Page 130 of Not Your Ordinary Shifter

A student rushes in, covered in blood, and takes out several of the abandoned desks. When she sees the windows, she runs and shoves others out of the way trying to get out. In our shock of watching her, we miss the handful of other students and the additional teacher who also enters the room.

Mr. Franer, my Pre-Algebra teacher, shoves the door closed and presses his body against it. Like a lot of the students that ran in here, he too has blood on him.

Another three shots sound off far too close. One of the students closer to the wall yelps and drops to the floor. A white-hot pinching feeling pulls my attention and when I glance down at my left leg, I spot a small circle of blood just above my kneecap.

A body slams against the door and the last of the students all scramble and claw at one another to try and make it out the windows. I don’t move. I don’t think I can. My fear has me rooted so firmly in place. Mr. Franer puts space between himself and the rattling door, as he heads straight for me.

I’m not sure what I expected my math teacher to do, but throwing himself against me, to send us both tumbling to the ground, was not at the top of my list. As we fall, the door bursts open and more shots ring out. Debris flies around and I watchas Mr Franer’s body does a tiny jerk before a tear falls down his cheek. By the time my back and head impact the ground, Mr. Franer’s body is already limp and lifeless. It holds me down and I’m trapped.

Trapped.

“Oh no you don’t!” My cheek gets hot as a hand connects with it. Hard. “Wake the fuck up!”

“Ow!” My eyes crack open but the light is so bright I moan and close my eyes again.

“Ok, well let’s not make those noises right now. But you are not falling back asleep. I didn’t mean to hit you so hard.” Whoever the male is, he seems agitated as he mumbles under his breath. His voice is deep and smooth. I shudder a little under the vibration of it.

Wait a fucking second.

Vibration?

My eyes fly open as I realize this guy is on top of me, and make the not-so-bright choice to sit up quickly. My forehead connects with his and the impact has us both yelling out before I fall backward again. Instead of the back of my head meeting the dirt ground again though, a warm hand braces my skull and prevents the impact from causing further damage.

In all the chaos, I’ve managed to keep my eyes open. This means that as the man leans over me to examine my head, I am able to see him quite clearly now.

His black hair is slick and rests just above his bare caramel-skinned shoulders. His face is full of hard lines and chiseled features, and even though his eyes are hard in concentration, the emerald color calms something inside of me. A very nice and thickly muscled arm extends near my head—no doubt since it’s attached to the hand—but my gaze trails down the muscles of the arm, to a naked chest and…

“Holy shit, you’re naked!”

The guy brings his attention back to my face and tilts his head as if he doesn’t understand.

“Why are you on top of me and naked? And where is the alligator? Juan! Juan, are you still here? Help!” I’m not really sure why I am asking for help when it seems this guy is concerned about me, but it feels like the normal thing to do. Besides, he’s naked. Like totally naked.

“Be quiet.” The guy growls the command at me and I snap my mouth shut. “I mean you no harm. And your friend seems to be more affected by those darts than I was.” He nods his head towards the direction I last saw Juan. When I manage to turn my head enough to see him, I spot the dart sticking out of his arm as his body is slumped to the side.

Well, this is just great.

The next bit of shock filters through and I try to wiggle my left leg. Pain shoots up the damn appendage and I hiss. “Where is the alligator?”

The guy seems to think hard for a moment before he mumbles a quick “I took care of him.”

I shriek. Not my finest moment. Especially when you factor in that I am currently pinned on an exotic forest floor by a very naked and gorgeous man, but I am also scared, concussed, and if I remember correctly, I pissed my pants at some point. The black jeans make it really hard to tell.

Yeah, today is just getting weirder and weirder.

Chapter

Four

“You killed him!”

I’m not sure if I meant for my statement to be more of a question or an accusation, but I’m just pissed at this point. When the guy just looks down at me like I have an extra eyeball coming out of the middle of my forehead, I lose the last tiny shred of sanity I have left and punch him. My fist connects hard with his jaw and his features shift from confusion straight into shock as his head whips to the side.

“What was that for?!” His voice gets even lower and a small spark of anger sparkles in his eyes.

I shove hard, but he doesn’t budge at all. “Get off me! You killed that alligator! You’re a monster!”

Tears stream down the sides of my face as I continue to push and thrash my body, but it’s no fucking use. The guy doesn’t move at all. He’s a solid mass against my efforts.

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