Page 11 of Monster

“Bring him,” Deacon sputtered. “Bull…” Deacon collapsed, not finishing his thought.

The one who was apparently Bull hefted Deacon into his arms and raced for the helicopter.The other guy walked closer.“Let’s get this cage and get airborne before Zed finds us.”

“Don’t have to ask me twice,” Drake said before leading the man over.

* * * *

Umberto…

The anger swirling through him pulsed like a bloody, infected wound. With every beat of his heart, the pain thrummed. The need to lash out grew.

A scent filled his nose.

A face came before him… a man he didn’t know.

Yet somehow knew.

The roaring wouldn’t let him go…

He fought them, trying to return to his true self.

He tried to speak, tried to force the words from his lips, but all he heard was growling.

Ruby red lips… a soft smile…

Again, he tried.

“Um..berrrr…to…”

The man standing before him grew pale, his eyes wide.

He tried again… trying to make the words come out right.

The screams in his mind took over.

* * * *

Struck by lightning…

“Um..berrrr…to…”

Bull froze. The air was sucked from his lungs as he tried to tell himself that this beast inside that cage had called him by his given name. Umberto.

Or had it just been more of the groans and grunts that Bull had put together in a desperate need to tie things together?

Had he found the one he’d been looking for, for so long? His search had snowballed into the fight they now waged.A shifter army fighting Project Zed. They’d spent months defending shifters, preventing them from being captured… and freeing as many captives as they could along the way.

All in hopes Bull would eventually find his father.

Or at the very least, to find closure. Half of him hadn’t expected to find his father still alive.

His mother had evaded capture while pregnant with him. She’d somehow escaped Korea and the military—which she’d told him little about over the years—and raised him on the run.He’d grown up in communes all over the United States, off the grid and forever hiding.

Until he’d decided to join the military in search of answers.

His mother hadn’t spoken to him for a year after he’d enlisted.She’d refused to discuss his service for the rest of her life… until the end. On her deathbed, she’d made him promise to remain safe in his quest. And she’d admitted that no matter how it appeared that she’d moved on, Bull’s father had been the love of her life.

She might not have said it in as many words, but Bull felt quite sure she wanted him to find answers about Luca.

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