Page 12 of Monster

Had he finally found what he’d been seeking?

“Sir, Deacon is asking for you,” one of the soldiers said to him.

Bull couldn’t answer for a moment. He dragged his gaze away from the tortured creature in the cage, his world flipping upside down. “Yeah, yeah,” he mumbled. “Let him know I’m on my way.”

After one last glance at the monster in the cage, he stumbled outside the barn, his head in a fog…

And nearly got struck by a bolt of lightning.

Knocked off his feet, he hit the packed earth with an oohhmmfff and slid a few feet back. A cloud of dust rose up around him, adding to the blur to his vision. His ears rang from the loud crack, his head swimming all the more. When he sat up, he saw a body lying on the ground, smoke drifting off it. Electricity cracked in the charged air around him.

He could scent the aroma of acrid, burning flesh and it made him want to remain back, away from the smell.

There hadn’t been anyone standing there when he’d come out. Or had there? He’d been so out of it, he couldn’t be sure. He jumped up and scrambled over to the hurt man just as Cal, Samuel, Dario, and the newcomer, Sky, arrived. They circled the man, staring.

A few of the soldiers on duty came out to check, as well. Bull rolled the man over slightly, and a static charge came off and zapped him in the hand.He yanked his hand back, hissing. The zap hadn’t really hurt—the sensation had just surprised him. It had felt more like a bee’s sting than anything. Thanks to his rhino within, he had a tougher hide than most.

“What the hell is he?” Cal asked.

Samuel knelt and shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“One of us?” Sky asked.

Bull turned to look at Sky… one of us.Bull still didn’t understand the powerful humans who seemed drawn to their cause.It had all started with the native shaman, Samuel, who owned this land—and leased them the back forty for their fortress being built.

Samuel had the power of wind. Without him, Bull wasn’t sure there would be a shifter army to fight against Project Zed. Cal, his mate, had been the first shifter they’d saved.

Dario had come along not long after, with the power of fire.

New arrival Sky seemed to have the power to move the very earth around him, from what he’d heard. He’d been so preoccupied in search of Deacon that he wasn’t as familiar with their third addition.

“No,” Samuel murmured. “We’re waiting for water to complete the four.”

“Lightning is an element,” Sky said.

Samuel was silent a moment. “The ancient texts didn’t really explain in detail.”

The man moaned in what appeared to be pain.From what Bull could see, the guy had burns to nearly every part of his body, save his face and neck.

“We need to get him to the clinic,” Cal said before lifting the man into his arms.

“Be careful,” Samuel pleaded as they raced across the yard to Cal’s truck.

Bull rose to his feet, watchful. Just as Cal laid the man on the back of the bed, another pulse of lightning came from the guy, coursing through the truck and Cal’s body. White-hot sparks as long as the truck sizzled around them, the scent and sound of lightning in the air.

As soon as it came, it was gone.

When it was done, Cal gripped the edge of the truck, his body trembling. “Fuck.”

“You can’t drive him,” Samuel said. “He’ll short the engine out on the way if he doesn’t kill whoever’s in the truck driving. We need to get Killian and Finn here.”

Samuel keyed the phone and lifted it to his ear as he stared at the man smoldering in the back of Cal’s truck.

Bull pushed through the group.“You can’t just leave him in the bed of a metal truck.” He climbed onto the back of the bed and lifted the man in his arms. A shock of electricity course through his body. The pain made him clench his teeth, but he didn’t drop the man.“A bath.Now.”

He jumped down from the truck and forced himself to follow Dario into Samuel and Cal’s farmhouse. Dario led him up the stairs and into the bathroom, where the male turned on the water in the old claw-footed tub.

Metal.But lined with porcelain.Hopefully it won’t shock him anymore.

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