fight,” Parker says. “Don’t got time for this. Cops are coming.”
“Feck, did you actually call them?” Declan gasps.
“I did,” Laurie says from the passenger seat of the Camaro.
The Irishman swears and grabs me. “Call him,” he orders.
“What?” I gape.
“Call him,” Declan repeats, and hands me something. A helmet—the one Laurie was wearing. “Call Grizz. Now!”
“Grizz,” I scream. The big bear is pacing back and forth, waiting for the gorilla to charge. “Grizz the cops are coming! You gotta come! Come back to me.”
Grizz turns and starts to shrink. The gorilla pounces, but at the last second, Grizz whirls. A blur and the gorilla’s down on the ground, shrinking back into a human body.
“Come on,” Declan shouts as sirens rise around us. “Now!”
The bear races towards us. Fur recedes from bloodied skin, and then it’s just Grizz running up to me and the bike.
“You’re naked, man, here,” Declan hands him a pair of sweatpants. I pull off the leather jacket and wince as Grizz shrugs that on over his bloody torso. He shoves his feet into the Timberlands and swings a big leg over his bike.
“Hop on,” he orders and my skin crackles with his dominance. Helmet secure on my head, I climb on behind Grizz and grab his jacket.
“Arms around me,” he says, and growls when I hesitate. I don’t want to hurt him but when I put my arms tentatively around his middle, he tugs me snug to his back.
“Tight, Kit,” he orders and kicks the bike off. The engine blasts to life and we zoom away, following the white Camaro in a twisting, turning escape route out of the warehouse district.
We turn onto the main road a second before a firetruck screams past, flashing red and flying towards the Fight Club as we make our getaway in the opposite direction.