Page 53 of Monster

Smoke flew out of the engine as the vehicle slowed to a stop.

On to the next…

One Hemi ahead and behind stopped with the bus—the second kept moving. He jumped into it as it passed.

Within seconds, he had both buses down for the count.

Shifters came out of the smoke, jumping onto the soldiers. Shots rang out. Roars and screams echoed. He heard a crash come from behind and realized a car had struck the rear Hemi.

Drake slipped onto the closest bus and saw one of the drivers pointing a vicious-looking weapon at the front-side doors.Another set of soldiers aimed at the rear emergency hatch.

He slipped into the driver’s body—and forced the human to lift the weapon to his temple. One shot rang out—blood splattering—and the human fell, leaving him standing there, unseen by humans.

“What the fuck?” one of the soldiers cried out, rushing toward the front.

Drake swung his claws out and cut the soldier’s neck with one quick slice… and took the man’s gun.Aiming at the remaining soldier, he fired one bullet—hitting the man in the head.

He solidified and reached for his communications device. “First bus is cleared of soldiers.I need someone in here to watch these kids so I can move on to the second.”

“On my way,” Malachi said.

Drake heard a banging on the side door. He released the lock, hoping it was Malachi. He sighed in relief when he saw the Grizzly shifter’s face.

“Go,” the shifter roared. “They’re using the children as shields.”

Drake turned to a mist and flew through one bus and into another. Once inside, he saw one of the soldier’s holding the small cub who’d reached out and touched his hand to his chest—and a gun trained on Bull.

“Back off, or the kids die,” the soldier spat.

Drake slid into the human. He forced the man to lower the child and the weapon.

“Kill me,” the man said, words forced by Drake.

“What are you doing, man?” the driver screamed, his gun pointed at another child.

“Kill me, Bull.”

Bull’s eyes widened before he fired one shot into the human’s chest… and the body fell to the ground, leaving Drake to force himself into the second.He lifted the gun to the human’s head and pulled the trigger.

And that left one.

The soldier aimed at them as they approached… but didn’t hold a child.Didn’t use them to save himself.

He lowered his weapon and knelt on the floor. Lifting his hands, he looked at Bull.“I surrender. Please… I don’t want to die.”

Drake solidified to Bull’s left—and the soldier gasped.

“I should kill you,” Bull said.“The only reason I’m not—you didn’t use these kids as a shield.”

Bull handed Drake his weapon.“Keep an eye on him while I cuff him up.”

Drake met Bull’s stare and felt a small sense of respect from the rhino. Bull pulled a couple of zip-ties from a pocket of his camo pants and quickly had the human secured.

He gave the human over to one of his men before turning to get his gun back from Drake.“You did good.”

“Thanks,” Drake said before turning to the kids.“Now what in the hell are we going to do?”

Bull hit his comms unit. “Deacon, we’re clear.We’ve got two busloads of shifter children. We can’t leave them here.”

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